In this article we will discuss about the factors influencing consumer behaviour.
Answer 1. Factors Influencing Consumer Behaviour:
A consumer’s buying behaviour is influenced by culture, social and personal and psychological factors.
1. Cultural Factors:
A consumer’s behaviour is largely shaped by his culture, subculture and social class. It has got the deepest influence on a consumer. Culture is a society’s personality including language, knowledge, laws, religions, food customs, music, art, technology, work patterns, products; that give a society its distinct flavour. It is the sum total of learned beliefs, values and customs that serve to direct the consumer behaviour of members of a particular society.
Beliefs and values are guides for consumer behaviour. Beliefs consist of the very large number of mental or verbal statements -I believe that reflect a person’s particular knowledge and assessment of something (another person, a store, a product, a brand).
Consumers both view themselves in the context of their culture and react to their environment based upon the cultural framework that they bring to the experience. Each individual perceives the world through his own cultural lens. For example, in the northern part of India, people generally prefer tea, while in USA, Americans prefer coffee. Similarly in Punjab, people eat more rotis than rice; while in southern India, people prefer more rice preparations. In the case of USA, it becomes bread for them.
Each culture consists of smaller sub cultures. Distinct cultural group that exists as an identifiable segment within a larger, more complex society / culture is called subculture. Subculture can be categorized on the basis of nationality (Birthplace of Ancestors), religion, geographical region, race, age, gender, occupation and social class.
A marketer needs to be aware of different needs for products, different patterns of usage and preference for certain brands. In different subcultures, advertising-media habits may be different. In turn, it requires different media to reach different sub cultural groups. Although geographical concentration of many ethnic subcultures makes the job easier for the marketers; yet it needs to be done carefully. In some cases, it has also been found that certain groups prefer to shop in certain stores.
Social Class also influences the buying behaviour of the consumer, as they tend to associate themselves in the other members of the class. In social class, the society is divided into a hierarchy of distinct status classes, so that members of each class have relatively the same status and members of all other classes have either more or less status
Generally social class structure can contain two class systems to nine class systems. If we classify it in six classes, then it can be upper-upper, lower-upper, upper-middle, lower- middle, upper-lower and lower-lower. Socio economic differences among the classes are reflected in differences in attitudes, in leisure activities and in consumption habits. This helps the marketer in understanding the customers better.
Marketing Research Society of India (MRSI) has divided India’s population on the basis of urban area and rural area.
MRSI has divided urban Area into eight socio economic groups based on education and occupation. These classifications are:
Similarly, MRSI has divided rural area into four social economic classifications on the basis of education and type of house.
Now, in a bid to keep pace with the fast-evolving economic outlook, consumer attitudes and preferences in the country, this system has been revamped on 3rd May, 2011 by the Media Research Users’ Council (MRUC) and the Market Research Society of India (MRSI) have unveiled a new Socio-Economic Classification (SEC) system.
The new Socio-Economic Classification (SEC) system is used to classify households in India. It’s based on two variables:
i. Education of chief wage earner and
ii. Number of “consumer durables” (from a predefined list)-owned by the family. The list has 11 items, ranging from ‘electricity connection’ and ‘agricultural land’-to cars and air conditioners.
Based on the above two parameters, each household are classified in one of 12 SEC groups—A1, A2, A3, B1, B2, CI, C2, D1, D2, E1, E2 and E3. These 12 groups are applicable to both urban and rural India. The top-most new SEC class Al comprises of 0.5% of all Indian households. Nearly 2% of urban households and less than 0.1% of rural households belong to the new SEC A1.
More than half of all SEC Al households reside in the top six Indian cities—Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. At the other end of the spectrum, the bottom-most new SEC class E3 comprises of 10% of all Indian households. Only 2% of urban households and 13% of rural households belong to new SEC E3. Nearly 93% of all SEC E3 households are in rural India.
2. Social Factors:
Consumer buying behaviour is also affected by reference groups and family.
i. Reference Group:
Any person or group that serves as a point of comparison (or reference) for an individual in forming either general or specific values, attitudes or a specific guide for behaviour. These reference groups serve as frames of reference for individuals in their purchase or consumption decisions.
Reference groups can be divided into three types:
a. Normative Reference Groups:
That influence general or broadly defined values or behaviour are called: Child and Family; influences the development of a basic code of behavior.
b. Comparative Reference Groups:
That serve as benchmarks for specific or narrowly defined attitudes or behaviour: neighbouring family; influences the expression of specific consumer attitudes and behaviour
c. Indirect Reference Groups:
Those individuals or groups with whom a person does not have direct face to face contact, such as movie stars, sports heroes, political leaders, TV personalities.
