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CHAPTER
6
THE AMERICAN
SOCIETY:
FAMILIES AND
HOUSEHOLDS
6-1
The Nature of Households
 Household
 Family Household
 Nonfamily Household
Consumer socialization
Marketing to Children
Consumer Behavior In The News…
Today, there are more dual-income households and
single-parent households than in the 1960’s.
Compared to 1960, do you think that the amount of
time parents spend with their kids has:
 Increased
 Decreased
 Stayed the same
Source: R. Pear, “Married and Single Parents Spending More Time with Children, Study Finds,” The New York Times, October 17, 2006
6-3
Consumer Behavior In The News…
If you said increased you are correct!
Many factors seem to be at work:
 Parents spend less time on housework/
maintenance
 Parents include children in their leisure time
 Smaller families mean more time per child
 Social norms put pressure on parents to spend
more time with kids
What marketing opportunities exist?
Source: R. Pear, “Married and Single Parents Spending More Time with Children, Study Finds,” The New York Times, October 17, 2006
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The Nature of American Households
The Household Influences Most Consumption Decisions
6-5
The Nature of the American Household
Types of Households1
 Household
Consists of all the people who occupy a housing unit (a house,
apartment, group of rooms, or single room designed to be
occupied as a separate living quarters).
 Family Household
One having at least two members related by birth, marriage, or
adoption, one of whom is the householder (householder owns or
rents the residence).
 Nonfamily Household
A householder living alone or exclusively with others to whom
he or she is not related.
1
U.S. Census Bureau definition of a household.
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The Nature of American Households
Family and Nonfamily Households
6-7
The Nature of American Households
The blended family is a family
consisting of a couple, one or
both of whom were previously
married, their children, and the
children from the previous
marriage of one or both
parents.
The traditional family refers
to a married couple and their
own or adopted children living
at home.
6-8
The Household Life Cycle
The Traditional Family Life Cycle
6.
A few years
later the female
would die
1.
People married
by their early
20s
5.
The male
would
eventually die
2.
Couple had
several
children
4.
The original
couple retired
3.
Their children
grew up and
started their
own families
6-9
The Household Life Cycle
American households follow much more complex and
varied cycles today. Therefore, researchers have
developed several models of the household lifecycle
(HLC).
Each HLC stage presents unique needs and wants as
well as financial conditions and experiences.
HLC provides marketers with relatively homogeneous
household segments that share similar needs with
respect to household-related problems and purchases.
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Household Life Cycle
Stages of the Household Life Cycle
6-11
The Household Life Cycle
Younger (< 35)
Single I
Young Couples: No Children
Full Nest I
Single Parent I
6-12
The Household Life Cycle
Middle Aged (35 – 64)
Middle-Aged Single
Empty Nest I
Delayed Full Nest I
Full Nest II
Single Parent II
6-13
The Household Life Cycle
Older (> 64)
Empty Nest II
Older Single
6-14
Marketing Strategy Based on the
Household Life Cycle
HLC can be an important segmentation variable.
The purchase and consumption of many products are
driven by the HLC, with each stage posing unique
problems and opportunities.
The stage in the HLC causes many of the problems or
opportunities individuals confront as they mature, but it
does not provide solutions.
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Marketing Strategy Based on the
Household Life Cycle
Factors such as income, occupation, and education
heavily influence how an individual meets his/her needs.
So, it makes sense to combine stage in the HLC with
one of these variables to aid in market segmentation and
strategy formulation.
6-16
Marketing Strategy Based on the
Household Life Cycle
HLC/Occupational Category Matrix
6-17
Family Decision Making
Family decision making is the process by which decisions
that directly or indirectly involve two or more family members
are made.
Family purchases are often compared to organizational buying
decisions. However, with family purchasing, there is usually
less explicit criteria, and most family purchases directly affect
the other members of the family.
Most important, many family purchases
are inherently emotional and affect the
relationships between the family
members.
