How Does Culture Affect Consumer Behaviour?

Of all the essential metrics of modern marketing campaigns, perhaps the most important is the personalised connection with consumers. This has further become true with competitors overcrowding the market space. 

Not only is the consumer a powerful asset to the corporate bottom line, but consumer behaviour is also considered the prime parameter of the market success upon which the company’s profitability depends. Understanding consumer behaviour is crucial in designing marketing campaigns targeting consumers’ buying and consumption habits.

Role of culture in consumer behaviour:

Culture is a significant factor that has a definitive say on consumer behaviour. In a traditional sense, the society’s culture depends on its values, norms, customs and traditions. These factors heavily shape an individual’s shopping habits. 

Research shows that individual buying choices in a capitalist society are the sum total of the various individual factors such as human experiences, values and ethics, motives and perceptions, professional attributes, and self-awareness. A change in these factors will surely influence consumer behaviour. Understanding the customer’s psychology is inherent to understanding the motivations behind a specific purchase.

Important historical marketing campaigns have always targeted consumer behaviour patterns. The buying behaviour is the total of all the psychological inferences that a customer can distil from their surroundings, and their worldview shapes their perception. The marketers’ control over consumer behaviour is limited to attracting them with the initial design. How the consumer will continue with the initial bond entirely depends on the culture in which the person is nurtured.

Various phases of consumer thinking, ability to make choices, and buying behaviour influence this culture in the following ways:

Belief concept:

One of the defining characteristics of new entrants is that their financial and cultural limits are difficult to assess in the confines of an international market. The consumer mindset can also be understood when the complete consumer profile is addressed and analysed. It is a common misconception that the culture of a particular region is limited to customs and traditions. 

However, new parameters exist, such as dislike, tools, attitudes, emotional and psychological reception, and thinking styles that are more on an abstract plane of thought. There might be different beliefs in the core psyche of the customers that negatively or positively influence thought processes and hence, consumer behaviour.

Even though different countries exhibit various beliefs which lead to disparate outcomes when purchasing or selling the item, certain intra-differences lie in the purchasing profile of the consumers within their societal cohesiveness, such as social class and education. A prime example would be that highly educated consumers are more likely to invest in branded items. In contrast, consumers from the lower socio-economic strata would invest in less expensive items.

Consumer behaviour and values:

Values are the total of the ethical connotation the consumer will undergo to frame their lens for viewing society. Consumer buying is highly influenced by values as far as the concept of money is involved. Making a purchasing decision is an economic reinforcing agent. All that is bought using money acts as a vital agent of self-independence.

How society greatly exerts pressure on consumer behaviour follows an upward curve. Cultural norms such as religion and morality determine the height of the buying phase. If a society is highly religious, there might be less buying behaviour. Conservative audiences tend to purchase quality things over inferior ones. At the same time, liberal audiences might go in for more quantity. Hence it is important here to note that societal upbringing is hardwired into the neural nets of consumer behaviour.

Regionalism in marketing:

Why do Japanese people often excel in using electronics, whereas South Koreans are proficient in online combat simulations? Their inclination towards higher purchases is reinforced by the fact that they have more interest in technology. 

Western culture plays a predominant role and determines the levels to which the customers can go before purchasing. Using Hollywood stars for marketing also plays by the same principle; for example, an influential Hollywood actor such as Tom Cruise had to market for the movie The Last Samurai. Appropriation of other people’s cultures through the digital marketing lens can create value for the company.

Adaptation in consumer behaviour:

Culture is the core determinant of customer behaviour. One cannot be immune to how culture permeates the customer’s buying psyche. When there is an economic recession, so saving more money decreases purchases. 

The same rule applies when customers try to adapt to a foreign country; for example, when an Indian student goes to the USA on a student visa, the costs of overruns are checked. Consumer behaviour is adapted to the living surroundings around them. Gradually, as they become more comfortable meeting life’s needs, they are free to adjust by altering their consumer behaviour.

Stereotypes in consumer behaviour:

Stereotyping in consumer behaviour led to the growth of fast-moving consumer product marketing campaigns; for example, one of the marketing strategies is to use gender and age to push more products in the skincare business. Therefore, females aged 18–44 are encouraged to be more concerned with their appearance. 

Targeting this audience using highly effective advertisements led to the growth of the cosmetic beauty business. Societal sanctions coupled with a strong urge to purchase the product will influence the buying behaviour, particularly those investing in everyday products.

Characteristics of consumer behaviour:

1. Advertising

Some of the most influential campaigns created high value for the company by targeting their customers with the right advertisements. Consumers of fast-moving consumer goods are greatly influenced by ads that play on and through emotions.

2. Dynamic process

Consumer emotions can be shaped and reshaped according to the company’s needs. Emotional storytelling in the advertisements flows a dynamic approach, involving the customers’ direct actions, thinking patterns, and feelings.

Final takeaway

Consumer behaviour is strongly influenced by culture. This is one of the prime reasons for the many manifestations of the corporate empire within national boundaries. Google Inc. has even tweaked its company policies to invest in China. In the end, what matters is if a sufficient number of sales are being carried out to increase profitability. Decision-making processes involved in shaping culture also influence consumer behaviour. When the head of the household exhibits strong dominant features in their purchasing cycles, then the consumer behaviour is primarily informed by gender and purchasing power.