A Consumer Who Consciously Decides to Buy the Same Brand Over and Over Again Exhibits ________.

3.1 Factors That Influence Consumers' Buying Behavior

Learning Objectives

1. Draw the personal and psychological factors that may influence what consumers purchase and when they buy it.
2. Explicate what marketing professionals can exercise to influence consumers' behavior.
3. Explicate how looking at lifestyle data helps firms empathise what consumers want to purchase.
4. Explain how Maslow'south hierarchy of needs works.
5. Explicate how culture, subcultures, social classes, families, and reference groups affect consumers' buying beliefs.

You've been a consumer with purchasing power for much longer than you probably realize—since the first time yous were asked which cereal or toy you wanted. Over the years, y'all've developed rules of pollex or mental shortcuts providing a systematic mode to choose among alternatives, even if you aren't aware of information technology. Other consumers follow a similar process, but different people, no matter how like they are, make different purchasing decisions. You might be very interested in purchasing a Smart Car, only your all-time friend might want to buy a Ford F-150 truck. What factors influenced your conclusion and what factors influenced your friend'southward conclusion?

Equally nosotros mentioned earlier in the chapter, consumer behavior is influenced by many things, including environmental and marketing factors, the situation, personal and psychological factors, family, and culture. Businesses endeavour to figure out trends so they tin reach the people most likely to buy their products in the near cost-constructive way possible. Businesses often endeavour to influence a consumer's behavior with things they tin can control such as the layout of a store, music, grouping and availability of products, pricing, and advertising. While some influences may be temporary and others are long lasting, different factors can affect how buyers behave—whether they influence yous to make a buy, purchase additional products, or purchase cypher at all. Let's at present look at some of the influences on consumer behavior in more particular.

Situational Factors

Have you ever been in a department story and couldn't find your manner out? No, you lot aren't necessarily directionally challenged. Marketing professionals have concrete factors such every bit a shop's pattern and layout into business relationship when they are designing their facilities. Presumably, the longer you wander around a facility, the more you will spend. Grocery stores frequently identify bread and milk products on the reverse ends of the stores because people oft need both types of products. To buy both, they accept to walk around an entire shop, which of course, is loaded with other items they might run into and purchase.

Shop locations also influence behavior. Starbucks has done a good job in terms of locating its stores. It has the process down to a science; you can scarcely drive a few miles downward the route without passing a Starbucks. You can also purchase cups of Starbucks coffee at many grocery stores and in airports—virtually whatever identify where at that place is pes traffic.

Concrete factors that firms can control, such every bit the layout of a store, music played at stores, the lighting, temperature, and even the smells you experience are called altercation. Perhaps you've visited the office of an apartment complex and noticed how nifty it looked and fifty-fifty smelled. Information technology'southward no coincidence. The managers of the circuitous were trying to get yous to stay for a while and take a look at their facilities. Research shows that "strategic fragrancing" results in customers staying in stores longer, buying more, and leaving with amend impressions of the quality of stores' services and products. Mirrors near hotel elevators are another example. Hotel operators have constitute that when people are decorated looking at themselves in the mirrors, they don't feel like they are waiting as long for their elevators (Moore, 2008).

Not all physical factors are under a company's control, however. Take weather, for instance. Rainy conditions can be a boon to some companies, similar umbrella makers such every bit Totes, but a trouble for others. Beach resorts, outdoor concert venues, and golf courses suffer when information technology is raining heavily. Businesses such as automobile dealers too have fewer customers. Who wants to shop for a car in the rain?

Firms often try to deal with adverse physical factors such as bad atmospheric condition past offering specials during unattractive times. For example, many resorts offering consumers discounts to travel to beach locations during hurricane season. Having an online presence is another way to cope with weather-related problems. What could be more than comfy than shopping at home? If it's raining as well difficult to drive to the GAP, REI, or Abercrombie & Fitch, you tin purchase products from these companies and many others online. You lot tin store online for cars, as well, and many restaurants accept orders online and deliver.

Crowding is some other situational factor. Have you ever left a store and not purchased anything because it was just too crowded? Some studies have shown that consumers experience better nigh retailers who attempt to forbid overcrowding in their stores. Nevertheless, other studies have shown that to a sure extent, crowding can have a positive impact on a person'south buying experience. The phenomenon is oftentimes referred to equally "herd behavior" (Gaumer & Leif, 2005).

If people are lined upwards to buy something, you desire to know why. Should y'all make it line to buy information technology too? Herd behavior helped bulldoze up the price of houses in the mid-2000s before the prices for them rapidly fell. Unfortunately, herd beliefs has also led to the deaths of people. In 2008, a store employee was trampled to death by an early on morning oversupply rushing into a Walmart to snap up vacation bargains.

Social Situation

The social state of affairs you lot're in can significantly affect your buy behavior. Perhaps you accept seen Girl Scouts selling cookies outside grocery stores and other retail establishments and purchased null from them, only what if your neighbor's daughter is selling the cookies? Are you going to plough her down or exist a friendly neighbour and purchase a box (or two)?