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Family Decision Making
Family Purchase Roles(6 roles with 4(6) dominant
types)
Determinants of Family Purchase Roles
Conflict Resolution
Marketing Strategy and Family Decision Making
Consumer Socialization and Marketing to Children
6-19
Family Decision Making
The Household Decision-Making Process for Children’s Products
6-20
Family Decision Making
Husband/Wife Decision Roles for Services
6-21
Family Decision Making
Determinants of Family Purchase Roles
How families interact in a purchase decision is largely
dependent on the
culture and subculture in which the family exists
the role specialization of different family members
the degree of involvement each has in the product area of
concern, and
their personal characteristics of the family members
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Family Decision Making
Conflict Resolution
One study revealed six basic approaches that individuals use to
resolve purchase conflicts1.
Approach
Description
Bargaining
Trying to reach a compromise.
Impressions
Management
Misrepresenting the facts in order to win.
Use of Authority Claiming superior expertise or role appropriateness (the
husband/wife should make such decisions).
Reasoning
Using logical argument to win.
Playing on
Emotion
Using the silent treatment or withdrawing from the
discussion.
Additional
Information
Getting additional data or a third-party opinion.
1C.
Kim and H. Lee, “A taxonomy of Couples Based on Influence Strategies,” Journal of Business Research, June 1996, pp. 157-68.
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Marketing Strategy and Family Decision Making
Family Decision-Making Grid
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Consumer Socialization
The family provides the basic framework in which
consumer socialization occurs.
Consumer socialization is the process by which young
people acquire skills, knowledge, and attitudes relevant
to their functioning as consumers in the marketplace.
Must understand both the content and the process of
consumer socialization.
Consumer socialization content refers to what children learn
with respect to consumption.
Consumer socialization process refers to how they learn it.
6-25
Consumer Socialization
Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development
Stage
Description
Stage 1
The period of sensorimotor intelligence (0-2 yrs.)
- behavior is primarily motor
- the child does not yet “think” conceptually, though
cognitive development is seen
Stage 2
The period of preoperational thoughts (3-7 yrs.)
- Characterized by the development of language and
rapid conceptual development
Stage 3
The period of concrete operations (8-11 yrs.)
- the child develops the ability to apply logical
thought to concrete problems
Stage 4
The period of formed operations (12-15 yrs.)
- the child’s cognitive structures reach their greatest
level of development, and the child becomes able
to apply logic to all classes of problems.
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Consumer Socialization
The Content of Consumer Socialization
Consist of three categories:
1. Consumer skills—are those capabilities necessary for
purchases to occur such as understanding money,
budgeting, product evaluation, etc.
2. Consumption-related preferences—are the knowledge,
attitudes, and values that cause people to attach differential
evaluations to products, brands, and retail outlets.
3. Consumption-related attitudes—are cognitive and
affective orientations toward marketplace stimuli such as
advertisements, salespeople, warranties, etc.
6-27
Consumer Socialization
The Process of Consumer Socialization
Consumer socialization occurs primarily through family, as well
as through a number of avenues including advertising and friends.
Parents socialize their children through the following:
1. Instrumental training—occurs when a parent or sibling
specifically and directly attempts to bring about certain
responses through reasoning or reinforcement.
2. Modeling—occurs when a child learns appropriate, or
inappropriate, consumption behaviors by observing others.
3. Mediation—occurs when a parent alters a child’s initial
interpretation of, or response to, a marketing or other stimulus.
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Marketing to Children
Children are a large and growing market.
However, marketing to children is fraught with ethical
concerns, including:
The limited ability of younger children to process
information and to make informed purchase decisions.
Marketing activities, particularly advertising, can produce
undesirable values in children, resulting in inappropriate
diets, and cause unhealthy levels of family conflict.
6-29
Discussion Questions
24) Pick two stages in the household life cycle.
Describe how your marketing strategy for the
following would differ depending on which group
was your primary target market.
a)
b)
c)
d)
Minivan
Razors
Broadway show
Casino
Discussion Questions
25) Do you think the trend toward nonfamily
households will continue? Justify your response.
32) Describe a recent family purchase in which you
were involved. Use this as a basis for completing
Table 6-3 for a marketer attempting to influence
that decision.