Consumer Behaviour

Unit 3
Social class

The social groups or membership groups to which an individual

belongs are the social classes that influence him. In the social classes,
we usually find people with similar values, lifestyle and behavior.
Now a marketer or a researcher needs to pay attention here because
generally the buying behavior of people in a particular social class to
some extent is similar, though the level of influence may be low or
high, he can tailor his marketing activities according to different
social classes. Social perception is a very important attribute that
influences the buying behavior of an individual.

Example − A person from a low-income group may focus on price

while making the purchase while a person from a higher income
group may consider the quality and uniqueness of the product

Sometimes an individual also is influenced by a social group to which

he does not belong, but wishes to get connected with others. For
example, in a college a student is in no need to buy a smart phone
but purchases it to be part of that group and be accepted by them.

Marketers need to understand these situations well and plan their

strategies accordingly for such social benefits. Individuals play
various roles in the consumer buying process −

 Initiator − Initiator is usually the person who comes up with an

idea and suggests the purchase.

 Influencer − He is the individual who actually pushes for the

purchase. He highlights the benefits of the product. This
individual can be from the family or friend or outside the group
too.
  Decision Maker − He is generally the person who takes the final
decision or the final call after analyzing all the pros and cons of
the product. He may not necessarily be the final buyer as may
also take the decision on behalf of the consumer.
For example, a father might decide on buying a laptop for his
son or a brother might decide on the best career option for his
sister.

 Buyer − Buyer is generally the end user or the final consumer

who uses the product.

Influence on Consumer Behavior

Social class can have a profound effect on consumer spending habits.

Perhaps the most obvious effect is the level of disposable income of
each social class. Generally, the rich have the ability to purchase
more consumer goods than those with less income, and those goods
are of higher quality. There is also a distinction in the type of goods
purchased. For example, the upper class tend to be the primary
buyers of fine jewellery and often shop at exclusive retailers. The
lower class, in contrast, are much more concerned with simply
getting by; they focus more on necessities.

Types
Upper Upper Class
This is the most wealthy, aristocratic class having a lot of property.
This is a small-sized segment and has to be targeted for novelty,
expensive and luxury goods by the marketeers. This class has access
to property, prestige and power. They have a lot of discretionary
income and can buy the right product and services, and socialise with
the right people. They are an attractive market segment for leisure
goods, designer clothes, foreign travel and special services.

Lower Upper Class

They are lower in status than the upper upper class and try to imitate
their lifestyle. They are known by their conspicuous consumption
and are also a smaller target market for luxury goods. They try to
acquire the habits and lifestyle of the upper upper class. The
products used by the upper class trickle down to this class and is
known as the trickle down effect. The upper class becomes a
reference groups and the members of the lower upper class strive to
achieve a higher status in the society. The marketeers knowing this,
formulate a strategy for this group or class of people.

Upper Middle Class

This class has achieved success in life and consists of managers,
professionals, lawyers, profes- sors. They are also owners of
medium-sized business. They therefore take membership of clubs
and have a broad range of cultural interests. They are hard working
and want to reach higher in society. Their aspirational group is the
upper class.

Lower Middle Class

The common man represents this group. Some are highly paid
workers and small business owners and may not have a very high
education.
This class aspires for respectability. They wish to have well
maintained houses in good neighbourhoods. Marketeers sell
products, to this group, which have respectability and social
acceptance in the society.

Upper Lower Class

They live for the present. They and the lower lower class constitute
the major percentage of population. Their buying habits are
influenced by their cultures and sub-cultures. Their social activities
influence the purchase of product.

Lower Lower Class

They live in utter poverty. Their main concerns to fulfil their basic
physiological needs. They need shelter, clothing, food and go for
economical purchases. Their first priority is the price and they cannot
afford any unnecessary expenditures.
SOCIAL CLASS CATEGORIES AND LIFESTYLE PROFILES:
Each social class is characterized by certain lifestyle factors, in terms
of shared beliefs, norms, attitudes, activities, interests and behavior.
These are similar within people of each class and different across
social classes. In fact, they tend to distinguish the members of a
social class from the members of other social classes. However, it
may be noted here that people from the middle class may serve as
aspirational groups or have a reference group appeal for the lower;
similarly people of the upper class may serve the same for people in
the middle class. With this impact, people in a class may possess
beliefs, norms, attitudes, activities, interests and behavior that are a
hybrid of two or more classes.

THE MEASUREMENT OF SOCIAL CLASS:

The measurement of social class as also the techniques to be used,
have been a subject of debate. Researchers have not been able to
agree on the methodology that needs to be used for measuring
social class. This is because i) varied classifications in form and
number have been proposed; ii) there is lack of clarity with respect
to the underlying dynamics and dimensions of social class. A wide
variety of tools and techniques have been used to measure social
class. Broadly speaking, the various techniques that are used are
subjective measures, reputational measures, and objective measures
of social class.
- Subjective Measures:
The subjective approach to measure social class requires a self-
assessment on the part of the individual who is asked to specify the
class to which he belongs. In other words, the individual self-
perceives his social class in response to a question like, “Which one
of the following best describes your social class: the lower class, the
middle class, or the upper class?” Thus, the person is asked to
estimate and specify his own social-class position. The person
answers on the basis of his feeling of belongingness and
identification with others, as well as class consciousness. However,
the problem with this approach is that it leads to a lot of responses
that fall in the mid-range (or the middle class). People are often
conscious or shy or may even refrain from giving the true response
and have a safe say by opting for the middle class, when
they should have been correctly classified as belonging to either the
lower or upper class.

