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Cultural influence on consumer behaviour
Cultural influence on consumer behaviour
Cultural influence on consumer behaviour
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IKEA 1. Consumer’s behaviour is influenced by a number of personal, situational and stable external factors. Among the external factors one can distinguish between social, cultural and geographical ones. Social factors are attributed to a consumer’s family, social role and status, as well as different groups a consumer belongs to or hopes to join. Such aspects as country specific and ethnic traditions, religions, climate conditions belong to cultural and geographical factors. IKEA being one of the biggest furniture retailers in the world recognises the necessity to adapt its products' offerings with regard to consumers’ social and cultural differences. The company’s employees observe that consumers’ purchasing behavioural patterns tend to vary across countries. IKEA came up with fresh ideas which made its newly designed products to match the local tastes. To honour the “Year of the Rooster” in China – the company produced and sold 250.000 themed plastic placemats. Specially for the U.S. market IKEA has adjusted a few of its items. To reflect on the particular observation of the American buyers’ preferences, the cloth's drawers where made substantially deeper, as people there tend to fold cloth and put it away in the drawers unlike the Europeans hanging everything up. It has also been noted that vases were purchased a lot to be used as glasses, for the later were seen too small. IKEA simply offered bigger glasses. Visiting Hispanic households in California encouraged the firm to widen its seating and restaurant areas, as well as to play with colour palette of the decorations. 2. The buying decision process consists of five stages, specifically: 1) problem recognition (need recognition), 2) information search, 3) evaluation of alte... ... middle of paper ... ...pt to foster such heuristics in peoples’ minds by developing and supporting its own brand called “Chosen by You”. “Price=quality” shortcut stands for a well-known assumption that the more expensive the good is the higher quality would come with it. ASDA as well as the majority of retailers is trying to beat such association stating that the firm is not undermining the quality despite the lowest prices set. “Country-of-origin” decision aid advocates the idea of consumers inferring the product's quality from the “made in” label on it. For instance, countries like Germany or the Netherlands bear a positive image in the majority of the customers’ decisions. There are other countries, however, which do not enjoy the customers’ appreciation. Bibliography Kotler, P., & Keller, K. (2012). A Framework for Marketing Management (Fifth ed.). Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
Armstrong, Gary, and Philip Kotler. Marketing: an introduction. 11th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2013. Print.
Price is how much to sell your products for. This is based on your cost and product value to potential customers. I believe that price is important and you will definitely attract customers with the lure of cheap prices, especially at Christmas time. How many people just recently woke up at 4 a.m. just to get in line for several hours so they could get a great deal and save a few dollars? I believe that it works to motivate certain customers, but there are still consumers out there who are not interested getting stampeded during a price reduction sale.
The consumer decision process consists of these six steps. First, problem recognition: Awareness of an unmet need. Second, information search: Search for alternatives that will meet your needs. Third, alternative evaluation: Evaluate the alternatives. Forth, purchase decision: Decide on the best alternative for you based on your criteria. Fifth, post-purchase behavior: Determine if you are satisfied with your choice. Sixth, disposal of product: Determine if you will keep it, upgrade it, or get rid of
Kotler, P. & Keller, K.L., (2009), A Framework for Marketing Management. 4th edition, Pearson Prentice Hall: USA
Jobber,D & Ellis-Chadwick, F (2012). Principles and Practices Of Marketing. 7th ed. : McGraw Hill Higher Education. p19-21 & 352-354.
Originally, the postwar boom helped drive the furniture industry’s change. World War II drained the life out of many households, and newer innovative changes were sought by many. The tradition of handing down furniture from generation to generation was quickly disappearing in most households. IKEA helped shape the postwar household by offering new furniture styles at a very reasonable price. With low costs came a new innovative style and a comfortable atmosphere to shop in.
IKEA’s story really began in 1943 when its founder Ingvar Kampard began his career by selling fish, Christmas magazines, and seeds at the age of 17. A few years after that, he established a mail order business that featured diverse products that included furniture (Bartlett & Nanda, 1990). The economy in Sweden was changing (thanks to the war) and the traditional practice of handing down custom made furniture was being replaced with purchasing new inexpensive furniture. Demand was growing but complex business associations between Swedish manufacturers and retailers kept prices high and prevented entry into the industry (Bartlett & Nanda, 1990). Kampard saw a great opportunity to correct what he felt was a social problem
Cravens, D. W., & Piercy, N. F. (2009). Strategic marketing (9th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Customer knowledge: some countries are reputed of making high quality of specific products such as the French perfume, Swiss Chocolate, and German cars. Indeed, customers have product’s perceptions depends on the country where it is made. For example, French perfume has a larger acceptance from customers than other perfume producers, and Italian clothes designs are more likely perceived as better than other European’s designers.
IKEA is known globally for its low prices and innovatively designed furniture. In China, however, it faced peculiar problems. Its low-price strategy created confusion among aspirational Chinese consumers while local competitors copied its designs. This case study analyses how IKEA adapted its strategies to expand and become profitable in China. It also assesses some lessons the company learnt in China that might be useful in India, where it plans to open its first store by 2014 and 25 stores in 10 to 15 years.
Armstrong, G, Adam, S, Denize, S, Kotler, P, 2010, Principles of Marketing 5th Edition, Pearson Australia Group, Frenchs Forest
... P.H. (1988). Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning, Implementation and Control. (6th ed.). Prentice-Hall: Englewood Cliffs.
In advertising its products, the IKEA catalogs played a primary role as they were attractive and easy to use. The efficiency of IKEA products and quality of design were emphasized in the catalogs. Every household in the area surrounding a new store received a copy of the catalog during the busy years of expansion. Although direct mail-order sales usually represented a very small portion of the total sales. The whole IKEA range was not offered by the catalogs. To attract new customers to the stores, they were always a key factor. Throughout the world, IKEA continued to open stores in different locations and attracted various customers. It was interesting to look at a company offering the same basic products at all stores and do well in many different cultures with different tastes. Lastly, the IKEA’s current number of employees in retail and expansion functions is 116,500 as of 2015. Thus, the total sum of employee worldwide in 2015 was 155, 000. Literally, the rate of employee would be increased in terms of business development in the future. (Brammer, Jackson, and Matten,
Each category will be analyzed using IKEA student info website, IKEA group corporate website, resources from University of Phoenix library and articles from magazines. The key questions that the author will address are
a company can familiarize itself with cultural nuances which may impact the design, packaging or advertising of the product. Moreover, traveling abroad allows one to locate and cultivate new customers, as well as improve relationships and communication with current foreign representatives and associates