Consumers as Social Beings-Free-Samples for Student-Myassignement

Question: Discuss about the Consumers as Social Beings. Answer: Study background: Consumer behavior is an important point of consideration for businesses across the globe. Reputed firms across the globe do a wide amount of research works on understanding the consumer behavior of their target market segment. In course of the action, they also make huge investments in the different techniques that are required to analyze the consumer behavior (Badgaiyan Verma, 2015). Consumer behavior to shopping is influenced by various factors like their socio-cultural beliefs or traditions (Shen, Tai Liu, 2015). The study is aimed at understanding how Aldi in Australia uses the two social influences the cultural and the social-class to influence the buying behavior of their target customers. Conceptualizing the social and the cultural factors: Social influencing factors are all those that influence the buying behavior of customers. This can be of various kinds; however, the study is centric on just two social factors like the social-class and the various kinds of culture. Both the influences are being discussed separately in this study. Social-class can be understood as a classification that is being built upon the income-status, education, societal-status and others (Bhatti Latif, 2014). In this study, the focus is being centered on the income status only to make the topic more precise and understandable also. Income-status plays a vital role in influencing the buying behavior of customers. Customers do the purchase based on three factors such as needs, wants and demands (Fagerstrm, Pawar, Sigurdsson, Foxall Yani-de-Soriano, 2017). Needs is something that customer has to buy on a daily or a monthly basis. Here again, variations exist in the different income groups. Wants is something that customers aspire in the influen ce of the various external factors like they were being motivated by sales personnel or the word-of-mouth publicity of a particular product or the service (Saad Metawie, 2015). Demands means the desire which is also specific to different social groups. For example, the middle-income group may look for a much-reduced pricing on their needful products. On contrary to this, the high-income group people may look for products that speak of their buying potentials (Amos, Holmes Keneson, 2014). The other social influence chosen for this study is the different kinds of cultures which influence the buying behavior of consumers. The culture itself can have the influence of few factors like the social status of a group. If they belong to a middle-income group their buying culture gets develop accordingly. They may look for the discounted price which pays values to their needs and the expenses. On the other hand, the high-income group can be inclined to quality products or services irrespective of their prices (Grougiou, Moschis Kapoutsis, 2015). Some cultures are traditional whereas some are created. Moreover, some cultures can also be changed (Grougiou, Moschis Kapoutsis, 2015). From the aforesaid discussions on the concepts of social and cultural factors, it is very much clear that business across the globe does use such factors to influence the buying behavior of their target customers. Analyzing the social and the cultural aspects which Aldi uses to influence consumer's decision making on the purchase of grocery products: In this study also, the same discussion is being considered but in the reference of Aldi which is a world-renowned name in the retailing industry. The foundation was laid in Australia in 2001 (Corporate.aldi.com.au, 2018). Since then, they had moved the ladder of success with their attractive and appropriate strategies for their target customers. They are now well expanded to the popular cities in Australia. With over 500 stores throughout the country, the rivalry of Aldi has grown up and become threatening to the supermarket giants Woolworths and Coles (Corporate.aldi.com.au, 2018). The section covers a study on the strategies which Aldi uses to influence the buying behavior of customers. There is ample list of factors; however, the study is just confined to two social influences like the social-class and the culture. From the social-class perspectives, the company has targeted customers from different incomes-status like the high-income groups and the middle-income groups. Despite the selection, they have always tried or have remained confined to offer values to customers buy (Fernndez-Ferrn, Bande-Vilela, Klein del Ro-Arajo, 2015). Australians have embraced an attitude to purchase products which give values to their expenses since the global financial crisis (Fernndez-Ferrn, Bande-Vilela, Klein del Ro-Arajo, 2015). Additionally, online shopping through various e-commerce websites has made things tougher for physical stores. Customers now can avail products at a much competitive price and with the ease of purchasing through online e-commerce websites. A wide range of offers and the transparency of price on the online shopping platforms have significantly hampered the market values of two giants Woolworths and Coles. However, Aldi has always remained upfront and have accepted the truth which is evident in their strategies for pricing and product quality (Yan Yazdanifard, 2014). They have responded to the urgency created by the incrementing online shopping activities with their unmatched strategies for price and quality. They have maintained comparatively a limited number of sections for items than the other giants. Many of the products were being benchmarked against popular existing brands, so that, they could make the customers feel the difference. They are creating the difference by offering quality grocery products but at cheaper rates (Chen, Su Widjaja, 2016). Therefore, shoppers looking for values paid to their purchase are finding Aldi as their favorite selection. Hence, one of the unique selling points of Aldi has been its strategies for pricing and quality (Chen, Su Widjaja, 2016). The aforesaid facts regarding the Aldis strategy for price and quality can be understood from the scholarly views also. According to Grimmer, Kilburn Miles (2016), customers in most cases purchase only those products or services that paid values to their money and needs. As opined by Sudbury-Riley Kohlbacher (2016), customers whether belonging to different income-groups look for valuable products only. This means if they are making huge expenses on purchasing a product like a luxury car, they look for values from