Video Clip

Thin Mints, Anyone?

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Are you going to turn down cookies from this beautiful Girl Scout? What if she's your neighbour's daughter? Laissez passer the milk, delight!

Companies like Pampered Chef that sell their products at parties empathise that the social state of affairs makes a difference. When you lot're at a friend's Pampered Chef party, you don't want to look cheap or disappoint your friend by not buying anything. Sure social situations can also make you lot less willing to buy products. You might spend quite a fleck of money each calendar month eating at fast-food restaurants like McDonald'due south and Subway. Where do yous take someone for your get-go date? Some people might take a first date to Subway, just other people would perhaps choose a eating house that's more upscale. As well, if you have turned downward a drink or dessert on a date considering yous were worried about what the person you lot were with might have idea, your consumption was afflicted past your social state of affairs (Matilla & Wirtz, 2008).

Time

The time of day, time of year, and how much fourth dimension consumers experience like they take to shop touch on what they buy. Researchers have even discovered whether someone is a "morning time person" or "evening person" affects shopping patterns. Have you always gone to the grocery shop when you are hungry or afterwards pay day when you take cash in your pocket? When you lot are hungry or have cash, you may buy more than than you would at other times. Seven-Eleven Japan is a company that'southward extremely in melody to time and how it affects buyers. The company'due south signal-of-auction systems at its checkout counters monitor what is selling well and when, and stores are restocked with those items immediately—sometimes via motorcycle deliveries that zip in and out of traffic along Nippon'south crowded streets. The goal is to get the products on the shelves when and where consumers desire them. Seven-Eleven Nippon also knows that, like Americans, its customers are "time starved." Shoppers can pay their utility bills, local taxes, and insurance or pension premiums at Seven-Xi Nippon stores, and even make photocopies (Bird, 2002).

Companies worldwide are enlightened of people'southward lack of time and are finding ways to accommodate them. Some doctors' offices offer drive-through shots for patients who are in a hurry and for elderly patients who find it difficult to go out of their cars. Tickets.com allows companies to sell tickets by sending them to customers' mobile phones when they phone call in. The phones' displays are then read past barcode scanners when the ticket purchasers arrive at the events they're attending. Likewise, if you need customer service from Amazon.com, there's no demand to wait on the telephone. If you lot have an account with Amazon, y'all just click a button on the company's Web site and an Amazon representative calls you immediately.

Reason for the Purchase

The reason y'all are shopping also affects the amount of time y'all will spend shopping. Are you making an emergency purchase? What if y'all need something for an of import dinner or a projection and only have an hour to get everything? Are you shopping for a gift or for a special occasion? Are you buying something to consummate a job/project and need information technology chop-chop? In recent years, emergency clinics take sprung up in strip malls all over the state. Convenience is one reason. The other is sheer necessity. If you cut yourself and you are haemorrhage badly, you're probably not going to shop around much to detect the all-time clinic. You will go to the one that'due south closest to yous. The same affair may happen if you need something immediately.

Purchasing a gift might non be an emergency situation, but you might non want to spend much time shopping for it either. Gift certificates have been popular for years. Yous can purchase souvenir cards for numerous merchants at your local grocery shop or online. By contrast, suppose you need to purchase an appointment ring. Sure, you could purchase one online in a jiffy, merely you probably wouldn't practise that. What if the diamond was fake? What if your pregnant other turned you down and you had to render the ring? How hard would it be to get dorsum online and return the band? (Hornik & Miniero, 2009)

Mood

Have you ever felt like going on a shopping spree? At other times wild horses couldn't elevate you to a mall. People's moods temporarily affect their spending patterns. Some people enjoy shopping. Information technology'due south entertaining for them. At the extreme are compulsive spenders who get a temporary "high" from spending.

A sour mood can spoil a consumer'south desire to shop. The crash of the U.S. stock marketplace in 2008 left many people feeling poorer, leading to a dramatic downturn in consumer spending. Penny pinching came into vogue, and conspicuous spending was out. Costco and Walmart experienced heightened sales of their low-cost Kirkland Signature and Great Value brands equally consumers scrimpedⁱ. Saks 5th Avenue wasn't so lucky. Its almanac release of spring fashions usually leads to a feeding frenzy among shoppers, only spring 2009 was dissimilar. "We've definitely seen a drib-off of this idea of shopping for entertainment," says Kimberly Grabel, Saks Fifth Avenue's senior vice president of marketing (Rosenbloom, 2009). To go buyers in the shopping mood, companies resorted to unlike measures. The upscale retailer Neiman Marcus began introducing more than mid-priced brands. By studying customer'south loyalty cards, the French hypermarket Carrefour hoped to detect means to go its customers to buy nonfood items that have higher turn a profit margins.

