Social classes show distinct product and brand preferences in such areas as clothing, home furnishings, leisure activity, and automobiles.
Social Factors:
A consumer’s behavior is also influenced by social factors, such as the consumer’s small groups, family, and social roles and status. Because these social factors can strongly affect consumer responses, companies must take them into account when designing their marketing strategies.
Groups - a person’s behavior is influenced by many small groups. Groups which have a direct influence and to which a person belongs are called membership groups. References groups are groups that serve as direct or indirect points of comparison or reference in the forming of a person’s attitudes or behavior. Marketers try to identify the reference groups of their target markets.
The importance of group influence varies across products and brands, but it tends to be strongest for conspicuous purchases.
Family - family members can strongly influence buyer behavior. We can distinguish between two families in the buyer’s life. The buyer’s parents make up the family of orientation. From parents a person acquires an orientation toward religion, politics, and economics and a sense of personal ambition, self-worth, and love.
The family of procreation-the buyer’s spouse and children-exert a more direct influence on everyday buying behavior. The family is the most important consumerbuying organization in society, and it has been researched extensively. Marketers are interested in the roles and relative influence of the husband, wife, and children on the purchase of a large variety of products and services.
Roles and Status - a person belongs to many groups-family, clubs, organizations. The person’s position in each group can be defined in terms of both role and status. A role consists of the activities people are expected to perform according to the persons around them. Each role carries a status reflecting the general esteem given to it by society. Personal Factors:
A buyer’s decisions are also influenced by personal characteristics such as the buyer’s age and life-cycle stage, occupation, economic situation, life style, and personality and self-concept.
Age and Life-Cycle State - people change the goods and services they buy over their lifetimes. Buying is also shaped by the stage of the family life cycle-the stages through which families might pass as they mature over time. Marketers often define their target markets in terms of life-cycle stage and develop appropriate products and marketing plans.
Occupation - a person’s occupation affects the goods and services bought. Marketers try to identify the occupational groups that have an above-average interest in their products and services.