Impact of Cultural Background on Buying Behaviour

Discuss about the Marketing Consumer Behaviour of Woolworths.

Company

Woolworths is the chosen organization for the report. Woolworths is one of the largest supermarket brands catering in Australia. The company has a huge reach in Australia and it is believed that it caters to nearly 80% of the country (About Us – Woolworths Group, 2018). The stores are mainly grocery and accessory stores that provide material for the day to day household functionality.

Product and Location

Woolworths specializes in selling supermarket goods to the customers. The location of the store that is selected for the report is at Tarneit, Melbourne. The products that are sold in the supermarket are Indian and Chinese products.

Consumer

The target audience for the products are the Indians and Chinese people of the country. The products shall attract these people and increase the sales of the company.

Impact of Culture on consumer behaviour

The cultural background has a significant impact on the buying behaviour. Hence, it is important to analyze the same in the context of making accurate marketing plan for business communication. As organizations are extending, they are entering more extensive domains and as a rule, organizations are working in more then one nation. Business organizations need to collect essential information related to the demograohy of a region. This will help in the process of unberstanding the psychology of the buyer.

Every individail within a society is believed to have a unique social identity that has direct impact on the value of brands and products. Culture is comprised of the things that have occurred in the quick. There is a platitude that goes “The kid dependably embraces the way of life of the guardians”. So if the guardians are hot headed, the youngster will be comparative. So culture certainly characterizes an individual and the purchasing example of the individual will change based on culture. The culture has a mutual significance that has resulted in the higher levels of conviction related to the individual gathering. In other words, the culture plays its part by determining the features and the quality an indiovidial looks for as they decide to chose over a brand.

Consumer culture theory

According to Askegaard and Scott (2013), the market researchers needs to consider the consumer culture theory that will help to identify the buying and consumption pattern. It will therefore help to identify the social arrangement within both Chinese and Indian community that has significant impact on the type and class of product they choose. The pattern of consumption can therefore be identified in the context of the socio-cultural aspects.

Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory

Askegaard (2015), has mentioned that in order to apply this theory, it is essential to conduct marketing research for information gathering from the target customers. It therefore be possible to predict all type of changes that can occur in a market. It will also allow the marketers to understand its challenges in the existing business environment. Information that are gathered are mostly from the cultural background of a society.

Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory

Petersen, Kushwaha and Kumar (2015), have mentioned about the importance of the Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory, which uses a particular framework to identify the values of culture witin the society that have impact on the individual behaviour. The elememts of this theory can also be used to compare the difference in the consumer behaviour of Indian and Chinses community. The element of individualism highlights about the degree of Independence day society maintains with their fellow members. The Indian society has an intermediate score on the individualism elements. Hence, the choice of products and brand within the Indian consumer is highly dependent on the brand preferred by the community. Hence, the marketing plan for Woolsworth need to imoplemet the staratgy of market segmentation. Here, it will be possible to identify a common group of consumers, who have low to inetermediate levels of individualism. As a certain groups of the Indian community will chose a particular brand, the organization can easily influence other people for influencing their buying behavior.

The Chinese community  as much lower score in the element of individualism. Hence it will be easily possible to influence the buying behaviour of the Chinese people, and implement the policy of target marketing. The company therefore need to target the Particular group of  consumers who can easily be influenced  by effective marketing communication.

Uncertainty avoidance factor is another important element within the Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory that can help to deal with the issues of predicting the changes in culture that can have impact on change in consumer behavior (Tunçel, Kavak & Karadem?r, 2017). By measuring this element it is possible for marketing managers to control the changes and predict the impact of the same in the buying behaviour. With low score, in the given elements, for both the Indian and Chinese community, there are lower levels of change that can occur within the community as they decide to change the brand of products.