The glum mood wasn't bad for all businesses though. Discounters similar One-half-Priced books saw their sales surge. So did seed sellers equally people began planting their own gardens. Finally, what about those products (Aqua Globes, Snuggies, and Ped Eggs) y'all run into existence hawked on television? Their sales were the best ever. Patently, consumers likewise broke to continue holiday or shop at Saks were instead watching television and treating themselves to the products (Ward, 2009).

Personal Factors

Personality and Cocky-Concept

Personality describes a person's disposition, helps show why people are different, and encompasses a person's unique traits. The "Large Five" personality traits that psychologists discuss oftentimes include openness or how open you are to new experiences, conscientiousness or how diligent you are, extraversion or how outgoing or shy you are, conjuration or how piece of cake you are to get along with, and neuroticism or how prone yous are to negative mental states.

Do personality traits predict people's purchasing beliefs? Can companies successfully target certain products to people based on their personalities? How do y'all find out what personalities consumers have? Are extraverts wild spenders and introverts penny pinchers?

The link between people's personalities and their buying beliefs is somewhat unclear. Some research studies have shown that "sensation seekers," or people who exhibit extremely high levels of openness, are more probable to respond well to advertizement that's tearing and graphic. The problem for firms is figuring out "who's who" in terms of their personalities.

Marketers have had better luck linking people's cocky-concepts to their ownership behavior. Your cocky-concept is how yous see yourself—be it positive or negative. Your ideal self is how you would similar to see yourself—whether it'southward prettier, more popular, more eco-conscious, or more "goth," and others' self-concept, or how you think others see you, also influences your purchase beliefs. Marketing researchers believe people buy products to enhance how they feel about themselves—to go themselves closer to their ideal selves.

The slogan "Be All That You lot Can Be," which for years was used by the U.S. Ground forces to recruit soldiers, is an effort to appeal to the self-concept. Presumably, by joining the U.S. Army, you will get a improve version of yourself, which will, in turn, improve your life. Many beauty products and corrective procedures are advertised in a way that's supposed to appeal to the ideal self people seek. All of united states want products that improve our lives.

Gender, Age, and Phase of Life

While demographic variables such as income, education, and marital status are important, we will await at gender, age, and stage of life and how they influence buy decisions. Men and women need and buy different products (Ward & Thuhang, 2007). They also shop differently and in general, take unlike attitudes almost shopping. Y'all know the old stereotypes. Men run across what they want and buy information technology, merely women "endeavour on everything and shop 'til they driblet." There's some truth to the stereotypes. That's why you encounter so many advertisements directed at one sexual practice or the other—beer commercials that air on ESPN and commercials for household products that air on Lifetime. Women influence fully 2-thirds of all household production purchases, whereas men buy about iii-quarters of all alcoholic beverages (Schmitt, 2008). The shopping differences betwixt men and women seem to exist changing, though. Younger, well-educated men are less likely to believe grocery shopping is a adult female's job and would exist more inclined to deal shop and utilise coupons if the coupons were properly targeted at them (Hill & Harmon, 2007). 1 survey plant that approximately 45 percent of married men actually like shopping and consider it relaxing.

I study past Resources Interactive, a technology research house, found that when shopping online, men prefer sites with lots of pictures of products and women adopt to see products online in lifestyle context—say, a lamp in a living room. Women are as well twice as likely as men to employ viewing tools such as the zoom and rotate buttons and links that allow them to change the colour of products.

Video Clip

What Women Want versus What Men Want

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Check out this Heineken commercial, which highlights the differences betwixt "what women desire" and "what men want" when it comes to products.

Figure 3.ii

Marketing to men is big business concern. Some advertising agencies specialize in advertisements designed specifically to appeal to male consumers.

Many businesses today are taking greater pains to effigy out "what men want." Products such equally face toners and trunk washes for men such every bit the Axe brand and hair salons such as the Men's Zone and Weldon Hairdresser are a relatively new phenomenon. Some advertizement agencies specialize in advertising directed at men. There are also many products such as kayaks and mountain bikes targeted toward women that weren't in the past.

You accept probably noticed that the things you buy have changed every bit yous age. Remember nearly what you wanted and how you spent five dollars when you were a child, a teenager, and an adult. When you were a kid, the last affair you probably wanted equally a gift was clothing. As yous became a teen, however, cool clothes probably became a bigger priority. Don't await at present, but depending on the stage of life yous're currently in, diapers and wrinkle cream might be merely effectually the corner.

If you're single and working after graduation, you probably spend your coin differently than a newly married couple. How practice you think spending patterns change when someone has a young child or a teenager or a child in college? Diapers and day care, orthodontia, tuition, electronics—regardless of the age, children affect the spending patterns of families. Once children graduate from college and parents are empty nesters, spending patterns modify once again.

Empty nesters and baby boomers are a huge marketplace that companies are trying to tap. Ford and other machine companies have created "aging suits" for young employees to wear when they're designing automobiles². The suit simulates the restricted mobility and vision people experience as they go older. Motorcar designers can then figure out how to configure the automobiles to amend encounter the needs of these consumers.

