Social class and consumer behavior

At this moment, people or customer behavior is identified so that Social stratification, the division of members of a society into a hierarchy of distinct social classes what is referred

SOCIAL CLASS AND CONSUMER BEHABIOR

INTRODUCTION

“MEET MY NEEDS!” Every man has need for live For this, people go to buy in market or shop.

At this moment, people or customer behavior is identified so that Social stratification, the division of members of a society into a hierarchy of distinct social classes what is referred for the development of consumer attitudes and behavior The measurement of social class is concerned with classifying individuals into social class groupings These groupings are of particular value to marketers, who use social classification as an effective means of identifying and segmenting target markets There are three basic methods for measuring social class: subjective measurement, reputational measurement, and objective measurement Class structures range from two-class to nine-class systems A frequently used classification system consists of six classes: upper-upper, upper, upper-middle, lower-middle, upper-lower, and lower-lower Profiles of these classes indicate that the socioeconomic differences between classes are reflected in differences in attitudes, in leisure activities, and in consumption habits This is why segmentation by social class is of special interest to marketers

SOCIAL CLASS

Social class can be considered as a continuum that is a series of social positions in which is placed, the researchers divided the continuum into a small number of specific social class or strata The concept of social class is used to place individuals or families in a social category Social class is defined as the division of society into a hierarchy of different class status, so that the members of each class have relatively equal status and other class members have a status higher or lower

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Behavior economics focus on the kinds of attitudes people have towards money and how they spend their money Consumer sentiment is a significant influence which relates to consumer spending patterns; it depends on the employment scenario, the economy as a whole, the level of regular income, the quality of life, and stock market performance Societies are generally divided into various hierarchical social strata, which are dependent on factors like education, occupation and income Different societies have different strata, which may vary from as low as two to as high as nine or ten Most societies have three broad social classes - upper class, middle class, and lower class People belonging to one particular class can move to other classes, willingly or unwillingly, in an open society Such moves can significantly affect their consumption behavior Consumer tastes and preferences are influenced greatly by consumer socialization, as well as economic, social, and cultural capital

SOCIAL CLASS AND STATUS

Researchers define each social class by the amount of social status the members of that class have in comparison to members of other social classes In social class research (sometimes called social stratification), status is frequently thought of as the relative rankings of members of each social class

in terms of specific status factors Examples include:

 Wealth—amount of economic assets.

 Power—degree of personal choice.

 Prestige—the degree of recognition received from others.

CONVENIENT APPROACHES TO SOCIAL CLASS

The idea is that individuals quite normally compare their own material possessions with those owned

by others in order to determine their relative social standing Social status is usually defined in terms

of one or more of the following socioeconomic variables:

 Family income

 Occupational status

 Educational attainment

Figure 1: Convenient approaches to social class

SOCIAL CLASS CATEGORIES

Little agreement exists among sociologists on how many distinct class divisions are necessary to adequately describe the class structure of the United States The choice of how many separate classes

to use depend on the amount of detail that the researcher believes is necessary to explain adequately the attitudes or behavior under study Marketers are interested in the social class structures of communities that are potential markets for their products and in the specific social class level of their potential customers There are five categories social class in Bangladesh:

1 Upper

2 Upper-middle

3 Middle

4 Working

5 Lower

Figure 2: Different social class.

Uppers and Upper Middle Class- Women of this group organize shopping more purposefully and

efficiently than those of lower status They tend to be more knowledgeable about what they want, where and when to shop for it; their shopping is both selective and wide-ranging These consumers are more likely to search for information prior to purchase They are more likely to read brochures, newspapers, and test reports before buying appliances

Middle Class- Women of this class "work" more at their shopping They exhibit more anxiety,

particularly when purchasing nonfoods, which they feel can be a demanding and tedious process filled with uncertainty They are value-conscious and try to seek out the best buy for the money Such an orientation would indicate a strong tendency to patronize discount houses

Working Class- Because of this group's strong concern with personal relationships, there is a

tendency to shop along known, local friendship lines This attitude also explains their loyalty to certain stores in which they feel at home One study describes situations in which lower-status women who shopped in high-status department stores felt clerks and higher-class customers in the store

"punished" them in various subtle ways One woman expressed her feeling that in a higher-status store "the clerks treat you like a crumb” Another related how she had vainly tried to be waited on, finally to be told, "We thought you were a clerk”

Lower Class- This group is one that buys largely on impulse This tendency results in the necessity to

rely heavily on credit, since money that might have been spent for big-ticket items has been drained off in impulse buying of small things At the same time, however, these people can be poor credit risks because of their low-income status This often forces them into a pattern of dealing with local merchants who offer tailor-made credit terms

