External Determinants of Buying Behavior

1. EXTERNAL
DETERMINANTS OF
BUYING BEHAVIOR
By: Astha Chand

2. CONTENTS
 Consumer Psychographics vs Demographics
 Group Dynamics & Consumer Reference Groups
 Family as Consuming Unit
 Social & Cultural Environment of Consumers
 Economic, Demographic, Cultural, Subcultural & Cross Cultural Influences
 Social Class & Social Stratification

3. CONSUMER PSYCHOGRAPHICS
vs
DEMOGRAPHICS

4. DEMOGRAPHICS
 Factors such as age, sex, education, income, marital status, family size and
social class, etc., are used singly, or in combination, to segment the market.
 Eg: Toy manufacturers such as Funskool and Mattel toys segment the market
on the basis of age of children.
 Eg: Car manufacturers segment the market by considering income as an
important varia.ble.
 Eg: Producers of refrigerators, washing machines, microwave ovens, etc.,
take income and family size as important variables in segmenting the market.

5. PSYCHOGRAPHICS
 A consumer psychographics is a profile of a potential consumr based on
interests, activities, attitude, lifestyle, values and opinions.
 It is a snapshot into consumer’s lifestyle organizations often use to quickly
identify potential costumers.
 Companies then can use these information to create and implement highly
targeted advertising campaigns

7. GROUP DYNAMICS
&
CONSUMER REFERENCE GROUPS

8. WHAT IS A GROUP?
 A Group may be defined as two or more people who interact to
accomplish either individual or mutual goals.
Classification of Groups by membership status:
1. MEMBERSHIP GROUP:
A group to which a person either belongs or would qualify for membership in.
2. SYMBOLIC GROUP:
A group in which an individual is not likely to receive membership, despite
acting like a member by adopting the group’s values, attitudes and behavior.
 GROUP DYNAMICS:
It refers to how individuals form groups and how one person’s purchasing
influences the other person’s actions.

9. REFERENCE GROUPS
 A Reference Group is any person or group that serves as point of comparison
(or reference) for an individual in forming either general or specific values,
attitudes, or a specific guide for behavior.
 From a marketing perspective, reference groups are groups that serve as
frames of reference for individuals in their purchase or consumption
decisions.
1. NORMATIVE REFERENCE GROUP:
Reference groups that influence general or broadly defined values or
behavior.
Eg: A child’s normative reference group is the immediate family, which is
likely to play an important role in molding the child’s general consumer
behavior (such as which food to select for good nutrition, appropriate ways to
dress for specific occasions, how and where to shop, etc.,)

10. 2. COMPARATIVE REFERENCE GROUP:
Reference group that serves as benchmarks for specific or narrowly defined
attitudes or behavior.
Eg: A neighbouring family whose lifestyle appears to be admirable and worthy
of imitation (the way they maintain their home, their choice of home
furnishing and cars, their taste in clothing, or the number and types of
vacations they take)
 A BROADENED PERSPECTIVE OF REFERENCE GROUP
INDIRECT REFERENCE GROUPS:
Consists of those individuals or groups with whom a person does not have
direct face to face contact, such as movie stars, politicians, sports people
etc.,

11. FACTORS AFFECTING REFERENCE GROUPS

12. 1. INFORMATION & EXPERIENCE
 An individual who has first-hand experience with a product or service, or can
easily obtain full information about it, is less likely to be influenced by the
advice or examples of others.
 On the other hand, a person who has little or no experience with the product
or service & does not expect to have access to objective information about it.
 Eg: When a young corporate sales rep wants to impress his client, he may
take her to a restaurant that he knows from experience to be good or to one
that has been highly recommended by the local newspaper’s Dining Out
Guide. If he has neither personal experience nor information he regards as
valid, he may seek advice of a friend or a parent or imitate the behaviour of
others.

13. 2. CREDIBILITY, ATTRACTIVENESS AND POWER OF THE REFERENCE GROUP
 A reference group that is perceived as credible, attractive, or powerful can
induce consumer attitude and behaviour change.
 Eg: When consumers are concerned with obtaining accurate information
about the performance or quality of a product or service, they are likely to be
persuaded by those whom they consider trustworthy and knowledgeable. That
is, they are more likely to be persuaded by source with high credibility.
 When consumers are primarily concerned with the approval or acceptance of
others, they like, they are likely to adopt their products, brands or other
behavioural characteristics.
 When customers are primarily concerned with the power that a person/group
exerts over them, the might choose the product in order to avoid ridicule or
punishment.

