The purchase process is a decision-making process under risk. The selection of one brand over all other brands is a process of optimizing the consumer’s utility. This optimization is done under uncertainty, since the buyer does not have perfect information. According to this process, buyers must always choose between making an immediate decision (to buy or not to buy) or delaying this decision to seek additional information, and thus reduce the decision risk. To purchase a product or a brand, buyers need a certain level of information; pre-purchase information-seeking activities depend on four factors: two factors are purchase-situation related, and the two other factors relate to the type of product and market.

purchase decision, uncertainty, advertising, pre-purchase information-seeking