Unit 3: External influences

A reference group is any person or group that serves as a point of comparison for an individual's values, attitudes or behaviour. Types: primary (family, close friends) and secondary; membership, aspirational (groups one wishes to join) and dissociative (groups one avoids). Factors affecting influence: information and experience, credibility and power of the group, conspicuousness of the product (visible, luxury items are more influenced), and personality. Celebrity endorsements, influencers and expert opinions use reference-group influence.

• Types of family: nuclear (parents and children), joint or extended (several generations — still common in India), single-parent, married couples without children, and living-alone households.

Functions of the family: economic well-being, emotional support, suitable lifestyles, and consumer socialisation of children. Family decision roles: influencer, gatekeeper, decider, buyer, preparer, user, maintainer and disposer.

• Family decision styles: husband-dominated, wife-dominated, joint (syncratic) and autonomic (either partner alone).
• Children's influence: "pester power" for food, toys and gadgets; teenagers influence technology and holiday decisions.
• Modern life cycle variations: single parents, dual-income couples without children, divorced and remarried households, live-in couples.

Culture is the sum of learned beliefs, values and customs that regulate the consumer behaviour of members of a society. It is learned, shared, dynamic and satisfies needs. Subcultures are distinct groups within a culture — based on religion, region, language, age or ethnicity (Punjabi, Bengali; youth; rural consumers).

• Cross-cultural analysis finds similarities and differences between consumers of different countries or cultures to decide how far marketing can be standardised.

• Hofstede's dimensions (power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, indulgence) help predict differences in brand preference, advertising appeals and decision making.
• Problems: language and translation errors, symbols and colours (white for mourning in parts of Asia), religious sensitivities, legal differences.

Social class is the division of society into a hierarchy of classes whose members share similar status, values and behaviour. Measured by income, occupation, education and possessions (in India, the Socio-Economic Classification uses education of the chief earner and household durables). Social class influences clothing, shopping places, leisure, media habits and savings.

• Measurement methods: subjective (people rate their own class), reputational (others rate them), objective (indices of income, occupation, education, possessions).
• New Consumer Classification System (NCCS, 2011): classifies Indian urban and rural households into A1 to E3 using the education of the chief earner and ownership of 11 consumer durables.