The degree of influence that a reference group exerts on an individual’s behaviour usually depends on the nature of the individual and the product and on specific social factors. Selected Consumer Related Reference Groups are friendship groups, shopping groups – purchase pals, work groups – colleagues, virtual groups or communities – Brand Communities and consumer action groups.
There can be five major types of reference group appeals. These are celebrities, experts like Automobile mechanic, common Man – Testimonials, executive and employee spokesperson and trade spokes chapter like Kellogg’s Tony the Tiger, Vodafone’s Zoozoo and McDonalds’ Ronald.
ii. Family:
For many consumers, their family is their primary reference group for many attitudes and behaviour. Family is the prime target for many product and product categories. Two or more persons related by blood, marriage or adoption; who resides together is called family. It may be married couples or nuclear families or extended families. Socialisation is a core function of the family, besides other functions like economic and emotional support and the pursuit of a suitable lifestyle for its members.
The key consumer related roles of family members include – influencers (provides info), gatekeepers (controls info), deciders, buyers, preparers (transform the product), users, maintainers (service or repairs) and disposers (disposal or discontinuation). A family consumption decisions is often influenced by its lifestyle, roles and cultural factors.
Family consumption decision making may be husband dominated, wife dominated or it may be joint. It can also be autonomic decisions i.e. either solitary or unilateral. In India, generally the decision is husband dominated, while in USA, it can be joint or may be solitary depending on the product. Now children also influence the family consumption decisions.
3. Personal Factors:
Consumer buying behaviour is also influenced by age and stages in family life cycle, lifestyle, personality and self-concept.
i. Age and Stages in Family Life Cycle:
The Family Life Cycle is a composite variable created by systematically combining such commonly used demographic variables as marital status, size of family, age of family members and employment status of the head of household. Traditional and non-traditional family cycle may throw different opportunities for a marketer.
A marketer should also consider major life events like marriage, divorce, birth, relocation, job change; which may open up space for new needs. While a marriage may require the services of a marriage planner; it may also bring lots of purchases for apparels and appliances front. Divorce has opened up vistas for sites like second shaadi(dot)com to the services of a lawyer. Job change and relocation has created opportunities for packers and Movers Company like Agarwal packers and movers.
ii. Lifestyle:
Lifestyle is another personal factor, which influences the behaviour of the consumer. Lifestyle is a person’s day to day pattern of living in this world. This wholesome pattern of living is expressed in terms of activities, interests and opinions, which is also known as AIO framework. It is important for a marketer to link the lifestyle of a person to the products and brands. Generally, the marketers try to project the brand personality, which imitates the target consumer personality.
Once you hear about Nike (Athlete in all of us), Reebok (Success / Cricket), Levi’s (American, Real and Authentic, Rugged) and Shoppers Stop (Exclusivity, Individuality); it sounds you something. The brand personality is also endorsed by the celebrity, whose personality matches the consumer’s persona. That’s why Akshay Kumar advertises for Levi’s, while M. S. Dhoni and Bipasha advertises for Reebok.
The study of lifestyle is called psychographics. Psychographic can also be understood in American context through Sri Consulting – Business Intelligence (SRIC-BI) VALS (Values and Lifestyle) Model Framework. VALS is based on 4 demographic factors (Sex, Age, Education and Income) and 35 Attitudinal Questions (I am often interested in theories / I like a lot of variety in my life / I like to learn about art, culture, and history….) to profile the consumers.
The VALS framework divides the American adults into eight typologies under two categories – higher resources and lower resources. Higher resources include Innovators, Thinkers, Achievers and Experiencers and lower resources include Believers, Strivers, Makers and Survivors. Although the framework is not very useful in Indian context; but it can give an insight and can be modified to suit the Indian environment. Titan, the topmost watch brand in India, offers different watches under sub brands like Octane, Orion, Edge, Heritage, WWF Collection etc to target the different psychographic customer base.
iii. Personality and Self Concept:
Personality refers to the inner psychological characteristics that both determine and reflect how a person responds to his or her environment.
