The social factors influencing consumer behavior are-
a) Family.
b) Reference Groups,
- Family:
There are two types of families in the buyer’s life viz. nuclear family and Joint family. The nuclear family is that where the family size is small and individuals have the higher liberty to take decisions whereas in joint families, the family size is large and group decision-making gets more preference than the individual. Family members can strongly influence the buyer behavior, particularly in the Indian contest. The tastes likes. dislikes, lifestyles etc. of the members are rooted in the family buying behavior.
The family influence on the buying behavior of a member may be found in two ways
- The family influence on the individual personality, characteristics, attitudes and evaluation criteria and
- The influence on the decision-making process involved in the purchase of goods and In India, the head of the family may alone or jointly with his wife decides the purchase. So marketers should study the role and the relative influence of the husband, wife, and children in the purchase of goods and services.
- Reference group:
A group is two or more persons who share a set of norms and whose relationship makes their behavior interdependent. A reference group is a group of people with whom an individual associate. It is a group of people who strongly influence a person’s attitudes values and behavior directly or indirectly. Reference groups fall into many possible grouping, which is not necessarily to be exhaustive. The various reference groups are:
- Membership or contractual groups
- Primary or normative groups
- Secondary groups
- Aspiration group
- Dissociative or avoidance groups
- Formal groups
- Informal groups
- Automatic groups
- Indirect groups
- Comparative groups
- Contractual group
