Refere groups influence buyers in many ways:

1. Exp ean individual to new behaviors and lifesty1es

2. Influenc the person's attitudes and self concept
3. Create press es for conformity that may affect theper?on's actual product and brand
choices
Family ~ ,
The family is the most important co umer buying organization ~society. It is the n~us of
buying units. Family plays avital role i ~cializing aperson and thereby incul~ting buying
habits. "'-
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People play different roles inthe society and based on these roles they derive
social status that influence a person's buying decision.
Age and: stage in the life cycle:
People buy different goods and services over a lifetime and consumption is also shaped by the
family life cycle.
Occupation and economic circumstances:
Product choice is greatly affected by economic circumstances: spendable income, savings and
assets, debts, borrowing power and attitude toward spending vs. savings.
Life style:
A life style is the person's pattern of living in the world as expressed
inactivities, interest and opinions. (Kotler, 2000)
Personality and self-concept:
Each person has adistinct personality that influences buying behavior. .~' ~~! ,. .-;~,: .
Personality can be defined as, distinguishing psychological characteristics"
't ..
that lead to relatively consistent and enduring responses to environment.:, . " .
.. , '~,
(Kotler, 2000) . " .'
Like wise aperson's occupation or profession and the income playa large role in determining
buying behaviour. Life style is the person's pattern of living in theworld as expressed 1nthe
person's activities, interests and opinions. Consumers try to match products to their life styles.
Moreover, consumers represent their personalities by means of products that they purchase. It
is important for amarketer to be ware of these sophisticated elements in the consumer buyer
behaviour.
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1
...uture is the most undamental determinant 0 buyer behavior. It can be defined as the sum*
. .1 of learned beli s values, and customs ~that serve to direct the consumer behavior of
.11bersof a particu r society. It is the general framework within which buyer-thinking
cess is operating.
~vtbculture:
one social culture may be omposed of different sub cultures ina
{Duntry. In asociety, not all gments ave the same cultural
0- tterns. Therefore we can d tinguish more ho.mogeneous sub
goups within the heterogeneous ational society. We refer to these
groups as sub cultures because the have values, customs, traditions,
~l1dother ways of behaving that are eculiar to a particular group
VJ ithinaculture. Buyer behavior tends 0 change according to these
Sub cultures.
Social class:
-rhe social classes also emerge
social culture. Social classes are relatively omogeneous and
enduring divisions inasociety which are hiera chically ordered
and whose membership share similar values, inter t and behaviour
5.3.3 Social Factors
Reference Groups
Various gfoups influence a person's buying behavior. Thes groups have a direct or indirect
influence on the person's attitudes or behaviour.
Membership
Groups
Non- Membership
Groups
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: (..r=: ': : 'T.'~'-" .-- ',' - -- -
The root of motivation is a need'1Fiat drives a person toward a goal directed action. The need
dri ves a person to act or does not act in a certain manner. We call this "motivation".
Consumers buy.~ds and services to satisfy needs. Therefore, consumers are need. dri ven. J n
order to understanau~ehaviour we should study the root of consumer motivation. For this
there are theories of motivation such as Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Herzberg's two-factor
theory, David McClelland's Need theory etc. (Please refer these theories for further
understanding).
Learning involves changes in an individual's behaviour arising from experience. Most human.
behaviour is learned. There are many learning theories to explain the learning process of.
human beings. This understanding is important for a marketer to develop his offer accordi ng to,:
the consumer tastes and preferences.
A beliefis a descriptive thought that a person holds about something. An attitude is a person's,
enduring favourable or unfavourable evaluation, emotional feelings, and action tendencies
toward some object or idea. Beliefs and attitudes matter lot in taking the buying decision.
Therefore, marketers should be fully aware of the nature and formation of consumer llClids
and attitudes.
Perception is the internal representation of the external world by the
consumer. This means that how a consumer creates a mental picture
of what h . grasps from the environment by his senses. Consumer
perception should be the marketer's reality. Otherwise, consumer will
not buy the products that do not match his reality.
Buyers pass several stages inbuying products. However, whether aconsumer passes all these
stages or make quick decisions depend on the nature of the problem solving process. i.e.
extended problem solving or limited problem solving.
Th e Buyer Decision Process
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5.3.7 Types of Buying Beh avior: \",
Consumer decision-making varies with the type of buying decisio~The type of product also
plays asignificant role.
Significant
differences
between brands
ypes of Buying Beh aviour
Variety-
seeking
behaviour
Few differences
between brands
5.3.8. Buying Roles:
Consumers play various roles in the buying decisi process. They are; Initiator, influencer,
decider, buyer, user, discarder.
Task:
Collect information about Sri Lankan culture nd social classes. Discuss the
implications of these cultural specificities for a market r.
Discuss in the class the nature of each of these reference oups and their inOuence.
DeVeAop examples.
Discuss various stages in family life cycle and the implication of\ach s.tage for buying
behavior. \
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\
5.Discuss the nature of buying roles mentioned above. Develop some\~xalllpies frol11
. \
your own experience.
Discuss with your tutor the nature of each buying behaviour type. Develop\~xamples
from Sri Lankan context.
Take a practical buying situation that you have experienced and discuss the each stage
in relation to your buying experience. Did you feel that you experienced these st~ges')
How did you acted in these stages? Share your experience in a group discllssion