There are three distinct personality properties:
I. Personality reflects individual differences
II. Personality is consistent and enduring
III. Personality can change by major life events
The difference in personality traits creates opportunities for different brands. That’s why, we use the term brand personality; where the brand is personified with the specific mix of human traits and even gender also. The brand personality then attracts people with the similar personality traits. If Nike is about athlete in all of us, Reebok is about success factor and cricket in India; while Levi’s is truly American, real, authentic and rugged.
Similarly youth channel – UTV Bindaas has created a brand personality through its campaign ‘What I Am’, which is cool, rebellious yet responsible. This shows in their fresh and youthful programming also, which has been hit among the youth. Programs like Emotional Atyachaar, Dadagiri, Love Lockup, Date Trap etc. have made this channel India’s no. 1 youth channel.
There is also a correlation between the product personality and colour. If Eveready is represented by red, generally fast food items use more of red and yellow. Every colour has a different meaning. Red represents exciting, hot and strong, while black means power, authority, mystery; white stands for goodness and purity, yellow for caution and novelty. Blue commands respect, authority, while green is secure, natural and relaxed.
4. Psychological Factors:
Consumers are also influenced by psychological factors. These factors drive the reason for buying, that’s why it is also termed as ‘why’ of buying. A person’s buying behaviour is influenced by following major psychological processes.
i. Motivation:
Motivation is the driving force within individuals which impels them to act. This driving force is produced by a state of uncomfortable tension, which exists as the result of an unsatisfied need. Some needs are primary needs, also known as innate needs, which are physiological (biogenic) in nature.
These needs include all the factors required to sustain physical life i.e. food, water, clothing, shelter, sex and physical safety. Other needs are secondary needs, which are acquired needs. These needs are developed in individuals after their birth. These are primarily psychological, which include love, acceptance, esteem and self-fulfillment.
Motivation is a highly dynamic construct that is constantly changing in reaction to life experiences. Rational motives can be economic sense, while emotional motives can be pride, fear, affection, status etc. According to Henry Murray, there are 28 psychogenic needs. Although everyone has the same basic set of needs, but that individual differ in their priority ranking of these needs. These needs include Achievement, recognition, exhibition, affiliation, order, and dominance.
ii. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:
Dr. Abraham Maslow formulated a widely acceptable theory of human motivation based on the notion of a universal hierarchy of human needs. According to him, there are five basic levels of human needs from biogenic to psychogenic. The theory postulates that individuals seek to satisfy lower level needs before higher level needs emerge.
These needs are as follows:
I. Physiological needs: Food, Water, Air, Shelter, Sex
II. Safety and Security Needs: Protection, Order, Stability (Safety, Health, Savings, Insurance, Education)
III. Social Needs: Love, Affection, Friendship, Belonging
IV. Egoistic Needs: Inwardly directed ego (Self Esteem, success, independence, personal satisfaction) and outwardly directed ego (Prestige, Status, Recognition)
V. Self Actualisation Needs; Self Fulfillment
Men talk about women, sports and cars. Women talk about men inside sports cars.
In terms of product and services, these needs can drive demand in the following areas:
a. Physiological Needs- Health Foods, Medicines etc.
b. Safety and Security Needs- Insurance, Mediclaim, And Home Security System etc.
c. Social Needs- Personal Care and grooming products, Clothes etc.
d. Egoistic Needs- Big Cars, Expensive Furniture etc.
e. Self Actualisation Needs- Hobby related products, adventure trips, postgraduate education etc.
f. Perception- Perception is the process by which individuals select, organise and interpret stimuli into a meaningful and coherent picture of the world. Consumers make decisions based on what they perceive rather than on the basis of objective reality.
It’s all about how we see the world around us. That’s why product packages, brand names, ads, television commercial (TVC) etc. are used carefully in accordance with the absolute threshold, to increase the response from consumers. Generally cover page ad, use of empty space in ad, usage of yellow, ads on the floors etc. are done to cut the ad clutter and to increase the sensory input.
On the other hand, a marketer tries to create just noticeable differences (j.n.d.), so that negative changes are not readily discernible to the public (remain below j.n.d.) and product improvements are very apparent to the customers without being wastefully extravagant (at or just above the j.n.d.). Just noticeable difference is also known as differential threshold. For example, promotional offerings like Lays 20% free in the pack or Cello Pen lasts 15% longer or Parachute Oil 100 ml free are examples of j.n.d.
g. Learning- Learning is the process by which individuals acquire the purchase and consumption knowledge and experience they apply to future related behavior. Although some learning is intentional, much learning is incidental. That’s why, learning is very important in consumer behavior.
