Whose Decision is it Anyways? The Changing Purchasing Patterns of Indian Families

Abstract

The latest Disney channel commercial for the Indian market depicts the move of Disney from being just a kid's channel to a family channel. This move signals the importance of “Families” in the Indian settings. In the Indian context, family has been traditionally considered an important decision-making unit with respect to purchasing products and services required for the household on a daily basis; however, there have not been in depth studies understanding the family as a decision unit and the changes this unit has witnessed since the opening of economy in 1990s. This article compares and contrasts the changing purchase decision making of millennial generation with their parents. Qualitative interviews are used to gather data for family decision making in addition to exclusive secondary sources of data like research papers, articles, and books on the Indian economy and the Indian family structure. Literature from the field of sociology and political science is also referred to, to understand the socio-political and socio-economic impacts on the consumer.