Different Roles in the Buying Process

Family members play many different roles in the buying process: initiator (starts something), influencer, decision maker, purchaser (who buys it), and consumer (who uses it). Identify the person in your family who might play each of these roles in the purchase of a dinner at Pizza Hut, a summer vacation, an Abercrombie & Fitch sweater, and a new car.

When it comes to a buying process at Pizza Hut for a family dinner, it is easy to say that my sister would be the initiator. She is always the one that brings up the first idea, and suddenly everyone else considers that idea. The influencer would be my brother because he is good at convincing my parents to purchase whatever he wants. The decision maker and the purchaser play an equal role to the both of my parents, for they are the ones who always end up making the decision and pay for the food. The consumers in this situation would be the entire family, since all of us are eating the food that is purchased.

The initiators as well as influencers for a summer vacation would be equal between my brother, my sister, and I. This is because we are usually the ones that bring up the idea of a vacation and it is up to us to convince our parents to let us take the vacation. The decision makers would equally be my parents, since they are always the ones who give us permission for certain things. The purchaser in a vacation would be each individual family member, paying for their own costs. Finally, the consumer would be every family member that attends the summer vacation.

When buying a sweater from Abercrombie & Fitch, it is easy to say that I am the one that takes every role in the buying process. Since the sweater is just for me, I and the one who initiates it, the one who influences myself to buy it, the one who decides to purchase it, the one who does purchase it, and finally, I am the one who is using it.

In a situation where a new car is being purchased in my family, my brother, sister, and myself do not...