The main three factors that influence buyers’ decision to buy a product or a service are
1) its price     2) its quality    and    3) its delivery at the right time and the right place.

As buyers consider buying a product they weigh the price they have to pay against the benefits they obtain when they acquire the product.

These benefits are associated with the quality of the product. Buyers tend to choose products with the highest quality and the lowest price - in fact they are trying to maximize the ratio “quality/price”. On the other hand, buyers will only buy those products that are present on the market or that can be promptly delivered.

If in the 1950s quality had less importance than price when deciding to buy a product, the situation at present is different. A survey carried out among the general public in Europe showed that 47.6 % of Europeans considered quality the prime purchase factor compared with only 29.6 % for whom the prime factor was price.

The same survey revealed that most European consumers associate quality with the country where the product was manufactured.