People purchase products and services for a variety of reasons, whether it is their own personal wants and needs, family and friends, or prestige. These consumers vary in age, income, education and lifestyles. This report briefly discusses the influences involved in consumer purchases and identifies the consumption process used to purchase a product or service. Consumer decision making is “the process of making purchase decisions based on cognitive and emotional influences such as impulse, family, friends, advertisers, role models, moods, and situations that influence a purchase. (Schiffman & Kanuk, 2007 , p. G-3) External influences External influences provide information about a product or service and can significantly influence the consumer regarding his or her values, attitudes and behaviors are: (1) inputs of marketing and (2) sociocultural inputs. A company's marketing activities attempt to "reach, inform, and persuade consumers to purchase and use its products," which can be accomplished by a marketing mix that consists of more than just the product itself, but in the promotion of the product, prices and distribution channels from the producer to the consumer (Schiffman & Kanuk, 2007, p. 531) The input from the sociocultural environment of the consumer has a great influence on the purchasing decision of the consumer. consumer. This includes a wide range of non-commercial influences such as family, friends, neighbors and opinions of other consumers on the Internet. Other internalized influences include social class, culture, and subculture, which are important factors that can also influence a consumer's decision to evaluate and purchase a product. Consumer decision making... at the heart of the paper... tion of need. Pre-purchase research begins when the consumer believes that the need can be satisfied by purchasing a product or service. The final step involves the consumer evaluating alternative brands and basing their decision on the most important attributes of the product or service. When analyzing the final cost of my vehicle, I found that the marketing team had excellent promotional skills which influenced me to purchase the entire warranty package for my vehicle. Works Cited Schiffman, L. G. & Kanuk, L. L. (2007). Consumer Behavior (9th ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ:Pearson Education, Inc. Chen, T., Kalra, A., & Sun, B. (2009, December). What drives people to purchase extended warranties for consumer goods. Journal of Consumer Research. (Vol. 36, No. 4). Retrieved November 14, 2011, from http://www.strategy-business.com/article/re00101?gko=85c1a