14. 3. CONSPICUOSNESS OF THE PRODUCT
 The potential influence of a reference group on a purchase decision varies
according to how visually or verbally conspicuous the product is to others.
 A Visually Conspicuous Product is one that will stand out and be noticed.
Eg: Luxury items & Novelty Products
 A Verbally Conspicuous Product may be highly interesting or it may be easily
described to others.
Products that are especially conspicuous and status revealing are more likely
to be purchased with an eye to the reactions of relevant others.
Eg: New automobile, fashion clothing, sleek laptop, etc.,
Privately consumed products that are less conspicuous are less likely to be
purchased with a reference group in mind.
Eg: Shaving Cream, Bath Soap, etc.,

15. 4. REFERENCE GROUP AND CONSUMER CONFORMITY
 Marketers may have divergent goals with regard to consumer conformity.
Some marketers, especially market leaders, are interested in the ability to
reference groups to change consumer attitudes and behaviour by encouraging
conformity.
To be capable of such influence, a reference group must accomplish the
following:
1. Inform or make the individual aware of specific brand or product.
2. Provide the individual with an opportunity to compare hi/her own thinking
with the attitudes & behaviour of the group.
3. Influence the individual to adopt attitudes & behaviour that are consistent
with the norms of the groups.
4. Legitimize the decisions to use the same products as the groups.

16. SELECTED CONSUMER-RELATED REFERENCE
GROUPS
1. Friendship Groups
2. Shopping Groups
3. Work Groups
4. Virtual Groups or Committees
5. Consumer Action Group

17. 1. FRIENDSHIP GROUPS
 Typically classified as informal groups because they are usually unstructured
and lack specific authority.
 In terms of relative influence, after an individual’s family, his/her friends are
most likely to influence the individual’s purchase decision.
 Seeking and maintaining friendships is a basic drive of most people.
 Friends fill a wide range of needs: They provide companionship, security, and
opportunities to discuss problems that an individual may be reluctant to
discuss with family members.
 Eg: Marketers of products such as brand-name clothing, fine jewelry, snack
foods, and alcoholic beverages recognize the power of peer group influence
and frequently depict friendship situations in their advertisements.

18. 2. SHOPPING GROUPS
 Two or more people who shop together, whether for food, for clothing, or
simply to pass the time, can be called a shopping group.
 Such groups are often offshoots of family or friendship groups and therefore,
they function as what has been referred to as purchase pal.
 The motivation for shopping with a purchase pal range from a primarily social
motive (to share time together & enjoy lunch after shopping), to helping
reduce the risk when making an important decision.
 In-home shopping party: A special type of shopping group is the which
typically consists of a group that gathers together in the same home of a
friend to attend a “party” devoted to demonstrating and evaluating a specific
line of products.
The in-home approach provides marketers with an opportunity to
demonstrate the features of their products to a group of potential customers.

19. 3. WORK GROUPS
 The sheer amount of time people spend at their jobs, frequently more than
35 hours per week, provide ample opportunity for work groups to serve as a
major influence on the consumption behavior of the members.
a) Formal Work Group: it consists of individuals who work together as part of a
team, and thus have a sustained opportunity to influence each other’s
consumption related attitudes and actions.
b) Informal Friendship-Work Group: it consists of people who have become
friends as a result of working for the same firm, whether or not they work
together as a team, and they can influence the consumption behavior of
other members during coffee or lunch breaks or at after-work meetings.

20. BRAND COMMUNITIES
 A Brand Community is a community formed on the basis of attachment to
a product or marquee.
 A Brand Community is a specialized, non-geographically bound community,
based on a structured set of social relationships among admirers of a brand.
Eg: Harley Davidson Owners group (www.harleydavidson.com)
A group of runners who meet for a run (www.nike.com)
 Eg:Jeep
Jeep developed its brand community. Jeep (www.jeep.com) conducts Jeep
Jamborees (regional rallies that concentrate on off-road driving), Camp Jeep
(national rallies offering off road driving and product related activities), and
Jeep 101 (an off road driving course with product related activities and
displays).
The result is that Jeep has fostered involvement in its brand community so
that the bond exists b/w the Jeep owner and (1) the product, (2) the brand,
(3) the company, (4) other Jeep ownners.

