Decipher India

Socio-cultural settings play a very important role in influencingpurchase. Its this setting that drives and reinforces human identities. Identities for people as people and as consumers. Socio-cultural environments throw up reference groups thatinfluence. These groups encircle the consumer and weigh him with their persuasive powers. The further away an entity is in the encirclement, the lesser its impact is. For example, the closest to the consumer is his family. What follows is friendship groups, then social class, subcultures and the end's rounded up by culture. What's interesting to note in this set-up is, sub-cultural influences are stronger than cultural ones. That is, identities are driven more by a sub-culture than culture. This is true in the consumer sense as much as it is to voting patterns. That is, consumers engage in purchases that match, propagate and reinforce a sub-cultural identity.

--- Buyer Behaviour