family life cycle final report

8/9/2019 Family Life Cycle Final Report

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Family And Social Class

Table Oof Ccontent

Acknowledgment 2

Introduction 3

Family . 3

Family Decision Making .... 4

Relevance of family for marketers .............................................................

!t"er functions of family.... #

$onsum%tion related roles .......................................................................... &

Family 'ife $ycle ... ((

)ocial $lass . (

Measurements of social class....................................................... (*

'ife )tyle +rofiles of )ocial $lass .. 2,

-eogra%"ic clustering .. 2,

$onsumer e"avior A%%lications..................... 23

$onclusion.... 2/

i0liogra%"y ..... 2

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Acknowledgement

We are really pleased here to acknowledge the sheer efforts and extreme of numerous

people, those who has provide us their relentless service in the completion of our report on

Family 1 )ocial $lass.

We would like to thank our advisor respected Mr. Rashid Saeed for his assistance and

inspiring attitude. We are highly oliged to my respectale advisor state our gratitude for

his valued guidance and their concern aout our research report.

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Introduction!he study of consumers helps firms and organi"ations improve their marketing strategies

y understanding issues such as ,!he psychology of how consumers think, feel, reason, and

select etween different alternatives #e.g., rands, products$%!he psychology of how the

consumer is influenced y his or her environment #e.g., culture, family, signs, media$%!he

ehavior of consumers while shopping or making other marketing decisions% &imitations in

consumer knowledge or information processing ailities influence decisions and marketing

outcome% 'ow consumer motivation and decision strategies differ etween products that

differ in their level of importance or interest that they entail for the consumer% and 'ow

marketers can adapt and improve their marketing campaigns and marketing strategies to

more effectively reach the consumer. Family is the most influential group for the consumer.

!he family memers can strongly influence uyer ehavior. (t can e distinguished

etween two families in the uyer)s life. *ne is the uyer)s parents who make up the family

of orientation. From parents a person ac+uires an orientation toward religion, politics, and

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economics and a sense of personal amition, selfworth, and love. !he other is the family of

procreationthe uyer)s spouse and childrenexert a more direct influence on everyday

uying ehavior. Marketers are interested in the roles and relative influence of the

husand, wife, and children on the purchase of a large variety of products and services.

!here are three main elements directly affect the family consumption. !hey are family life

cycle, the structure of the family and family decisions making process. !he purpose of this

report is to discuss the role of the family in consumer ehavior.

Meaning of family

!he term family- refers to the asic sociological unit. !he term has een used to denote

two or more people staying together and related to each other y lood or marriage. !he

composition, si"e and structure #in terms of roles and statuses$ has undergone a change

across time and culture. !here have een large families including grandparents, parents,

children, uncles, aunts and cousins #all staying together as a oint family$% and small

families which comprise ust parents with their children #nuclear family$. Roles and

statuses have also changed, with oth men and women taking active part in making

purchase decisions, and women playing roles which were earlier reserved for men and vice

versa. !hus, the family as a social unit has varied in composition and structure, as well as

the roles played y family memers.

(t is noteworthy that from a marketer perspective while, families have een referred to as

households, not all "ouse"olds are families. A "ouse"old may also refer to a "ouse t"at "as ust

a single individual, or it might include individuals who are not related to each other such as

friends, roommates, or work peers. /evertheless so far as consumer ehavior is concerned,

families and households are treated as synonymous.

!oday, what we see around us are three kinds of families, vi"., the married couple, the

nuclear family and the extended family. "e married couple family com%rises t"e "us0andand t"e wife generally re%resentative of cou%les w"o "ave recently got married and are yet to

start a family. "e nuclear family com%rises "us0and wife and t"eir c"ildren. "e extended

family includes t"e nuclear family wit" grand%arents or uncles and aunts.

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!'0 (M1*R!2/30 *F F2M(&(0S 2/4 '*5S0'*&4S */ 3*/S5M0R

