Lecture 13 - Family Purchasing

Our family plays a huge role in influencing our purchasing behaviour. When we were children all our choice were determined by our parents, as we did not know otherwise. However, as marketing to children has increased this has dramatically changed. Sometimes, a child has a unwanted influence in the parents decision. For example buying a new family car.

Mann, A (2006) describes that "family purchasing can be examined from four perspectives - Role Structure, Power structure, Decision Making Stage and Family Culture".

Role Structure

• Like societies, families are also structured of roles and each family member occupied his or her role. For ex Gender role preferences reflect culturally determined attitudes toward the role of husband and wife, mother and father in the household. Perception of these roles based on gender affects the decision making process and household decision process.
  

Power Structure

• This refers to the amount of power each member of the household has. For example the 'man of the house' tends to make most decisions - most likely because he is the one who brings in the most money. (Which is ever more changing)

Decision Making Stage

• Nowadays, marketeers prefer to try and understand the whole process of buyer purchasing rather then the final stage - buying the product. This is so they are able to change the way they market to different types of people and understand why people do and don't buy their products. All members of the family are involved in the decision process. For example when buying a new family car, the man will usually pick the model to suit himself, this will also be down to the child too (to ensure it is adequate, with enough seats etc) and the mum will choose the girly things like the colour.

Family Culture

• Each family has different internal culture which influences its purchasing decision. These differences could be due to cultural background, social upbringing and family values. Most marketers today try to focus on few prominent cultures to segment the market.

Different Types Of Family

The different types of family will also influence they family culture, which will influence family purchasing. The main four families are:

The Nuclear Family - father, mother, and children who live together.

Extended Family - nuclear family plus other relatives such as grandparents, aunts etc..

Family of Orientation - the family you are born into.

Family of Procreation - the family founded through marriage.

Changed in Family Structure

In 2008, 77 per cent of families with dependent children in Great Britain were headed by a married or cohabiting couple. This proportion fell markedly in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s (92 per cent of families were of this type in 1971) but has changed little since the late 1990s. The percentage of families that are headed by a lone mother rose from 7 per cent in 1971 to 22 per cent in 1998 and has remained at about the same level since then. The proportion headed by a lone father has risen slightly since the early 1970s, but since the mid-1990s has remained at about 2-3 per cent. In total, the proportion of families headed by a lone parent was 8 per cent in 1971, but is much higher in 2008 at 23 per cent.

Families as Consumers

A families needs are affected by the number of children, their ages and gender then all product buying behaviour is altered. This is great for some products as families have no choice not to buy it.