21. 4. VIRTUAL GROUPS OR COMMUNITIES
 A virtual team (also known as a geographically dispersed
team or distributed team) is a group of individuals who work across time,
space and organizational boundaries with links strengthened by webs
of communication technology.
 Powell, Piccoli and Ives define virtual teams in their literature review article
"as groups of geographically, organizationally and/or time dispersed workers
brought together by information and telecommunication technologies to
accomplish one or more organizational tasks.”
 Eg: If you are a stamp collector you can chat online with others who share
your interest.

22. 5. CONSUMER ACTION GROUP
 A particular kind of consumer group-A Consumer Action Group-has emerged
in response to the consumerist movement. Today there are a large number of
such groups that are dedicated to providing consumer products in a healthy
and responsible manner, and to generally add to the overall quality.
 Consumer Action Group can be divided into 2 categories:
a. Those that organize to correct the specific consumer abuse & then
disband
b. Those that organize to address broader, more persuasive areas & operate
over an extended or indefinite period of time.
 Eg: Temporary, Cause-Specific Consumer Action Group
A group of irate parents who band together to protest the opening of an
adult x-rated video rental store in their neighbourhood.
 Eg: Enduring Consumer Action Group
Mothers Against Drunk Drive (MDDA) representatives serve on numerous
public advisory board and help local task force combat drunk driving.

24. CELEBRITY AND OTHER REFERENCE GROUP
APPEALS
 Appeals made by celebrities and other reference groups are used very
effectively by advertisers to communicate with the markets.
 Five major types of Reference Group Appeals are:
1. Celebrity Appeal
2. Expert Appeal
3. Common Man Appeal
4. Executive & Employee Appeal
5. Trade or Spokes-Character Appeal

25. 1. CELEBRITY APPEAL
 A celebrity is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great
degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media. The term is
often synonymous with wealth (commonly denoted as a person with fame and
fortune), implied with great popular appeal, prominence in a particular field,
and is easily recognized by the general public.

26. 2. EXPERT APPEAL
 A person because of his/occupation, special training, or experience is in a
unique position to help the prospective consumer evaluate the product or
service that the advertisement promotes.
 Eg: An ad for a quality frying pan may feature the endorsement of a chef
 Eg: Doctor promoting Sensodyne Toothpaste

27. 3. COMMON MAN APPEAL
 A reference group appeal that uses the testimonials of satisfied customers is
known as the common-man approach.
 The advantage is that it demonstrates to prospective customers that someone
just like them uses and is satisfied with the good or service being advertised.
 The common man appeal is especially effective in public health
announcement (such as antismoking or high B.P. messages), for most people
seem to identify with people like themselves when it comes to such
messages.
 Slice-of-life commercials: They focus on real life situations with which the
viewer can identify.

28. 4. EXECUTIVE & EMPLOYEE APPEAL
 The firms have used their top executives as spokesperson in consumer ads.
The popularity of this type of advt. probably is due to the success and
publicity received by a number of executive spokespersons.
 Like celebrity spokespersons, executive spokespersons seem to be admired by
the general population because of their achievements and the status
implicitly conferred on business leaders.
 Eg: Pawan Goenka, President of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd’s automotive
division, in a recent TV ad.

29. 5. TRADE OR SPOKES-CHARACTER APPEAL
 Trade or Spokes-Character as well as familiar cartoon character serves as
quasi celebrity endorsers.
 These trade spokesperson present an idealized image & dispense information
that can be very important for the product or service that they work for.

30. FAMILY AS CONSUMING UNIT

31. WHAT IS A FAMILY?
Family
 is defined as a group of two or more people (one of whom is a
householder) related by birth, marriage or adoption and residing together
family comprises of:
 Parents
 Siblings
 Spouse
 Grandparents
 Relatives (Cousins/Aunts, Uncles etc)
All families are households but all households are not families

32.  Household:
 Is a family and any unrelated person residing in the same house and
consuming food from a common kitchen at least once a day.
 Two types of household:
 Family Household
 Institutional Household e.g.. Hostel

33. TYPES OF FAMILY
 Family of Orientation
The family of orientation is the family you were born into involuntarily.
 Consist of one’s parents and elders
 Provides orientation towards
 Social: Religion, Politics, Economics
 Emotional: Self Worth, Ambition, Love and Care
 Family of Procreation
Family of procreation refers to the family you create through marriage
and by having or adopting children.
 Consist of one’s spouse and children
 Most important buying unit in a market

