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Struggling to Make the Best Buy

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Submitted By nikita1002
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Struggling to Make the Best Buy
• Describe Ashley’s dilemma in this case.
Ashley’s dilemma is to make the right decision out of the set of alternatives lying in front of her. Since her boyfriend lost his MP3 player a month before his birthday the choice for the perfect gift for his birthday was clear.i.e.MP3 player. But the choice of buying the right MP3 player for her boyfriend is not a recurring decision. She has never bought a MP3 player for her boyfriend so she has no experience whatsoever. She is not tech savvy and doesn’t understand the features and the functions of a MP3 player. Hence, she decides to get some help from Kade’s best friend who she figured would have an idea of his taste and preferences. She also tried to seek the advice from the store salesman who had knowledge about the players leaving her with the option of opting for either of the two.

• What steps are required Ashley, leading up to her final decision? How does Ashley prioritize which information is more important and relevant to her purchase? What are her alternatives?
The steps that’ll lead her to the final purchase decision begins with the information search for a small mp3 player in the price range of $40 to $60. Since the source of information available to her is external and not her own knowledge or experience with the product, she needs to evaluate the two alternatives suitably. The two alternatives are:- 1. Creative Zen Stone Plus which costs $59.99 and is recommended by her boyfriend’s best friend. 2. The Rio Carbon 5 costing $49.99 suggested by the store salesman.
The next step is to examine these alternatives. The Creative Zen player is more aesthetically pleasing to her. It has color options which include Kade’s favorite color blue. It is within her price range. And has a past record of customer satisfaction. But the salesman mentioned few performance problems with

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