Let’s carry on with our instant noodles example to understand another important set of factors that influences consumer behavior. As is apparent from the title, this chapter will deal with the social factors affecting consumer behavior. 

As a student of management living in a hostel far from home, it is almost impossible to study during the day. You are sure to stay awake late into the night to complete assignments and projects, work for your internships, and study for your upcoming exams.

This is sure to give you the late-night munchies. Since resources are scarce on campus, even your friends would expect you to depend solely on instant noodles made in your loyal electric kettle. Your consumer behavior towards instant noodle brands will change depending on the institute you are in, the kind of social groups you are a part of, your role in the friend circle, and many other social factors.

Let’s take a look at the social factors influencing your consumer behavior one by one.

Understanding the social factors affecting consumer behavior

Before looking at the social factors affecting consumer behavior, let us first understand what we mean by social factors. 

This way, family is the most basic unit of society. A family lives together in more cases than not and has a specific order within it. 

For example, you know who makes decisions about what. Maybe the father has more authority than the mother in some decisions, the vice-versa is true in some other decisions, and they have equal authority in the rest.

You also understand who your brother or sister, aunt or uncle, grandmother or grandfather, etc., are. The relationship between you and your relatives is well-defined. Even though the entire family does not live together, you get together for celebrations and mourning. In a metaphorical sense, you live together.

Similarly, another example of society is the residential colony you live in. All the people who are part of the colony are called its residents, and they live in the same geographical area. Moreover, there is a certain order in the community because you know who lives where, who can help you with what, who is part of the Resident Welfare Association (RWA), etc.

Social, thus, relates to society or its organization. When we talk about family, social problems will relate to problems within the family, social classes will relate to the hierarchy in the family tree, and so on. 

You can now understand what I mean when I say there is a major social influence on consumer behavior. Your family and other societies you are a part of play a huge role in determining your consumer behavior.

But what are these social factors affecting consumer behavior? Why do you need to study them? How can they help you figure out that ninja technique that separates a good marketer from a great one? Let’s answer these questions.

1. Reference Groups

Have you ever found yourself comparing yourself to another group of people or another group in society? I am sure that consciously or unconsciously, you have definitely compared your life to that of some or the other celebrity you admire. 

One reason why you love your favorite instant noodles brand so much can be that someone you admire also loves it. So, your reference group is the group of your idols - the people you look up to.

Other examples of reference groups include:

• Neighbors
• Colleagues
• Seniors at the workplace
• Batchmates, etc.

There are two types of reference groups. Let us discuss them briefly.

a. Primary groups

Primary groups are the groups of people you interact with on a regular basis, like your family, friends, colleagues, etc. These groups play a huge role in influencing your consumer behavior because they talk to you directly about the products and services they consume, if they are satisfied with these products and services, if the products or services can satisfy your needs, etc. 

For example, one of your friends might see an advertisement of an instant noodles brand on TV or in the newspaper. They might come and talk to you about it.

The next day, you hear other people in your group talking positively about the same brand and decide to give it a go. Even though you are loyal (and plan to stay loyal to your favorite instant noodles brand, you might try the brand of instant noodles.

You buy the instant noodles because of the positive feedback, even though you are not sure if you’ll like them more than your favorite. Maybe you will switch to the new brand because you liked it too much, or maybe you’ll keep a small stock of it just in case some of your friends come over for a sleepover.

In the same way, your family also has a lot of influence on your buying behavior.

b. Secondary groups

The second type of reference groups includes the groups with which a consumer has indirect relationships. Unlike primary groups, secondary groups are more formal and the interaction is not regular. Secondary groups include political parties, clubs, NGOs, etc.

For example, you may join an online protest against an instant noodles brand because the political party you support is trying to get a ban imposed on the brand. The brand might or might not hurt your sentiments, but you take part in the protest solely because you are expected to.

Together, primary and secondary reference groups help us understand the group influence on consumer behavior. Some other types of groups under the social factors affecting consumer behavior include membership groups and aspirational groups.

1. According to Kotler, membership groups “have a direct influence and to which a person belongs.” For example, family.
2. Aspirational groups are “groups to which an individual wishes to belong.” For example, celebrities you admire.

2. Social role and status

Role is defined by Britannica as “the behavior expected of an individual who occupies a given social position or status.”

