Marketing Management, Millenium Edition - epiheirimatikotita.gr

How and Why Consumers Buy 89➤Social class. Social classes are relatively homogeneous and enduring divisions in asociety. They are hierarchically ordered and their members share similar values,interests, and behavior (see Table 3.1). Social classes reflect income as well asoccupation, education, and other indicators. Those within each social class tend tobehave more alike than do persons from different social classes. Also, within theculture, persons are perceived as occupying inferior or superior positions accordingto social class. Social class is indicated by a cluster of variables rather than by anysingle variable. Still, individuals can move from one social class to another—up ordown—during their lifetime. Because social classes often show distinct product andbrand preferences, some marketers focus their efforts on one social class. NeimanMarcus, for example, focuses on the upper classes, offering top-quality merchandisein upscale stores with many personal services geared to these customers’ needs.Social Factors Influencing Buyer BehaviorIn addition to cultural factors, a consumer’s behavior is influenced by such social factorsas reference groups, family, and social roles and statuses.Reference GroupsReference groups consist of all of the groups that have a direct (face-to-face) or indirectinfluence on a person’s attitudes or behavior. Groups that have a direct influenceon a person are called membership groups. Some primary membership groups are family,friends, neighbors, and co-workers, with whom individuals interact fairly continuouslyand informally. Secondary groups, such as professional and trade-union groups, tendto be more formal and require less continuous interaction. Reference groups exposepeople to new behaviors and lifestyles, influence attitudes and self-concept, and createpressures for conformity that may affect product and brand choices.People are also influenced by groups to which they do not belong. Aspirationalgroups are those the person hopes to join; dissociative groups are those whose values orbehavior an individual rejects.Although marketers try to identify target customers’ reference groups, the level ofreference-group influence varies among products and brands. Manufacturers of productsand brands with strong group influence must reach and influence the opinionleaders in these reference groups. An opinion leader is the person in informal productrelatedcommunications who offers advice or information about a product or productcategory. 4 Marketers try to reach opinion leaders by identifying demographic and psychographiccharacteristics associated with opinion leadership, identifying the preferredmedia of opinion leaders, and directing messages at the opinion leaders. Forexample, the hottest trends in teenage music and fashion start in America’s inner cities,then spread to youth in the suburbs. As a result, clothing companies that target teenscarefully monitor the style and behavior of urban opinion leaders.FamilyThe family is the most important consumer-buying organization in society, and it hasbeen researched extensively. 5 The family of orientation consists of one’s parents and siblings.From parents, a person acquires an orientation toward religion, politics, andeconomics as well as a sense of personal ambition, self-worth, and love. 6 A more directinfluence on the everyday buying behavior of adults is the family of procreation—namely,one’s spouse and children.Marketers are interested in the roles and relative influence of the husband, wife,and children in the purchase of a large variety of products and services. These rolesvary widely in different cultures and social classes. Vietnamese Americans, for example,