Video Clip

Car Makers Blueprint Special Aging Suit

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The "aging arrange" has elastic bindings that hamper a auto designer'due south movement and goggles that simulate deteriorating eyesight. The suit gives the designer an idea what kinds of car-related challenges older consumers face.

Lisa Rudes Sandel, the founder of Non Your Girl'south Jeans (NYDJ), created a multimillion-dollar business by designing jeans for baby boomers with womanly bodies. Since its launch seven years ago, NYDJ has become the largest domestic manufacturer of women's jeans under $100. "The truth is," Rudes Sandel says, "I've never forgotten that woman I've been aiming for since 24-hour interval 1." Rudes Sandel "speaks to" every ane of her customers via a notation tucked into each pair of jean that reads, "NYDJ (Not Your Daughter's Jeans) cannot be held responsible for any positive consequence that may arise due to your fabulous appearance when wearing the Tummy Tuck jeans. You can give thanks me later" (Saffian, 2009).

Figure three.iii

You're only as old as you feel—and the things yous buy.

Your chronological age, or actual age in years, is i affair. Your cognitive age, or how quondam you perceive yourself to exist, is another. A person'due south cognitive historic period affects his or her activities and sparks interests consistent with his or her perceived age (Barak & Gould, 1985). Cerebral age is a meaning predictor of consumer behaviors, including people'south dining out, watching television receiver, going to bars and trip the light fantastic clubs, playing computer games, and shopping (Barak & Gould, 1985). Companies take found that many consumers feel younger than their chronological age and don't have kindly to products that feature "old folks" considering they tin't identify with them.

Lifestyle

If you lot have always watched the telly prove Wife Bandy, you tin see that despite people's similarities (e.g., being eye-form Americans who are married with children), their lifestyles tin can differ radically. To better empathise and connect with consumers, companies interview or enquire people to consummate questionnaires almost their lifestyles or their activities, interests, and opinions (often referred to as AIO statements). Consumers are not simply asked most products they like, where they live, and what their gender is simply as well about what they do—that is, how they spend their time and what their priorities, values, opinions, and general outlooks on the world are. Where do they go other than piece of work? Who do they similar to talk to? What do they talk about? Researchers hired by Procter & Run a risk have gone so far as to follow women around for weeks as they shop, run errands, and socialize with i another (Berner, 2006). Other companies take paid people to keep a daily journal of their activities and routines.

A number of enquiry organizations examine lifestyle and psychographic characteristics of consumers. Psychographics combines the lifestyle traits of consumers and their personality styles with an analysis of their attitudes, activities, and values to determine groups of consumers with similar characteristics. One of the most widely used systems to classify people based on psychographics is the VALS (Values, Attitudes, and Lifestyles) framework. Using VALS to combine psychographics with demographic information such as marital status, education level, and income provide a amend understanding of consumers.

Psychological Factors

Motivation

Motivation is the inwards drive nosotros have to get what we demand. In the mid-1900s, Abraham Maslow, an American psychologist, developed the hierarchy of needs shown in Figure 3.4 "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs".

Figure iii.four Maslow'southward Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow theorized that people have to fulfill their bones needs—food, h2o, and sleep—before they can brainstorm fulfilling higher-level needs. Take you ever gone shopping when yous were tired or hungry? Even if you were shopping for something that would make you the envy of your friends (maybe a new car) you probably wanted to sleep or eat even more. (Forget the automobile. Just give me a nap and a candy bar.)

The demand for food is recurring. Other needs, such as shelter, clothing, and safe, tend to be indelible. Still other needs arise at different points in fourth dimension in a person'southward life. For case, during grade schoolhouse and high schoolhouse, your social needs probably rose to the forefront. You wanted to have friends and get a engagement. Maybe this prompted you lot to buy certain types of clothing or electronic devices. Subsequently high school, you began thinking nearly how people would view you in your "station" in life, so you decided to pay for college and get a professional caste, thereby fulfilling your demand for esteem. If you're lucky, at some point you will realize Maslow's state of self-actualization. You will believe you accept become the person in life that yous feel y'all were meant to be.

Following the economic crunch that began in 2008, the sales of new automobiles dropped sharply nigh everywhere effectually the world—except the sales of Hyundai vehicles. Hyundai understood that people needed to feel secure and rubber and ran an ad campaign that assured motorcar buyers they could return their vehicles if they couldn't make the payments on them without damaging their credit. Seeing Hyundai's success, other carmakers began offering like programs. Besides, banks began offering "worry-free" mortgages to ease the minds of would-be homebuyers. For a fee of almost $500, Kickoff Mortgage Corp., a Texas-based banking concern, offered to make a homeowner's mortgage payment for six months if he or she got laid off (Jares, 2010).