Generally a company advertises its product again and again about their brand and their benefits, to fortify its brand name in the mind of the consumers. Besides the repetition, a company also uses the ability of consumers to generalize to market their products better.
Due to generalisation only, all the products look similar in a product category. To benefit from this, Big Bazaar’s own private label Tasty Treat’s packaging looks almost similar to its biggest competitor and market leader Kurkure.
Similarly product extensions and family branding is also used in marketing to lure the consumers as Knorr or Dove or Dettol has done in the market. Now the dettol brand is not only restricted to its popular antiseptic liquid, but has also extended to soaps, liquid hand wash, body wash, shaving cream and medicated plaster.
Besides repetition and stimulus generalisation, stimulus discrimination is also used in marketing through distinct positioning efforts. Positioning is an image or position that a product or service holds in the minds of the consumer.
h. Attitude- Attitude is defined as a favourable or unfavourable predisposition that a person holds towards an object in the environment. Attitude has three components – cognitive, affective and conative i.e. behavioural. Cognitive deals with the rational and logical evaluations, while affective deals with the emotional part. Conative deals with the action tendencies.
A marketer tries to find out the attitude of a consumer towards its brand through various models like Fishbein’s multi attribute model and leek Ajzen’s model of behavioural intentions. Once being aware, a marketer tries to create a favourable attitude towards its products with the help of its conception and branding through its promotional messages and themes.
i. Beliefs-Beliefs are descriptive thoughts about the products and brands in the market. These brand beliefs reside in the consumer’s memory, which help them to choose the brands they like. A marketer tries to create a favourable positioning to attract the consumer. In India, World Diamond Council has tried to create a belief with its positioning ‘A Diamond is Forever – Heera Hai Sada Ke Liye’.
Answer 2. Factors Affecting the Consumer Behaviour:
Buyer decision processes are the decision making processes undertaken by consumers in regard to a potential market transaction before, during, and after the purchase of a product or service.
More generally, decision making is the cognitive process of selecting a course of action from among multiple alternatives. Common examples include shopping, deciding what to eat.
Decision making is said to be a psychological construct. This means that although we can never “see” a decision, we can infer from observable behaviour that a decision has been made.
Therefore, we conclude that a psychological event that we call “decision making” has occurred. It is a construction that imputes commitment to action. That is, based on observable actions, we assume that people have made a commitment to affect the action.
In general, there are three ways of analysing consumer buying decisions.
They are:
(i) Economic Models – These models are largely quantitative and are based on the assumptions of rationality and near perfect knowledge. The consumer is seen to maximize their utility. Refer consumer theory. Game theory can also be used in some circumstances.
(ii) Psychological Models – These models concentrate on psychological and cognitive processes such as motivation and need reduction. They are qualitative rather than quantitative and build on sociological factors, like cultural influences and family influences.
(iii) Consumer Behaviour Models – These are practical models used by marketers. They typically blend both—economic and psychological models.
A consumer, making a purchase decision will be affected by the following three factors:
(1) Personal;
(2) Psychological; and
(3) Social.
The marketer must be aware of these factors in order to develop an appropriate marketing mix for its target market.
(1) Personal Factors:
Unique to a particular person. Demographic Factors. Sex, Race, Age etc. Who in the family is responsible for the decision making? Young people purchase things for different reasons than older people.
(2) Psychological Factors:
Psychological factors include:
A motive is an internal energizing force that orients a person’s activities toward satisfying a need or achieving a goal. Actions are affected by a set of motives, not just one. If marketers can identify motives, they can better develop a marketing mix.
Maslow hierarchy of needs includes:
(a) Physiological;
(b) Safety;
(c) Love and Belonging;
(d) Esteem; and
(e) Self-actualization.
The hierarchy is triangular. This is because as you move up it, fewer and fewer people satisfy higher level needs. We begin at the bottom level.
Physiological needs such as food, air, water, heat, and the basic necessities of survival need are to be satisfied. At the level of safety, man has a place to live that protects him from the elements and predators. At the third level we meet our social and belongingness needs, i.e., we marry, or join groups of friends, etc.
The final two levels are esteem and self-actualisation. Fewer people satisfy the higher level needs. Esteem means that you achieve something that makes you recognised and gives personal satisfaction, for example writing a book. Self-actualisation is achieved by few. Here a person is one of a small number actually to do something.
