What's For Breakfast? Consumer Decision Making

Part I. Made a Good Decision Lately?     

 

1.         Introduction.
This activity begins to analyze how consumer decisions are made. It teaches the
concept of criteria and leads to an understanding of "best value." A suggested
discussion format follows:

 

2.         Explain:  Today we are going to talk about how we make
consumer decisions. I want each of you to think about a recent purchase that
was made by (or for) you.

 

3.         Think for a moment about these
questions. (Write them on the board.)

 

a.         What did you purchase?

b.         What reasons did you have for choosing
the particular item you purchased?

c.         What other things did you consider before making your purchase?

 

Allow students time to think about their answers.

 

4.         Teacher: Let's talk about your most
recent consumer decision. What did you buy?

 

Students may answer: Bicycle!  Radio!  Shirt!  M&Ms!
 A home computer!

 

5.         Teacher: Those are good examples. Now,
let's talk about your decisions. Select one of the items suggested by the
students-a bicycle, for example.

 

6.         Teacher: (Bobby), you bought a bicycle.
What did you think about before you made your choice? What did you evaluate
when you looked at the bikes in the store?

 

List
on the board those factors the student mentions which influenced his choice (i.e.,
style, price, appearance, etc.).

 

7.         Teacher: Class, what else might you
consider if you were buying a bicycle? Encourage students to brainstorm a list
of all of those things they might evaluate when purchasing a bicycle. Students'
responses will probably be very specific type of wheels, handlebars, speeds.
Group these specific factors under the following general headings and list as
many as possible on the board.

 

appearance

Style

price

advertising

special
features                  

value

quality/durability                 

peer approval                      

parents' influence

taste/preference                  

usefulness                          

income/savings

 

8.         Explain to the class that those things
which we weigh or evaluate in making a decision are called criteria.

 

Teacher:
Now that we've thought about the criteria we would consider in purchasing a
bicycle, think about the criteria you used in making your own purchase. List those on a piece of paper and
decide which one you thought was most important.

 

As
students respond to the question, impress on them that many times there is more
than one important reason/criterion. Often we are faced with difficult   choices regarding which of the criteria should
take priority, such as cost, quality, style or color. To achieve a balance
(among competing criteria), one usually has to make a "trade-off,"
that is, give up some of one goal to keep some of another 'goal.

 

Teacher:
Next you will learn how other criteria are used in making decisions.

 

Part II. What's for Breakfast?     

 

1.         Introduction.  The seemingly simple question, "What's
for breakfast?" takes on new significance when children are asked to think
about it as consumers going through the decision¬-making process. Consumers are
provided with a wealth of information on cereal boxes intended to help them
with their purchasing decision. In this activity the cereal box is the vehicle
for learning about "best value."

 

 

2.         How Do I Decide? Give advance notice to
the students to save an empty box of their favorite cereal to be brought to
school. Each student should have a box with the price marked on it. Place the
boxes on a table at the front of the room.

 

Ask
members of the class to identify their favorite cereal, and explain why that particular
cereal was their first choice. Start a list of their responses on the board; try
to include a variety of reasons (criteria) for their decisions. Then, ask the students
to tell how they (or their parents) decide which cereal to buy when shopping.
What factors influence their decisions? Add to the list on the board.     

 

They
may mention:

 

advertising
                            

appeal
                        

nutritional
value / price

recommended
by friends              

taste/flavor                

prizes/contests/offers

crunchiness                                     

packaging

 

Summarize
by explaining that they have listed the various criteria that they use in making
a consumer decision-choosing a cereal-and that all consumers use similar
criteria in making important purchases.

 

Part III. 
What's a Good Value?

 

1.         Introduction.  In this activity students gather data in
order to learn how consumers make informed decisions. Instruct the students to
take their empty cereal boxes to their desks. Ask the students to spend some
time reading the nutritional information on the side of the box.

 

2.         Teacher: Look at the list of vitamins
and minerals contained to your cereal. What percentage of the daily allowance
of vitamins and minerals does your cereal have? Compare the nutrition
information on your cereal box with that of a   friend's.
Does your cereal seem to be a good value nutritionally?