While achieving self-actualization may be a goal for many individuals in the U.s.a., consumers in Eastern cultures may focus more than on belongingness and group needs. Marketers look at cultural differences in addition to private needs. The importance of groups affects ad (using groups versus individuals) and product decisions.

Perception

Perception is how you interpret the globe around yous and brand sense of information technology in your brain. Yous do and then via stimuli that impact your different senses—sight, hearing, bear on, smell, and taste. How you combine these senses also makes a difference. For example, in ane study, consumers were blindfolded and asked to drink a new make of clear beer. Most of them said the product tasted like regular beer. However, when the blindfolds came off and they drank the beer, many of them described it as "watery" tasting (Ries, 2009).

Consumers are bombarded with messages on television set, radio, magazines, the Internet, and even bathroom walls. The average consumer is exposed to about 3 k advertisements per solar day (Lasn, 1999). Consumers are surfing the Internet, watching television, and checking their cell phones for text messages simultaneously. Some, but not all, information makes it into our brains. Selecting information we run across or hear (eastward.g., television shows or magazines) is called selective exposure.

Accept you ever read or idea about something and then started noticing ads and information about it popping up everywhere? Many people are more perceptive to advertisements for products they need. Selective attention is the process of filtering out information based on how relevant it is to you. It'due south been described as a "suit of armor" that helps y'all filter out information you don't need. At other times, people forget information, fifty-fifty if it'south quite relevant to them, which is chosen selective memory. Ofttimes the information contradicts the person'due south belief. A longtime chain smoker who forgets much of the information communicated during an antismoking commercial is an example. To exist sure their advertizing messages get through to you and you lot remember them, companies use repetition. How tired of iPhone commercials were you lot before they tapered off? How oftentimes exercise you see the aforementioned commercial aired during a single boob tube show?

Another potential problem that advertisers (or your friends) may experience is selective distortion or misinterpretation of the intended message. Promotions for weight loss products show models that wait slim and trim afterwards using their products, and consumers may believe they will look like the model if they use the product. They misinterpret other factors such every bit how the model looked before or how long it will have to achieve the results. Similarly, have you always told someone a story about a friend and that person told another person who told someone else? By the fourth dimension the story gets back to you, it is completely different. The same matter tin can happen with many types of messages.

Video Clip

A Parody of an iPhone Commercial

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Check out this parody on Apple's iPhone commercial.

Using surprising stimuli or shock ad is also a technique that works. One report institute that shocking content increased attention, benefited memory, and positively influenced beliefs among a group of university students (Dahl, et. al., 2003).

Subliminal advertising is the opposite of daze advertising and involves exposing consumers to marketing stimuli such every bit photos, ads, and messages past stealthily embedding them in movies, ads, and other media. Although in that location is no evidence that subliminal advertising works, years ago the words Drink Coca-Cola were flashed for a millisecond on a film screen. Consumers were thought to perceive the information subconsciously and to exist influenced to buy the products shown. Many people considered the practice to exist subversive, and in 1974, the Federal Communications Committee condemned it. Much of the original research on subliminal advertising, conducted by a researcher trying to drum up business organisation for his market research firm, was fabricated (Crossen, 2007). People are still fascinated by subliminal advertisement, still. To create "buzz" almost the television show The Mole in 2008, ABC began hyping it by ambulation short commercials composed of just a few frames. If you blinked, you missed information technology. Some telly stations actually called ABC to figure out what was going on. Ane-second ads were later rolled out to movie theaters (Adalian, 2008).

Different consumers perceive information differently. A couple of frames virtually The Mole might brand you want to meet the idiot box show. Even so, your friend might see the advertizement, find information technology stupid, and never tune in to watch the show. One man sees Pledge, an outstanding piece of furniture polish, while some other sees a tin of spray no different from any other furniture polish. One adult female sees a luxurious Gucci purse, and the other sees an overpriced bag to hold keys and makeup (Chartrand, 2009).

Learning

Learning refers to the procedure by which consumers change their behavior later on they proceeds information or experience. It'due south the reason you lot don't buy a bad product twice. Learning doesn't just affect what you purchase; it affects how you shop. People with limited experience most a product or brand generally seek out more information than people who have used a product before.

Companies try to get consumers to larn about their products in unlike ways. Car dealerships offer exam drives. Pharmaceutical reps exit samples and brochures at md'due south offices. Other companies give consumers gratis samples. To promote its new line of coffees, McDonald's offered customers free samples to effort. Accept you always eaten the nutrient samples in a grocery store? While sampling is an expensive strategy, information technology gets consumers to endeavour the product and many customers purchase it, especially right after trying in the store.

Some other kind of learning is operant or instrumental conditioning, which is what occurs when researchers are able to get a mouse to run through a maze for a piece of cheese or a dog to salivate just past ringing a bong. In other words, learning occurs through repetitive behavior that has positive or negative consequences. Companies engage in operant conditioning by rewarding consumers, which cause consumers to want to repeat their purchasing behaviors. Prizes and toys that come in Cracker Jacks and McDonald's Happy Meals, gratis tans offered with gym memberships, a complimentary sandwich after a certain number of purchases, and free car washes when you fill up upwardly your car with a tank of gas are examples.