(ii) Perception:
What do you see? Perception is the process of selecting, organizing and interpreting information inputs to produce meaning. If we choose what information we pay attention to, organize it and interpret it. Information inputs are the sensations received through sight, taste, hearing, smell and touch.
(a) Selective Exposure — Select inputs to be exposed to our awareness. More likely if it is linked to an event, satisfies current needs, intensity of input changes (sharp price drop).
(b) Selective Distortion — Changing/twisting current received information, inconsistent with beliefs. Advertisers that use comparative advertisements (pitching one product against another), have to be very careful that consumers do not distort the facts and perceive that the advertisement was for the competitor.
(c) Selective Retention — Remember inputs that support beliefs, forgets those that don’t. Average supermarket shopper is exposed to 17,000 products in a shopping visit lasting 30 minutes-60% of purchases are unplanned. Exposed to 1,500 advertisement per day. Can’t be expected to be aware of all these inputs, and certainly will not retain many.
Interpreting information is based on what is already familiar, to our knowledge that is stored in the memory.
(iii) Ability and Knowledge:
Need to understand individuals capacity to learn. Learning, changes in a person’s behaviour caused by information and experience. Therefore, to change consumers’ behaviour about your product, need to give them new information i.e., product…free sample etc. When making buying decisions, buyers must process information.
(a) Knowledge is the familiarity with the product and expertise.
(b) Inexperience buyers often use prices as an indicator of quality more than those who have knowledge of a product.
(c) Consumers choose the most expensive thing, because they assume that the higher price indicates better quality. For example, Non-alcoholic Beer.
(d) Learning is the process through which a relatively permanent change in behaviour results from the consequences of past behaviour.
Knowledge and positive and negative feelings about an object or activity-may be tangible or intangible, living or non-living…..Drive perceptions.
Individual learns attitudes through experience and interaction with other people. Consumer attitudes toward a firm and its products greatly influence the success or failure of the firm’s marketing strategy.
Honda “You meet the nicest people on a Honda”, dispel the unsavoury image of a motorbike rider, late 1950s. Changing market of the 1990s, baby boomers aging, Hondas market returning to hard core. To change this they have a new slogan “Come ride with us”.
Attitudes and attitude-change are influenced by consumers personality and lifestyle. Consumers screen information that conflicts with their attitudes. Distort information to make it consistent and selectively retain information that reinforces our attitudes i.e., brand loyalty. There is a difference between attitude and intention to buy (ability to buy).
A person’s distinguishing psychological characteristics that lead to relatively consistent and lasting responses to stimuli in the environment. We are each unique as individuals, and we each respond differently as consumers.
For example – some people are ‘optimizers’ who will keep shopping until they are certain that they have found the best price for a particular item, while other people are “satisficers” who will stop shopping when they believe that they have found something that is “good enough.”
If you are a salesperson in a retail shoe store, how might you work differently with these two personalities? All the internal traits and behaviours that make a person unique, uniqueness arrives from a person’s heredity and personal experience.
Examples include:
(a) Workaholism;
(b) Compulsiveness;
(c) Self-confidence;
(d) Friendliness;
(e) Adaptability;
(f) Ambitiousness;
(g) Dogmatism;
(h) Authoritarianism;
(i) Introversion;
(j) Extroversion;
(k) Aggressiveness; and
(i) Competitiveness.
Traits affect the way people behave. Marketers try to match the store image to the perceived image of their customers.
There is a weak association between personality and Buying Behavior; this may be due to unreliable measures. Nike ads. Consumers buy products that are consistent with their self-concept.
Recent US trends in lifestyles are a shift towards personal independence and individualism and a preference for a healthy, natural lifestyle. Lifestyles are the consistent patterns people follow in their lives. For example, healthy foods for a healthy lifestyle. Sun tan not considered fashionable in US until 1920’s.
(3) Social Factors:
Consumer wants, learning, motives etc. are influenced by opinion leaders, person’s family, reference groups, social class and culture.
A person within a reference group who exerts influence on others because of special skills, knowledge, personality, etc. You might ask the webmaster at work for an opinion about a particular software application.
Software manufacturers often give away free beta copies of software to potential opinion leaders with the hope that they will, in turn, influence many others to purchase the product.
(ii) Roles and Family Influences:
A group of people related by blood, marriage, or other socially approved relationship. Role…things you should do based on the expectations of you from your position within a group.
People have many roles i.e., husband, father, employer/ee. Individuals role are continuing to change. Therefore, marketers must continue to update information.
