Socialcultural Influences on Consumer Behavior

Sociocultural Influences on Consumer Behavior. Marketing Trey Hampton September 22, 2012 There are lots of influences that take place on what consumers buy, these influences are called sociocultural influences. Sociocultural influences â€Å"involve personal influence, reference groups, family influence, culture, and subculture. †(Kerin, Hartley & Rudelius 108) Out of these categories, personal influence seems to have the biggest influence of all on what people buy. â€Å"A consumer’s purchases are often influenced by the views, opinions, or behaviors of others. (Kerin, Hartley & Rudelius 108) If it works for others, it will work for me is how this influence works. Two types of influences fall under personal influence, opinion leadership, and word of mouth. People seem to buy what they hear is good, rather than taking a shot in the dark and buying something they know nothing about, this is called word of mouth influence. Companies using celebrities to say their product works and is great is an example of opinion leadership. If someone famous uses it, it must be good! A company that uses personal influence to help sell their products is Gaspari Nutrition (www.Gasparinutrition. com). Gaspari nutrition uses big time champion bodybuilders, such as Flex Lewis, in their advertisement saying I use the product so the consumer believes that taking that product will surely give the same results. Also word of mouth plays a part on their success. At the gym they line the shelves with Gaspari products and the person selling them say â€Å"I take this every day, it gives real results. † However, it is common for people that not like their products and they will tell you how they wasted money on something that doesn’t work.All companies will have good and bad influences on their products, but if the product is good it shall overcome the bad and help the company succeed. Influence is everywhere for the good, or for the bad. People get influenced by seeing someone they idol using the product, or simply hearing how good it is by a friend. Influence has always been around and always will be. It’s a powerful thing that makes or breaks companies today. References: Kerin, Roger A. , Hartley, Steven W. , and Rudelius, William. (2011). Marketing The Core. (4th edition). New York McGraw-Hill/Irwin