- Reputational Measures:
The reputational measure to measure social class, requires
independent informants from the society, to identify and make
comments related to the social class membership of people in the
community. Sociological researchers as also market researchers
select informants within the community, and ask them to assess and
make judgment about the class membership of other people in the
community. Much remains to the discretion of the researcher who is
left with the final task of assigning people in the community to the
various class categories based on his knowledge, expertise and
experience. The methods lacks reliability and has proved to be
impractical, primarily in studies related to marketing and consumer
behavior. Unlike, sociology, the consumption pattern and resultant
behavior may not always be assessed correctly by observers.

- Objective Measures:
Objective measures make use of demographic and particularly
socioeconomic variables for assessing the social class of individuals.
The researchers use questionnaires that are administered to people
in the community. Such questionnaires directly or indirectly help in
determining their social class. Questions relate to their address (so as
to determine place of residence), and particularly to the more
important variables like occupation, income and education. Such
demographic and socioeconomic indicators help determine the
social-class membership. The objective measures of social class may
be divided into two categories, viz., single variable indexes and
composite-variable indexes.
a) Single-Variable Indexes: As the term denotes, single variable
indexes, are those that use one socioeconomic variable to assess
social-class membership of a person. For consumer behavior, the
commonly used indexes are i) education; ii) occupation; and iii)
income. Certain types of products and their usage is related to
occupation and marketers define the target market on the basis of
occupation, for example, for publishers, professors and teachers via
missionary selling act as viable targets. Education and occupation
also determine the income level of a person. In fact, all these three
indexes are used to determine the social class standing of a person.
Another variable that indirectly determines the social class
membership is the address of residence and the neighbourhood that
one is a part of.

b) Composite-Variable Indexes: The composite-variable indexes use a

combination of demographic and socioeconomic factors to assess
and measure the social class of an individual. As indexes, they are
more reliable for consumer researchers as they better reflect and
assess the dynamics and complexity of social class than single-
variable indexes. For example, education, occupation and income are
taken together to have reliable and valid findings with respect to the
social class that one belongs to. The three variables have an impact
on the lifestyle of individuals, and thus when put together, are useful
in assessment of social class.

RELEVANCE OF SOCIAL CLASS FOR A MARKETER:

Products and services: The choice of products and services and/or

brands depends hugely upon the lifestyle and social class. Members
belonging to a social class would go in for such products and services
and/or brands which are used by others in that class. This is due to
the fact that they seek social approval and want to purchase what
others purchase and use what other use.
Upper class consumers favour fashion and sophistication, and this
reflects itself in their purchase of luxurious and prestige goods and
branded products.
On the other hand the middle class takes into account value for
money and looks for benefits that can be derived from a purchase;
they go for good, moderately priced goods and are less conscious of
branded goods.
The lower class goes for goods of necessity. It is also true that people
in a social class also desire to behave like people in the upper class.
Social class impacts not only what the consumers buy, but also from
where they buy. They visit shops, markets and malls which are
frequented by members of their social class. They avoid stores that
have an image very different from their own or their social class.
Thus, shops, markets and malls are located and designed keeping in
view the segment that frequents them.

Hobbies and Interest: Social class also has a bearing on the kinds of
hobbies and interest as well as recreational activities that a person
pursues. As mentioned above, the upper class consumers have
greater resources at hand; they favour fashion, style and
sophistication. They go to clubs and play indoor games like bridge
and roulette, and outdoor games like golf, tennis and squash. They
read books, watch theatre, go to concerts, and visit museums and art
exhibitions.
On the other hand, middle and lower class consumers, watch
television serials; they also like to watch sports on TV. The middle
class women pursue hobbies like needlecraft and they also have
social (kitty) parties. Their primary activities include cooking and
looking after the home. Men involve themselves more into earning
money.

Orientation towards saving and spending patterns: Social class

membership also affects the consumers’ attitudes towards saving
and spending patterns. With the upper class consumers better off in
terms of finances than the middle and lower class consumers, their
saving and spending patterns are futuristic in approach. They invest
in stocks and real estate, as well as luxurious and prestige goods.
While making purchases, they pay through the credit cards instead of
the usual cash, purely for reasons of a convenient substitute of cash.
Middle class consumers are interested in making rational functional
approaches. They enter into purchase activity only when they have
enough money to buy what they desire. They are generally
conservative by nature and prefer paying in cash.
However, today things are changing and we do find an increasing
trend towards purchases made on credit and payments made on
monthly instalments.
Lastly, lower class consumers have merger resources and buy when
necessary; if they save, they do so for the rainy day. While the upper
classes use the credit card out of convenience, the middle class use it
out of necessity; while the former clear their credit card bills every
month, the middle class look for instalments.