34.  Traditional Family Types:
 Married Couple:
Simplest type of family consisting of husband and wife
 Nuclear Family:
Consist of Husband Wife and at least one child
 Extended Family:
Consist of a nuclear family with at least one grand parent
 Joint Family:
Blood relatives and their spouses with kids staying
together

35.  New Modes of Family
 Blended Family:
A family in which either or both partner were previously
married
 Single Parent Family:
A family in which only one of the parent is present
 Unmarried Family:
Parents, unmarried, but living together
 Communal Family:
A group of families living together and sharing
responsibility

36. SOCIALIZATION OF FAMILY MEMBERS
 The socialization of family members, ranging from young children to adults, is
a central family functions
CONSUMER SOCIALIZATION OF CHILDREN
 It is a process by which the children acquires the skills, knowledge, attitudes
and experiences necessary to function as consumers
 Some of them acquires their consumer behavior norms through observations
of their parents and older siblings who function as a role models and sources
of cues for basic consumption learning
ADULT CONSUMER SOCIALIZATION
 This process is not confined to childhood ,but is a ongoing process.
 This process begins from the childhood and extends throughout a persons
entire life.

37. Intergenerational socialization-
 It appears that it is quite common for certain product loyalty and brand
preferences which is been transferred from one generation to other

38. MODEL OF THE SOCIALIZATION PROCESS
Influence More Basic
Values/Behavior
•Moral/religious principles
•Interpersonal skills
•Dress/grooming standards
•Manners and speech
•Educational motivation
•Occupational career goals
•Consumer behavior norms
Influence More Expressive
Attitudes/Behavior
•Style
•Fashion
•Fads
•“In/Out”
•Acceptable consumer
behavior
Other Family
Members
Friends
Young Person
Preadolescent Adolescent Teens Older

39. FUNCTIONS OF A FAMILY
 Provides Economic Well Being
 Provides Emotional Support
 Provides Suitable Life Style
 Provides Social Relationships
 Provides Morals and Ethical Values
 Provides Religious Values
 Provides Interpersonal Skills

40. FAMILY LIFE CYCLE
Stage 1 :Bachelorhood
 Consists of young and single men and women who have establish households apart from their
partners
 Maybe employed, some in college or graduated students who have left their parents home
 Few Financial Burdens
 Fashion and Recreation Oriented
Stage 2: Newly Married Couple
 Consists of a married couple with one child
 Financially better off
 Highest purchase rate of consumables and durables
 Romantically inclined
 Household applications ,bedroom and living room furniture etc.

41. Stage 3 : Parenthood
 Elementary school stage
 Youngest child < 6 years of age
 Low Liquid Assets
 High purchase of baby food & baby oriented products
 High school stage
 Youngest child >= 6 years of age
 Financially better off
 College Phase
 All children still financially dependent
 High family influence on purchases
 Major expense on higher education

42. Stage 4: Post Parent Hood
 Head of the family in labor force
 No Dependent Children
 Expenditure in self development
Stage 5 :Dissolution :
 Solitary Survivor – I
 Single Surviving head of family in labor force
 Supported by family and friends
 Have high expendable income
 Spent on loneliness reducing products and services
 Solitary Survivor – II:
 Single Surviving wife
 Low levels of income and savings
 Expenditure on medical products, security, affection

43. EIGHT ROLES IN THE FAMILY DECISION-
MAKING PROCESS
 Initiators or gatekeeper- Initiators in a family first think of buying certain
products and start gathering information to aid the decision e.g. adults,
young
 Influencers- Individuals whose opinion are sought concerning criteria to
use in making the same purchase and which products or brands most likely
fit those evaluative criteria, friends or peer group members.
 Deciders– Such person hold the financial authority or power to decide
amount of money that may be spent on buying those products or brands
e.g. parents
 Buyers- The persons who perform the task of visiting the retail store,
calling on suppliers, making payments and bringing the products home e.g.
housewives, servant.
 Preparers– family members who transform the product into a form suitable
for consumption by other family members e.g. mother or elder children.

44.  Users– The person who consume the product or service e.g. the whole family
or the children.
 Maintainers- Family members who service or repair the product so that it will
provide continued satisfaction e.g. mothers or other family members.
 Disposers- Family members who initiate the process or carry out the task of
disposal or discontinuation of a particular product or services e.g. parents or
adults.

