About Wesfarmers Limited
Question:
You are required to identify at least two social influences that are relevant to the consumers of your firm or the firm you intend to work for (choose one product/service if more than one is offered by your firm) and analyse, specific to your firm, how the two or more social influences (culture, social class or reference groups) impact on the consumer purchase decision process.
Wesfarmers Limited is one of the best public retail companies in Australia. The company is located in Pert, Western Australia and manufactures products that are necessary for people on a daily basis. The company was founded in 1914 and the area in which the company serves includes Australia, New Zealand, Bangladesh and the United Kingdom. The company provides recruitment to over 250,000 people covering all the areas in which the company is based (Wesfarmers.com.au, 2017). Some of the products and services offered by Wesfarmers include retail services, chemicals, energy, fertilisers and equipment for maintaining industrial safety. These products are sold at a reasonable cost in order to maintain competition in the market.
However, it is necessary for the company to ensure that satisfaction of the customers is maintained. In order to do so, it is necessary that the company analyse the behaviours of the customers (Horner & Swarbrooke, 2016). This can be done by finding out the factors that contribute to the change in the behaviour of the customers. It has been seen that the social influence results in the changed behaviour of the customers. The report identifies these factors and tries to provide recommendations that can be used by Wesfarmers to remain competitive. The report analyses the culture and the social class of the people that influence their purchasing behaviour. The target market of the company is considered to be all types of people that believe in the traditional as well as the modern cultures that need to be adopted. On the other people belonging to diverse social class also need to be a target for Wesfarmers.
As stated by Cohen, Prayag & Moital (2014) Australia consists of people from all around the world. The diversity in Australia may not be much as compared to other countries but the fact that migrants from around the world set up base in the country provides for significant changes in the culture and social class of people. The cultural environment of the country can be divided into many sub-cultures that need to be analysed by an organisation like Wesfarmers in order to remain competitive in the market. Similarly, the social classes of the people also change depending upon the cultural background and mode of income of the people.
In order to analyse the behaviour of the customers, it is important to formulate a decision-making process that can help in identifying the needs of the customers. Proper market research is also needed in order to acquire target markets and help in the development of a proper decision in an organisation (Gifford & Nilsson, 2014). Similarly, the target market of Wesfarmers also needs to be analysed in order to ensure that the company remains one of the best companies in the retail market in Australia. Hence, the social influences that the company have to analyse are the cultures as well as the social classes.
Analyzing Customer Behavior for Business Success
Culture: The culture of a community plays a significant role in the management of a company. Based on the culture of community organisations tend to formulate strategies that are necessary to maintain competition in the market. As observed by Cantallops & Salvi (2014) these cultures are normally formed due to the existence of people of various cultures within the community. The analysis of the different cultures in an organisation is done by conducting a proper market research. In this regard, it can be said that Wesfarmers also need to conduct such analysis that can help the company to formulate successful strategies. The importance of the cultural analysis is that the behaviour and the mindset of the people can be understood. This can help in manufacturing products and provide services that suit the culture of the community.
For example, it has been stated that migrants from other countries visit Australia in order to make a living in the country. These people form a different cultural community as the beliefs, thoughts and ideologies are the same. A cultural community coming from a place like India will abstain from purchasing beef as it is against the cultural background of the religion of that country. Hence, in order to serve this cultural community, Wesfarmers need to make strategies so that the price gained by the selling of beef can be mitigated by selling other products in that community. However, it is necessary to analyse the sub-cultures that exist within a particular culture (Hollensen, 2015).
Sub-cultures of consumption refer to the sub-division that exists within a culture in which the people of a community tend to practise different likings. These sub-cultures are based on the beliefs of the people that define the modernisation of the society. Boccia & Sarnacchiaro (2014) stated that the people form such communities based on the mutual liking of the individuals in the society. Hence, this factor needs to be kept in mind by Wesfarmers in order to ensure that the strategies are formed based on the considerations of the community. For example, a sub-culture among the farmers of Australia may be formed that prefers using safe fertilisers for producing crops. Hence, Wesfarmers need to manufacture such fertilisers that help in maintaining the decay of soil and other natural habitats while manufacturing the crops.
Thus, it can be said that the culture of a community is essential in order to analyse purchasing power of the customers. The manner in which these cultures can be determined includes the background of the people and the tastes of the people. However, as stated by Persson (2013) the variation in culture can be a positive factor for the companies. This is because companies can manufacture diversified products based on the cultural preference of the people. The uniqueness and the choices of varieties of products that are provided to the customers can help Wesfarmers to remain competitive in the market. The inter-culture mixture of products can also provide the company with an additional advantage of creating innovative products. Based on this analysis, it can be said that the culture of a community also gives rise to the social class of people in the society.
The Impact of Culture on Customer Behavior
Social class: Social class refers to the status of an individual. The financial condition of an individual defines the manner in which the people manage to differentiate social class. The social class can be considered as a huge advantage for the organisation as the prices of the products can be set depending on the class. In order to do so, proper market research is required in order to identify the types of people in the society so that the society can be determined. Pantano & Viassone (2015) stated that the social class of people help in formulating strategies that can be beneficial to meet the requirements of every people.
The social class of the people determines the purchasing ability of the customers depending mostly on the price and quality of the products. Bagdare & Jain (2013) observed that people living in a society always compete with one another to be the best in a society. For example, people of a higher society compete with people of the same society in order to purchase materials more worthy. This gives them recognition for them in the society. In the case of Wesfarmers, the products it manufactures can be set at a high price in order to attract the people of the society. However, the drawback that the company faces is the fact that it provides products for the daily use of customers. Hence, valuable and fancied items are not sold by the company that may provide the company with an advantage over the social class of people.