 

Students
will offer a variety of answers. Help the class come to a definition of value
which relates price to utility. Utility is the good or benefit that is derived from
a product, and it is measured by the consumer's satisfaction.

 

3.         Teacher: Look again at the criteria you
used in choosing a cereal. Do you think that nutritional value is important to
consider in choosing a cereal? Do you want to get good nutrition for your
money?

 

4.         Unit price and value. Ask the students to think about the many ways that the "value"
of cereal might be defined. Instruct the students to look at the price marked
on the box. Determine which cereals have the lowest and highest prices, and
which cereals have the same price. Lead the students to see that price alone does
not tell them whether that cereal is a good buy. Two cereals may be the same
price, but the number of ounces (the weight) of cereal in the box may vary. Find
two students whose cereals are the same price but whose boxes contain different
amounts.

 

Shredded
Wheat Spoon Size

Cost:
$3.19  

Box
contains: 18 oz.   

 

Honey Nut Cheerios

Cost:
$3.19                         

Box contains: 14 oz.

 

5.         Ask the students how they might
determine how much each cereal costs per ounce. (They must divide the price by
the number of ounces in each box.)

 

$3.19/18
= 17.7 cents per oz. of Shredded Wheat

$3.19/14
= 22.8 cents per oz. of Honey Nut Cheerios

 

6.         Now ask, "What's the best value in
terms of cost per ounce?" Students should see that the prices of two
products may be the same, but the amounts received for that price may be
different.

 

7.         Cost
per serving and value. Ask the students if they can think of another way that
the "value" of the cereal might be defined. Have the students read
the side of their boxes where it states the number of servings per package. Ask
two or three students, whose cereals cost the same, (or nearly the same) to
stand up and read the number of servings contained in their boxes. Are they all
the same? Are the sizes of the servings the same? [Note that one ounce is the
standard serving size for most cereals, but that one ounce in one cereal may
equal 1/2 cup (in volume), whereas one ounce in another cereal may equal 3/4
cup.] Explain to the class that the cost per serving will be the same as the
cost per ounce, since most manufacturers use one ounce as the serving size,

 

8.         Have ready a full box of cereal which
states the serving size as 1/2 cup. Place the cereal box on the table with an
empty bowl and a measuring cup. Ask a student if he/she thinks a ½ cup of that
cereal would be enough for his/her breakfast serving. Ask the student to pour
out a normal serving into the bowl and then measure that amount in the cup. Is
the student's serving size more than a cup? If so, how many servings would that
student actually get in that box of cereal? Have the student compare his/her number
of servings with the number of servings stated by the manufacturer. Ask  the class to calculate the cost per
serving according to the manufacturer and compare it to the student's cost per
serving.

 

 

 

 

Raisin
Bran   $2.59

Manufacturer's
serving size:  1/2 cup,

yields
20 servings

$2.59
divided by 20 = 13 cents per serving

 

Student's
serving size: 2/3 cup,

yields
15 servings $2.59    

$259
divided by 15 = 17 cents per serving

 

9.         Follow this same procedure with one or
two other cereals. Ask the class which cereal they now think is the best value
in terms of cost per student's actual serving size. Summarize by asking the
class what this new information-nutritional content, cost per ounce and cost
per serving-tells them about value.

 

The
class has explored the above ways to determine the "value" of a
product, but no definition for the phrase "best value" has yet been
offered. Ask students to recall the criteria used in considering the purchase
of a bicycle. Did each student have the same criteria in mind when he/she
thought of buying a bike? Would their parents have the same set of criteria in
mind when buying an automobile? (No; each person would have his/her own values
in mind in terms or price, style, color, size, fuel-efficiency, reliability,
etc.)

 

10.       Explain that "best value" is
based upon the criteria that each individual establishes; when consumers make
decisions that they perceive give them the greatest satisfaction at a given
price, they are receiving "best value."

 

11.       SUMMARY. 
In the search for the best item at the best price, wise consumers think
about the costs of the search as well as the costs of alternative items. Understanding
the factors that help determine the level of demand can help consumers examine
their own buying behavior, leading to more satisfying decisions.