To more fully comprehend the kind of impact that specific groups have on individuals, we will examine six basic consumer-relevant groups: the Family, Friendship groups, Formal social groups, Shopping groups, Consumer action groups and Work groups.
The Family
An individual's family is the most important group to influence his or her consumer decisions. The family's importance in this regard is due to the frequency of contact that the individual has with other family members and that the family has a greater extent of influence on the establishment of a wide range of values, attitudes, and behavior.
Friendship Groups
Friendship groups are informal groups because they are, usually unstructured and lack specific authority levels. In terms of relative influence, after an individual's family, it is friends who are most likely to influence the individual's purchase decisions.
Seeking and maintaining friendships is a basic drive of most people. Friends fulfill a wide range of needs: they provide companionship, security, and
opportunities to discuss problems that an individual may be reluctant to discuss with members of his or her own family. Friendships are also a sign of maturity and independence, for they represent a breaking away from the family and the forming of social ties with the outside world. Consumers are more likely to seek information from those friends they feel have values or outlooks similar to their own.
Formal Social Groups
In contrast to the relative intimacy of friendship groups, formal social groups are more remote and serve a different function for the individual. A person joins a formal social group to fulfill such specific goals as making new friends, meeting "important" people (e.g., for career advancement), or promoting a specific cause. Because members of a formal social group often consume certain products together, such groups are of interest to marketers. For example, the membership list of a men's club would be of interest to local men, Insurance agents, automobile agents, tax accountants.
Membership in a formal social group may influence a consumer's behavior in several ways. For example, members of such groups have frequent opportunity to informally discuss products, services, or stores. Some members may copy the, consumption behavior of other members whom they admire.
Shopping Groups
Two or more people who shop together-whether for food, for clothing, or simply to pass the time, can be called a shopping group. Such groups are often offshoots of family or friendship groups. People like to shop with others who they feel have more experience with or knowledge about a desired product or service. Shopping with others also provides an element of social fun to an often boring but necessary task. In addition, it reduces the risk that a purchase decision will be socially unacceptable. Relatively few marketing or consumer behavior studies have examined the nature of shopping groups. However, one study of the
in-store behavior of shoppers revealed some differences between group and individual shopping. The research found that shopping parties of at least three persons deviated more from their original purchase plans (they bought either more or less than originally planned) than did either single shoppers or two- party groups. The study also found that shopping groups tended to cover more territory in the store than individuals shopping alone, and thus had more opportunity to see and examine merchandise and to make unplanned purchases. A special type of shopping group is the in-home shopping group, which typically consists of a group of women who gather together in the home of a friend, to attend a "party" devoted to the marketing of a specific line of products. The in-home party approach provides marketers with an opportunity to demonstrate the features of their products simultaneously to a group of potential customers. The undecided guests often overcome a reluctance to buy when they see their friends make positive purchase decisions. Furthermore, some of the guests may feel obliged to buy because they are guests in the home of the sponsoring hostess.
Consumer Action Groups
A particular kind of consumer group-a consumer action group- has emerged in response to the consumerist movement. This type of consumer group has become increasingly visible since the 1960s and has been able to influence product design and marketing practices of both manufacturers and retailers. Consumer action groups can be divided into two broad categories: those that organize to correct a specific consumer abuse and then disband, and those that organize to address broader, more pervasive, problem areas and operate over an extended or indefinite period of time. A group of tenants who band together to dramatize their dissatisfaction with the quality of service provided by their landlord, or a group of irate community members who unite to block the
entrance of a fast-food outlet into their middle-class neighborhood, are examples of temporary, cause-specific consumer action groups.
Work Groups
The sheer amount of time that people spend at their jobs, frequently more than thirty-five hours per week, provides ample opportunity for work groups to serve as a major influence on the consumption behavior of members.
Both the formal work group and the informal friendship/work group have the potential for influencing consumer behavior. The formal work group consists of those individuals who work together as a team. Their direct and sustained work relationship offers substantial opportunity for one or more members to influence the consumer-related attitudes and activities of other team members. Members of informal work groups may influence the consumption behavior of other members during coffee or lunch breaks or after-hours meetings.
Social Class
Social class is more of a continuum, i.e., a range of social positions, on which each member of society can be place. But, social researchers have divided this continuum into a small number of specific classes. Thus, we go by this framework, social class is used to assign individuals or families to a social-class category.
Social class can be defined as ‗The division of members of a society into a hierarchy of distinct status classes, so that members of each class have relatively the same status and the members of all other classes have either more or less status.‘
Characteristics of Social Classes: The main characteristics of Social class
1. Persons within a given social class tend to behave more alike 2. Social class is hierarchical
3. Social class is not measured by a single variable but is measured as a weighted function of one‘s occupation, income, wealth, education, status, prestige, etc.
4. Social class is continuous rather than concrete, with individuals able to move into a higher social class or drop into a lower class.
Factors responsible for Social Stratification
S. No Status, Value & Prestige enjoyed Social
Class Factors affecting Social class
1 Low Lower
Class
Lower level occupation with no authority, less income, and no education or minimum education, For example, labour class or clerks etc.
2 Medium Middle
Class
Graduates, or postgraduates, executives‘ managers of companies with authority, drawing handsome salary of which certain amount can be saved and invested. For example, executives or middle level managers of companies.
3 High Higher
Class
Authoritative person, drawing handsome salary, very often professionally qualified, working in a very senior position or a person born into a rich family, with a good background of education.
Table 2.1 Factors showing social class differences Impact of social class
- Provides a sense of identity
- Imposes a set of ‗normative‘ behaviours
- Classes share values, possessions, customs and activities - Marketing response to customers of different economic means - Marketing to the low-income consumer
- Some marketers ambivalent as not perceived as long-term customers constitutes a substantial group