Social class is directly proportional to consumer buying decision

Social Class and Its Influence on Woolworths’ Four Ps of Marketing

According Rani (2014) to In order to analyze the different stages of buyer decision process, one must take into consideration the social class into which the consumer(s) social class which determines how consumers are locating themselves within the social structure. Social class has a fundamental role to play in the decision making process before buying a product. According to Marx’s theory of social class and class structure, the different social classes, bourgeoisie, proletariat and aristocrats are in direct relation to the process of production (Hogg, 2016). Therefore their income dimension which influences their choice of products is one important factor to consider. Since people are socialized and implemented within the society differently, depending on their social class, their buying choices also vary accordingly. Social class is also important in analyzing Woolworth’s the four P’s which is significant for analyzing its position in market place. Product is responsible for satisfying the consumer need in the market the demand of which depends on the consumers and their social class. Their social class is fundamental for assessing how long they will stick to buying the product and the duration of product benefit on the consumer. The four p’s of Woolworths will be affected by the social class of the consumers which will determine the consumer’s purchase decision (Hogg, 2016). As it is, the four P’s are dependent on the customer’s earning power and capability of dispensing money on that particular time.

Social class and factors will determine consumers’ psychology towards a product

As social factors are responsible for influencing their purchase decision and an organization can only survive if it continues to cater to the wants and needs of the consumers after conducting a thorough analysis. According to Ramya & Ali, (2016) social factors exerts an influence on the consumer’s psychological and physical capabilities and influences the totality of their consumption pattern as it includes factors like what they consume, why they consume and how frequently they consume.  For Woolworths to understand how the customer is reacting towards its product, the social class in which they belong come into the bigger picture. For instance a consumer belonging from the lower strata of the society will be focused more on the price of the product where those who are from a well-to-do background put more emphasis on factors like quality, and product satisfaction that the product is infusing within their lifestyle pattern.  It is well-known that customers apply a number of evaluation criteria while choosing a product and the criteria varied according to their income rate (Hogg, 2016). As research has found out the primary evaluative criteria are sensory, emotional, aesthetic, experimental, economic, and functional purchase of the product. Individual belonging from higher income group would be more concerned with the aesthetic and innovative aspect of the product while people with low income will be more concerned with the price and quantity. This naturally has a significant impact on the sales rate of the product.

Evaluation Criteria for Choosing a Product

Consumers’ attachment and favor towards a product will be determined by their social class

According to Draper (2015), social class will determine the comfort level and loyalty towards a product. Social class has a fundamental role in influencing the psychological and behavioral pattern since to consider a kaleidoscopic view of social class, one has to include consumers’ educational background, communication and thinking pattern, psychological well-being. As a result, this influences on the degree of attachment that a customer attaches with a product. Therefore Woolworths will witness varying degrees of brand loyalty from their customer belonging from different social classes. If a consumer is comfortable with the product, he/she will show greater loyalty towards it than the one who will explore more products with better buying options (Murphy & Dweck, 2016). Similarly, a section of consumer will research more on the type of product they are not satisfied with and stick to cheaper options with providing greater quantity of product. Therefore the psychological process of decision making is an important part of social class and sale of a particular product. Product performance is therefore sensitive to the social class into which consumers are falling into.

For making most use of the theories and pattern of the consumer behavior within the Indian and Chinese community, it is recoemended to make use of the 4Ps of marketing. According to Claiborne and Sirgy (2015), the product design and promotion  strategies that have been implicated will highly depend upon the consumer behaviour. It is recommended for the promotional team within the organisation, to understand the perspective of cultural influence on the consumer. This will help them to effectively communicate with the target group. For example, in case of the Indian Consumer, The promotional agents need to communicate about the product by providing them information related to the past sales record. With high level of popularity in particular product it will be easily possible to influence the buying behaviour of Indian and Chinese customers.

It is also recommended for the promotional team to select appropriate communication tool to reach out to the target customer group (Öztamur & Karakad?lar, 2014). For example in the Chinese community people are mostly dependent on high tech gadgets for communication. This is mostly due to their advanced form of technological culture. Hence it will be recommended for the promotional team of Woolworths to mainly use the platform of digital marketing for business communication.

Recommendations for Effective Marketing Communication

From the elements of the Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory, it will be possible to identify the psychology of the consumers and the cultural influence upon the same. The high levels of baringing power of the Indian and Chinese consumers will have strong impact upon the pricing stargies. Hence, it is recomeded that for implematation of marketing mix it is recommended to provide primary focus on the same by prviding cost effective products.