45. FAMILY DECISION MAKING PROCESS
Communication
targeted at Children
Communication
targeted at Parents
Influencer
(Children)
Initiator
(Parents,
Children)
Information
Gathering
Decision
Maker
(Parents,
Children)
Purchaser
(Parents)
User
(Parents,
Children)

46. TYPES OF FAMILY DECISIONS
 Husband Dominated Decisions
 Husband takes the purchase decisions
 Traditionally in products like Automobiles, Alcohol, Insurance
 Wife Dominated Decisions
 Wife takes the purchase decisions
 Traditionally in products like household maintenance items, food and kitchen appliances
 Joint Decision Making
 Both husband and wife make the decision
 Traditionally in School choice, living room furniture, vacations
 Child Dominated Decision Making
 Child makes the “final product” decision
 Traditionally on children related items
 Unilateral Decision Making
 Taken by any member of the family
 Traditionally on Personal Care items, low priced goods

47. CONFLICT RESOLUTION
 Family Decisions are bound to create conflict
 Conflicts are resolved by:
 Bargaining:
 Reaching a compromise on which product to buy
 Impression Management:
 Misrepresentation of facts in order to create favorable impressions
 Use of Authority:
 Claiming superior authority to resolve the conflict
 Reasoning:
 Using logical arguments to resolve the conflict
 Playing on Emotions:
 Using emotions to resolve the conflict
 Additional Information:
 Getting additional Data or Third Party Information

48. SOCIAL & CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT OF
CONSUMERS

49. SOCIAL FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMER
BEHAVIOUR
Social factors are made up of:
 Reference group
 Family
 Roles/status

50. REFERENCE GROUP
 It consists of all the groups that have a direct/indirect influence on the persons
attitude /behavior
Reference group are of three types-
1. Membership group
 those group having direct influence on a person
 Primary –family/friends/ neighbors /co-workers whom that person interacts daily
 Secondary- formal /less interaction such as professional /relational /trade unions
2. Aspirational group
 Groups in which a person would like to belong
3. Dissociative group
 Groups whose values one rejects

51. FAMILY
 Most important customer-buying organization in society .
Two types of family
1. Family of orientation(parents/siblings)-it gives a person orientation towards
religion/politics /economics
2. Family of procreation-it influences a buyer based on position
Husband ,wife ..etc

52. ROLES AND STATUS
 Role –activities a person is expected to perform
 Each role would influence the person’s buying
Behavior
status – each role carries a status/position
People choose products that communicate their role/status.

53. CULTURAL FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMER
BEHAVIOR
 Cultural factors are comprise of set of values and ideologies of a particular
community or group of individuals.
 It is the cultural which decides the way he/she behaves.
 Cultural is nothing but value of and individuals
 Whatever a individual learn from their parents and relative as a child become
his culture
 Cultural factors have a significant effect on an individual’s buying decision
 Every individuals has different sets of habits, belief and principles which
he/she develops from his family status and background
SUBCULTURES
 Each cultural is further comprise of various subcultures such as religion, age,
geographical locations ,gender ,status

54. ECONOMIC, DEMOGRAPHIC, CULTURAL,
SUBCULTURAL & CROSS CULTURAL
INFLUENCES

55. CULTURE
 The sum total of learned beliefs, values, and customs that serve to regulate
the consumer behavior of members of a particular society. Culture offers
order, direction, and guidance
 in all phases of human problem solving:
 When to eat, Where to eat,
 What to eat for each meal,
 What to serve guests at a dinner party,
 picnic, or wedding.

56. ISSUES IN CULTURE
 Enculturation and acculturation
 Language and symbols
 Ritual
 Sharing of Culture

57. WHY IT IS IMPORTANT FOR MARKETERS TO
UNDERSTAND THE CULTURAL IMPACT ON
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR?
 Because culture satisfies needs
Culture exists to satisfy the needs of the people within a society. It offers order,
direction and guidance in all phases of human problem solving by providing ‘tried and
true’ methods of satisfying physiological, personal, and social needs.
e.g.:- Culture provides standards and ‘rules’ about when to eat, where to eat, what is
appropriate to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner… etc...
 Because culture is learned
Unlike innate biological characteristics, culture is learned. The three distinct forms
of cultural learning are formal learning, informal learning and technical learning.
Although a firm’s advertising and marketing communications can influence all three
types of cultural learning, it is likely that many product marketing messages enhance
informal learning by providing the audience with a model of behaviour to imitate.