Family is the most basic group a person belongs to.
Marketers must understand that:
(a) Many family decisions are made by the family unit;
(b) Consumer behaviour starts in the family unit;
(c) Family roles and preferences are the model for children’s future family (can reject/alter/etc.);
(d) Family buying decisions are a mixture of family interactions and individual decision making; and
(e) Family acts an interpreter of social and cultural values for the individual.
The Family Life Cycle:
Families go through various stages, each stage creates different consumer demands:
(a) Bachelor stage;
(b) Newly married, young, no children;
(c) Full nest I, youngest child under 6;
(d) Full nest II, youngest child 6 or over;
(e) Full nest III, older married couples with dependant children;
(f) Empty nest I, older married couples with no children living with them, head in labour force;
(g) Empty nest II, older married couples, no children living at home, head retired;
(h) Solitary survivor, in labour force;
(i) Solitary survivor, retired; and
(j) Modernized life cycle includes divorced and no children,
(iii) Reference Groups:
Groups, often temporary, that affect a person’s values, attitude, or behaviours e.g., your behaviours around colleagues at work or friends at school are probably different from your behaviours around your parents, no matter your age or stage in the family life-cycle.
If you were a salesperson of second-hand cars, how might you respond differently to a nineteen year old prospect accompanied by her boyfriend from one accompanied by two girlfriends?
Individual identifies with the group to the extent that he takes on many of the values, attitudes or behaviours of the group members. Families, friends, civic and professional organizations. Any group that has a positive or negative influence on a persons attitude and behaviour.
Membership groups (belong to) – affinity marketing is focused on the desires of consumers that belong to reference groups. Marketers get the groups to approve the product and communicate that approval to its members. Credit Cards etc.!!
Aspiration groups (want to belong to) – disassociate groups (do not want to belong to) Honda, tries to disassociate from the “biker” group. The degree to which a reference group will affect a purchase decision depends on an individual’s susceptibility to reference group influence and the strength of his/her involvement with the group.
A group of individuals with similar social rank, based on such factors as occupation, education, and wealth. An open group of individuals who have similar social rank. US is not a classless society. US criteria; occupation, education, income, wealth, race, ethnic groups and possessions.
(a) Social class influences many aspects of our lives, i.e., upper middle class. Americans prefer luxury cars Mercedes;
(b) Upper-upper class, 0.3%, inherited wealth, aristocratic names;
(c) Lower-upper class, 1.2%, newer social elite, from current professionals and corporate elite;
(d) Upper-middle class, 12.5%, college graduates, managers and professionals;
(e) Middle Americans-middle class, 32%, average pay white collar workers and blue collar friends;
(f) Working class, 38%, average pay blue collar workers;
(g) Lower Americans-lower class, 9%, working, not on welfare; and
(h) Lower-lower class, 7%, on welfare.
Social class determines to some extent, the types, quality, and quantity of products that a person buys or uses.
Lower class people tend to stay close to home when shopping, do not engage in much pre-purchase information gathering. Stores project definite class images.
Family, reference groups and social classes are all social influences on consumer behavior. All operate within a larger culture.
The set of basic values, beliefs, norms, and associated behaviours that are learned by a member of society.
Note that culture is something that is learned and that it has a relatively long lasting effect on the behaviours of an individual. As an example of cultural influences, consider how the salesperson in an appliance store in the U.S. must react to different couples who are considering the purchase of a refrigerator. In some sub-cultures, the husband will play a dominant role in the purchase decision; in others, the wife will play a more dominant role.
Thus, ‘Culture’ refers to the set of values, ideas, and attitudes that are accepted by a homogenous group of people and transmitted to the next generation.
Culture also determines what is acceptable with product advertising. Culture determines what people wear, eat, reside and travel. Cultural values in the US are good health, education, individualism and freedom.
In American culture, time scarcity is a growing problem, i.e., change in meals. Big impact on international marketing. Different society, different levels of needs, different cultural values.
Culture can be divided into sub-cultures:
(a) Geographic regions; and
(b) Human characteristics such as age and ethnic background, i.e., West Coast, teenage and Asian American. Culture affects what people buy, how they buy and when they buy.
Answer 3. Factors Affecting Consumer Behaviour:
Consumers’ buying behaviour is mainly influenced by cultural, social and personal factors.
