Cultural Factors - Culture and societal environment
Culture is crucial when it comes to understanding the needs and behaviors of an individual. Basically, culture is the part of every society and is the important cause of person wants and behavior. The influence of culture on buying behavior varies from country to country therefore marketers have to be very careful in analyzing the culture of different groups, regions or even countries. Throughout his existence, an individual will be influenced by his family, his friends, his cultural environment or society that will teach him values, preferences as well as common behaviors to their own culture. For a brand, it is important to understand and take into account the cultural factors inherent to each market or to each situation in order to adapt its product and its marketing strategy. As these will play a role in the perception, habits, behavior or expectations of consumers. For example, in the West, it is common to invite colleagues or friends at home for a drink or dinner. In Japan, on the contrary, invite someone home does not usually fit into the local customs. It is preferable to do that this kind of outing with friends or colleagues in restaurant. While if a Japanese offer you a gift, the courtesy is to offer him an equivalent gift in return. McDonald s is a brilliant example of adaptation to the specificities of each culture and each market. Well aware of the importance to have an offer with specific products to meet the needs and tastes of consumers from different cultures, the fastfood giant has for example: a McBaguette in France (with french baguette and Dijon mustard), a Chicken Maharaja Mac and a Masala Grill Chicken in India (with Indian spices) as well as a Mega Teriyaki Burger (with teriyaki sauce) or Gurakoro (with macaroni gratin and croquettes) in Japan.
Sub-cultures
A society is composed of several subcultures in which people can identify. Subcultures are groups of people who share the same values based on a common experience or a similar lifestyle in general. Each culture contains different subcultures such as religions, nationalities, geographic regions, racial groups etc. Marketers can use these groups by segmenting the market into various small portions. For example in recent years, the segment of ethnic cosmetics has greatly expanded. These are products more suited to non-Caucasian populations and to types of skin pigmentation for African, Arab or Indian populations for example. It s a real brand positioning with a welldefined target in a sector that only offered makeup products to a Caucasian target until now (with the exception of niche brands) and was then receiving critics from consumers of different origin. Brands often communicate in different ways, sometimes even create specific products (sometimes
without significant intrinsic difference) for the same type of product in order to specifically target an age group, a gender or a specific sub-culture. Consumers are usually more receptive to products and marketing strategies that specifically target them.