Family Buying Research Articles

Exploring Women Consumers’ Perception of Selected White Goods: A Study

Objective: The customer now behaves in a completely different way than they did in a controlled market. The objective of this study is to understand the socioeconomic profile of selected women consumers, identify the factors influencing their purchase of white goods, and investigate the challenges they encounter during the purchasing process. Theoretical Framework: The study focuses on the changing behavior of customers in a market that is no longer controlled, particularly the influence of urban women in the family's buying decisions. It explores the marketing strategies devised by Indian producers. Method: The study is conducted in Thoothukudi District, and a small pilot project is carried out to select commonly used white products. The research utilizes a sample drawn from this district. Results and Conclusion: The findings suggest that the competitive market presents opportunities and risks for both female consumers and white goods. Strengthening the core product with value adds, improving after-sales service, and enhancing product quality may lead to higher demand for white goods and increased product replacement, thereby boosting consumer satisfaction within the same price range. Implications of the Research: The research has implications for marketers and producers targeting women consumers in the white goods market. It highlights the importance of profile of these consumers and addressing their specific needs. Originality/Value: This study contributes to the existing literature by examining the purchasing behavior and challenges faced by women consumers. It provides insights into the strategies that can enhance consumer satisfaction and improve market performance.

REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ON THE EFFECTS OF MARKETING ACTIVITIES ON CHILDREN

Given that certain marketing efforts have been developed expressly to target and appeal to youngsters, these advertising may have an impact on the way that young people think or change their view of what they desire. However, although certain marketing methods, such as those taught in a health and social change communication programme, are intended to promote good social change, others are intended to encourage negative conduct in children. Anyone interested in learning more about the many ways children have been influenced by advertising in the media need look no further. This paper is an attempt to collect information from the prior researches and relevant studies conducted in the area of children's influence on family buying behaviour so that the important variables for the study could be identified and analyzed

A Study of Children’s Influence in Family Purchasing Decisions: Parents’ Perspective

Purpose: Child consumerism is a topic that has been given prominence and attention by the fields of marketing, psychology and sociology recently. Children are at the center of family decision-making. As a result of the socialization process, children have gained a depth of knowledge and are able to bargain with their parents for a variety of products. Thus, the main motive of this study is to explore the influence of children’s involvement in family purchasing decisions. Design/methodology/approach: The study established a qualitative design, with the participation of parents who have children aged between 5 years to 11 years. Accordingly, 20 parents who have shopping experiences in two leading supermarkets in the Anuradhapura District were selected based on convenience and purposive sampling techniques. Furthermore, throughout the store's opening hours, data was gathered through semi-structured interviews. Then the findings were analyzed using the thematic analysis approach. Findings: According to the findings of the survey, the children have been exposed to the field and become more aware of products and services through different agents of socialization. They used negotiation strategies like exchange tactics, coalition tactics, inspirational appeal, and consultation tactics to persuade their parents. But this persuasion can be varied in reference to the child’s age, gender, family income, and structure. Furthermore, children’s perspectives of selecting items are mostly formed on the extent of colorfulness and the physical shape of products rather than what is contained inside. Also, they mostly demanded sweets, toys, stationery items, and instant products. Notably, children’s preferences are given more consideration and priority in the matter of purchasing items. Moreover, the children hold a positive sense towards shopping tasks according to the parents’ point of view whereas the parents hold a negative attitude on children’s involvement. Originality: The study has contributed to the body of knowledge about Sri Lankan children as consumers. Furthermore, this study identifies the impact of the store environment as a socializing agent, which has received less attention in prior studies. The findings could aid businesses in better understanding the shopping habits of Sri Lankan children. Implications: Overall, it can be mentioned that the outcome of this study provided important implications for consumers, marketers, and policymakers. Keywords: Family buying behavior, child involvement, socialization agents, persuasion, negotiation strategies.

Emergence of children as influencers in family consumption decisions – a resource theory approach