different perspectives like if it is comparatively better than other cars in the same range. In the opinion of Hong, Lin Hsieh (2017), customers are centric only to valued prices no matter whether they belong to a middle-income group or a large-income group. The few scholarly views just explain that it is advisable or recommendable to offer valued products or services to customers, so that; they could feel the worth of their buy. They may classify customers based on different types of income-groups; however, they need to offer only the valued products or services. In case of the Australian retail industry, it is indeed recommended to be cautious while offering the range of products or services to customers. This is because Australian customers are now more centric to quality and price. It was needed that Aldi shows some sign of potentiality, so that; the duopoly concept of the Australian retail market could be shaken. This was also needed that customers could feel the difference while buying from the physical stores as the retail industry has now extreme competition from online shopping platforms (Nwankwo, Hamelin Khaled, 2014). Aldi has responded to the urgency with a feat which is unmatched by even the giant retailers of Australia Woo lworths and Coles. This is also one of the reasons why Aldi is growing with market shares. From the cultural perspectives, Aldi has touched the core factors of consumer buying behavior. The core factors that Australians consider while building up a perception for shopping are the products value. They measure the value in regards to price and quality (Amos, Holmes Keneson, 2014). The Australian retail market has long experienced the duopoly ruling of Woolworths and Coles. Both the companies had competed to each other in regards to product quality and the discounted offers. However, the real blow has happened after the German Aldi arrived at the Australian market. Aldi had taken a rather different approach and as to which they were also being praised by customers. Nevertheless, word-of-mouth factor is very positive for Aldi which is one of the selling factors of the company (Bhatti Latif, 2014). Aldi was smarter enough and most importantly, it was strategically more established than the giant supermarket brands in Australia. This is the reason why Aldi was able to offer a competitive price on products. The products offered to customers were much cheaper and also higher in quality. They had kept on changing their product line but, were limited only to a comparatively lesser number of products line than the other giant firms. Additionally, grocery products were changed to make it more specific and fresh as well to satisfying the needs of the Australian customers. A very positive word-of-mouth for the company is the one factor that has worked in their favor (Badgaiyan Verma, 2015). Drawing on the theories of the chosen social influences, identify how marketing team in Aldi can utilize it to improve their marketing strategies: There are a few theories on the chosen social influences such as social-class and the culture like the Theory of Reasoned Action. The Theory of Reasoned Action states that customers have pre-existing attitudes for decision making. The core of the theory indicates that customers respond to the behavior based attitude which is aimed at attaining a particular outcome (Amos, Holmes Keneson, 2014). The theory could be related to most of the customers in the Australian retail market as they have a mindset for purchasing. They purchase only such things which provide values to their money. Another important theory in this regard is Engel, Kollet, Blackwell (EKB) Model which states that there are two phases which marketing team needs to consider while planning the promotion of the products. In the first phase, marketing team is being required to supply enough of related information, so that, customers could relate to it and short list that in their list of considerations. In the second phase , branding has an utmost value which could raise the possibilities of sales and influence the consumer decision making on purchase (Grougiou, Moschis Kapoutsis, 2015). In the light of the Theory of Reasoned Action, it can be said that the marketing team in Aldi needs to have elevated focus on consumer attitude of purchasing. They have already hit the core areas; however, they should keep on targeting the customer attitudes for purchasing. The Australian customers as understood from the discussion are more prone to discounted offers and quality products. They have loved so far the way Aldi does their marketing like the discounted offers and the appearance of branding products for a very limited period of time. However, the marketing team needs to continually monitor the changing behavior of Australian customers, so that, they could keep on relating to the customer's requirement. This way they could remain updated with the consumers decision-making behaviors, which are utterly required to remain competitive in the market and produce a much-improved competition to giant companies Woolworths and Coles (Corporate.aldi.com.au, 2018). Based on EKB Model, this can be said that marketing team at Aldi needs to put an elevated focus on the marketing contents which means the selection of appropriate contents. This is required to create a feeling of consideration in customers, so that, they come up with a mind to purchase the product. The rest of the work can be designed based on the second part of the EKB model that suggests the utilization of branding. This is required, so that, customers could feel they are in the right place despite knowing the fact that the same product is also available in stores of competitor companies. Content-wise, they need to look good and attractive in their advertisements may be through television ads or a website promotion (Grimmer, Kilburn Miles, 2016). Conclusion: Therefore, it was found that social-class and culture are two essential factors of social influences which enable the Australian customers to make the purchase decision. They figure out their needs based on the products value for their money. The different income groups differ to each other in regards to their needs, wants and demands; however, they are all on the same platform with what they mean by purchasing a product. The irrespective kinds of customers look for values for their expenses. Aldi has been an excellent example of a company which with its strategic moves has challenged the two giant Woolworths and Coles. 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