determinant attributes. After evaluation, consumers are typically ready to buy. There are also a
number of factors that influence the overall decision process. In this activity, you will be examining
these factors as they relate to Yelp.
▪ Video: The video is presented to the student below the introductory information. The video plays
embedded on the page, after which questions are presented.
Follow-Up Activity
For class discussion or writing prompt:
One problem with online review sites is the writing of “shill” reviews. For example, a hotel owner or
employee might post reviews of his/her own hotel, or might offer customers an incentive (such as a
discount) to post five-star reviews regardless of the customer’s true opinion.
But even omitting false reviews, there are still challenges in using online reviews to aid in decision
making. For almost any product or service, you can find a wide range of opinions, from wildly positive to
just as wildly negative.
How do you decide which reviews are the best predictors of how you will feel about the product or
service? What cues cause you to trust or mistrust a review? How do you identify your online “reference
group” among those reviewers: the ones who are most likely to share your wants, needs, and attitudes?
Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, and SlimFast
▪ Activity Type: Case Analysis
▪ Learning Objectives: 06-01, 06-02, 06-03, 06-04, 06-05
▪ Difficulty: Hard
▪ Activity Summary: A short case compares and contrasts the products and services offered by
Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, and SlimFast. Students are asked questions relating the case
material to course concepts.
Activity
▪ Introduction: The weight loss industry, worth over $60 billion in 2010, is growing steadily because
lifestyles and food choices keep working against people’s desire to lose weight. Many Americans
spend their days sitting in front of a computer and their evenings sitting in front of a television.
Restaurant meals, prepared foods, and high-fat/high-sugar snacks have replaced home-cooked
meals, whole grains, and fresh produce. Exercise is limited to clicking a mouse or turning an ignition
key. Three recognized diet-aid behemoths, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, and SlimFast, share a
substantial piece of the pie of this highly lucrative market.
▪ Concept Review: It is vital that marketers study consumer behavior to understand why people buy
specific products or services and not others. Generally, people buy one product or service instead of
another because they perceive it to be the better value for them; that is, the ratio of benefits to costs
is highest for the product or service they purchase. But buyer behavior is far more complex than that,
and the best value is not always chosen. The consumer decision–making process model represents
the steps that consumers go through before, during, and after making purchases. In this decision
process, consumers use decision rules that are a set of criteria used consciously or subconsciously to
quickly and efficiently select from among several alternatives. Marketers need to consider that the
consumer decision process is influenced by several factors: social, psychological, situational, and the