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the perception of parents regarding the role of children as influencers in family consumption decisions in India. The purpose is to support marketing practitioners in understanding the stages of children's influence in the family using the theoretical perspective of the resource theory approach.Design/methodology/approachThis study is based on a Web survey approach. Primary data were obtained from a sample of 180 mothers of adolescent children in the age group of 13–18 years and residing in rural and urban areas of Delhi (India) by administering a bilingual (Hindi/English) pre-tested “structured non-disguised” questionnaire designed on the Google Forms.FindingsThe findings that emerged from this study and as supported by the relative theory approach revealed that Indian parents perceive their children to exert a significant influence in family buying decisions, children's influence varies across stages of the decision-making process and the type of product and children's influence in family buying decisions is moderated by family structure but not by family size. The results of this study extend interesting and practical implications for marketing practitioners in India and by extension in other similar countries while designing and implementing marketing mix strategies in respect of goods and services meant for children/family consumption.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings that emerged from this study and as supported by the relative theory approach revealed that Indian parents perceive their children to exert significant influence in family buying decisions, children's influence varies across stages of the decision-making process and the type of product, and children's influence in family buying decisions is moderated by family structure but not by family size. Results of this study extend interesting and practical implications for marketing practitioners in India and by extension in other similar countries while designing and implementing marketing mix strategies in respect of goods and services meant for children/family consumption.Practical implicationsThe results of this study support the notion that children exert considerable influence in family buying decisions in India across products, hence constitute a viable target market for different products consumed not only by them but by other family members as well. It is, therefore, vital that marketers wishing to penetrate family and/or child product markets must identify the person in the family who is likely to be more involved in the buying process and the extent of his involvement to carve effective promotional strategies.Social implicationsThe finding that although Indian children are actively participating across various stages of the decision-making process and their influence is strongest at the purchase initiation stage has peculiar social implications whereby families may be exposed toward eco-friendly green products and sustainable ways of living through the children in rural as well as urban areas. Similarly, children were also found to be influential at the information search and evaluation stage; hence, the messages regarding social issues, gender equality and health issues, which are not yet openly discussed in Indian families, may be imparted through children for better coverage and effectiveness.Originality/valueChildren are an important part of the family; especially in the nuclear families, children are an apple of eye and central point of the discussion. The role of children in decision-making is also important because of the changing information system and modernization of the younger generation. This is an empirical study focusing on the areas not yet explored and examined in the context of a culturally distinct and emerging country in terms of the emergence of children as influencers in family consumption decisions in rural and urban Indian families.

A Review Study on Advertisement and Children with Special Reference to Confectionaery Items: A Way Forward

There are a huge variety of confectionery items on the market. In this case, it is important to investigate how children's preferences are formed. The study has taken into account factors such as the average age at which children begin purchasing sweets, how fond of sweets they are, which brands they like, and how sales promotion activities affect children's preferences and consumption patterns. Additionally, an effort has been made to demonstrate how age and gender influence packing preference. Children today are extremely aware of the various brands in the market and are conscious of the products they use or consume. They pick and choose carefully according to their needs, style, preferences etc. They also exercise a lot of independence in decision-making and influence the family buying behaviour. Today’s kids are well informed, better than their parents. This is because virtually from birth today’s children are exposed to TV commercials, banner ads, billboards, logos and product promotions.

CHILDREN INFLUENCE ON FAMILY BUYING DECISION, ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA

Nowadays, children play a very decisive role in family buying decisions. The aim of this research is to find out influence of children on family buying decision in Mongolia. We specifically examined how types of the product, advertising and peers influence children’s decision and whether it depends on their demographics. For the purpose of achieving research objectives questionnaire method was conducted on 174 participants, which were analyzed by SPSS23. The results of this study demonstrated that influence of children on family buying decisions are less affected by children’s age however, boys are more influencing their parent’s buying decision than girls. As children grow older, they became more involved in family decisions to buy durable and family-joint products. Although, children of age group 16-18 tend to be more likely to influence buying decision which was related to them.

Arab’s children’s influence on the buying process: comparing parent and child perceptions

PurposeThis paper aims to identify the perception levels of the child and parents towards the child’s influence on different product categories and stages of the family buying process in an Arab country Oman.Design/methodology/approachOn the basis of the research gap identified from the literature, two separate bilingual questionnaires (parent and child) in English and local language (Arabic) were developed. The research commenced with a pilot study on 10 school students followed by contact with school authorities requesting to conduct a survey on school students 8–12 years of age and data collection through the survey on the students and their parents (either father/mother) during September-November, 2017–2018. Data analysis was made through an independent sample t-test and confirmatory factor analysis was made using AMOS 24.FindingsA model was proposed incorporating three product categories as noisy, quiet and loud goods and perceptions of Arab parents and children were examined for the three stages of the family buying process. The findings of the study reveal that significant differences exist in child-parental perceptions on the child’s influence in the search, evaluation and final buying stages. The mean score among the three product categories was highest for noisy goods (Mean = 3.21, SD = 0.817) while in the case of buying stages, the mean of the final buying stage was highest (Mean = 2.11, SD = 0.514).Research limitations/implicationsMore research studies are required in the Arab context, especially bringing in the social status of parents to justify their different shopping behaviours. This analysis is based on the perceptions of the tweenager segment, adding perceptions of the teenage segment could generate better research implications.Practical implicationsThe research will serve as a base to consumer marketers in understanding distinct features of Arab tweenagers towards different products and will aid them in designing appropriate marketing strategies targeting parents and children in the Arab region.Originality/valueAfter an extensive review of the consumer literature, it is assumed that almost no research study has been made examining parent-child perceptions towards the different product categories and buying stages targeting traditionally oriented families in the Arab region.