Hence, it can be said that these two factors play an important role in the buying behaviour of the customers. Every organisation needs to analyse these factors before formulating strategies so that it helps them to maintain a competitive advantage in the market. Wesfarmers can use these factors as an advantage by implementing proper changes in the marketing department of the company. Every element that is considered by a customer while making purchase need to be analysed and changes need to be made so that people from different culture and social class get attracted to the products (Huang & Sarigöllü, 2014).
After analysing the factors that influence customer behaviour it is important to recommend changes to Wesfarmers in order to maintain its competitive advantage in the market. Wesfarmers need to consider the market of Australia by breaking it down into several elements. These elements collectively known as the 7P’s marketing can help Wesfarmers to become an organisation of interest for the customers. The 7P’s need to be based on the market segmentation of the company along with its target market.
Product: The product of Wesfarmers need to be fresh and must have proper quality. This can help in attracting people of the higher social class. Apart from this, Wesfarmers also need to ensure that the products of the company do not contain any unethical contents that may harm the culture of a society. Hence, the demographic analysis is needed in order to maintain stability in the market.
Sub-Cultures and Consumption Patterns
Price: The price of the products needs to be made flexible based on the economic condition and the ability to purchase a product. The higher class of the people can afford an expensive product while the people with less financial prowess cannot afford such products. Hence, the price of the products of Wesfarmers needs to be analysed based on the analysis of the market.
Place: The location of Wesfarmers is such that people can visit either the store or order via the internet. This is a huge advantage as one of the common factors of modern day is the fact that people of all culture and social class indulge in online shopping. Hence, this is a convenient position for the company and advantages need to be taken based on this analysis.
Promotion: This is an important factor as the cost incurred for the promotion of a product is high. Hence, it is necessary that Wesfarmers reduce the cost of promotion of products. This can be done by setting up a promotional campaign based on the particular social class. This can help in attracting that particular culture or class of people to the organisation.
People: The people are the most important factor in the culture and the social class deal with the people that are involved in a community. Market research is needed to identify the people and Wesfarmers need to conduct a survey in order to identify the types of people that exist in the society.
Process: This involves the process that is adopted by Wesfarmers for manufacturing the products. In the modern world, emphasis needs to be provided to the promotion of sustainability. The sustainability of the environment is important in order to promote a healthy lifestyle. Thus, it can be said that Wesfarmers need to ensure that wastage is reduced in the environment.
Physical evidence: Physical evidence involves the manner in which people understand whether the product is genuine. Wesfarmers need to ensure that the customers gain a first-hand experience of the products and based on it the customers purchase the products. This can help in maintaining the loyalty of the customers of any culture or social class. It has been seen that people following a traditional culture prefer to shop while visiting the stores rather than the modern generation.
Conclusion
Thus, it can be concluded that in order to maintain a strong competition in the industry, Wesfarmers need to ensure that the factors that affect the buying behaviour of the customers are analysed. This can help the company to formulate strategies that can help in maintaining its growth in the market. The recommendations provided need to be implemented and monitoring of these need to be done by conducting appraisals and audit. In this manner, Wesfarmers can make use of the advantages that can be gained from the marketing analysis of the different culture and social class of people.
Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M., & Brennan, R. (2015). Marketing: an introduction. Pearson Education.
Bagdare, S., & Jain, R. (2013). Measuring retail customer experience. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 41(10), 790-804.
Boccia, F., & Sarnacchiaro, P. (2014). Structural equation model for the evaluation of social initiatives on customer behaviour. Procedia Economics and Finance, 17, 211-220.
Cantallops, A. S., & Salvi, F. (2014). New consumer behavior: A review of research on eWOM and hotels. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 36, 41-51.
Cohen, S. A., Prayag, G., & Moital, M. (2014). Consumer behaviour: Concepts, influences and opportunities. Current Issues in Tourism, 17(10), 872-909.
Dibb, S. (2017). Changing Times for Social Marketing Segmentation. In Segmentation in Social Marketing (pp. 41-59). Springer Singapore.
Gifford, R., & Nilsson, A. (2014). Personal and social factors that influence pro?environmental concern and behaviour: A review. International Journal of Psychology, 49(3), 141-157.
Hanssens, D. M., Pauwels, K. H., Srinivasan, S., Vanhuele, M., & Yildirim, G. (2014). Consumer attitude metrics for guiding marketing mix decisions. Marketing Science, 33(4), 534-550.
Hollensen, S. (2015). Marketing management: A relationship approach. Pearson Education.
Horner, S., & Swarbrooke, J. (2016). Consumer behaviour. Routledge.
Huang, R., & Sarigöllü, E. (2014). How brand awareness relates to market outcome, brand equity, and the marketing mix. In Fashion Branding and Consumer Behaviors (pp. 113-132). Springer New York.
Leonidou, C. N., Katsikeas, C. S., & Morgan, N. A. (2013). “Greening” the marketing mix: do firms do it and does it pay off?. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 41(2), 151-170.
Pantano, E., & Viassone, M. (2015). Engaging consumers on new integrated multichannel retail settings: Challenges for retailers. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 25, 106-114.
Persson, A. (2013). Profitable customer management: reducing costs by influencing customer behaviour. European Journal of Marketing, 47(5/6), 857-876.
Solomon, M. R. (2014). Consumer behavior: Buying, having, and being (Vol. 10). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Wesfarmers.com.au. (2017). Wesfarmers.com.au. Retrieved 13 December 2017, from https://www.wesfarmers.com.au/
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