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Marketers must exercise care in analy"ing consumer ehavior. 3onsumers often turn down

what appears to e a winning offer. 2s soon as managers elieve that they understand their

consumers, uyer decisions are made that appear to e irrational. 6ut what looks like

irrational ehavior to a manager is completely rational to the consumer. 6uying ehavior is

never simple. (t is affected y many different factors. 8et understanding it is the essential

task of marketing management. 1eople coming from the same suculture, social class, and

occupation may have +uite different lifestyles. 2 lifestyle is a person)s pattern of living as

expressed in his9her activities, interests and opinions. &ifestyle portrays the whole person-

interacting with his environment. 2 person elongs to many groups: family, clus, and

organi"ations. 2n individual)s position in each group can e defined in terms of role and

status. 2 Role consists of the activities that a person is expected to perform according to the

persons around him or her. 2 person)s economic situation greatly affects product choice

and the decision to purchase a particular product. 3onsumers cut ack on restaurant

meals, entertainment, and vacations during recessions. !hey trade down in their choice of

restaurants. Marketers need to watch trends in personal incomes, savings, and interest

rates. Marketers must decide on the degree to which they will adapt their products and

marketing programs to meet the uni+ue needs of consumers in various markets. !hey want

to standardi"e their offerings in order to simplify operation and take advantage of cost

economies. *n the other hand, adapting marketing efforts within each country results in

products and programs that etter satisfy the needs of local consumers. !he +uestion of

whether to adapt or standardi"e the marketing mixes across international markets has

created a lively deate in recent years.

&ifestyle classifications are y no means universal. 2dvertising agency Mc3ann0R(;S*/

&ondon, for example, found the following 6ritish lifestyles: aunt


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out information a0out %roducts of relevance. "ese individuals often "ave a great deal of %ower

0ecause t"ey may selectively %ass on information t"at favors t"eir c"osen alternatives.

Influencers do not ultimately "ave t"e %ower decide 0etween a lternatives, ut they may make

their wishes known y asking for specific products or causing emarrassing situations if

their demands are not met. !he decision maker#s$ "ave t"e %ower to determine issues suc" as5

Whether to uy%

Which product to uy #pickup or passenger car=$%

Which rand to uy%

Where to uy it% and

When to uy.

he decision maker may specify what kind of product to uy, ut not which rand%

!he purchaser may have to make a sustitution if the desired rand is not in stock%

!he purchaser may disregard instructions #y error or delierately$.

(t should e noted that family decisions are often suect to a great deal of conflict. !he

reality is that few families are wealthy enough to avoid a strong tension etween demands

on the family)s resources. 3onflicting pressures are especially likely in families with

children and9or when only one spouse works outside the home. /ote that many decisions

inherently come down to values, and that there is fre+uently no >oective> way to

aritrate differences. *ne spouse may elieve that it is important to save for the children)s

future% the other may value spending now #on private schools and computer e+uipment$ to

help prepare the children for the future. Who is right= !here is no clear answer here. !he

situation ecomes even more complex when more parties?such as children or other

relatives?are involved.

Relevance of the family for a marketer:

!he family as a social unit is of tremendous importance for a marketer. !his is ecause of

three reasons, vi"., and a monetary source for dependents, an indication of values and

lifestyles, and the root for sociali"ation.

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a$ Monetary source:"e family may com%rise a single earner or a dual earner% the rest of the

memers acts as dependents% it is father and9or mother who are the read earners, and

earn for the rest of the memers #children$ who act as dependents. While this role was

restricted earlier to the man in the family, there is a transition, and today even the woman

in the family is playing this role. 2s is seen the children and the teenagers comprise a maor

portion of the market as uyers of goods and services. While they desire product and

service offerings, the money comes from the parents. !hus providing financial resources to

the dependents and looking into their economic welleing is a asic family function that the

head of the family plays.

$ 7alues and lifestyles:"e %arents in t"e family are also a source of values a nd lifestyles for

the family. !he grandparents and the parents in the family, inculcate among the children

asic values and norms, and also tell them aout suitale lifestyles. !his has an impact on

the children when it comes their day to day living, on their education, career, recreational

activities, etc. With oth parents earning and having occupations, and the family

experiencing a dual income set up, a transition has een witnessed in lifestyles of children

and dependents. 3hildren are ecoming independent day y day and ecoming clearer

aout what- they want% the rands they seek. 1eople are also timeconstrained and so

seeking easy ways out. !his has led to the emergence of products and services that are

easily availale, convenient to use and free of hassles. For example, there is the fast food

industry, readytoeat packaged meals etc.

c$ Sociali"ation:"e conce%t of sociali6ation "as also 0een dealt with in the previous lesson.

(n fact, sociali"ation of memers) right from childhood to adulthood is the primary

function that a family plays. 2s discussed efore, the sociali"ation takes place at two stages,

one during childhood, as family of orientation, and two after marriage as family of

procreation. !his reflects itself in the values, lifestyles and overall modes of ehavior of

individuals% e.g. the kind of food to eat, dresses to wear, customs and practices to follow etc.

are all a result of the sociali"ation process. Such sociali"ation can e discussed at three

levels: sociali"ation at childhood, sociali"ation at adulthood, and intergenerational

sociali"ation.

