(Age group: 22-35years)

India is one of the youngest countries in the world with 63.6% of its population in the age-group of 15-64 years.

This age group also enjoys a decent 1.06: 1 male to female ratio, giving women an almost equal presence.
Now, if we look at the 10 largest cities of India, they have a combined population of 6,41,11,356. Even if we assume that half of these are women and one-eighth of these citizens are working women, the figure still stands at over 40 lakh. Thus giving us a very lucrative area of study on women.

Reference group is a group to which an individual relates to or aspires to relate to himself. It becomes the individuals frames of reference for ordering his experiences, perceptions, cognition and behavior . This research is aimed towards study of various primary reference groups which include family, friends, neighbors, colleagues etc and their impact on buying behavior of working women. Working women has been a segment of interest as they have ameliorated exposure through which they tend to get influenced by both formal and informal reference groups.

Formal

Informal

Advertising

Reference groups

Personal selling

Social class

Sales promotions

Culture

Public relations

Environment

A reference group is the anchor used by and individual to base any decision or judgement. It aids a person to evaluate his or her opinions and behaviour. The church, labour union, political party, or sorority are examples of both positive and negative reference groups for specific individuals. A reference group can have a large number of persons like a political party or can be an individual like a family member or celebrity.

POSITIVE ATTITUDE NEGATIVE ATTITUDE

Positive Membership Group Disclaimant Group

Aspiration Group Avoidance Group

TYPES OF MEMBERSHIP GROUPS INFORMAL FORMAL School Groups Business Groups Alumni Groups Tenant Organization

PRIMARY

Family/Peer Groups Shopping Groups Sports Groups

SECONDARY

TYPES OF ASPIRATION GROUPS CONTACT NO CONTACT Anticipatory Symbolic

Types of Reference Groups

Primary reference groups
Secondary reference groups

Formal reference groups Informal reference groups

Membership reference groups Symbolic reference groups

Decision maker of 85% of purchases in a household.

Women have long been type casted as shopaholics and men are run away from it, the recent surveys show no change in the same.
Relation between annual income and shopping frequency is analysed - 38% women having annual income if more than 3.5 lacs shop once a month and rest shop once in three months.

27 percent of a single working womans purchases constitute of apparel and accessories. Whereas for a married woman, this figure stands at 15 percent.

Young single
Outdoor sporting goods, sports, cars fashion clothing, entertainment and recreation services

Young married with no children

Recreation and relaxation, insurance, home furnishing, travel, home appliances, high purchase rate of durables

Young married with children

Baby food, clothing, and furniture : starter housing, insurance, washersdryers, medical services for children, toys

Middle-aged with children at home Restaurants Large food purchases (respond to bulk buying)dent al care, higherpriced furniture, autos, housing, fast-food

Divorced

child care, time-saving appliances and foods, cash poor Moneysaving products, frozen foods, rental housing

Reference group influence generally falls into one of three categories defined in the following list:

Informational Influence Consumers use the behaviors and attitudes of reference groups as information when making their own decisions.
Utilitarian Influence Consumers conform to group expectations to receive a reward or avoid punishment. Value-Expressive Influence Consumers internalize a groups values or join groups to express their own values and beliefs.

Information influence
behaviours and opinions of reference groups are used as

potentially useful pieces of information

Normative influence (utilitarian influence)

when an individual fulfils group expectations to gain a direct

reward or avoid a sanction

Identification influence (value-expressive influence)

when an individual uses perceived-group norms and values as

a guide for their own attitudes or values

11

Reference group Influence on Public and Privately used Products

In Private Where is it consumed In Public Low

Necessity

What type of product is it

Toilet paper Deodrant Hot water heater

Clothing Mobile Automobiles shoes

Luxury

Jacuzzi tub DVD Player Electric Blanket

Digital Camera Jewellery

High

Low

High

Influence on the brand

Influence on whether the product is purchased

Abundant offerings to choose from

Conscious nature of women

Need to connect with reference groups

Need to be socially accepted Trust family & friends more than themselves

 Family Friends Colleagues

Husband
Children

Relationship with the shopper

Knowledge & expertise

Identification & judging of reference groups

Social quotient

Decision making power

Women
Easy to

Men

convince during point of purchase

Are more firm

Always confused

Know what they exactly want

Not very much satisfied

More satisfied

Consumers tend to be more influenced by reference groups if the information is perceived as reliable and relevant to the problem at hand. Thus, some marketers hire recognized experts to endorse a product and tell consumers why it is good. The utilitiarian reference groups influence is when reference groups have the control over certain rewards and punishment . Marketers use these factors by showing such sanctions in TV commercials (people recoiling from offensive body odours, bad breath, or dandruff flakes on someones shoulder).

 Application

of reference groups through :

Blogs

Social networking sites

YouTube

Media

Product Positioning

 Researches

have been done on the impact of reference groups on buying behavior of women for apparels and many other categories of products. this research is confined to study the age group 0f 22- 35 years of working women which can be considered to be the most dynamic age group for women. are striving to explore this age segment of women and to study their buying behaviour.

But

We

The two major objectives of our study will be as follows:

To

study the primary reference groups influencing the buying behavior of working women.
study why consumers affiliate with a certain reference group and how they do so.

To

Research Design

An exploratory study in nature focusing on the reference groups and its influence on women.

Data collection

Primary and Secondary Both.

Primary Data

Questionnaires (sample size 100) and Focus Group.

Sample Size

100 sample divided into Single Married Married with Kids. Research Papers and Journals.

Secondary Data

 ROL

fr mp\marketing research\Questionnaire.docx

SHOPPING COMPANION

ACCEPTANCE OF OPINION

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Reference groups for women can be family, friend or can be any one the woman knows. Women are largely influenced by the people around them for their shopping decision. The data shows that women explore for shopping trends and shop at least once a month. Also the impact of reference group varies with product categories . Magazines and television can be important sources of information for women. Hence marketers can use these mediums to target women.

To continue the study further :

How

primary reference group influences. Detailed analysis of each group. of age on the reference group influence for women.

Impact

 The

age group 22-35 considers of women at different stages who may act differently at different stages. to the scarcity of resources , the sample size was kept at100

Due

http://libguides.usc.edu/content.php?pid=83009&sid=818072 (Accessed on 27/1/13 at 12:50am)

http://www.egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/35538/3/Unit-3.pdf (Accessed on 27/1/13 at 12:50am)

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Definition_of_primary_and_secondary_research (Accessed on 27/1/13 at 12:50am)

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/reference-group.html#ixzz2NVyBVuPg (accessed on 14/3/13 at 5:30pm)

https://globaljournals.org/GJMBR_Volume12/1-The-Influence-of-Formal-and-Informal.pdf (Accessed on 10/3/13 at 2.09 am)

http://books.google.co.in/books?id=QpCvQfnPpNwC&pg=PT234&lpg=PT234&dq=why+do+people+assoc iate+with+a+reference+group+for+buying&source=bl&ots=hYuU0GjrKj&sig=4WoFiKEKoQptZdPB2K5rtwAh9k&hl=en&sa=X&ei=iABCUbySAsjOrQfWq4H4Dw&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAQ (Accessed on 14/3/13 at 10:30pm)

Images references: http://www.google.co.in/imgres?q=women+purchasing+apparel&um=1&hl=en&biw=1366&bih=623&tbm=i sch&tbnid=eEtIps8fAcj_OM:&imgrefurl (Accessed on 14/3/13 at 10:30pm)

THANK YOU

MFM II
Palak

Agarwal Rutu Patel Ruchi Patel