This article aims at evaluating the structure of the product attributes considered important by customers at the moment of the purchase decision making, enlightened by three typologies (Alpert, 1971; Zeithaml, 1988; Peter e Olson, 1999). An exploratory study divided in a qualitative stage, which helped to identify the attributes considered important by recent buyers of air conditioner equipment, and a quantitative stage, in which the underlying attribute evaluation structure was analyzed, was conducted. For this purpose, Exploratory Factorial Analysis (EFA) technique was used to analyze the sample data. Results show that the product attributes are evaluated under four dimensions, which are related to the revised theories. Finally, managerial and academic implications of our findings are discussed.
consumer behavior; consumer decision process; product attributes; exploratory factor analysis
