The household is the basic purchasing and consuming
unit and is, therefore, of great importance to marketing
managers of most products. Family households are also
the primary mechanism whereby cultural and socialclass
values and behavior patterns are passed on to the
next generation.
The family household consists of two or more related
persons living together in a dwelling unit. Nonfamily
households are dwelling units occupied by one or more
unrelated individuals.
The household life cycle is the classification of the
household into stages through which it passes over time
based on the age and marital status of the adults and
the presence and age of children. The household life cycle
is a valuable marketing tool because members within
each stage or category face similar consumption problems.
Thus, they represent potential market segments.
The household life cycle/occupational category matrix
is a useful way to use the HLC to develop marketing
strategy. One axis is the stages in the HLC, which
determine the problems the household will likely
encounter; the other is a set of occupational categories,
which provide a range of acceptable solutions. Each cell
represents a market segment.
Family decision making involves consideration of
questions such as who buys, who decides, and who
uses. Family decision making is complex and involves
emotion and interpersonal relations as well as product
evaluation and acquisition.
Marketing managers must analyze the household decision
process separately for each product category
within each target market. Household member participation
in the decision process varies by involvement
with the specific product, role specialization, personal
characteristics, and one's culture and subculture. Participation
also varies by stage in the decision process.
Most decisions are reached by consensus. If not, a variety
of conflict resolution strategies may be employed.
Consumer socialization deals with the processes by
which young people (from birth until 18 years of age)
learn how to become consumers. Children's learning
abilities are limited at birth, then slowly evolve with experience over time. Consumer socialization deals
with the learning of consumer skills, consumption-related
preferences, and consumption-related attitudes.
Families influence consumer socialization through direct
instrumental training, modeling, and mediation.
Young consumers appear to go through five stages of
learning how to shop. This learning takes place primarily
in retail outlets in interaction with the parents.
Marketing to children is fraught with ethical issues.
The main source of ethical concern is the limited ability
of children to process information and make sound purchase
decisions or requests. There are also concerns
about the role of advertising in forming children's values,
influencing their diets, and causing family conflict.
However, ethical and effective marketing programs can
be developed for children.
