BOOK SOURCE – USING BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE IN MAERKETING

The purchase decision of a consumer is influenced by different socio- cultural factors. A customer develops his taste and wants, inspired and motivated by the people around him, in the society and the reference groups. The cultural atmosphere nourishes the desires of every individual and develops the standard of living and style. Accordingly the need and demand for acquiring and consumption of relevant products are generated among the consumers, depending on the socio-cultural environments. Considering the above issues, the marketers should develop the marketing programs. They should also be aware of the changes in the pattern of a society and culture and should redesign the programs according to the situation. This situational decision process may be analyzed as follows:

1) Culture and Sub-Culture: The impact of culture plays an important role on the behavioral pattern of the consumers, as the traditions, customs and values imbibed in culture, shape the taste, liking and desirability attitude of the consumer living in a particular society. The marketing programs should be designed to cater to all segments of consumers of the particular group, considering the socio-cultural patterns.

There may be sub-culture within a given culture of smaller groups of segments with different values, norms and patterns, the sub-group may be distinguished demographically, religion-wise, racially or geographically. Individual group behavior should be studied for developing effective marketing strategies.

(2) Social Class: Society as a whole plays an important role in developing the consumer behavioral pattern, regarding the basic need and generation of demand for basic products. Within the society the consumers may be differentiated into different classes based on their economic power, educational standard, values of life, standard of life-style etc. According to sociologists there are three broad categories of social classes (i) Upper class (ii) Middle class, (iii) Lower class. The class difference is of importance to the marketers to develop the marketing strategy. It is observed that the consumer behavioral pattern of a particular class is more or less based on similar life-style and values, and their buying-behavior is also more or less similar in nature. The marketers should position their products and should develop the message and media strategies considering the target audience for effective result.

(3) Reference Groups: According to James Stafford and Benton, reference group is “a group whose presumed perspectives or values are being used by an individual as the basis for his or her judgements, opinions, and actions.” In developing advertisements and promotional strategies, the influence of the reference groups should be given due importance.

In purchase decision process, group influence play a major role, specially the aspirational reference group, with whom an individual likes to belong, play a positive guiding factor in the decision process. Family members may also involve themselves in the purchase decision process acting as the ‘Initiator the persons who are responsible for initiating the idea in the purchase decision process. They may also act as the ‘Information provider. The members may collect information of the products from different sources, which shall help to make purchase decision.

The member in the family who exerts influence as to what criteria will be used in the selection process is known as the ‘Influencer. The person who is responsible to undertake the decision of purchase is known as Decision maker.

The family members may jointly or individually, with the help of provider- specialist, make the actual purchase from respective outlets. The person involved in this process is known as Purchasing agent. The user of the actual product is known as the ‘Consumer. The consumer may be an individual or different members of a family.

(4) Situational Determination and Decisions:

The situational determinations may be of three types:

• The specific usage situation
• The purchase situation
• The communication situation

-Usage refers to the purpose of use by an individual or by a group of individuals or organizations. In the decision process it is important to analyze the specific usage situation.

-The situational atmosphere is important in determining the purchase decision at the point of purchase. It includes the time-situation of purchase, store-environment and other imponderable factors.

-The communication situation is an important determinant in purchase decision process, as the mode of communication and the place of communication plays vital roles in influencing the buying decision process. The promotional strategy should be properly designed to communicate the message to the prospects in an effective form.

SOURCE –

USING BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE IN MAERKETING BY NANCY HARHUT (Read on December 2023)