Another learning process called classical conditioning occurs past associating a conditioned stimulus (CS) with an unconditioned stimulus (United states) to go a item response. The more than frequently the CS is linked with the US, the faster learning occurs and this is what advertisers and businesses endeavor to do. Think about a meal at a restaurant where the food was really good and you went with someone special. Y'all like the person and want to become out again. It could be that classical conditioning occurred. That is, the food produced a good feeling and you may associate the person with the food, thus producing a proficient feeling near the person.

Mental attitude

Attitudes are "mental positions" or emotional feelings, favorable or unfavorable evaluations, and activity tendencies people have about products, services, companies, ideas, problems, or institutions³. Attitudes tend to be enduring, and because they are based on people'south values and beliefs, they are hard to change. Companies want people to accept positive feelings about their offerings. A few years ago, KFC began running ads to the consequence that fried chicken was healthy—until the U.South. Federal Trade Commission told the visitor to cease. Wendy'southward slogan that its products are "manner improve than fast food" is some other example. Fast food has a negative connotation, so Wendy'due south is trying to get consumers to recall virtually its offerings as existence ameliorate.

An instance of a shift in consumers' attitudes occurred when the taxpayer-paid government bailouts of big banks that began in 2008 provoked the wrath of Americans, creating an opportunity for small banks not involved in the credit bailout and subprime mortgage mess. The Worthington National Bank, a small bank in Fort Worth, Texas, ran billboards reading: "Did Your Bank Accept a Bailout? Nosotros didn't." Another read: "Merely Say NO to Bailout Banks. Bank Responsibly!" The Worthington Bank received tens of millions in new deposits soon after running these campaigns (Mantone, 2009).

Societal Factors

Situational factors, personal factors, and psychological factors influence what yous purchase, but but on a temporary footing. Societal factors are a bit dissimilar. They are more outward and have broad influences on your beliefs and the fashion you practice things. They depend on the world effectually yous and how it works.

Culture

Culture refers to the shared beliefs, customs, behaviors, and attitudes that characterize a society. Civilisation is a handed down way of life and is oft considered the broadest influence on a consumer's behavior. Your civilisation prescribes the mode in which you should alive and has a huge effect on the things you purchase. For example, in Beirut, Lebanese republic, women tin oft exist seen wearing miniskirts. If you're a woman in Afghanistan wearing a mini-skirt, notwithstanding, you could face up actual harm or death. In Transitional islamic state of afghanistan women generally wear burqas, which cover them completely from head to toe. Similarly, in Saudi arabia, women must wear what's called an abaya, or long black garment. Interestingly, abayas have go big business in recent years. They come up in many styles, cuts, and fabrics and some are encrusted with jewels and cost thousands of dollars. To read about the fashions women in Muslim countries habiliment, bank check out the post-obit article: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1210781,00.html.

Fifty-fifty cultures that share many of the same values as the United States can be quite different. Following the meltdown of the financial markets in 2008, countries around the globe were pressed by the United states of america to appoint in deficit spending to stimulate the worldwide economic system. The plan was a hard sell both to German politicians and to the High german people in full general. Most Germans don't own credit cards and running up a lot of debt is something people in that culture generally don't do. Credit card companies such as Visa, American Express, and MasterCard must understand cultural perceptions about credit.

Subcultures

A subculture is a grouping of people inside a culture who are unlike from the dominant culture but take something in common with 1 another such as common interests, vocations or jobs, religions, indigenous backgrounds, and geographic locations. The fastest-growing subculture in the Usa consists of people of Hispanic origin, followed by Asian Americans, and African Americans. The purchasing ability of U.S. Hispanics continues to abound, exceeding $1 trillion in 2010⁴. Home Depot has launched a Spanish version of its Web site. Walmart is in the process of converting some of its Neighborhood Markets into stores designed to entreatment to Hispanics. The Supermarcado de Walmart stores are located in Hispanic neighborhoods and feature elements such as cafés serving Latino pastries and coffee and total meat and fish counters (Birchall, 2009). Marketing products based on the ethnicity of consumers is useful but may become harder to exercise in the future because the boundaries between ethnic groups are blurring.

Figure three.6

Intendance to bring together the subculture of the "Otherkin"? Otherkins are primarily Internet users who believe they are reincarnations of mythological or legendary creatures—angels, demons, vampires—you name information technology. To read more than nearly the Otherkins and seven other bizarre subcultures, visit http://www.oddee.com/item_96676.aspx.

Subcultures, such equally college students, tin develop in response to people's interests, similarities, and behaviors that allow marketing professionals to design specific products for them. You lot have probably heard of the hip-hop subculture, people who in engage in extreme types of sports such every bit helicopter skiing or people who play the fantasy game Dungeons and Dragons.

