Culture, Subculture, and Consumer Behavior: Key Factors
What is the Difference Between Culture and Subculture?
A subculture is a self-contained group of people who share common interests, lifestyles, beliefs, conventions, norms, style, or preferences. Culture encompasses language, social conventions, beliefs, art, literature, music, customs, pastimes, values, knowledge, recreation, mythology, ritual, and religion. Culture defines the accepted patterns of conduct in a specific society, according to the components of culture. It enhances people’s awareness of how to act in specific situations and locations. Culture is not something that just exists for a short period of time; rather, it is passed down from generation to generation. The term “subculture” refers to the subcultures that exist within the larger culture. Many diverse cultures based on ethnic groupings, religious groups, and other factors can coexist in the same society. This emphasizes that, while the people share a common culture in which everyone participates, there are sub-sections within that culture in which individuals participate. There may be a collision between the main culture and the subculture in some circumstances. This creates a tough situation for not only individuals but also society as a whole.
Four Major Factors Influencing Consumer Behavior
Let’s examine the four major sets of factors that influence consumer behavior:
Social Factors
Buying behavior is influenced by social elements such as reference groups, family, and social status:
- Reference Groups: A reference group is a small group of people that includes co-workers, members of a club, friends, neighbors, family members, and so on. Members of reference groups are influenced in the following ways:
- They have an impact on the members’ ideals and attitudes.
- Members are exposed to new behaviors and ways of life.
- They put pressure on people to buy specific products or brands.
- Family: The biggest reference group that might affect consumer behavior is the family. Children nowadays are well-informed about goods and services thanks to the media, their friends, and other sources.
- Roles and Status: In a particular group, such as a family, club, or organization, a person plays specific roles. A person may, for example, play the role of a senior executive in a company while another plays the role of a junior executive. In comparison to junior executives, senior executives may have a higher status within the organization.
Cultural and Subcultural Factors
Race and religion, as well as tradition, caste, and moral ideals, are all factors to consider. Sub-cultures include sub-castes, religious sects, language, and so on.
- Culture: Culture has a significant impact on consumer behavior. Family, educational institutions, religious groups, the social environment, and other institutions pass on cultural values and elements from generation to generation. Food habits, clothes, rituals and traditions, and other aspects of culture are all influenced by cultural diversity. Consumption of alcohol and meat, for example, is not banned in some religious communities, but it is prohibited in others.
- Sub-Culture: Each culture is made up of tiny sub-cultures that give its people a distinct identity. Subcultures include castes, religious factions, geographical regions such as South and North India, and linguistic groups. People from diverse subcultures behave in a variety of ways. As a result, marketers may use a multicultural marketing strategy, which entails creating and promoting goods and services that cater to the likes and preferences of customers from many subcultures.
Economic Factors
Consumer purchasing habits and decisions are heavily influenced by a country’s or market’s economic state. When a country is rich, its economy is strong, resulting in a larger money supply in the market and more consumer spending power. When consumers are in a good financial situation, they are more willing to spend money on goods.
A weak economy, on the other hand, depicts a market that is struggling due to unemployment and decreasing purchasing power.
Consumer purchasing decisions are heavily influenced by economic reasons. The following are some of the most important economic factors:
- Personal income
- Family income
- Consumer Credit
- Liquid Assets
- Savings
Why is Subcultural Analysis Important in the United States?
Subcultural analysis is very significant in countries, but in the United States especially, because they are each time becoming more diverse. As there are a lot of different nationalities living there, this means several religions and cultural beliefs, and therefore there are a larger variety of tastes and preferences in the country. They don’t have such a similar taste or preference as the people living there are from all around the globe.
Here is a breakdown of the US population by ethnicity:
- Non-Hispanic White: 61.27%
- Hispanics: 17.79%
- Black or African American: 13.31%
- Asian: 5.67%
This is very important for marketers when they examine and make marketing plans for countries like the United States, as all these different racial and cultural segments have different preferences and priorities upon their purchasing decisions. For example, according to the Asian community, they prefer high-quality products, whereas Spanish people are more influenced by their family when making purchasing decisions.
Targeting Hispanic Americans for Tablet Computers
There are several characteristics which define and can help marketers with the push in selling tablet computers to Hispanic Americans, such as:
- If the tablet computer is from a well-known or familiar brand which has prestige over others, like Apple or Samsung, it will be more probable for them to purchase it than another brand which they don’t recognize.
- If the brand is new but it has become popular within society, it is really important for marketers to consider the trends and fashion as they are more likely to be influenced by them.
- Hispanic Americans prefer to have a more personalized and focused-on-them purchase; they avoid the mass market. So, distributing the tablet computer to small shops where they can get a better customer service will incentivize them to buy it.
- If they want to sell something, it will convince them even more if the advertisement is in Spanish (their native language) as they tend to buy products which seem more familiar, and this strongly affects their decision on one product or another.
Hispanic Americans aren’t impulsive buyers, so trying to sell such an expensive product like a tablet computer to someone who doesn’t really need it at that moment is going to be useless. Marketers will have to research the market and find customers which are willing to buy tablets or computers and emphasize their energy to buy it on the correct customer, if not it won’t work.
They also have a big influence on their family and parents. If they have for several years been buying the same computer brand and it hasn’t given them many problems or hasn’t broken for technical issues, the most likely is that they buy them from the same brand. They are easy to become loyal to brands. For example, also if their parents use iPhone and have to buy a computer or a tablet, they may decide to go for an iPad or MacBook. In addition, if they see a big campaign trying to sell a lot of tablets from the brand you are willing to sell, they will neglect it as big marketing practices and campaigns most of the time have a negative effect on their decision as they might perceive it in a bad manner and prefer more exclusive or not that promotional products.