1. Describe how the three-stage model of service consumption could explain consumer behavior in a low-contact service like online textbook purchase. The three-stage model of service consumption is a customer decision making process of the service purchasing. There are three stages of the purchase process for service which are as follows: pre-purchase stage, service encounter stage and post-encounter stage. Pre-purchase stage is a stage before making decision. At this stage, consumers seek solutions to aroused needs. For instance, student needs to purchase a textbook in order to complete his assignments during semester. Then he tries to search information from different sources: external (friends, family, advertisements) and internal (memory, past experience), and evaluate which online bookstore (Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Biblio.com, etc) can deliver the best solution for him in order to come with the right decision. In this process, marketers should identify customers’ needs, clearly understand customers service expectations and what benefits they are looking for, in order to deliver what they need. The next stage is a service encounter stage. At this stage, customer uses the service. In our case, when student buying a book from chosen online bookstore, for instance, Amazon.com. Service encounters range from high contact to low contact. Online textbook purchase is a low-contact service, customers are not in contact with any services while the service is performed as well as no physical contact with service personnel. Customers usually contact the company through e-mail or website. The last stage is a post-encounter stage. In other words it is a post purchase evaluation stage- a stage after consumers use the service. If customer expectations equal or exceed service performance, it means customer is…