Buying/using/disposing and social class (5+6)

3 stages of consumption

Buying, using, disposing

Antecedents - situational factors

Temporary conditions influencing consumption behavior

Social/physical factors - antecedents

Store environment, people present, atmosphere

Temporal factors - antecedents

Time pressure, waiting time

Valence and intensity model - affect of mood on decision making

Pleasant vs unpleasant, aroused vs sleepy

5 types of shoppers

Economic (price-focused), personalized, ethical, apathetic, recreational

Store - purchase environment

Shapes perception and influences buying decisions

4 key elements of the purchase envrionment

Store image, layout, salespeople, moment of truth

Evolution of ownership

Renting/sharing is replacing ownership (tech, sustainability, norms)

Disposal options

Keep (repurpose/store), dispose, temporarily transfer (rent/lend)

Planned obsolescence

Designing products to become obsolete quickly

Consumer demand - income and spending

Willingness and ability to buy

Discretionary income

Money left after necessities (older households spend more on housing, less on luxury)

Attitudes toward money

Spendthrifts vs tightwads (feel pain spending)

Brand aspirationals - consumer segments

Lower incomes who are obsessed with well-known national brands

Value-price shoppers - consumer segments

Consumers who prioritize low prices primarily due to financial constraints

Price sensitive affluents - consumer segments

Wealthier consumers who love deals and discounts, regardless of their high income

Consumer confidence - spending

Optimism/pessimism, economic conditions, culture

Social class

Hierarchical grouping based on income, education and occupation

Social class - Karl Marx

Haves and have-nots

Social class - Weber

Status groups based on power and wealth

Social stratification

Unequal distribution of resources

Achieved status

Earned

Ascribed status

Inherited

3 types of social mobility

Upward, downward, horizontal

3 components of social class

Income, education, occupation

Income vs. social class

Spending patterns reflect social class MORE than income

Conspicuous consumption (Veblen)

Buying to display wealth and status

Patricians - status signaling

Subtle signals

Parvenus - status signaling

Loud signals

Poseurs - status signaling

Imitators

Proletarians - status signaling

No signaling

Taste culture

Preferences that differentiate social classes

Cultural capital

knowledge, tastes and cultural competencies linked to class

Measuring social class - Hollingshead index

Occupation, education, martial status and sexe

Measuring social class - Blishen scale

Prestige (of occupation), income and education

Measuring social class - Coleman classification

Lifestyle-based hierarchy (upper, middle, working and lower class)

Issues in measuring social class

Dual-income households, mobility, status inconsistency

Family structure - current trends

Smaller families, more working women, more single households

Family Life Cycle (FLC)

Changes in consumption based on life stage

Key factors of FLC

Age, marital status and children

FLC in marketing

As needs/spending change through time, marketers need to be able to target properly