CBMC UNIT----1

Non family households

1. Unmarried couples
2. Divorced persons
3. Single persons
4. Widowed persons
What is social class?
It is defined as relatively permanent and homogeneous divisions in a society
into which individuals or families sharing similar values, lifestyles, interests
and behaviour can be categorised
Social stratification
When a large group of families are approximately equal in rank to each other
and clearly differentiated from other families, they form a social class
 ‘pecking order’
 Determined by class, status and caste
What determines social class?
 Economic – occupation, income, wealth
 Interaction – personal prestige, association, socialisation
 Political – power, class consciousness, mobility

Pretenders to a social class are much more than people that fall in it.

Therefore product usage does not necessarily mean that people fall in that
class.

Do social classes change?

 Men inherit the class of their father.
 Women can change class with marriage. Similarly women can lose
status after divorce
Word of Mouth
 For WOM to spread it requires an opinion leader
 There has to be some motivations for spreading WOM
When will WOM be useful?
 Consumer lacks sufficient information to make an informed choice
 Product is complex and difficult to evaluate using objective criteria
 Consumer lacks the ability to evaluate the product or service
 Other sources are perceived to be less credible
  An influential person is more accessible and can be consulted saving
time and effort
 Strong social ties are present between transmittee and receiver
 High need for social approval
Diffusion of innovation
 A process through which a new product moves from initial
introduction to regular purchase and use
 A process by which an innovation (idea) is communicated through
certain channels over time among the members of a social system –
Everett Rogers
Types of Innovations
Continuous – modification or improvement of an existing product
 Dynamically continuous – may involve the creation of either a new
product or the alteration of an existing one ,but does not generally
alter established patterns of customer buying and product use
 Discontinuous – production of an entirely new product that causes
customers to alter their behaviour patterns significantly
Likelihood of innovation success
 Relative advantage – new products that are most likely to succeed are
those that appeal to strongly felt needs
 Compatibility – degree to which the product is consistent with
existing values and past experience of the adopters
 Complexity – degree to which an innovation is perceived as difficult
to understand and use
 Trialability – the ability to make trials easy for new products without
economic risk to the consumer
 Observability – reflects the degree to which results from using a new
product are visible to friends and neighbours
Types of Innovators
 Cognitive – problem solving, cerebral, new mental experience
 Sensory – fantasy, day dreaming, hedonistic, thrill seeking
 Monomorphic - consumers who are innovators for one type of
product
 Polymorphic – consumers who are innovators for more than one type
of product
New products in the market
Every year around 5000 new products appear in the market. However, most
fail and only a few remain ( around 20%). Products which are innovative.