Social Class

A social class is a group of people who take the same social, economical, or educational status in society⁵. While income helps ascertain social grade, the primary variable determining social class is occupation. To some degree, consumers in the aforementioned social form exhibit like purchasing behavior. In many countries, people are expected to marry inside their ain social course. When asked, people tend to say they are middle form, which is not e'er correct. Have you lot ever been surprised to find out that someone you knew who was wealthy drove a crush-up quondam car or wore old clothes and shoes or that someone who isn't wealthy owns a Mercedes or other upscale vehicle? While some products may appeal to people in a social class, you can't presume a person is in a certain social class considering they either have or don't have certain products or brands.

Table 3.1 "An Example of Social Classes and Ownership Patterns" shows seven classes of American consumers along with the types of motorcar brands they might buy. Keep in mind that the U.Southward. market is just a fraction of the world market. The rising of the middle class in India and China is creating opportunities for many companies to successfully sustain their products. For case, China has begun to overtake the United States equally the world's largest auto market^six.

Table 3.1 An Example of Social Classes and Buying Patterns

Form	Type of Motorcar	Definition of Course
Upper-Upper Grade	Rolls-Royce	People with inherited wealth and aristocratic names (the Kennedys, Rothschilds, Windsors, etc.)
Lower-Upper Course	Mercedes	Professionals such as CEOs, doctors, and lawyers
Upper-Middle Class	Lexus	College graduates and managers
Centre Class	Toyota	Both white-collar and blue-neckband workers
Working Class	Pontiac	Blue-collar workers
Lower but Not the Lowest	Used Vehicle	People who are working but not on welfare
Everyman Class	No vehicle	People on welfare

In a recession when luxury buyers are harder to come by, the makers of upscale brands may want their client bases to be equally large as possible. Still, companies don't want to run a risk "cheapening" their brands. That'southward why, for example, Smart Cars, which are made by BMW, don't have the BMW label on them. For a time, Tiffany's sold a cheaper line of silver jewelry to a lot of customers. However, the company later on worried that its reputation was beingness tarnished past the line. Keep in listen that a production's cost is to some extent determined by supply and demand. Luxury brands therefore attempt to go on the supply of their products in check so their prices remain high.

Figure 3.7

The whiskey brand Johnnie Walker has managed to expand its market share without cheapening the brand by producing a few lower-priced versions of the whiskey and putting them in bottles with different labels.

Some companies, such as Johnnie Walker, have managed to capture market share by introducing "lower echelon" brands without damaging their luxury brands. The company's whiskeys come up in bottles with red, dark-green, blue, black, and gilt labels. The blue characterization is the company's best product. Every blue-label canteen has a serial number and is sold in a silk-lined box, accompanied by a document of actuality⁷.

Reference Groups and Opinion Leaders

Reference groups are groups (social groups, work groups, family, or shut friends) a consumer identifies with and may want to join. They influence consumers' attitudes and beliefs. If y'all have ever dreamed of being a professional player of basketball game or another sport, yous have an aspirational reference group. That'due south why, for example, Nike hires celebrities such as Michael Jordan to pitch the visitor'south products. There may also be dissociative groups or groups where a consumer does not want to exist associated.

Opinion leaders are people with expertise in certain areas. Consumers respect these people and frequently inquire their opinions before they buy goods and services. An information technology (IT) specialist with a great deal of knowledge about reckoner brands is an example. These people'due south purchases often lie at the forefront of leading trends. The IT specialist is probably a person who has the latest and greatest tech products, and his opinion of them is likely to carry more weight with you than any sort of advertisement.

Today'southward companies are using dissimilar techniques to reach opinion leaders. Network analysis using special software is one manner of doing so. Orgnet.com has developed software for this purpose. Orgnet'due south software doesn't mine sites similar Facebook and LinkedIn, though. Instead, it's based on sophisticated techniques that unearthed the links between Al Qaeda terrorists. Explains Valdis Krebs, the company's founder: "Pharmaceutical firms want to identify who the central opinion leaders are. They don't want to sell a new drug to everyone. They desire to sell to the sixty central oncologists" (Campbell, 2004).

Family

Near market researchers consider a person'southward family to be one of the most important influences on their buying behavior. Like it or not, you lot are more like your parents than you remember, at to the lowest degree in terms of your consumption patterns. Many of the things you buy and don't buy are a result of what your parents bought when you were growing upward. Products such every bit the brand of soap and toothpaste your parents bought and used, and even the "make" of politics they leaned toward (Democratic or Republican) are examples of the products you may favor every bit an adult.

Companies are interested in which family unit members have the most influence over sure purchases. Children have a bully bargain of influence over many household purchases. For example, in 2003 virtually half (47 per centum) of nine- to seventeen-year-olds were asked by parents to get online to find out about products or services, compared to 37 percent in 2001. IKEA used this knowledge to design their showrooms. The children's bedrooms feature fun beds with highly-seasoned comforters so children will be prompted to place and inquire for what they want⁸.