In 4Ps it is critical to assess and determine the right price for the product deciding and examining the social class from which the particular consumer is belonging. With lower income group consumers will never question the effectiveness of the product on reviewing the price. They would instead focus on the quantity that is available within the given price, however, with the upper social class, price can become a hallmark of the brand they are choosing (Zhao et al., 2014).

The marketing strategy can be created best by focusing on the promotional aspect of the product. In case of Indian and Chinese customers, one has to understand their community values, norms, targeted age and gender for the product and approach towards the product (Williams, 2014).

Conclusion

The above report has clearly describe about the influence culture and social class  of a population over their consumer behaviour. The company needs to understand the cultural and social background of the target customer in order to prepare appropriate marketing strategies.

The report is clearly describe the cultural and social theories that can be implicated and linked with element of consumer behaviour. The marketers need to make use of this cultural background theories,  which will help them in the process of market communication and influencing the behaviour of the decision making capability of choosing a brand. It is also important to note that the element of  marketing mix can be  implemented properly by understanding the changes in the consumer behaviour. Essential information about social and cultural background of target group customers are to be collected by the marketers in order to prepare proper promotional strategies.

References

About Us – Woolworths Group. (2018). Woolworthsgroup.com.au. Retrieved 7 April 2018, from https://www.woolworthsgroup.com.au/page/about-us

Askegaard, S. (2015). Consumer Culture Theory (CCT). The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Consumption and Consumer Studies DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118989463.wbeccs054

Askegaard, S., & Scott, L. (2013). Consumer culture theory: The ironies of history. DOI: 10.1177/1470593113479007

Claiborne, C. B., & Sirgy, M. J. (2015). Self-image congruence as a model of consumer attitude formation and behavior: A conceptual review and guide for future research. In Proceedings of the 1990 academy of marketing science (AMS) annual conference (pp. 1-7). Springer, Cham., DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13254-9_1

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Hogg, M. A. (2016). Social identity theory. In Understanding peace and conflict through social identity theory (pp. 3-17). Springer, Cham. Retrived from: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-29869-6_1

Murphy, M. C., & Dweck, C. S. (2016). Mindsets shape consumer behavior. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 26(1), 127-136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2015.06.005

Öztamur, D., & Karakad?lar, ?. S. (2014). Exploring the role of social media for SMEs: as a new marketing strategy tool for the firm performance perspective. Procedia-Social and behavioral sciences, 150, 511-520,  DOI: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.09.067

Petersen, J. A., Kushwaha, T., & Kumar, V. (2015). Marketing communication strategies and consumer financial decision making: The role of national culture. Journal of Marketing, 79(1), 44-63. Reterived from: https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1003938/FULLTEXT01.pdf#page=59

Ramya, N., & Ali, S. M. (2016). Factors affecting consumer buying behavior. International Journal of Applied Research, 2(10), 76-80. Retrived from https://www.allresearchjournal.com/archives/?year=2016&vol=2&issue=10&part=B&ArticleId=2683

Rani, P. (2014). Factors influencing consumer behaviour. International journal of current research and academic review, 2(9), 52-61. Retrived from https://www.ijcrar.com/vol-2-9/Pinki%20Rani.pdf

Tunçel, N., Kavak, B., & Karadem?r, A. Ç. (2017). Are “Consumer Social Responsibility” and “Consumer Ethics” Concepts Interchangeable? The Effect of Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions 1. Tüketici ve Tüketim Ara?t?rmalar? Dergisi= Journal of Consumer and Consumption Research, 9(1), 35-56. Reterived from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Niray_Tuncel/publication/319205537_Are_Consumer_Social_Responsibility_and_Consumer_Ethics_Concepts_Interchangeable_The_Effect_of_Hofstede%27s_Cultural_Dimensions/links/599b0388aca272dff128d65c/Are-Consumer-Social-Responsibility-and-Consumer-Ethics-Concepts-Interchangeable-The-Effect-of-Hofstedes-Cultural-Dimensions.pdf

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Zhao, H. H., Gao, Q., Wu, Y. P., Wang, Y., & Zhu, X. D. (2014). What affects green consumer behavior in China? A case study from Qingdao. Journal of Cleaner Production, 63, 143-151.