Indian Children's Influence in Family Buying Sub-Decisions

This study has been undertaken to examine the extent to which the influence is exerted by children varies across (i) sub-decisions in family buying decisions; and (ii) child and family product in Indian context. Purposeful sampling was used for the selection of information-rich cases to permit inquiry into and understanding of the phenomenon understudy in depth. A sample consisting of 200 children residing in rural and urban areas of Delhi, capital of India was selected for this study. Based on their demographics, the final sample is believed to be representative of the population. The measuring instrument used is a structured questionnaire, guided by the research objectives and literature review. Children’s influence across family buying sub-decisions was measured by using a modified version of six-item scale developed by Talpade and Talpade (1995). The primary data are analyzed and interpreted with the help of statistical tools such as means, standard deviation, t-test, and ANOVA by using SPSS (version 16). Descriptive analysis has also been used to support the results of statistical analysis. The analysis results clearly show that Indian children exert (i) influence in family buying sub-decisions, (ii) this influence varies across sub-decisions and type of product, and (iii) influence for child product is higher than for the family product.

Involvement Dimensions in Family Buying of Personal Care Products

Involvement Dimensions in Family Buying of Personal Care Products

Involvement Dimensions in Family Buying of Personal Care Products

Involvement Dimensions in Family Buying of Personal Care Products

Parental Occupation and Children’s Influence in Family Buying Decisions in India – an Exploratory Study

This study examines the extent to which father’s profession will affect the influence exerted by children across stages of the family buying decisions in the purchase of child product in Indian families. A cross-sectional survey method was carried out with “structured non-disguised” questionnaires to collect the primary data from 400 school going children in the age group 13 to 18 years and residing in families inrural and urban areas of Delhi, capital of India. Statistical tools such as mean, standard deviation, paired t-test, and ANOVA have been used to analyze and interpret the surveyed data. It was hypothesized that: (i) children exert influence across the stages of the family buying decisions (H1), (ii) children’s influence varies across the stages of the family buying decisions (H2),and (iii) father’s occupation has significant impact on their children’s influence in the stages of the family buying decisions (H3). The analyses results indicate that children in Indian families do influence the family buying decisions irrespective of their fathers’ occupation. Thus, the analyses results lead to the acceptance of H1, partial acceptance of H2, and rejection of H3.

Adolescents Influence on Family Purchase Process in India

Considering the significance of Adolescents behaviour in family purchase decisions, the study initiated with the objective to unearth the adolescents influence on the buying decisions of the family. The purpose of the study is listed down into three parts: Firstly, to explore the relationship between the age of adolescents and its effect on buying decisions of family. The next objective is to catalogue and position the products on the basis of influence of Adolescents. Subsequently, the other task is to examine and establish the comparative analysis of Adolescents influence for three different goods categories (so designed) and also analysing it at various stages of Family purchase process. The research methodology is based on the study of relevant review work done in the past and an interview conducted amongst the adolescents for the data collection. Furthermore, a structured questionnaire is circulated amongst adolescents aged between 14-19 years. Data was collected from 350 adolescents. Study also exhibited that there are three product categories identified by factor analysis explicitly “Prominent” Products, “Popular” Products and “Common” Products– It was observed that Popular products gained maximum attention of adolescents, followed by Prominent Products and the least attention seeker for adolescents are Common Products. These categories are designed in context to Indian families & environment. Multivariate Analysis of Variance, i.e., MANOVA was also applied for third objective which presented the outcome that in case of Prominent and Popular Products, adolescent’s impact is greatest at the beginning stage of the purchase process and least at exploration stage. But in case of Common Products, Adolescents influence is highest at the stage of decision making and selection. This study can have enormous future relevance for the marketers by the way of providing them with broad scope of adolescents’ behavioural understanding in family in context to different product categories and at multiple buying stages of family purchase process. This could be considered as the base for formulating and executing various marketing plans. The paper bears uniqueness in terms of analysing adolescents’ behaviour in relation to multiple product catalogues and relating the segmentation across various family buying stages.

