Mini-Case Insight into Consumer Decision Making for TVs Various media equip cons

Mini-Case Insight into Consumer Decision Making for TVs
Various media equip consumers to make side-by-side comparisons of brands’ relative strengths (e.g., Consumer Reports, bizrate.com, cnet.com). These comparisons are not claims from the manufacturer, but a third party, so they’re perceived as objective and neutral.
The table below (based on reviews at BestBuy.com) compares televisions on a number of criteria. The selection criterion was that the TV had a 65-inch screen. These are 4k TVs (also called Ultra HD, for four times the pixels or clarity of HD) and HDR (High Dynamic Range, which offers great contrast between light and dark colors and brightness), and the display technology is either LCD (liquid crystal display; or LED), OLED (organic light-emitting diode), or QLED (quantum dot LED). How would a consumer choose from these brands?
Sometimes customers know just what they want: a particular brand or a particular feature. The brand or feature (like affordability) becomes their primary, go-to heuristic. Sometimes consumers’ thought processes are a little more meandering (they might not quite know what they want, which is an opportunity for marketers to inform them as to why their brands’ features offer the best consumer benefits). Some consumers are rather systematic decision makers, such as when they follow a procedure that will eliminate some alternatives by some criteria. Use the table below to simulate the thought processes of a consumer. Which TV would you buy?
Details
A table simulates the thought process of a customer trying to pick a TV. The brands given are L G, Sony, and Samsung. The specifications are given as follows in rows. Row 1. Model. L G, C X. Sony, X 800 H. Samsung, Q 80. Row 2. Display Tech. L G, O L E D. Sony, L E D. Samsung, Q L E D. Row 3. Price. L G, $2,499. Sony, $1,199. Samsung, $1,799. Row 4. Screen size. L G, 65 inches. Sony, 65 inches. Samsung, 65 inches. Row 5. Smart TV. L G, A smiley. Sony, A smiley. Samsung, A smiley. Row 6. Performance. L G, 4 smileys. Sony, 2 smileys. Samsung, 4 smileys. Row 7. Appearance. L G, 3 smileys. Sony, 2 smileys. Samsung, 1 smiley. Row 8. Weight. L G, 58 pounds. Sony, 50 pounds. Samsung, 55 pounds. Row 9. Protection. L G, 2 years for $279 or 5 years for $499. Sony, 2 years for $129 or 5 years for $229. Samsung, 2 years for $199 or 5 years for $399.
Case Discussion Questions
Imagine you were a consumer thinking about buying one of these TVs.
Try these decision-making processes, see what brand results for each, and see how confident you feel about the resulting brand suggested from each approach:
First, quickly at a glance, what TV do you think you would buy?
On what criteria do you think you based that decision?
How similar was this thought process to your natural analysis? How can you find out if your consumers think along these lines?
What attribute do you find least informative? Eliminate that row. Continue to do so until a clear brand winner emerges.
Is there a brand of TV that seems weaker than the others on some attribute you care about? Eliminate that brand. Continue until an obvious choice results.
If you made a price-based decision, would you be happy?
How would your final brand choice define you?