Marketing to children has come under increasing scrutiny. Some critics accuse companies of deliberately manipulating children to nag their parents for certain products. For example, fifty-fifty though tickets for Hannah Montana concerts ranged from hundreds to thousands of dollars, the concerts often still sold out. Still, equally one writer put information technology, exploiting "pester power" is not always ultimately in the long-term interests of advertisers if information technology alienates kids' parents (Waddell, 2009).

Key Takeaway

• Situational influences are temporary conditions that affect how buyers behave. They include concrete factors such as a store'south ownership locations, layout, music, lighting, and fifty-fifty odour. Companies try to make the physical factors in which consumers shop equally favorable every bit possible. If they can't, they utilize other tactics such as discounts. The consumer's social situation, time factors, the reason for their purchases, and their moods also impact their buying beliefs.
• Your personality describes your disposition as other people see it. Market place researchers believe people buy products to enhance how they experience about themselves. Your gender likewise affects what yous buy and how you shop. Women shop differently than men. However, there's some bear witness that this is changing. Younger men and women are beginning to shop more than alike. People purchase different things based on their ages and life stages. A person'southward cognitive age is how one-time one "feels" oneself to be. To farther understand consumers and connect with them, companies take begun looking more closely at their lifestyles (what they do, how they spend their time, what their priorities and values are, and how they see the world).
• Psychologist Abraham Maslow theorized that people have to fulfill their basic needs—like the need for food, water, and slumber—before they can brainstorm fulfilling higher-level needs. Perception is how y'all interpret the world effectually you and make sense of it in your brain. To be sure their advertising letters get through to you, companies often resort to repetition. Shocking advertising and product placement are two other methods. Learning is the procedure past which consumers change their behavior after they gain information about or feel with a product. Consumers' attitudes are the "mental positions" people accept based on their values and beliefs. Attitudes tend to be enduring and are often difficult for companies to change.
• Culture prescribes the fashion in which you should live and affects the things you purchase. A subculture is a group of people within a civilization who are unlike from the dominant culture but have something in common with i some other—common interests, vocations or jobs, religions, ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientations, and then along. To some degree, consumers in the aforementioned social class showroom like purchasing behavior. Almost market place researchers consider a person's family to be one of the biggest determinants of buying behavior. Reference groups are groups that a consumer identifies with and wants to bring together. Companies often rent celebrities to endorse their products to appeal to people'southward reference groups. Stance leaders are people with expertise in certain areas. Consumers respect these people and oft ask their opinions before they buy appurtenances and services.

Review Questions

1. Explain what physical factors, social situations, time factors, and/or moods have afflicted your ownership behavior for different products.
2. Explain how someone'south personality differs from his or her self-concept. How does the person'due south platonic self-concept come into play in a consumer behavior context?
3. Describe how buying patterns and purchase decisions may vary by age, gender, and stage of life.
4. Why are companies interested in consumers' cognitive ages and lifestyle factors?
5. How does the procedure of perception work and how can companies use it to their advantage in their marketing?
6. How do Maslow's hierarchy of needs and learning affect how companies market place to consumers?
7. Why do people'southward cultures and subcultures touch on what they buy?
8. How do subcultures differ from cultures? Can y'all belong to more than than one civilization or subculture?
9. How are companies trying to reach opinion leaders?

¹"Wal-Mart Unveils Plans for Own-Label Revamp," Fiscal Times, March 17, 2009, xv.

ⁱⁱ"Designing Cars for the Elderly: A Blueprint Story," http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/may2008/gb2008056_154197.htm (accessed April 13, 2012).

³"Dictionary of Marketing Terms," http://www.allbusiness.com/glossaries/marketing/4941810-i.html (accessed Oct xiv, 2009).

⁴"Latino Purchasing Power At present Pegged at $1 Trillion," Mariowire.com, May 4, 2011, http://www.mariowire.com/2011/05/04/latino-purchasing-power-1-trillion/.

^fivePrinceton Academy, "WordNet," http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=social+form&sub=Search+WordNet&o2=&o0=1&o7=&o5=&o1 =1&o6=&o4=&o3=&h= (accessed October fourteen, 2009).

⁶"More Cars Sold in Communist china than in January," France 24, February 10, 2009, http://www.france24.com/en/20090210-more than-cars-sold-china-us-january-auto-market (accessed October 14, 2009).

^seven"Johnnie Walker," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnnie_Walker (accessed October 14, 2009).

⁸"Teen Market Contour," Mediamark Enquiry, 2003, http://www.magazine.org/content/files/teenprofile04.pdf (accessed December 4, 2009).

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Source: https://open.lib.umn.edu/principlesmarketing/chapter/3-1-factors-that-influence-consumers-buying-behavior/

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