Chapter 6- Consumer Decision Making

When consumers are deciding about buying a bottle of Fiji water it's merely not the same as buying a house, or a car as there is a tremendous gap in the amount being spent. However when it comes down to water that is priced at more than five dollars a bottle, consumers consideration of value of price does come into play. When making a purchase of Fiji water consumers are considering the value of money, meaning how much money they are having to give up in order to purchase the water, and if the trade off is worth it. Most consumers end up buying the Fiji water even though they are able to receive free water from their fouscets at home. According to Business Insider Magazine, in 2012, Americans spent 11.8 billion dollars on water bottles. For something that we can get out of our tap at home, that's an astounding amount of money. This placed water at a cost of $1.22/ gallon. However this fact simply shows the amount of value Americans place on water bottles. We are willing to pay such a high amount for something that is offered for free within out society. When consumers purchase a bottle of water, they have a perceived value that the bottled water is of better quality, and can even makes us healthier. However the fact of the matter is water is water. During a test conducted by the Center for Nutrition Diet and Health, it was shown that among four categories: spring water, tap water, mineral water, and distilled water; tap water was the second most prefered taste at 32% while spring water was at 34%.