Consumer Behaviour in Relation to the International Markets - Assignment Example

International Marketing Culture is the factor which has the greatest influence on consumer behaviour in international markets. To what extent do you think that this statement is true? The essay is based on the analysis of the importance of culture on the behaviour of the consumers across the globe. Consumers behaviour in the international market is hugely dependent on a number of cultural factors such as values, norms, believes and standard of communication. These cultural factors differ from country to country due to the education, family structure and living standard. Increase in the immigration rate of culturally diversified population in the foreign countries is influencing the difficulty of the marketers to analyse the changing demand of the consumers (Kacen & Lee, 2002). Due to the globalization of businesses, marketers are working hard to improve their understanding about the different needs and demands of the consumers in the global market. Most of the requirements of the global consumers are influenced by their cultural beliefs. In several cases, this cultural values and beliefs contradict from each other. In response to the conflicting information, organisations need to thoroughly study the diversified cultural norms of various consumer groups to analyse the differences in the purchasing behaviour (McCort & Malhotra, 1993). The study will discuss a number of theoretical approaches to emphasise on the importance of cultural factors to understand the purchasing behaviour of consumers. Therefore, it will assess all the major impacts of diversified culture in the behaviour of international consumers. Culture can be defined as the acquired knowledge, beliefs, values, customs, laws and morals of any individual which assist them to shape their behaviour as per the norms of the society. Most of these cultural factors provide a strong effect on the attitude of the consumers towards different brands and their promotional procedures. A large number of international organisations are adopting the customization procedure of their products to secure a competitive position in the global market (Solomon, Russell-Bennett & Previte, 2012). Customization of products requires an in-depth understanding about the cultural and the economical background of the consumers. The theoretical model of cultural influence on the consumer behaviour The theoretical model of cultural influence on the purchasing behaviour depicts the role of different elements of culture in the determination procedure of the beliefs, values and practices of the customers. The elements of culture include regional characters, religion, language, nationality, profession and ethnicity of different individual. The beliefs, practices and values of the consumers assist them to create their social norms. It also built their attitude towards the organisation and their brands (Solomon, Russell-Bennett & Previte, 2012). The social norms and attitudes of the consumers enable them to shape their behaviour towards products and services. Belief is one of the major elements of culture. Beliefs of the consumers of different societies display lots of dissimilarities. The belief of any community also influences their product consumption pattern (De Mooij, 2010). As per example, the digit four or four times has always been seen as an unlucky term in Japan. Therefore, most of the organisations sell their product in a group of five leads in Japan (De Mooij, 2010). Apart from belief, tradition can also be considered as one of the important elements of culture. Tradition can be defined as the non-verbal behaviour of the habitants of a society. For instance, it can be said that the global multi-cuisine restaurant prefers to offer products as per the traditional values of the consumers of different countries and regions. The decoration of these restaurants and the service procedures are also differ from place to place as per the traditional values of the consumers of those particular regions. This approach assists the businesses to attract a large number of consumers towards their products and services (De Mooij, 2010). Due to the variation of these beliefs and tradition in different social groups, the learning of cultural properties has become an inevitable part of the analysis of the consumer behaviour in global market. The market segmentation, targeting and product positioning of any organisation is hugely dependent on the study of the cultural diversification of the population (Luna & Forquer Gupta, 2001). A number of researchers have offered various theories that support the importance of culture in the determination procedure of the requirements of consumers. Various sociologists have explained a number of cultural components such as family members and reference groups which influence the behaviours of a group or individual in the market place. Different consumer researches have detailed that every family member plays a certain role in the purchasing behaviour of the entire family. The buyer or the decision maker can get influenced by the preferences of the other members of the family. For a marketer, it is essential to analyse the entire family culture as well as the product preferences of each person. It will allow them to understand the purchasing procedure of the entire family. The concept of reference group was invented in the year 1942 (Kacen & Lee, 2002). These groups are generally used by individuals to justify their own beliefs, behaviours and judgements. The culture of reference group provides various impacts on the expenditure procedure of the consumers. Proper understanding of the culture and behavioural norms of these reference groups is very essential for the organisations to design their marketing strategies (Kacen & Lee, 2002). Various researchers have also proposed different socio cultural theories which impact the decision making procedures of the consumers. One of the well-known theories is the Veblenian theory proposed by Thorstein Veblem in 1899 (Wyer, 2015). The author had described that consumers have a tendency to get influenced by the behaviours and practices of the different cultural groups. He had also argued that consumers tend to ignore their own likes and dislikes to adjust with the norms of any specific groups or communities. The culture, social classes and subculture of these groups play a major role in shaping the behaviour of these consumers. Therefore, proper inspection of the culture, subculture and social classes is very crucial to determine the values and behaviour of the consumers of these groups (Wyer, 2015). The marketers need to understand the impact of culture on the behaviour