58.  Because of Acculturation
Acculturation is an important concept for marketers who plan to sell their
products in foreign or multinational markets. In such cases, marketers must study
the specific cultures of their potential target markets to determine whether
their products will be acceptable to its members and if so, how they can best
communicate the characteristics of their products to persuade the target market
to buy.
 When using Language and Symbols
To communicate effectively with their audiences, marketers must use
appropriate symbols to convey desired product images or characteristics. These
symbols can be verbal or nonverbal.

59.  When facilitating Rituals
Most important from the standpoint of marketers is the fact that rituals tend to
be replete with ritual artifacts that are associated with or somehow enhance the
performance of the ritual.
 Because culture is shared
Various social institutions within a society transmit the elements of culture and
make the sharing of culture a reality. Such institutions are family, educational
institutions, houses of worship and most importantly mass media. Because
consumers receive important cultural information from advertising
 Because culture is dynamic
To fulfil its need gratifying role, culture continually must evolve if it is to
function in the best interests of a society. For this reason, the marketer must
carefully monitor the socio-cultural environment in order to market an existing
product more effectively.

60. THE MEASUREMENT OF CULTURE
 Content Analysis
 Consumer Fieldwork
 Value Measurement Instruments

61. INDIAN CORE VALUES
 Achievement and success
 Activity
 Efficiency and practicality
 Progress
 Material comfort
 Individualism
 Freedom
 External conformity
 Humanitarianism
 Youthfulness
 Fitness and health

62. CRITERIA FOR VALUE SELECTION
 The value must be pervasive.
 The value must be enduring.
 The value must be consumer-related.

63. SUBCULTURES
 Subgroups of people who don’t think/ behave alike. They share most of society’s
norms, values, beliefs but they change some of society’s ideas to reflect more
closely to their own needs.
IMPORTANT FEATURES OF SUBCULTURE:
 Provide a sense of belonging and identity.
 Develop unique features
 Rules of behavior are set up for dealing with the outside world.
 Supports group members in their daily activity
 Even if they are ridiculed by other groups in society, subculture members know
that upon returning on their own, they will receive social support and approval
Special signals- they are the same with the way they use language, dress,
handshakes. They uses special signals to notice/ identify each other without being
notice by an outsiders

64. TYPES OF SUBCULTURE
 Nationality Subculture – Ex: Indians born in US and Indians born in India. US-
Indians are influenced by Indian food, tradition, custom, beliefs etc.
 Religious Subculture- purchasing is done according to the religious identity or
influenced by religious identity.
 Geographic and regional subculture- Consumption and eating habits
depends on geographic conditions and region like Energy drinks are more
prefer by San Francisco rather then Philadelphia, Ground Coffee is more liked
by Boston people rather then Los Angeles one.
 Racial Subculture- Differences in lifestyle, consumer spending patterns etc.
 Age Subculture
 Gender Subculture- Masculine/ Feminine Market with their respective
products

65. WHAT IS CROSS- CULTURAL MARKETING?
 Cross-cultural marketing is defined as “the effort to determine to what
extent the consumers of two or more nations are similar or different. This will
facilitate marketers to understand the psychological, social and cultural
aspects of foreign consumers they wish to target, so as to design effective
marketing strategies for each of the specific national markets involved.”
 THE FIRM’S OBJECTIVES COULD BE
1. To determine how consumers in two or more societies are Similar / different
and devise suitable, appropriate strategies
2. Devise individualized marketing strategy if cultural beliefs, values and
customs of a specific country are different

66. VARIABLES INFLUENCING CROSS-CULTURAL
MARKETING STRATEGIES

67. CROSS-CULTURAL VARIATIONS: FACTORS
INFLUENCING NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATIONS AND
ALSO BECOME PROBLEMS FOR THE MARKETERS
 Space
 Friendship - Two or more nations with each other
 Agreements
 Symbols
 Etiquette (basic manners)
 National Language
 Country-of-Origin Issues
 Ethnocentricity
 Animosity
 Bi-national products
 Matchup Hypothesis
 Time

68. CROSS-CULTURAL CONSUMER ANALYSIS
 To determine whether and how to enter in a foreign market, we need to
conduct some form of cross-cultural consumer analysis.
 Cross-cultural consumer analysis can be defined as the effort to determine to
what extent the consumers of two or more nations are similar or different.
 Such analysis can provide marketers with an understanding of the
psychological, social, and cultural characteristics of the foreign consumers
they wish to target, so that they can design effective marketing strategies for
the specific national markets involved.