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Sociali"ation at childhood: )ociali6ation during c"ild"ood takes place when children

oserve and later on replicate the ehavior of the elders #grandparents, parents and older

silings$ at home. !he children are taught aout the values and modes of ehavior, directly

through instruction and communication, and indirectly through oservation of ehavior y

elders at home. 2s they replicate ehavior, they are rewarded and the ehavior gets

reinforced. !hus, the family of orientation has an important role to play.

*f importance to marketers is the manner in which children learn patterns of purchase

and consumption ehavior. 2s Schiffman defines, child sociali"ation is the process y which

children ac+uire the skills, knowledge, and attitudes necessary to function as consumers.

Similar to other sociali"ation, such knowledge aout product and service offerings, as also

rands and consumption ehavior, is also learnt through oservation of elders at home, e

it parents or older silings. 'owever as they grow up, their consumption ehavior also gets

influenced y friends, as well as reference groups #oth direct and indirect$. !he process of

sociali"ation helps adopt shopping and uying skills of products and services, as also

rands at dealer)s outlets and stores.

Sociali"ation at adulthood:

)ociali6ation does not get restricted to c"ild"ood. It e7tends throughout the life of an

individual, as an ongoing process. 2s a person grows up into adulthood, he interacts with

his friend, colleague and work peers and is influenced y them. 2fter he gets married, he

starts a household once again and his consumption pattern and ehavior is impacted y his

spouse. 2s the newly married couple egins to settle down as a household, they make

adustments with each other with respect to values, lifestyles and modes of ehavior. !hey

also make adustments and adapt themselves with respect to the likes and dislikes of each

other, including preferences for product and service offerings as also rands. *nce they

have children, they egin to impact and are also impacted y them. !hus, ust like the

family of orientation, the family of procreation also has an important role to play.

(ntergenerational sociali"ation:

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8alues lifestyles and 0ehavior get transferred from one generation to another. So do

preferences for product and services as also rands. We often see that people prefer certain

rands, ust ecause their parents preferred it over others. 1roduct and rand loyalty as

also preferences get transferred from one generation to another. !his is referred to as

intergenerational sociali"ation.

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*ther asic functions include economic welleing, emotional support, and suitale family

lifestyles.

0conomic Well6eing

1roviding financial means to its dependents is un+uestionaly a asic family function. 'ow

the family divides its responsiilities for providing economic welleing has changed

consideraly during the past @A years. /o longer are the traditional roles of husand as

economic provider and wife as homemaker and childrarer still valid. (t is very common for

married women with children in the 5nited States and other industrial countries to e

employed outside the home and for their husands to share household responsiilities.

More than BA percent of women in 5nited States who are over the age of CD claim that it is

more difficult to e a mother now than it was EA or @A years ago. !he economic role of

children also has changed. !oday, although many teenage children work, they rarely assist

the family financially. !eenagers are expected to pay for their own amusements% others

contriute to the costs of their formal education and prepare themselves to e financially

independent.

0motional Support

!he provision of emotional nourishment #including love, affection, and intimacy$ to its

memers is an important core function of the contemporary family. !he family provides

support and encouragement and assists its memers in coping with decision making and

personal or social prolems. (f the family cannot provide ade+uate assistance when it is

needed, it may turn to a counselor, psychologist or other helping professional as an

alternative.

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Suitale Family &ifestyles

2nother important family function in terms of consumer ehavior is the estalishment of a

suitale lifestyle for the family. 5pringing, experience, and the personal and ointly held

goals of the spouses determine the importance placed on education or career, on reading,

television viewing, the learning of computer skills, the fre+uency and +uality of dining out,

and on the selection of other entertainment and recreational activities. Family lifestyle

commitments, including the allocation of time, are greatly influencing consumption

patterns.

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(nitiators#s$: !he Family memer who first recogni"es a need or starts the purchase

process.

(nformation gatherer#s$: !he individual who has expertise and interest in a particular

purchase. 4ifferent individuals seek information at different times or on different aspects

of the purchase.

(nfluencer#s$: !he person who influences the alternatives evaluated, the criteria considered,

and the final choice.

4ecision maker#s$: !he individual who makes the final decision .*f course, oint decisionsalso are likely to occur.

1urchaser#s$: !he family memer who actually purchases the product. !his is typically an

adult or teenager.

5ser#s$: !he user of the product. For many products there are multiple usersE.

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Marketers most fre+uently examine the attitudes and ehavior of the one family memerwhom they elieve to e the maor decision maker. Sometimes they also examine the

attitudes and ehavior of the person most likely to e the primary user of the product or

service.

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family life cycle final report

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