Influence of Socializing Agents on Children Involvement in Family Buying Decision Process

Successful marketing can be achieved through a continuously focus on an appropriate consumer. Children are identified as active consumer and influencer in the modern market. This paper recognizes the emerging status of children as an influencer and has promoted researchers to conduct research in the developing country such as Pakistan on socializing agents that influence children on family buying decision. This research applied purposive sampling of 484 children (8 – 12-year-old age group) from major cities of the Punjab, Pakistan. A pilot study was conducted from 88 families to measure validity and reliability of the questionnaire. The results revealed that children provoked through parent-child relationship, pressure of the peer group, advertising, types of product and has a significant and positive influence on family purchase decisions in the Punjab, Pakistan. This research contributes with its understanding on contemporary influencer and consumer to support marketer with significant knowledge concerning to the influence of children on family purchase decision in Pakistan. It rouses marketers to be conscious that the children’s purchasing power surge in future. This embraces noticeably more influence when it derives to purchasing decisions of family. Consequences of this research provide executives with significant information for modifying the effective strategies of marketing.

Brand Selection Dimensions in Family Buying of Personal Care Products

The aim of present study endeavors to uncover the dimensions of brand selection in buying of personal care products. The results confirmed four dimensions of brand selection for each studied product i.e. shampoo (Variety and Value Seeking, Functionality-Hair Care, Brand Adherence and Habitual Selection), toilet soap (Value & Variety Seeking, Functionality, Significance of Image and Time and Friend’s Influence) and toothpaste (Functionality-Oral Care, Value Seeking, Outer Directed Brand Adherence and Parental Influence). Another important finding of this study is that dimensions of brand selections have significant gender differences. Interestingly, this study shows that males are found to be more variety, value and functionality seekers in buying of personal care products as compared to their counterparts. Females are found to be more brands adhered and influenced by friend and parents. The paper offers insights that the variety and value seeking brand selection dimensions are highly strong brand selection dimensions for all studied products. As personal care products buyers have shown great interest in variety and value seeking, the study suggests that promotional efforts like sales promotions and advertising can play a vital role in marketeering of these products for a new entrant as well as for established marketers.

Influence Perception Differences about Children's Influence in Family Buying Decisions- an Exploratory Study

This study has been undertaken (i) to examine the extent of disagreements in the perceptions of children and their mothers about the influence exerted by children in family buying decisions; (ii) to evaluate the impact of child’s gender on the agreement in the perceptions of children and their mothers about the influence exerted by children in family buying decisions. A cross-sectional survey method was carried out with “structured non-disguised” questionnaires to collect the primary data from 400 families residing in rural and urban areas of Delhi, capital of India. Children’s influence across stages of decision making process was measured by using an eleven-item scale developed by Talpade and Talpade (1995). The primary data are analyzed and interpreted with the help of statistical tools such as means, standard deviation, and paired t-test by using SPSS (version 16). Descriptive analysis has also been used to support the results of statistical analysis. The analysis results indicate that disagreements exists in the perceptions of children and their mothers about the influence exerted by children in Indian family buying decisions irrespective of child’s gender. The analysis results, thus, supported all the hypotheses exceptH3 (a/b).

Young consumer’s influence: a study of Gulf region

Purpose The emergence of children as a distinct consumer class has led to a stronger influence on the parents and their participation in the family buying process. This paper aims to investigate the different socializing agents of children across different product categories leading to their enhanced pester power. Design/methodology/approach With the help of a bilingual questionnaire (English and Arabic language), a survey was conducted in Dhofar, Oman. Purposive sampling was used to collect the data from the parents of young children (8-12) years. The collected data was then tabulated in MS Excel and analyzed using SPSS and AMOS 24 Statistical software. Findings The study found that parents are the strongest consumer socialization agents for young Arab children, followed by friends and internet, and the weakest agent is TV. Arab children use persuasion strategy more often and use aggressive strategy least often to pester their parents. Practical implications The study has been very perspicacious in understanding child’s role in the otherwise reserved Arab families. Marketers can make use of this finding and can develop marketing communications with more appropriate content. Originality/value The growth of Gulf markets offers marketers a great opportunity to renew their marketing practices and techniques. Still not much has been found in literature to study this region. With this in mind, the current study aimed at analyzing the consumer socialization and influence strategies of the Arab children.