69. BASIC RESEARCH ISSUES IN CROSS-
CULTURAL ANALYSIS
 Differences in language and meaning, e.g. restroom
 Difference in market segmentation opportunities, e.g. age while buying the
first car
 Difference in consumption patters,
 Difference in the perceived benefits of products and services, e.g. yogurt
 Differences in the criteria for evaluating products and services, e.g. credit
cards
 Difference in economic and social conditions and family structure, e.g. family
soap
 Differences in marketing research and conditions, e.g. direct-mail lists
 Differences in marketing research possibilities, e.g. telephone surveys

70. SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES AMONG
PEOPLE
 A major objective of cross-cultural consumer analysis is to determine how
consumers in two or more societies are similar and how they are different.
According to some personality traits or behavioral aspects of the consumer we
can analyze the things.
 Fight for one’s beliefs/positions
 Individualistic
 Clear-cut
 Specific
 Display emotions in public
 Result oriented
 Make a short story long
 Verbal communication important
 Interested in what is spoken

71.  The Growing global middle class
 Acculturation is a needed marketing view point

72. SOCIAL CLASS AND SOCIAL
STRATIFICATION

73. WHAT IS SOCIAL CLASS?
 Social class is defined as the division of members of a society 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.

74. SOCIAL CLASS AND SOCIAL STATUS
Researchers often measure social class in terms of social status means they
define each social class by the amount of status the members of that class have
in comparison with members of other social classes.
Ex- Doctors are more respected than criminals because of their job profile.

75. SOCIAL CLASS RESULT FROM SOCIO-
ECONOMIC FACTORS
 Education
 Occupation
 Income level
 Ownership
 Heritage

76. CHARACTERISTICS…
 Social classes are hierarchial that is from high status to low status, based on
this criteria individuals are placed within a class on this hierarchy.
 Social classes restrict behaviour and interactions between the class is limited.
 Social classes are homogenous. Based on similarities of factors such as
education, activities, interests, opinions, attitudes and other behaviour
patterns, social classes are viewed as homogenous divisions of a society.
 Social class are dynamics and social stratification can be of two types. In a
closed system people are born into a social class and cannot leave it whereas
in open system people have some opportunity to move upward or downward
from one social class to another.

77. SOCIAL CLASS CATEGORIES
W. Lloyd Warner in 1941 identified six social classes-
 Upper-upper
 Lower-upper
 Upper-middle
 Lower-middle
 Upper-lower
 Lower-lower

78. SOCIAL CLASS PROFILES
 The upper-upper class (Country Club Establishment)
 Small number of well established families
 Belong to best country clubs and sponsor major charity events
 Serve as trustees for local colleges and hospitals
 Prominent physician and lawyers
 Accustomed to wealth, so do not spend money conspicuously
 The lower upper class (new wealth)
 Represent as new money
 Successful business
 Not quite accepted by the upper crust of society
 Conspicuous users of their new wealth

79.  The upper middle class (achieving professionals)
 have neither family status nor unusual wealth
 Career oriented
 Young successful professionals, corporate managers and business owners
 Their homes serve as symbols of their achievements
 Consumption is often conspicuous
 the lower middle class (faithful followers)
 Want to achieve respectability and be accepted as good citizens
 Want their children to be well behaved
 Prefer a neat and clean appearance and tend to avoid faddish or highly styled
clothing

80.  the upper lower class (security minded majority)
 The largest social class segment
 View work as means to buy enjoyment
 High wage earners in this group may spend impulsively
 Interested in items that enhances their leisure time eg t.v sets
 Want children to behave properly
 the lower-lower class (rock bottom)
 Poorly educated, unskilled laborers
 Often out of work
 Children are often poorly treated
 Tend to live a day-to-day existence

81. THE MEASUREMENT OF SOCIAL CLASS
 Subjective Measures: individuals are asked to estimate their own social class
positions.
 Reputational Measures: informants make judgments concerning the social
class membership of others within the community.
 Objective Measures: individuals answer specific socioeconomic questions and
then are categorized according to answers.

82. OBJECTIVE MEASURES
 Single variable indexes
Occupation
Education
Income
Other variables
 Composite variable indexes
Index of status characteristics
Socioeconomic status score

83. THANK YOU