Isn't Everything AI?

E. St. Elmo Lewis, an early advertising pioneer, introduced the AIDA framework (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) to formalize how consumers move from awareness to purchase. 

While some debate his authorship, with a name like E. St. Elmo Lewis, we’ll go with innocent until proven otherwise! AIDA was first applied to life insurance sales.

Philosopher John Dewey outlined five key stages in consumer decision-making in his book How We Think:
 

1. Problem/Need Recognition
2. Information Search
3. Evaluation of Alternatives
4. Purchase Decision
5. Post-Purchase Evaluation

Our co-founder and CEO, Scot Wingo, first encountered the Research, Find, Buy concept while meeting Pierre Omidyar at eBay during his time at AuctionRover. 

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This simple yet powerful framework for understanding e-commerce behavior stuck with him for decades.

In a memo, Microsoft CTO Ray Ozzie described a future where consumers could Research, Find, and Buy anything they wanted seamlessly. 

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While we suspect an ex-eBay team member influenced this thinking, the exact origins remain a mystery.

McKinsey challenged the traditional funnel model, introducing the idea of consecutive loops instead where initial consideration, active evaluation, and post-purchase engagement play an ongoing role in the buying cycle.

Today, research shows that while most consumers start their journey online, 82% of transactions still happen in-store. 

We believe this will invert, with online purchasing becoming dominant. At ReFiBuy, we’re building solutions to reignite e-commerce growth delighting consumers at every step of their Research, Find, Buy journey.