Lets Begin with Perception...

During the second week of university, the term Perception was introduced.  As this workshop is all about the topic of understanding the customer, it obviously means the perception of a brand, product, packaging or advertisement by a consumer. 

Sound complicated? Don't worry it's not as hard as it seems....

So lets discuss what perception actually is.  As it is definitely something that needs to be understood. During the lecture we were introduced to a few definitions of perception,  this certainly helped the class to understand what the topic was, and what we would be addressing.  Many theorists have defined the meaning, and one of the simplest ways being; “….perception is how we see the world around us." (Schiffman and Kanuk 2003).  This is a good definition as its very concise and to the point.  Some other defintion were;

• “sensations are absorbed by the consumer and used to interpret the surrounding world.”  (Solomon et al, 2010 p 118).
• According to Chisnell (1997) “perception has to be described as to observe through the senses.” 
• "Perception is the process of sensing, selecting and interpreting consumer stimuli in the external world," (Wilkie, 1994).

Using these given definitions, made it easy for us to understand perception.  All the theorist believe that the way a person see, hears, feels, smells and tastes something will help them perceive and interpret an object.  The perception process is as follows; Firstly information is obtained through human sensory receptors such as; eyes, ears, nose, mouth and fingers, after this, the information is then selected, organised and interpreted.  Therefore my own definition of perception is 'the way an individual person interprets the world, using their five senses.'  I think the task of making our own definition of perception was a good idea as it helped each of us to personally understand the meaning of it.

When I was researching perception, I found a couple of useful websites which helped explain perception;

http://www.ehow.com/about_6561090_consumer-perception-theory.html

http://www.consumerpsychologist.com/cb_Perception.html.

During the lecture we were also introduced to 'The Howard - Sheth Theory of Buyer Behaviour.' Lets be honest at first glance this model and the theory behind it did seem very complex, and honestly I was a bit scared by it.  However after it was explained clearly and I used thorough research (books and the Internet) it was actually quite simple to understand.  This model simply shows how during the consumer/buyer decision making process the perceptual process is addressed. An everyday example of this process could be; the decision of a consumer to buy a 'Mercedez Benz’ car.  A consumer may decide they need or want this product, they will then consider alternative cars, not necessarily a Mercedes, such as a Jaguar, or Porsche.  Then a decision will be made based on the competing alternatives as to what to purchase, such as the prices of the different cars and the quality.  Next the purchase of the car will be made, the consumer will then decide if they are satisfied and if they will purchase from the Mercedez' brand again.

There were many notes taken in this lecture (obviously), as I think it was a very interesting subject, the discussions in class helped us understand the subject and the activities gave us a chance to use the different theories. Yes, I have to admit understanding Perception was slightly difficult to begin with, but after the lecture,  I can certainly say I have learnt something new and interesting.

What a great start!