Analyze the buyer decision process of a typical pink customer Consumers generally follow a certain decision-making process when buying products, particularly new or expensive items. They undergo five steps that include: recognition of need, search information, evaluation of alternatives, purchase, and after purchase behavior. These five steps represent a general process that can be used as a guide for studying how consumers make decisions. It is important to note, though, that consumers’ decisions do not always proceed in order through all of these steps. In fact, the consumer may end the process at any time or may not even purchase products from the Victoria Secrets. According to the market research females, on average, have a larger deep limbic system than males, implying that they are more in touch with their feelings as compared to men. It follows, then, that women are also tapped into emotionally charged images. Psychologists at the State University of New York and Stanford University found that, though emotion-evoking photographs were more likely than emotionally flat images to stick in the brains of both men and women, women were able to remember more of the emotional images over time than could men (Barney 114). Women use more of their brains to process emotional images. They have been found to have an increased ability to bond with and be connected to others-which equip them generally to be the best shoppers. A woman’s brain functions differently than a man’s in decision making. This is not a debate about which gender’s brain is better, per se, because each is simply different in form and function. Understanding these differences gives Victoria Secrets a sound basis from which to launch consideration of female-focused marketing approaches. Apply the concept of aspirational groups to Victoria Secret’s pink line. Should marketers have boundaries with regard to this concept? The appeals given are some of the appeals which make use of reference group concepts. A reference group in this context is a set of people with whom consumers of Pink products compare themselves to shape their attitudes, values, knowledge and behavior (including buying behavior). These concepts are used by Victoria Secret brands in a number of situations and celebrity usage is one of the vital applications of reference groups. A brand would derive value from celebrity associations if celebrity usage is done in a conceptual manner. Marketers would need to maintain boundaries and understand the aspirational groups with which target consumers may like to associate themselves. These aspirational groups would have to be represented in a manner which would appeal to target consumers. There could be three kinds of reference groups. The aspirational group is one which the young teens admire and like to emulate but they are not members. The consumer does not have a face-to-face contact with this group and hence it is a secondary group. Explain how both positive and negative consumer attitudes toward a brand like pink develop? How might someone’s attitude toward pink change? In general, the strength of one’s elaboration likelihood will determine the type of process by which attitudes towards the advertised brand will be formed or changed. The persuasion model in indicates two mechanisms, by which persuasion occurs: at the top, a central route; and