These are discussed in detail:
1. Cultural Factors (Culture, Subculture and Social Class):
(i) Culture – It is the fundamental determinant of a person’s wants and behaviour. Culture is an aggregate of customs, beliefs, values and objects that a society uses to cope with its environment and passes on to the future generations. For example – in American culture packed food is readily accepted but in India, freshly prepared food is preferred.
(ii) Subculture – A culture consists of several subcultures, which are groups of individuals who have similar values and behaviour patterns like similar food, clothing, religion, geographic regions etc.
For example – preferences for food in North India are totally different vis-a-vis South India. Thus marketers need to adopt multicultural marketing, for example – ‘Bru’ coffee has a different taste in north and south India.
(iii) Social Classes – A social class means an open group of individuals with similar social rank. Generally this classification is done on the basis of income-level and occupation. The society is divided into three broad categories, viz., – upper, middle and lower classes. These classes have a major influence on the buying pattern not only on the type of products but also on the types of stores preferred.
Impact of Cultural Factors on Consumer Behaviour:
Consumer behaviour refers to the buying behaviour of ultimate consumers, i.e., those persons who purchase products for personal or household use, and not for business purposes.
Man is primarily a social animal and his wants and behaviour are largely influenced by the group of which he is a member. The tendency of all people is to fit in a society inspite of their personal likes and dislikes. Most of the luxury goods are bought primarily because one’s neighbour or friend of the same status bought it.
Culture, sub-culture, social classes, reference groups and family are the different factor groups that influence buyer behaviour. Among these variables, perhaps, family plays a very important role in behaviour formation. Family life cycle provides a basic criterion for determining buying behaviour on the basis of different stages through which the life of an individual passes.
2. Psychological Factors:
Factors that operate within an individual’s mind and determine his general behaviour are called psychological factors.
They are as under:
(i) Perception – It is the process of selecting, organizing and interpreting information to derive a meaning. Different people perceive same thing in different ways, for example, if a product is highly priced someone can think the product has quality and that is the reason it is demanding a higher price.
(ii) Motives – These include location, price, variety, service and behaviour of sales people. Marketers use in-depth interviews, projections and other methods to know and understand the motives of buyers.
(iii) Learning – Consumers learn through information from advertisements, salespersons, friends and relatives. They also learn from buying and using products.
(iv) Attitude – It refers to an individual’s evaluation, feelings and behavioural tendencies towards an object or idea, for example, a consumer having strong negative attitude towards a firm’s products not only avoids buying its products but also urges his relatives and friends to do so.
(v) Personality – Personality influences the type of brand and products to be purchased, for example, Hayward’s 5000 soda, Enfield bikes etc.
(vi) Self-concept – A person’s perception or views about himself play an important role in his buying decisions.
3. Social Factors:
The factors that the people exert on buying behaviour are called social factors.
They are as follows:
(i) Role in the family – Each individual performs different role in the family, for example, a woman in the family generally makes the buying decisions concerned with household items like food, healthcare, laundry, kitchen appliances etc.
Male members generally take decisions to buy property, car, investment options, shaving creams, deodorants etc. Thus, a marketer should know about his product buying decisions.
(ii) Reference groups – A reference group is any group that exercises a positive or negative influence on a person’s attitude, values and behaviour. They are of three types — membership, aspirational and dissociative.
(iii) Opinion leader – The reference group members who provide information about a sphere that interests the members of the group is called an opinion leader. He/She is most likely to be the most influential person.
(iv) Social classes – Social class is an open group of individuals with a social rank. It is generally divided into upper middle and lower classes on the basis of income and occupation. Social class has an impact on spending and saving habits, for example – luxury goods are not for lower and middle classes.
(v) Culture and sub-culture – Our culture determines what we are, what we use, where we reside and how we travel, etc.
4. Personal Factors (Age and Stage in Life Cycle, Occupation and Economic Circumstances, Personality and Self-Concept, Life-Style and Values):
(i) Age and Stage in life cycle – People buy different goods and services over a life time. Taste in food, clothes, furniture etc. are always age related.
(ii) Occupation and Economic Circumstances – Occupation also influences consumption patterns. A labourer will buy bidi, lunch boxes, work shoes; whereas a company president will buy branded luxury items, Club memberships etc. Economic circumstances affect not only the purchasing power of the consumer but also his savings, debts, assets, borrowing power, etc.
(iii) Personality-and Self Concept – Personality refers to a set of internal traits and distinct behavioural tendencies that result in consistent patterns of buying behaviour. Self-concept or self-image means a person’s perception or view of himself. People want to reflect their image from the products they use or buy.