So, as a student of marketing, you are expected to participate actively in class, take part in competitions and webinars, and take up internships and projects. 

As their child, your parents expect you to do well in your studies, get a good job, and probably the traditional ‘settle down and have kids by 30’. 

As a part of a friend circle, you are expected to join your friends on the occasional party night, throw a party on your own birthday, and spend time with your friends.

Similarly, everyone else also has multidimensional roles in society, depending on who the role is in relation with. These roles are also a part of the social factors affecting consumer behavior because most of the time is spent by an individual on trying to successfully navigate each of their roles.

For example, your friends expect you to make their favorite brand of instant noodles when they visit your dorm room. At the same time, when you go home for your break, your parents expect you not to have instant noodles at all!

Britannica defines social status as “the relative rank that an individual holds, with attendant rights, duties, and lifestyle, in a social hierarchy based upon honor or prestige.” 

Gallup has given the five social statuses as:

• Upper class
• Upper-middle class
• Middle class
• Working class
• Lower class

These social classes define the status of a person in society and are dependent mainly on the annual income of a person or their family. According to a survey by PRICE (People Research on India’s Consumer Economy), the share of the middle class (annual income of ₹5 to 30 lakh) more than doubled from 14% in 2004-05 to 31% in 2021. This percentage is projected to rise to 63% by 2047.

If you belong to the middle class, you most likely prefer to indulge in luxury once in a while (let’s say luxury in the case of instant noodles is some expensive Korean brand) but tend to buy the not-cheap but not-expensive item otherwise (let’s consider this to be Maggi). 

We can clearly see that there is an important impact of social class on consumer behavior as well. This impact can also be seen as the economic impact on consumer behavior. 

3. Family

Family is the most important social group that affects consumer behavior. These are the people who you live with and who are directly impacted by and directly impact your consumer behavior.

Your family starts shaping your consumer behavior right from your childhood. You observe the consumer behavior of your family members and try to imitate it as a child.

As you start growing up, you try to rebel against the norm and feel like purchasing what your family probably won’t like. As you grow up further, you will start to understand the rationale behind your family’s consumer behavior and adapt it to suit your own needs.

An individual consumer like you goes through four stages in family life and adopts a different consumer behavior in every single stage. These stages are:

1. Bachelorhood: A consumer tends to spend lavishly during this period of life because as an unmarried individual, you are not answerable to anyone else. You buy for yourself and your consumer behavior does not have an impact on anyone else. For example, you will buy whichever brand of instant noodles you like at this stage, irrespective of its price.
2. Newly married: Consumers in this stage tend to spend more sensibly as they have become newly answerable to another important person in their lives. For example, you would try to buy instant noodles that both you and your spouse are likely to enjoy eating.
3. Family with children: As you reach this stage, you will try to secure your own as well as your family’s future. For example, you are likely to reduce your monthly budget for instant noodles and focus on the children’s education.
4. Old age: This stage is also called the empty nest stage because this is when your children get married and leave the nest. This is the stage when you will start focusing only on medicines and necessities, because you will only have your pension and savings to fall back on.

Every individual’s consumer behavior is deeply affected by their family. Whether we want to or not, we end up seeking the approval of our families. 

These are the main social factors influencing consumer behavior, and together they provide a basic framework for a budding marketer like you to conduct a consumer behavior analysis to study the impact of the social factors affecting consumer behavior.

Humans are not solitary creatures. They are meant to live in a society with other people. These other people are bound to have an impact on the most important economic activity a consumer takes part in - buying. And that is why it is important for marketers to understand the social factors affecting consumer behavior.

Conclusion and key takeaways

In this chapter, we looked at the social factors affecting consumer behavior. To recall, the key takeaways are:

1. Society is “the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community” and social means “relating to society or its organization.”
2. Philip Kotler defines reference groups as “groups that form a comparison or reference in forming attitudes or behavior.” There are two types of reference groups - primary and secondary.
3. The two other types of groups are membership groups and aspirational groups.
4. Philip Kotler defines social roles and status as “impact of social class on consumer behavior.”
5. The four stages of family life for every individual are - bachelorhood, newly married, married with children, and old age (empty nest).

In the next chapter, we will dive deeper into the vast topic of consumer behavior to understand the personal factors affecting consumer behavior.