Discuss About The Beyond National Culture Implications Of Cultural Dynamics.
Automobili Lamborghini is an Italian brand that manufactures high involvement products such as luxury supercars, sport cars, SUVs, etc. (Automobili Lmaborghini, 2018). The customers of Lamborghini generally belong to the rich, business class between the ages 25- 45 years who are capable of affording expensive cars. Social influences play asignificant role in the purchase decision of the customers. This essay focuses on the social influences such as culture and social class which impacts the brand and product purchase decision in Australia at all stages of the consumer purchase decision process. This essay also provides some recommendations to the organization for enhancing the marketing strategies.
Culture can be defined as the compound of beliefs of human societies, their behavior, values, traditions, roles and customs which play a significant role in understanding the concept if consumer behavior. The basic reason of the desire or determination of a person is culture (Schiffman, Cass, Paladino & Carlson, 2013).
Features of culture play an important role in identifying the ways in which consumer behavior is affected by the culture. It is observed that differences in the culture among the customers are less within the country in comparison with the consumers outside the country. (DURMAZ, CELIK & ORUC, 2003)
The needs and wants of the Lamborghini customers in Australia is determined by its culture. Also, it changes from time to time, therefore, there is a chance that the customers can which to products of other brands. Also, it is observed that the same culture is shared by the members of the community that have the capability of purchasing Lamborghini products.
According to Hofstede, a national culture is shared by every national population. National culture is the culture which is capable of distinguishing one nation’s population with the population of another (Samuel Craig & Douglas, 2006). The Hofstede’s model of national cultural differences provides the dimensions of culture such as collectivism and individualism that operates in a society. Culture is recognized as the most powerful determinants of consumer behavior by cross- cultural researchers. The needs and wants of the consumers are shaped by the cultural background. The focus of the individualist consumers is on determining the capabilities of the product before making the purchase. On the other hand, collectivist consumers rely on the other factors for the purpose of decision making such as symbolism and status (Nayeem, 2012).
Australia has a highly individualist culture (Hofstede Insights, 2018). This means that Lamborghini cars are selected by the rich class consumers in Australia because such cars are capable of providing their expected functional benefits. Therefore, Lamborghini customers in Australia prefer it due to its better performance and not due to its associated status. Decision regarding the purchase of Lamborghini is taken by the customers on the basis of internal knowledge and personal experience.
The consumers are already aware regarding the positives and negatives of their choice in terms of price, quality, brand and innovation. In order to make reasoned decisions, the forecast of the results of each option is attempted by the consumers for determining the best for the specific situation. Sequential process is followed in the decision making of the consumers related to high involvement products such as automobiles. Such process consists of recognition of the problem, searching information, evaluating the brand and making selection, purchase and post purchase decisions. The decision making process of a consumer in relation to high involvement products such as automobiles is considered to be a complex process. Such complexity is reflected in the automobile purchase situations which are characterized by:
The culture of Lamborghini consumers demands the car to fulfil their expected functional benefits. For this, they follow a complete process of seeking information, making comparison and then selecting a car that suits their preference. Since it is a high involvement product, complexity is observed in the decision making process.
Social class can be defined as the grouping of people having similar behavior on the basis of their economic position in the market place. The determination of social class of a person is made on the basis of variable factors such as income, occupation, education, wealth, etc. (De Mooji, 2010).
Similar behaviors are observed in the individuals belonging to same social class including their preferences related to purchase of luxury items such as expensive cars. People move from one social class to another and accordingly their preferences also change. The social class of a person is determined by variables such as income, occupation and wealth (Sethna & Blythe, 2016).
The customers of Lamborghini cars also include those who have just switched to the social class of upper class people. This is due to the increase in wealth and income of the consumers which enable them to afford high involvement products.
Sociological and other researches regarding social class have highlighted nine variables as very important in the stream.
The customers of Lamborghini in Australia belong to the social class with higher income and wealth. They are either top professionals or business man and their families who are among the wealthiest families in the country. Such consumers have daily interaction and socialization is with the people belonging to the same social status. They do not associate with the people belonging to lower social classes in order to maintain their personal prestige. Their class consciousness requires them to purchase high involvement brands.
Common ways of thinking and values are shared by the members of the social class. The interaction of the consumers is mostly with the people of the same social class. The consumer behavior is significantly impacted by the social class. According to some researches, young people belonging to upper class have stronger preferences for brands and they obtain proper information before making any final decision for the purchase of product (Durmaz & Tasdemir, 2014).
The customers of Lamborghini in Australia are generally the rich business class people who interact with the people of same status. Such rich people give higher preference to high involvement brands. They seek latest technologies that are available only in expensive brands and not in other low involvement brands. The youngsters belonging to the rich class obtain such information regarding latest technologies and features from their social classes. The decision of the customers to purchase Lamborghini is dependent on the choice and preferences of the social classes to which they belong.
For the purpose of enhancing the marketing strategy of Lamborghini, the marketers should have a clear understanding of the social influences on consumer behavior. The marketers must learn the cultural properties in the process of analyzing the consumer behavior. This plays a very important role in target market, market segmentation and product positioning (Gollwitzer, Bieleke & Sheeran, 2016).