Young Arab consumers: an analysis of family buying process in Oman

PurposeYoung children, often called as teenagers (13-14 years) and tweenaged (8-12 years), are the new potential game changers for the big corporate. This paper aims to analyze Arab children’s influence for various products and services and across different buying process stages. The primary survey was conducted to capture a child’s role in family decision-making by analyzing their consumer socialization, influencing strategies and their influence across various products and buying stages.Design/methodology/approachBased on the review and the research gap, a bilingual questionnaire in English and Arabic language was developed. The research study was organized in three stages. It commenced with a pilot study conducted with ten school students in the age group of 8-10 years. The second stage involved contact with the schools by telephone to brief them on the purpose of the study and to request the participation of their students. The last stage was based on the survey conducted in the time period of September-November 2016-17.FindingsAlmost 25 per cent of the children surveyed prefer to buy stationary and books after discussing with their parents. On the other hand, food/beverage is one particular item where children go ahead and buy theses item themselves even without discussing with their parents (42.50 per cent of the total respondents). As per children’s perception, they are most influential in the final decision stage (mean = 1.84 and SD = 0.499), followed by search and evaluation stage (mean = 1.80 and SD = 0.441) and start stage (mean = 1.79 and SD = 0.488).Research limitations/implicationsFurther research is needed in Arab countries, especially with parents of different social status, as their shopping behaviour is expected to differ. Also, as this analysis is based on child’s perception, parents’ views must also be analyzed for better results.Practical implicationsThe is the first-of-its-kind research in the Gulf region. This empirical research highlights the need for global marketers to understand the distinct features and identity of a young Arab consumer. Despite Oman being a very traditional culture which emphasizes on conformity to group norms and social acceptance and hence confirms to collectivistic culture, where kids are supposed to be obedient, there is this new wave of super energetic, more informed young kids who take their own consumer decisions.Originality/valueAfter going through the extensive literature review of different countries/cultures, there has been very clear understanding that despite being an important family member, almost no research has been focussed on kids in gulf nations.

Indian Children's Influence across Stages in Family Decision Making Process - an Exploratory Study

This study examines children’s influence across stages in family decision making process while making buying decisions for child and family product in Indian rural and urban families. A cross-sectional survey method was carried out with “structured non-disguised” questionnaire to collect the primary data from the students of class eighth to twelfth in the age group of 13-to-18 years from 100 families residing in rural and 100 families residing in urban areas in Delhi, India. Statistical tools such as mean, standard deviation and repeated measures ANOVA have been used to analyze and interpret the collected data. Children’s influence across three stages of decision making process was measured by using a ten-item scale developed by Talpade and Talpade (1995) and the reliability of the scale was assessed by calculating Cronbach alpha. The results of this study found that children in Indian families are also exerting influence in family buying decisions and (i) children’s influence in family decision making varies across decision making stages according to type of product; (ii) it is the child product for which children’s influence is higher.

Dynamics of Family Role Structure in Consumer Behaviour

A family is an important constituent of consumers as a buying unit within a society. It is regarded as one of the most influential primary reference groups. In India, a nuclear family comprised almost of 63% of all families in 2009. As per the Population Projection for India 2001-26 by Census of India, rural Indian population comprised of 70% of the total population in 2011, where the average family size was five members per household. Different members of a family play different roles in family buying decisions, and the degree of influence is also varied. This paper tried to investigate how different members of a family influenced purchase decisions in a family with respect to purchases of FMCGs and consumer durables. The study is a combination of exploratory and descriptive research conducted in two prominent districts namely, Kamrup and Tinsukia of North East India. In the FMCG sector, the study found that in the two districts, both husbands and elderly persons played an equally significant role. Furthermore, wives basically played the role of a homemaker and had a minor role as influencer. Majority of the goods purchased were for the family consumption. In the durables sector, the study found that the financer is the decider who happened to be the husband in both the districts. The husband was also seen playing the role of a purchaser. On the other hand, wives played the role of an initiator, influencer, decider, and purchaser in a major way. Furthermore, elderly persons played the role of an influencer. Lastly, children played a major role as an initiator and a minor role as an influencer in purchases.

Testing the robustness of brand partitions identified from purchase duplication analysis

ABSTRACTPurchase duplication analysis examines the extent to which buyers of any brand A also buy other brands B, C, D and so on. A generalised finding from its use is that brands share their buyers with other brands approximately in-line with the size of those other brands. The approach is widely used by analysts and managers. One important use of the method is to identify partitions – brands that share buyers at a higher than expected rate. Partitions may form among competitor brands, but also among ‘same name’ or sub-brands that share a parent name (e.g. Coke, Diet Coke). A partition among same-name brands means they are cannibalising each other. Whether one’s focus is on cannibalisation within a portfolio, identifying close competitors, or to generally understand market structure, duplication analysis can provide insights. However, there are two potential confounds to its use: family buying and buying multiple brands on the same occasion. This study tests if these two factors confound the use of purchase duplications, using data from 12 grocery categories. The principal finding is that the identification of partitions is robust to these confounds. The study finds partitions among same-name brands are common and are also not due to these confounds.