Cultural Factors Affecting Consumer Buying Behaviour

Cultural factors are; culture, subculture, religion and social class to examined fewer than three headings .

1.     Culture:

Culture is total sum of learned, believes, values and customs that serve to direct theconsumer behavior of member of particular society (Schiff man and Kanuk). Both believes and values are mental image that affects the wide range of specific attitude that influence the way a person uses to evaluate alternative brands in a product category or his or her eventual preference for one of these brands over the other are influenced by both a person is general values and specific believes. Culture is important character of a society that distinguishes it from other cultural groups. The fundamental elements of every culture are the values, languages, myths, laws, customs and the products that are transmitted from one generation to the next  It is a fundamental determinant of a person’s behavior and want. The child growing up in a society learns a basic set of values, perception, preferences and behavior through a process of socialization including the family and other key institutions. Culture is essential when it comes to understanding the needs and behaviors of an individual. Through his life an individual will be influenced by his family his friends his society or cultural environment that will teach him values preferences as well as common behavior to their own culture. It is important for a brand to understand and take into each situation in order to adapt its product and its marketing strategies. They play a role in the perception, habits and behavior and expectations of consumer.

1.2.2. Subculture:        

The other important concept should be considered in terms marketing management is sub culture. A society is consisted of many subcultures in which people can identify. These are the groups of people who share the same values based on a common experiences and lifestyle. Sub cultures are the nationalities, religious, age group, ethnic groups and gender. The sub cultures are often considered for the brands for the segmentation of a market in order to adapt a product a communication strategy to the values or the specific needs of this segment. Activities on culture and behavior of individual with similar values formed smaller groups are called sub culture. Sub cultures are relevant units of analysis for market research analysis of sub culture allows the marketing manager to focus on sizable and natural market segment. The marketer must determined whether believes, values and customs shared by member of a specific subgroup make them desirable candidates for special marketing attention .

1.2.3. Religion (Christianity, Hindu, Muslim, Sikhism, Jainism etc)

A Hindu Bride wears red, maroon or a bright color lehanga or saree whereas a Christian bride wears a white gown on her wedding day. It is against Hindu culture to wear white on auspicious occasions. Muslim on the other hand prefers to wear green on important occasions. Eating    beef is considered to be a sin in India whereas Muslim and Christian enjoy the same. Eating pork is against Muslim religion while Hindu does not feel bad. A sixty year old individual would not like something which is too bright and colorful. They would prefer stylish dresses and loud colors. In India widows are expected to wear white. Windows wearing bright colors are treated with suspicious. 

1.2.4. Social class:

Every society possesses same form of social class which is important to the marketers because the buying behavior of people in a given social class is a similar. Through this the marketing activities could be adapted according to different social classes. Social class is not only determined by income but there are various other factors as well such as; wealth, education, occupation etc . It is defined as group more or less identical and ranked against each other according to forms of social order. Even if it is very large groups we usually find similar values, life style, interest and behavior individual belonging to the same social class be likely to have different desires and consumption outline. According to some researchers buying habit would be the way of identifying and belonging to its social class. Beyond the common foundation to the whole population and taking into account that many counter example naturally exist they usually do not always but the same product do not choose the same kind of vacation do not watch same TV show, do not always read same magazines, they do not have the same hobbies and do not always go to same shopping centers. Upper class and middle class consumers generally consume healthy and balanced food products than lower class consumers. International business has increased the importance of understanding of local and international culture.  Researchers recommended that it is important to learn different cultures to understand the market and consumer behavior. Culture influences the examiner view of a consumer and consumer recognize product according to their attitude and behaviors . Cultural literacy is important to success (Wild et al, 2008), on the other hand lack of understanding and knowledge about culture and consumer behavior could create obstacle for success. All researcher believe in importance of learn the culture for successful marketing activities.