CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

SESSION 14

Rajiv Vohra
 OBJECTIVE

 Define Culture
 Role and usefulness of Cultural Analysis.
 Use of the analysis in Marketing Strategies.
 Defining Cultural Values.
 Cross Cultural Behaviour and Implications for International Marketing.
 CULTURE
 Complex whole that includes knowledge, belief, art, moral, law
customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by a person
as a member of a society.
 The distinctive way of life of a group of people, their complete
design for living.
 It is socially learned and shared by the members of a society

Components of Culture
 Material: physical substances like tools, automobiles, houses,
consumer goods etc.
 Non Material: Ideas, customs, beliefs they share and the habits they
pursue.
 The significance of culture in understanding human behaviour is that
it extends our understanding of the extent to which people are more
than just chemistry, physiology, or a set of biological drives and
instincts.
 CULTURE

 The activities in which people engage are culturally determined, and

nearly all purchases of goods are made either to provide physical
comfort or to implement the activities that make up the life of a
culture.
 This understanding of culture enables the marketers to interpret the
reactions of consumers to alternative marketing strategies.
 Although all customers may be biologically similar, their views of
world, what they value, and how they act, differ according to their
cultural background.
 MANIFESTATIONS OF CULTURE

 National Character: The difference that distinguish one national

group from another.
 Subculture
 Salient Language: Gestures, posture, food and drink preferences
and other non verbal clues to behaviour.
 Symbols:
 Taboo or prohibitions in a culture.
 Ritualized Activities

 Anthropologist have also helped marketers recognize that consumer

goods have a significant ability to carry and communicate cultural
meaning.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE

 Culture is invented: it doesn’t exist, people invent it.

 Ideological System: Ideas, beliefs, values, reasoning etc.
 Technological System: Skills, art, craft used to produce goods.
 Organizational System: family system, social class.
 Culture is Learned:
 It is learned from early in life and is charged with good deal of emotions.
 It is passed from one generation to another.
 Culture is Socially Shared
 It’s a group phenomenon, shared by human beings living in an organized
society and kept relatively uniform by social pressure.
 Culture are Similar but Different
 All cultures have similarities and innate differences among themselves
 Birth, Marriage, Death, Family Functions etc
 CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE
 Culture is Gratifying and Persistent
 Culture satisfies basic biological needs as well as learned needs. It consists
of habits that will be maintained and reinforced as long as those who practice
them are gratified.
 Culture is Adaptive
 Culture changes gradually and continuously over a period of time.
 The rate of change can be slow or fast.
 Working Women, Gay Relationships, Divorce, Single Parents
 Culture is Organized and Integrated
 It tends to be consistent and integrated whole.
 Culture is Perspective
 It involves ideal standards or patterns so that members of society have
common understanding of right and proper way to think, feel and act.
 Norms: Society’s rules, guidelines
 Sanctions: Penalty
 Mores: Norms that are vital to society’s survival and well being
 CULTURAL VALUES
 Sociological perspective as a widely held belief or sentiment that some
activities, relationships, feelings or goals are important to the
community’s identity or well-being.
 Values are so ingrained that most of us are not really aware of them
and have difficulty in describing them.
 They produce inclinations to respond to specific stimuli in standard
ways.
 Instrumental Values: Mode of conduct
 Related to brand level choices
 Terminal Values: End state existence
 Related to product class level choices
 They are culturally determined , are learned from social interactions,
largely from families, friends, media etc.
 Our behaviour is dependent on the importance of one value’s relative
ness to others. (Instant and Delayed Gratification)
 Product class
Terminal Beliefs and
Choice
Values Attitudes
Criteria

Product Class
Selection
Brand
Selection

Instrumental Brand Choice Beliefs and

Value Criteria Attitudes
 INDIAN VALUES
 Cooperation
 Group Emphasis
 Passive
 Informal Courtesy
 Patient
 Sharing
 Time - Constant
 Respect for Age
 Harmony with Nature
 Religion = Way of Life . . . Sacramental, Symbolic
 Non-verbal
 Extended Family
 Tradition
 No Eye-to-eye Contact
 Holistic Problem Solving . . . Vision of Total
 Happiness = Spiritual Harmony
 ROKEACH VALUE SURVEY
 Terminal Values  Instrumental Values
 Comfortable life  Ambitious
 Existing Life  Broad minded
 Sense of  Capable
Accomplishment  Cheerful
 Equality  Courageous
 Family security  Forgiving
 Happiness  Helpful
 Pleasure  Polite
 Self respect  Self Controlled
 Wisdom
 Social Recognition
 LIST OF VALUE

 Self Respect
 Security
 Warm Relationships with others
 Accomplishment
 Self Fulfillment
 Well respected
 Sense of Belonging
 Fun and enjoyment
 VALS 2

 Actualizers
 Fulfilled and Believers
 Achievers and Strivers
 Experience and Makers
 Strugglers
 Commonly held values do shape consumption choices to a certain
extent.
 Each generation has its own personality, attitude, and lifestyle which
appears to change in a predictable cycle.
 These value categorizations have been used by Marketers in
determining promotional appeals, product positioning and design,
channel distribution and pricing approaches.
 In marketing segmentation decisions, knowledge of personal values
can significantly enhance demographic understanding.
 CHANGES IN CULTURAL VALUES

 Nuclear Families
 Women in Workforce
 Premarital Relationships and Live-in Relationships
 Gay Relationships
 Instant Gratification & Materialism.
 Individualism
 Alcohol and Cigarette Consumption
 Increasing search for Fun, enjoyment and excitement.
 Time has become a precious commodity.
 Green Products gaining importance.
 TRACKING CULTURAL CHANGES

 Tomorrow will be different, may be radically different,

 Sources
 Research Reports
 Newspapers
 Media
 Observation
THANK YOU