cb 11 environmental context of consumer student copy

8/3/2019 Cb 11 Environmental Context of Consumer Student Copy

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CONSUMERS IN

THEIR

SOCIAL&

CULTURAL

SETTINGS

MajorConsumerReferenceGroups

Agenda

Demographics

Reference Groups Formal /Informal Direct/ Indirect

Reference Groups Family

Social Class Culture Subculture


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Age

Income

MaritalStatus

Education

Occupation

Gender

ConsumersDemographic

Profile

DEMOGRAPHICS

Gender

Gender roleso learned early and play a formative role in personality

development and self-identitymasculine vs. feminine orientations

Gender associationssex-based divisions of humanity and the norms, values, and

beliefs associated with gender roles

Gender-based needs, segmentation, and targeting

AGE

Life transitions

socially recognized changes in status

Age Cohorts

groups of people who have grown up during specific

time periods


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Five Stages ofConsumer Development

REFERENCE GROUPS

A reference group is any person or group that serves as apoint of comparison (or reference) for an individual informing either general or specific values, attitudes, or aspecific guide for behavior.

From a marketing perspective, reference groups are groupsthat serve as frames of reference for individuals in theirpurchase or consumption decisions.

It helps marketing communicators, choose theirmethodology to affect desired changes in consumerbehavior.

Credibility, attractiveness, andpower of the reference group

When primarily concerned with the acceptance of othersthey like, consumers are likely to adopt the product, brand,or other behavioral characteristics of credible, attractiveothers. A reference group that is perceived as credible,attractivecan induce consumer attitude and behavior change.

When consumers are primarily concerned with the powerthat a person or group can exert over them, they mightchoose products or services that conform to the norms ofthat person or group in order to avoid rejection orpunishment.


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A Broadened Perspectiveon Reference Groups

Originally, reference groups were narrowly defined toinclude only those groups with which a personinteracted on a direct basis.

The meaning of "reference group" has changed overthe years.

The concept gradually has broadened to include bothdirect and indirect individual or group influences.

Indirect reference groups

...consist of those individuals or groupswith whom a person does not havedirect face-to-face contact;

such as movie stars, sports heroes,political leaders, TV personalities, oreven a well-dressed and interestinglooking person on a street corner.

CONSUMER-RELATED

DIRECTREFERENCE GROUPSformal/informal

Friendship groups. Shopping groups. Work groups. Virtual groups or communities. Consumer-action groups. The family - possibly the most compelling reference

group for consumer behavior.


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Major types of

indirect reference group appeals

Celebrity Expert Common man Executive and employee Trade character

indirect reference groups

Those indirect reference groups are used veryeffectively to communicate with the markets, sincethe consumers identify themselves with those groups.

Identification may be based; on admiration (e.g., of an athlete), on aspiration (of a celebrity or a way of life), on empathy (with a person or a situation), or on recognition (of a person real or

stereotypical, or of a situation).

Celebrities

Celebrities have a very common type ofreference group appeal.

They represent an idealization of life that most peopleimagine that they would love to live.

Communicators spend enormous sums of money to havecelebrities promote their products with the expectationthat the reading or viewing audience will react positively tothe celebrity's association with their products.


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Celebrity

Credibility of the celebrity is apowerful influence.

Not all companies use celebritiesbecause they aren't convinced they areworth the money.

Importance of Celebrity CharacteristicsAccording to Product Types

A firm has the choice of using thecelebrity in different ways

Testimonials - if the celebrity has personallyused the product.

Endorsement - celebrity adds his/her nameto products which he/she may be an expertwith or not.

Spokesperson - the celebrity represents theproduct over time in a variety of media andin personal appearances.


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Factors That AffectReference Group Influence

The degree of influence that areference group exerts on anindividual's behavior usually depends on:

the product & social factors

the nature of the individual

...the product and social factors

Conspicuousness! of the product

Products that are especially

conspicuous and status-revealing (anew automobile, fashion clothing, orhome furniture) are most likely to bepurchased with an eye to thereactions of relevant others.

...the nature of the individual

Information and experience An individual who has firsthand experience

with a product or service,

or can easily obtain full information about it,

is less likely to be influenced by the adviceor example of others.


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or

Differences in

Personality

THE FAMILY as the most influential directreference group

The family is a basic concept in society but is not

easy to define, because family composition andstructure, as well as the roles played by familymembers, are almost always in transition.

types of families The Married Couple - a husband and wife, is the

simplest structure. The Nuclear Family - a husband and wife and one or

more children. This is still commonplace. The Extended Family - a husband, wife, one or more

children, and at least one grandparent. At one timethis was the norm, but geographic mobility hasreduced its presence.

A fourth form, the single-parent family - one parent

and at least one child - is growing due to divorce,separation, and out-of-wedlock births.


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A Simple Model of the Socialization Process

SOCIALIZATION OFFAMILY MEMBERS

Marketers are sensitive to the fact that the socialization of young childrenprovides an opportunity to establish a foundation on which later experiencescontinue to build throughout life.

The aspect of childhood socialization that is particularly relevant to thestudy of consumer behavior is consumer socialization, which is defined asthe process by which children acquire the skills, knowledge, and attitudesnecessary to function as consumers.

A variety of studies have focused on how children develop consumption

skills. Many preadolescent children acquire their consumer behavior normsthrough observation of their parents and older siblings who function as rolemodels and sources of cues for basic consumption learning.

