Peer-reviewed
A Typology of Individual Search Strategies Among Purchasers of New Automobiles
Cluster analysis of questionnaire data was used to identify six distinctive external information search patterns among purchasers of new automobiles. Two of the shopper clusters had not been clearly specified in prior research-namely, an advisor-assisted shopper group and a highly self-reliant shopper group. An effort to cross-validate the typology using data obtained from automobile sales personnel was partially successful. It is hypothesized that these strategies are reflections of heuristic decision processes which reflect both individual difference characteristics and the purchase situation
Article, 1984