There are five stages of the decision proces which consumer or prospective cuctomer undergoes and each stage motivates the buyer to purchase. Only one stage is concerned with actual purchasing.

Sometimes, the consumer does not pass through all the five stages before purchasing a product. Need Arousal is the first stage of a buying decision process. The need for a given product is activated by internal and external stimuli.

The marketer creates awareness for his product through sales promotion and advertising. The external stimuli helps to arouse the consumer’s need for the product while internally, physiological imbalance such as hunger, thirst, warmth, etc. which are primarily unlearned makes a person recognize a need. The consumer recognizes a significant difference in his perceived desire and actual position.

He thereafter responds by searching for a product that can satisfy the identified need.The consumer having sufficiently been motivated to satisfy a need searches for information about every product brand that can perfectly match the need.

If a suitable product is available for an urgently felt need, the consumer quickly purchases the product. However, in most cases, consumers do not purchase products immediately the products are brought to their awareness.

At this stage, consumers look for further information, and the intensity and duration of this depends on their past experience together with the importance of the product. courtesy:consumerbehaviorbook.