THE MESUREMENT OF SOCIAL CLASS

There is no general agreement as to how to measure social class The result is a wide variety of measurement techniques, which may be classified following the below:

 Subjective Measures

 Reputational Measures

 Objective Measures

Figure 3: Measurement of social class

Subjective Measures-In the subjective approach to measuring social class, individuals are asked to

estimate their own social-class positions In the subjective approach to measuring social class,

individuals are asked to estimate their own social class positions The resulting classification of social class membership is based on the participants’ self-perceptions or self-images Subjective measures of social class membership tend to produce an overabundance of people who classify themselves as middle class Moreover, it is likely that the subjective perception of one’s social class membership, as

a reflection of one’s self-image, is related to product usage and consumption preferences

Reputational Measures-The reputational approach requires selected community informants to make

initial judgments concerning the social-class membership of others within the community In this form, selected community informants make initial judgments concerning the social class membership

of others within the community, rather than themselves This gives researchers a better understanding

of the specific class structures of the communities being studied Consumer researchers, however, are more concerned with understanding markets and consumers than social structure

Objective Measures-A method of measuring social class whereby individuals are asked specific

socioeconomic questions concerning themselves or their families On the basis of their answers, people are placed within specific social-class groupings Objective measures consist of selected demographic or socioeconomic variables concerning the individual(s) under study These are

measured through questionnaires of factual questions The most frequently used questions are about occupation, amount of income, and education Sometimes geo-demographic data in the form of zip codes and residence-neighborhood information is added Socioeconomic measures of social class are important when segmenting the market Marketers match the socioeconomic profiles of their target audience with the audience profiles of selected media

SOCIAL SATISFICATION

Viewed as social inequality, which is a universal phenomenon Inequality is viewed in terms of the distribution of scare goods There are some elements of Social Stratification These are given below:

 CLASS – as defined by Marx, it is the division of people in society by their relationship to

the means of production: those who own a large portion of society’s wealth

 STATUS – For Weber, prestige rather than position itself is important Individuals are ranked

in society as high, middle, and low as determined by how the role attached to their status is valued

 POWER – refers to the ability of an individual to get other people to do “what he wants them

to do with or without their consent

DEMOGRAPHICS CLUSTERING

In demographics, clustering is the gathering of various population based on ethnicity, economics, or religion In countries that hold equality as important, clustering occurs between groups because of polarizing factors such as religion, wealth or ethnocentrism Clustering is often considered an enriching part of free cultures in which one can visit a Chinatown or a French quarter for restaurant choices

SEGMENTING THE AFFLUENT MARKET

The affluent market is not one single market Affluent consumers do not share the same lifestyles

In an effort to isolate distinct segments has developed the following affluent market-segmentation

scheme for the middle and working class

consumers:-MIDDLE-CLASS CONSUMERS-It is not easy to define the borders of what is meant by “middle

class” Though, other measures are possible For many marketers “middle class” can be thought of as including households that range from lower-middle to middle-middle class Because technological and luxury products are becoming more affordable to this class, it is even more difficult to define

“middle class” This is not true in other countries where the middle class is increasing

WORKING CLASS CONSUMERS-Although many marketers go after the affluent, the size and

income of the non-affluent group make them an important target market Lower-income, or downscale, consumers are households earning more or less Downscale consumers are more brand loyal than wealthier consumers because they can less afford to make mistakes in switching to unfamiliar brands

CONCLUSION

Little of what is best in marketing theory and practice works without correct market segmentation It

is one of the most fundamental concepts in marketing and your choice of which approach to adopt will directly affect the impact of segmentation on your business The means of reducing switching behaviors within extremely saturated marketplaces are directly afforded by marketing communication The effectiveness of such communication, however, can have the desired (or opposite) result on sustaining consumer loyalty over an extended period of time While more traditional marketing models focused on product features and competitive positioning of particular brands or products, modern marketing emphasizes the relationship between consumer behavior and value By enhancing a product’s value, consumers are encouraged to engage in the buying process and are more likely to maintain personal investment in a product over an extended period of time

1 http://crab.rutgers.edu/~ckaufman/ConsumerbehaviorSocialClassRefGroupNotes.html

2 http://www.zeepedia.com/read.php?

consumer_social_classes_chapter_4_environmental_influences_affluent_consumer_c onsumer_psychology&b=86&c=25

3 http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/social-class.html

4 http://www.icmrindia.org/courseware/Consumer%20Behavior/CBC10.htm

5 http://www.studymarketing.org/articles/Consumer_Psychology/

Shopping_Behavior_and_Social_Classes.html

6 FIGURE1:https://www.google.com.bd/search?

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7 FIGURE2https://www.google.com.bd/search?

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8 FIGURE 3: https://www.google.com.bd/search?q=image source//