(iv) Life-style and Values – Life-style is a person’s pattern of living in the world as expressed in activities, interests and opinions. For example, people who prefer cash over card, will avoid using plastic money whereas there are people who want to use debit and credit cards only for all money transactions.
Answer 4. Factors Influencing Consumer Behaviour:
There are several factors which affect consumer behaviour related to purchase and consumption of products and service directly or indirectly these can be classified as culture, social group, personal attributes and psychological factors.
(a) Cultural Factors:
Culture is the most fundamental determinant of a person’s wants and behaviour. It is composed of different variables like values, perception, ethics etc. These variables are transmitted through socialization and cultural process. A child growing up in the higher societies is exposed to these broad cultural values, formal and informal groups directly influence consumption pattern and attitude towards a product and services. Personal attributes of a customer like achievement and success, activity, efficiency and practicality, progress, material comfort, individualism, freedom, external comfort, humanitarianism, and youthfulness.
Marketers are always trying to target “cultural shifts” which might point to new products that might be wanted by customers or to increased demand. Now people are more aware about health and fitness, obesity is a problem in urban societies but this has created opportunities and new market for industries of gymnasium, health clubs, and low calorie food and exercise equipments.
Subculture:
Each culture contains “sub-cultures” these are the groups of people which share same values. Each culture consists of smaller subcultures that provide more specific identification and socialization for their members. Sub-cultures can include nationalities, religions, racial groups, or groups of people sharing the same geographical location. Sometimes a sub-culture will create a substantial and distinctive market segment of its own. For example, people work in BPO industry share common culture.
(b) Social Factors:
In addition to cultural factors, a consumer’s behaviour is influenced by such social factors as reference groups, family, and social roles and statuses.
Reference Groups:
The decision of a customer to purchase and use certain products and services is influenced by its social environment, people around that customer with whom he interacts and the various social groups to which he belong. These groups are known as reference groups.
As the decision of a customer to purchase a particular commodity is widely influenced by these reference groups therefore it is necessary to study reference groups, following are the main categories of reference groups:
(i) Primary and Secondary groups:
A primary group is one with which an individual interacts on a regular basis and whose opinion is of importance to him. Family, neighbours, close friends, colleagues and co-workers are examples of primary groups. Secondary groups are those with which an individual interacts only occasionally and he does not consider their opinion very important.
(ii) Formal and Informal Groups:
A formal group has a highly defined structure, specific roles and authority positions and specific goals. For example, club memberships, students of a university, member of labour union or political party are formal groups.
An informal group is defined as that group which may have no specified roles and goals. For example, group of people in a tour travel program is an example of informal group.
(iii) Membership and Symbolic Groups:
A membership group is one to which a person belongs or qualifies for membership. Like students of a school, workers of labour union, players of a cricket team. A symbolic group is one which an individual aspires to belong to, but actually he is not the member. If a person wants to be member of golf club then the golf club is conceders as symbolic group.
(iv) Indirect Reference Groups:
It comprise those individuals or groups with whom an individual does not have any direct face to face contact, such as sports stars, film stars, politicians. Reference groups are used in advertising to appeal to different market segments, group situation with which potential customers can identify are used to promote products and services.
Three types of reference groups appeals most commonly used are:
(a) Celebrities,
(b) Experts, and
(c) The ‘common man’
Celebrities are well known people they are public figure who are admired and their fans aspire to emulate their behaviour. Film stars and sports stars are the most popular celebrities.
Experts such as doctors, lawyer, scientists and authors are used for establishing the benefits of the product. Colgate and Promise toothpastes are shown by Dentist and civil engineer in advertisement of cement. Another reference group appeal is that which uses the testimonials of a satisfied customer. It demonstrates to the prospective customer that demonstrates just like him uses and is satisfied with the product.
Family:
Family is a primary group which influences most behaviour of a customer. Our values, attitudes, beliefs and purchase behaviour patterns are highly depends on family children learn buying behaviour of their parents and elders. The second type of family is the family of procreation consisting of the consumer’s spouse and children. Within the family, different member play different roles.
Marketers are interested in finding out exactly the role played by individual members so that they can appropriately design their promotion strategy to suit these differing roles. Traditionally, it has been the wife’s role to purchase food, clothing and other household sundries, while the husband played a dominant role in the purchased of automobiles and life insurance. Now-a-days role of women in purchase decision is changing due to economic and social empowerment.