My Fascination with Buying Shoes

            Consumers are faced with purchasing decisions on a daily basis, whether on a professional or personal level, these decisions involve a thorough process. Shoes in particular are a fascinating and relevant area for me. In the past shoes were used for functional purposes, their purpose has changed in modern society. Shoe consumers vary tremendously in age, income, education level and tastes. In today's day and age the footwear market has become very competitive and in order to attract consumers, it is important for the company to fully understand how consumers will respond to different product features such as price and marketing appeal which will have a great advantage over its competitors. Consumer behavior is affected by many uncontrollable factors and purchases are strongly influenced by social, personal and psychological factors. These factors cannot be controlled by marketers but must be taken into careful consideration before launching product or advertising the product. When purchasing any product, the consumer is faced with a five stages of decision process: need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, actual purchase and post purchase behavior. This paper will exhibit the consumer decision process I faced when purchasing my latest pair of shoes.
             My way of unwinding the long week is by walking the mall for a few hours, if I am lucky, I find a fabulous new pair of shoes. Sometimes the need is functional, but most of the times it is psychological. The psychological part of purchasing a new pair of shoes offers instant gratification and makes me feel rewarded for having completed yet another week of full time work, school and wifely duties. My most recent purchase was a pair of nude Christian Louboutins "So Kate" pumps retail at $675 dollars. My interest in the pump peaked when I saw displayed at Neiman Marcus, in hot pink – prompting the need recognition.