1. McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

2. Reference Groups and Family
Chapter 14
Reference Groups and Family
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

3. Reference Groups
A group consists of two or more people who interact with each other to accomplish some goal
A reference group involves one or more people used as a basis for comparison or point of reference in forming affective and cognitive responses and performing behaviors

4. Reference Groups cont.

5. Analyzing Reference Groups
Reference groups are cultural groups in that members share certain common cultural meanings
Marketers try to determine the content of the shared meanings of various reference groups
Reference groups can have both positive and negative effects on consumers
Associative reference groups
Dissociative reference groups

6. Types of Reference Group Influence
Most people are members of several primary informal groups and a few formal, membership groups
People identify and affiliate with particular reference groups for three reasons
To gain useful knowledge
To obtain rewards or avoid punishments
To acquire meanings for constructing, modifying, or maintaining their self-concepts

7. Reference Groups cont. Three types of reference group influence
Informational
Utilitarian
Value-expressive
All three types of reference group influence can be accomplished by a single reference group.

8. Reference Group Influence on Products and Brands
Reference groups do not influence all product and brand purchases to the same degree
Influences vary on at least two dimensions
Degree to which the product or brand is
A necessity
A luxury
Degree to which the object in question is conspicuous or know by other people
Public good
Private good

9. Reference Group Influence on Products and Brands cont.
Reference group influence will vary depending on whether the products and brands are
Public necessities
Private necessities
Public luxuries
Private luxuries

10. Reference Groups and Marketing Strategy
Developing marketing strategies through an analysis of primary informal group influences
Peer group influence as a major asset of firms that sell in-home to groups
Describing similarities between previous consumers and potential consumers
Using salespersons as reference groups
Soliciting experts to aid in the direct sale of products

11. Reference Group Influence on Products and Brands cont.

12. Family Marketers are interested in both families and households
Household is the housing unit having people living in it
Nonfamily households include unrelated people living together
A family has at least two people, the householder and someone who is related to the householder by blood, marriage, or adoption
Nuclear family
Extended family

13. Family Decision Making
How family members interact and influence one another when making purchase choices for the household
Identification of roles of family members in family decision making is important

14. Family Decision Making cont.
Types of family decision-making roles include:
Influencers
Gatekeepers
Users
Deciders
Buyers
Disposers

15. Influences on Family Decision Making
Areas explored in research on family decision making are
Differences in product class and their relationship to family decision making
The structure of husband/wife roles
The determinants of joint decision making
Children and family decision making

16. Conflict in Family Decision Making
Decision conflict arises when family members disagree about some aspect of the purchase decision
Means-end chain model is a useful framework for analyzing decision conflict

17. Six Common Types of Family Influence Strategies

18. Patterns or Styles of Influence Behaviors

19. Consumer Socialization
Refers to how children acquire knowledge about products and services and various consumption-related skills
Can occur directly through intentional instruction or indirectly through observation and modeling
The consumer knowledge formed in childhood can influence people in later years

20. Consumer Socialization cont.
Developing early brand awareness and loyalty is an important marketing strategy for many companies
The flow of socialization is not restricted to parents influencing their young children

21. Factors Influencing American Families
Three important changes:
Changes in female employment
Changes in marriage and divorce
Changes in childbirth and child rearing practices

22. Demographic Changes in Household Composition
American families are highly diverse
Various types of families constitute distinctive markets for many products
Married-couple family
Traditional family
Nontraditional family
Nonfamily households family
Cohabiting couples

23. A Modern Family Life Cycle

24. Family Life Cycle
The modern family life cycle captures most types of families in American society, including:
Single parents
Young singles
Older singles
Married couples with children

25. Family- Marketing Analysis
Considerations for using the family life cycle for marketing analysis
Modern family life cycle does not include nonfamily households
Modern family life cycle does not capture every possible change in family status that can occur
Does not include the boomerang age

26. Family- Marketing Analysis cont.
Marketers use the family life cycle to:
Segment the market
Analyze market potential
Identify target markets
Develop more effective marketing strategies
Developing marketing strategies for the bachelor segment is a challenge
Some stages in the family life cycle are more important markets than others
Stages of the family life cycle that contain children are quite important to many marketers

27. Family- Marketing Implications
Ideas for marketing strategies to help reduce shopping time and stress
Provide information
Assist in planning
Develop out-of-store selling
Automate processes
Improve delivery

28. Summary Described two aspects of the micro social environment
Discussed three types of reference group influence
Described how reference groups could influence choice decisions about products and brands, and offered ideas for using reference groups in marketing strategies

29. Summary cont. Distinguished between families and households
Discussed decision making by families
Looked at conflict in family choices and described several ways family members might try to resolve the decision conflict and influence each other

30. Summary cont. Explored consumer socialization
Described several demographic trends that have changed family households
Discussed a model of the family life cycle and showed how marketers could use it to analyze markets and develop marketing strategies