Shared shopping experiences (i.e., co-shopping when mother and child shoptogether) also give children the opportunity to acquire in-store shoppingskills. Co-shopping is a way of spending time with one's children while at thesame time accomplishing a necessary task.

Intergenerational Socialization: It is also observed for product or brandloyalty or preference to be passed from one generation to another,sometimes up to three or four generations.

FAMILY DECISION-MAKING ANDCONSUMPTION-RELATED ROLES

Initiators: Family member(s) who finds out the need

Influencers - Family member(s) who provide information to other membersabout a product or service.

Deciders - Family member(s) with the power to determine unilaterally or jointlywhether to shop for, purchase, use, consume, or dispose of a specific productor service.

Buyers - Family member(s) who make the actual purchase of a particularproduct or service.

Users - Family member(s) who use or consume a particular product or service.

Maintainers - Family member(s) who service or repair the product so that it w illprovide continued satisfaction.

Disposers - Family member(s) who initiate or carry out the disposal ordiscontinuation of a particular product or service.


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THE FAMILY LIFE CYCLE

Sociologists and consumer researchershave long been attracted to theconcept of the family life cycle (FLC)as a means of depicting what was once arather steady and predictable series ofstages that most families progressedthrough.

Traditional FLC models havefive basic stages.

Stage I - Bachelorhood. Young single adultliving apart from parents

Stage II - Honeymooners. Young marriedcouple

Stage III - Parenthood. Married couple withat least one child living at home

Stage IV - Postparenthood. An older marriedcouple with no children living at home

Stage V - Dissolution. One surviving spouse

SOCIAL CLASS

Some form of class structure or social stratificationhas existed in all societies throughout the history ofhuman existence.

Social class is defined as the division of members ofa society into a hierarchy of distinct status classes:so that members of each class have relatively thesame status,

and members of all other classes have either moreor less status.


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Social Class isHierarchical and a Natural Form ofSegmentation

Social class categories are usually ranked in a hierarchy ranging fromlow to high status.

The hierarchical aspect of social class is important to marketers.

The classification of society's members into a small number of socialclasses has also enabled researchers to note the existence of sharedvalues, attitudes, and behavioral patterns among members within eachsocial class and differing values, attitudes, and behavior betweensocial classes.

Consumers may purchase certain products because these products arefavoured by members of their own or a higher social class .

THE AFFLUENTHigh SocialClass- CONSUMER

Affluent households are an attractivemarketing target because of theirdisproportionately high amount ofdiscretionary income.

While the affluent market consists of only asmall percent of all households, this upscalemarket consumes more than the nonaffluentmarket.

Selected Consumer BehaviorApplications of Social Class

Clothing, Fashion, and ShoppingMost people dress to fit their self-images, which

include their perceptions of their own social classmembership.

The Pursuit of LeisureSocial class membership is also closely related to thechoice of recreational and leisure-time activities.

Saving, Spending, and CreditSaving, spending, and credit card usage all seem to berelated to social class standing.

CommunicationSocial class groupings differ in terms of their mediahabits and in how they transmit and receivecommunications.


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THE NONAFFLUENTThe Lower Social Class-CONSUMER

While many marketers go after the affluent,the size and income of the nonaffluent groupmake them an important target market.

Downscale consumers are more brand loyalthan wealthier consumers since they can lessafford to make mistakes in switching tounfamiliar brands.

THE ARRIVAL OF THE"TECHNO CLASS"

The degree of literacy, familiarity andcompetency with technology, especiallycomputers and the internet.

Those who are unfamiliar or lack computerskills are being referred to as "technologicalunderclassed.''

CULTURE

In a sense, culture is a society's personality. For thisreason, it is not easy to define its boundaries.

Given the broad and pervasive nature of culture, itsstudy generally requires a detailed examination of thecharacter of the total society, including such factorsas language, knowledge, laws, religions, food customs,music, art, technology, work patterns, products, andother artifacts that give a society its distinctiveflavor.

Culture is the sum total of learned beliefs, values, andcustoms thus serve to direct the consumer behaviorof members of a particular society.


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CULTURE IS LEARNED

Formal Learning--adults and older siblings teach ayoung family member "how to behave."

Informal learning--a child learns primarily byimitating the behavior of selected others.

Technical learning--teachers instruct the child in aneducational environment as to what, how, and why itshould be done.

It seems that advertising can influence all threeforms of learning. It most influences informallearning by providing models.

THE INVISIBLE HAND OFCULTURE

The impact of culture is so natural andautomatic that its influence on behavior isusually taken for granted.

Often, it is only when we are exposed topeople with different cultural values orcustoms that we become aware of howculture has molded our own behavior.

CULTURE IS DYNAMIC!

Culture continually evolves, therefore themarketer must carefully monitor thesociocultural environment in order to marketan existing product more effectively or todevelop promising new products.

This is not easy because many factors arelikely to produce cultural changes within a

given society.


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SUBCULTURES

Members of specific subcultures possessbeliefs, values, and customs that set themapart from other members of the samesociety.

Subcultural analysis enables the marketingmanager to focus on sizable and "natural"market segments.

Some subcultures ofmarketing communicators interest

RELIGIOUS SUBCULTURES GEOGRAPHIC AND REGIONAL

SUBCULTURES

ETHNIC SUBCULTURES AGE SUBCULTURES SEX AS A SUBCULTURE

The Working WomanGays and Lesbians

And Reflected as Life styles!AIOs : Lifestyle Dimensions

cb 11 environmental context of consumer student copy

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