Product- the culture and social class of rich people makes them focus on the latest technologies, features, quality and variants while making purchase decision. The theory of reasoned action provides that the pre- existing attitudes of the customers affect their decision- making process. This theory considers consumers as the rational actors who always prefer to act in their best interests. Their social class requires them to switch to expensive luxury cars from time to time. Continuous innovations should be introduced in the technologies for attracting the rich class towards Lamborghini. Moreover, it should aim to launch new models with latest features in order to maintain its superiority among other high involvement brands.
Promotion- the marketers of Lamborghini should keep in mind that their consumers do not have enough time for watching advertisements on television. Such upper class consumers generally prefer to read magazines and books when they get time. As television programs, news and dramas are preferred by the upper class consumers so the advertisements should be planned in the breaks. Therefore, the marketing strategy of Lamborghini should focus on publishing attractive advertisements in such books and magazine s preferred by rich class. Moreover, the language spoken by the target social class should be considered by the advertisers for effective outcomes. Therefore, the communication styles and communication channels should be appealed by the marketers by way of determining and properly analyzing the social class that prefers Lamborghini. The marketing consumer messages should be developed in accordance with the effects of individualist culture existing in Australia on the consumer behavior. This means that the cultural background should be considered while making the selection of the communication techniques by the marketers (Parsons, Maclaran & Chatzidakis, 2017). The theory Marshallian economic model should be considered by the marketers which provide that income will be spent by the consumers on the product that will offer highest satisfaction to them. However, such decision of the consumer to purchase the product will depend on the taste and relative prices. Consumers apply their economic analysis when it comes to making purchase decision regarding a luxury car (Solomon, Russell-Bennett & Previte, 2012).
Price- the consumer decision making process of the rich class does not depend on the prices of the product. Lamborghini customers belong to such social class which is not at all bothered about the prices of cars. The individualist culture of Australian customers demand expected functional benefits from the luxury cars for which they are ready to pay more. Therefore, marketers of Lamborghini should understand the cultural background (individualist) of Australia in order to for the purpose of understanding the needs and wants of the customers. This will require them to focus on capabilities of the Lamborghini cars. They should aim to introduce new features which should have the capability of attracting the rich class. They can increase the prices but provide the expected functional benefits to the customers (Lantos, 2015).
Lamborghini cars belong to the market segment of customers who prefer showing off their products for maintaining prestige in their social groups. Therefore, their requirement should be aimed to be fulfilled by making the respective changes in the marketing mix. Moreover, it can also launch bikes for expanding their target market.
Conclusion
There, it can be concluded that there is a great impact of social influences on the purchase decision of the customers. This essay focused on the brand Automobili Lamborghini which offers expensive luxury cars to its customers. The essay also explains the impact of social influences such as culture and social class on the purchase decision of Lamborghini cars by the people in Australia. Moreover, recommendations have been provided which should be taken into considerations by the marketers by giving due importance to the social influences affecting the purchase decision of Lamborghini. This will allow Lamborghini to capture greater section of the market in future.
References
Automobili Lmaborghini. (2018). AUTOMOBILI LAMBORGHINICOMPANY PROFILE. Retrieved April 2, 2018 from https://www.lamborghini.com/en-en/company
Beugelsdijk, S., Maseland, R., & Hoorn, A. (2015). Are scores on Hofstede’s dimensions of national culture stable over time? A cohort analysis. Global Strategy Journal, 5(3), 223-240.
De Mooji, M. (2010). Consumer Behavior and Culture: Consequences for Global Marketing and Advertising. SAGE Publications.
Durmaz, Y., & Tasdemir, A. (2014). A theoretical approach to the influence of social class on consumer behavior. American International Journal of Social Science, 3(3), 187-191.
DURMAZ, Y., CELIK, M., & ORUC, R. (2011). The impact of cultural factors on the consumer buying behaviors examined through an impirical study. International Journal of Business and Social Science, vol 2(5). pp. 109-114.
Gollwitzer, P. M., Bieleke, M., & Sheeran, P. (2016). Enhancing consumer behaviour with implementation intentions. Routledge International Handbook of Consumer Psychology, 370.
Hofstede Insights. (2018). COUNTRY COMPARISON. Retrieved April 2, 2018 from https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/australia,fiji/
Lantos, G. P. (2015). Consumer Behavior in Action: Real-life Applications for Marketing Managers. Routledge.
Nayeem, T. (2012). Cultural influences on consumer behaviour. International journal of Business and management, 7(21), 78.
Neal, C., Quester, P., & Hawkins, D. (2000). Consumer Behaviour–Implications for Marketing Strategy. Irwin/McGraw-Hill, Sydney, NSW.
Parsons, E., Maclaran, P., & Chatzidakis, A. (2017). Contemporary issues in marketing and consumer behaviour. Routledge.
Samuel Craig, C., & Douglas, S. P. (2006). Beyond national culture: implications of cultural dynamics for consumer research. International Marketing Review, 23(3), 322-342.
Schiffman, L., Cass, A., Paladino, A. & Carlson, J. (2013). Consumer Behaviour. Pearson Higher Education AU.
Sethna, Z., & Blythe, J. (2016). Consumer behaviour. Sage.
Solomon, M., Russell-Bennett, R., & Previte, J. (2012). Consumer behaviour. Pearson Higher Education AU.
Williams, T. G. (2002). Social class influences on purchase evaluation criteria. Journal of consumer marketing, 19(3), 249-276.
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