of the consumers before positioning their products in any marketplace. Cultural rules and regulations satisfy different needs of the people within any society. It also offers direction and guidance for all kinds of problems of the candidates of any social groups. The solutions provided by the cultural norms of any society assist the members to satisfy their social, personal and physiological needs. As per example it can be said that culture provides the rules or standards for the eating habit of different societies (Godey et. Al, 2012). Animal milk is consumed by the population of various parts of India, Africa, North America and Europe while habitants of China are strictly against it. Therefore, the multinational marketers of milk products need to be very cautious about their product offering and promotional methods in these regions (Godey et. Al, 2012). Acculturation can be described as an essential concept for any businesses which are designing different strategies to sell their goods in the international market. This concept helps organisations to gather knowledge about different cultural diversification of their targeted market (Mullen & Johnson, 2013). It will allow them to assess the acceptability of their products in different cultural groups and communities. It also enables them to design the best communicational procedure to reach the targeted customers (Mullen & Johnson, 2013). McDonald’s food chains are famous for their standardization procedure for food products and services. During the globalization of their business, they have adopted the cultural diversification of different social group to attract maximum number of consumers. As per example, in various parts of western countries it is very common to invite friends and colleagues at house for dinner or a drink. On the contrary, in Japan inviting someone to the house for a drink is not considered a good custom. They prefer to select any restaurant or hotel for this kind of activity. Therefore, during the promotional methods and advertisement of these kinds of products, the brand owners need to focus on the differences of these customs of various cultural groups (Mullen & Johnson, 2013). McDonalds demonstrate a unique example for the adaptation of different cultures of each of their operated market. They generally follow the tastes and preferences of each consumers group from different cultural backgrounds. Their diversified product ranges include Mega Teriyaki Burger for Japan, Masala grilled Chicken burger for India and French McBaguette for the population of France (Wyer, 2015). To effectively communicate with the consumers of different cultural backgrounds, the marketers need to understand and learn their language and signs. They also need to understand the importance of different colours and symbols as per the culture of the different communities. Different colours and symbols can bear contradictory meanings for various cultural communities. Therefore, the organisations must analyse the meaning of these symbols, signs and colours before advertising their products in various geographical locations (Ladhari, Pons, Bressolles & Zins, 2011). The global energy drink company, Redbull, has altered the colours and signs of their product packaging during their business venture in China. The company has chosen red and gold colours for their product packaging in China. As per the culture of China’s population, red depicts good luck and golden colour denotes wealth and success. This strategy has assisted the organisation to attract a huge portion of Chinese population towards their product line (Ladhari, Pons, Bressolles & Zins, 2011). Various rituals and festivals are also one of the major parts of the cultural differentiation of a number of communities. These festivals also influence the buying behaviours of the consumers from various cultural groups. Christmas Eve and Thanks Giving are the major festivals in various parts of America. Similarly, Diwali in India and Easter in European countries display different purchasing behaviours of these geographical locations. During these seasons, the purchasing tendency of the consumers of these regions increases drastically. Most of the multinational organisations provide a number of discount schemes for the consumers of these locations (Steenkamp, 2001). The cultures of different communities and geographical locations are evolving continuously to fulfil the changing needs of the society. Due to this reason, the managements of different organisations need to carefully monitor various socio-cultural environments to effectively market their products across the globe (Steenkamp, 2001). The analysis of different theories and research views of this study have highlighted the necessity of understanding the cultural diversities of the consumers. With the globalization of businesses, the competition in the international market is also increasing day by day. The purchasing behaviour and product preferences of the consumers are the prime concern for the marketers of different organisations. The discussion has illustrated the effects of different cultural norms and practices in the brand preferences and buying behaviour of the consumers. Social norms, Family structure, religion, rituals and language play a vital role in the decision making process of the consumers from different geographical locations. It has also been detailed that the social and cultural differences within different communities can hamper the market share of businesses in multiple regions. A number of multinational organisations are shifting their focuses to adopt the cultural differences of their operational market. It also is assisting them to gauge the differences in the need and demands of the consumers from different locations. Therefore, it can be said that the proper understanding of cultural factors of different society and geographical locations is very crucial for organisations to analyse the consumer behaviours which will also allow them to strengthen their competitive position in the market. References De Mooij, M. (2010). Consumer behavior and culture: Consequences for global marketing and advertising. New York: Sage. Godey, B., Pederzoli, D., Aiello, G., Donvito, R., Chan, P., Oh, H., & Weitz, B. (2012). Brand and country-of-origin effect on consumers decision to purchase luxury products. 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The role of national culture in international marketing research. International Marketing Review, 18(1), 30-44. Wyer, R. S. (2015). Cultural differences in procedural knowledge and their impact on consumer behaviour: Handbook of Culture and Consumer Behavior. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. Read More