Consumer Behaviour For Social Factors: Analysis And Implications

Analysis

Discuss about the Consumer Behaviour for Social Factors.

Consumer behaviour is affected by various factors like cultural factors, social factors, personal factors and psychological factors. Consumers get influenced by motivations and behaviour because of which they tend to choose various products and brands in the market. Every brand has various factors which it considers in order to adapt its products and marketing strategies in order to attract its customers. With respect to the product category, consumption changes with people in different regions of the world. In this report we would analyse effects of major industries like Gym/fitness, Pay TV like Netflix, Presto, Foxtel and Stan and eating out in restaurants with respect to Present longer life span of senior citizen, the Baby boomers generation who are approaching retirement but with money to spend, Generation X with a growing family household and a huge mortgage (need to be tight with money and Present smaller family unit and more “single adult” households. 

Seniors have been living longer with a greater focus on building muscle and losing fat in order to maintain their health efficiently (senior journal 2016). In cases where the elderly people want to live longer and avoid any of the health issues like heart diseases, they would have to make an effort towards maintaining their health. The Gym and fitness industry can focus on marketing their products with an attention to promoting body mass of the elders in order to maintain their health.

This category of the community can afford a lifestyle and can try different methods of living a healthy life. With this category of Consumers, the product brands can introduce different plans where the Senior Citizens can enrol themselves and try the brand (Perreau nd).With these programs in place, the Gym and fitness companies will have different categories of Consumers enrolled in their programs.

The consumer buying patterns are largely influenced by the social classes where this category of people who are overloaded with responsibilities opt for decent choices of lifestyle however can’t afford to spend on additional sources of physical activities. Consumers are more receptive to the products which are suitable to their lifestyles.  

Similar is the case with single adult households where they might not have the ability to spend on additional luxuries in life.

There are some products which essentially are promoted using the cultural changes than performing the need analysis. For example, TV Channels are a source of entertainment than a requirement. People from various classes have different tastes of buying products. According to some researchers, behaviour and buying patterns also represent a way of social class. Brands have also started creating different TV Shows in order to attract various categories of audience where they might not always have a similar taste in watching the TV shows.

Gym/Fitness

If health and well – being is promoted adequately on TV shows, the elderly people who are generally retired at their age group can possibly choose a specific TV Brand in order to be engaged during their day.

This category of Consumers belongs to a specific social class where they can afford to spend and are also probably not choosy in terms of picking and paying for a specific channel. This class of Consumers might choose a total package in order have a wide choice of entertainment as they are already in a position to afford the complete set of channels (Ray 2009).

As we have discussed that the consumer buying patterns of this class of people are largely influenced by the social factors, this category of people have different responsibilities where they might not be able to opt for higher choices of leading a lifestyle. This is applicable because these people can’t afford to spend on additional sources of physical activities. These Consumers especially are more attracted to the products which might not demand additional investment.

 Single adult households might not have the luxury of time in order to watch TV shows and in cases where they have children it becomes more difficult to take care of the family.

Eating out in restaurants is a trend of a culture where people belonging to a specific class practice this throughout. In general, an individual is influenced by his family and their values and the community in which they are raised in (Perner  2008). Eating out in restaurants is a preference than a need for an individual where as it portrays the common behaviour of a person and his culture (Brosekhan & Dr. Velayutham nd).

For example people from the West have a common practice to have friends in a get together during the week ends where they have a drink or dinner together. People of the senior category might refrain from these practices as they are elderly and they might want to pay a greater attention to their health.

This category of people as discussed, can afford a richer lifestyle and they have the luxury of spending towards their entertainment and relaxation (Birchall 2009). This also includes their family outings and dining out with their friends and family.

The Restaurants have introduced various offers in terms of catering to the needs of different types of consumers in order to grow their business. Famous Restaurants like Mc Donald’s has introduced menu plans in order to satisfy their consumers with different lifestyles.

Pay TV Like Netflix

Like the industries mentioned earlier, this category of consumers have a streamlined way of living where they can’t deviate from their plan of spending a lot. The Restaurants, especially the fast food chains have tailored their menu plans in order to suit different classes of people, where they offer combination menus and they tailor their orders by deducting the drinks from the main food order. This way the Consumers would have to pay less than the original cost of the complete order (Seidman 2013, Loudon & Della 2008).

This specific category of people also have a stricter regime in terms of their lifestyle where they probably would not choose to go out and dine for various reasons where their children might also get affected by looking at families which are more fortunate.

The newer trends in demographics are the women and increase in ageing where these factors have revolutionised various industries in the market.

Entry of women into workforce in large numbers has increased the longevity of the business beyond the conventional number of years in the industry. Innovation is the major factor which has been driving the markets in terms of sustaining the products (Watrous 2009). In order to attract large numbers of Consumers irrespective of a specific demographic trend like geographic trends and age groups, the companies should provide a greater flexibility in terms of work and schedules for their Employees (Hawkins, Best & Mukherjee 2007).

Upward pull marketing is another latest trend which can be introduced by all the food chain restaurants where they can differentiate the products in terms of the upper class consumers and the middle class consumers (Radha Krishna 2006). The same can be applied to the TV channel subscriptions where the channel grouping could be different from the ones of the upper class and the middle class consumers.

Conclusion

The marketing function has seen a major shift in terms of applying various principles of consumer marketing depending on the consumer behavioural patterns which we have analysed based on the consumer behaviour. In the process of developing a better marketing program, examining various changes in people’s behaviours with respect to the long term impact of the business helps the organizations to a great extent. The effects of changing consumer behaviours on the performance of organizations has been analysed throughout the report.

References 

Senior journal 2016, Seniors live longer with more focus on building muscle than losing weight, Viewed on 22^nd Sep 2016, https://seniorjournal.com/NEWS/Fitness/2016/20160422_Seniors%20live%20longer%20with%20more%20focus%20on%20building%20muscle.htm

Perreau, F nd, The Factors Influencing Consumer Behaviour, Viewed on Sep 22^nd 2016, https://theconsumerfactor.com/en/4-factors-influencing-consumer-behavior/

Brosekhan, A & Dr. Velayutham C nd, Consumer Buying Behaviour – A Literature Review, Viewed on Sep 22^nd 2016, https://iosrjournals.org/iosr-jbm/papers/ncibppte-volume-1/1014.pdf

Hawkins, D, Best J.R, Coney, A.K & Mukherjee, A 2007, Consumer Behaviour, Tata McGraw-Hill.

Radha Krishna, G 2006, Consumer Behaviour, The ICFAI University Press, 2006, Page 50-51.

Birchall, J 2009, Wal-Mart Looks to Hispanic Market in Expansion Drive, Financial Times, 18

Kotler, P. & Gary, A 2005, Principles of Marketing, Prentice Hall of India.

Watrous, L 2009, Illegals: The New N-Word in America, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 9B.

Loudon, D L. & Bitta A. J & Della., 2008, Consumer Behaviour, Fourth ed. McGraw-Hill 8-9.

Perner, L 2008, Food Marketing, Viewed on Sep 22^nd 2016, https://www.consumerpsychologist.com/food_marketing.html.

Ray, W 2009, Miley Strikes Back, Billboard, June 27, 7–8.

Seidman, D 2013, How Will Changing Demographics in the US Influence Business in the Coming Decade, Viewed on 22^nd Sep 2016, https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303562904579228000262387472.