Chapter 12 Household Decision Making

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Chapter 12Household Decision Making
By Michael R. Solomon
Consumer Behavior Buying, Having, and Being Sixth
Edition
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The Family

• Defining the Modern Family
• Extended Family Consists of three generations
  living together and often includes grandparents,
  aunts, uncles, and cousins.
• Nuclear Family A mother and a father and one or
  more children
• Just What Is A Household?
• Family Household

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The Family Life Cycle

• Family Life Cycle (FLC)
• Concept that combines trends in income and family
  composition with the changes in demands placed
  upon this income to segment households.
• FLC Models
• Focuses on longitudinal changes in priorities
  which is valuable in predicting demand for
  specific product categories over time.
• Four variables are necessary
• (1)
• (2)
• (3)
• (4)

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Family Life Cycle
Figure 12.1
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The Sandwich Generation

• This insurance ad reminds us that people in the
  sandwich generation often must care for their
  parents in addition to their children.

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Ethan Allen

• This ad by a furniture manufacturer specifically
  refers to stages in the family life cycle.

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VIDEO DDB Worldwide

• DDB Worldwide, as the advertising agency in
  charge of revamping J.C. Penneys image, had to
  address the special challenge of reaching working
  moms.

Click image to play video.
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The Intimate CorporationFamily Decision Making

• Collective Decision Making
• A process in which more than one person is
  involved in the purchasing process for products
  or services to be used by multiple consumers
• Household Decisions
• Consensual Purchase Decision
• Accommodative Purchase Decision

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Household Conflict

• Conflict occurs when there is not complete
  agreement in family members needs and
  preferences.
• Factors determining the degree of family decision
  conflict
• Interpersonal need
• Product involvement and utility
• Responsibility
• Power

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Discussion Question

• This Kudos advertisement tries to explain that
  the product will satisfy two members of the
  household for different reasons.
• What type of family decision have the mother and
  son made?

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Group/Family Decision Making

• Decision Roles
• Influencer influences the purchase decision.
• Gatekeeper
• Decider makes the final decision regarding a
  purchase.
• Buyer engages in the actual transaction/
  purchase.
• Preparer prepares the purchased goods for use.
• User uses the purchased good(s).
• Maintainer maintains or takes care of the
  good(s).
• Disposer chooses when and how to dispose of the
  good(s).

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Sex Roles and Decision-Making Responsibilities

• Autonomic Decision
• Syncratic Decision
• There is a shift in decision making toward more
  compromise and turn-taking.

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Identifying the Decision Maker

• Family Financial Officer (FFO)
• Four Mother Types (LeoShe)
• June Cleaver, the Sequel
• Tug of War
• Strong Shoulders
• Mothers of Invention

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Who Buys the Pants?

• Although many men still wear the pants in the
  family, its women who buy them.

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Identifying the Decision Maker

• Four Factors Determine the Degree to Which
  Decisions will be Made Jointly by One or the
  Other Spouse
• Sex-role stereotypes
• Spousal resources
• Experience
• Socioeconomic Status

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Children As Decision MakersConsumers-In-Training

• Primary Market
• Influence Market
• Parental Yielding Occurs when a parental
  decision maker is influenced by a childs request
  and surrenders.
• Future Market
• Kids eventually grow up to be adults.

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Kids Influence on Household Purchases
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Family Decision Making

• Children often determine the products and brands
  they use.

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Consumer Socialization

• Consumer Socialization
• Influence of Parents
• Parents influences in consumer socialization are
  both direct and indirect.
• Television The Electric Babysitter
• The more children are exposed to television, the
  more they will accept images depicted as real.

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Consumer Socialization (cont.)

• Sex Role Socialization
• Children pick up on the concept of gender
  identity as early as age one or two.
• Stage of Cognitive Development
• The ability to comprehend concepts of increasing
  complexity
• Alternative three-segment approach
• (1) Limited
• (2) Cued
• (3) Strategic

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Marketing Research and Children

• Product Testing
• A particularly helpful type of research with
  children.
• Involves watching kids play with toys or
  involving them in focus groups
• Message Comprehension
• Children differ in their ability to process
  product-related information
• Ethical issues must be considered when directing
  advertising appeals at children

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Product Testing

• Lego did research to learn how boys and girls
  play with their building toys.