Cross-Cultural Consumer Behavior

Cross cultural marketing

Cross cultural marketing is defined as the effort

to determine to what extent the consumers of two or more nations are similar or different. This will facilitate marketers to understand the psychological , social and cultural aspects of foreign consumers they wish to target, so as to design effective marketing strategies for each of the specific national markets involved.

The Worlds Most Valuable Brands

RANK BRAND 2004 BRAND VALUE ($ Billions)

1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Coca-Cola Microsoft
IBM GE Intel Disney McDonalds Nokia Toyota Marlboro

67.4 61.4
53.8 44.1 33.5 27.1 25.0 24.0 22.7 22.1

Source: "The Top 100 Brands," Business Week, August 2,2004

The Worlds Most Valuable Brands

RANK BRAND 2013 BRAND VALUE ($ Billions)

1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Apple Google
Coca-Cola IBM Microsoft GE McDonalds Samsung Intel Toyota

$98bn $93 bn
$ 79 bn $78 bn $59 bn $46 bn $ 41bn $39 bn $37 bn $ 35 bn

Source: Intebrand,2013

Cross-Cultural Consumer Analysis

The effort to determine to what extent the consumers of two or more nations are similar or different.

Cross-Cultural Consumer Analysis

Issues
Similarities and The greater the similarity

differences among people The growing global middle class The global teenage market Acculturation

between nations, the more feasible to use relatively similar marketing strategies Marketers often speak to the same types of consumers globally

Comparisons of Chinese and American Cultural Traits

Chinese Cultural Traits Submissive to authority A closed worldview, stability and harmony Values a persons duty to family and state American Cultural Traits Individual centered Emphasis on selfreliance Primary faith in rationalism Values individual personality

Cross-Cultural Consumer Analysis

Issues
Similarities and Growing in Asia, South

differences among people The growing global middle class The global teenage market Acculturation

America, and Eastern Europe Marketers should focus on these markets

Cross-Cultural Consumer Analysis

Issues
Similarities and There has been growth in

differences among people The growing global middle class The global teenage market Acculturation

an affluent global teenage and young adult market They appear to have similar interests, desires, and consumption behavior no matter where they live.

Cross-Cultural Consumer Analysis

Issues
Similarities and Marketers must learn

differences among people The growing global middle class The global teenage market Acculturation

everything that is relevant about the usage of their product and product categories in foreign countries

Problems in Cross Cultural Marketing

Problems related to product selection:
For example, the 7 billion Kellog of the U.S., a

veteran of the global breakfast cereals market has realised that its initial reading of would be customers was incorrect. The firm needs to reanalyse how to drive the Indian consumer to adopt readymade breakfast cereals in place of his hot, fresh, cereal based, fat free rice idli. Kraft blends different coffees for the British (who drink their coffee with milk), the French (who drink their coffee black)

 Problems related to promotion/ marketing

communication: The same colour may have different meaning in various countries. The colour blue, in Holland conveys a feeling of warmth, in Iran blue colour is associated with death, whereas in India blue colour signifies purity. Purple is associated with death in Burma and some Latin American nations; white is a mourning colour in India; and green is associated with disease in Malaysia Norway, Belgium, and France do not allow cigarettes and alcohol to be advertised on TV Austria and Italy regulate TV advertising to children Saudia Arabia does not want advertisers to use women in ads

 Problems related to pricing : Sometimes marketers price their products lower in

the foreign market because, they feel incomes are low so a low price is necessary to sell the products. Or the marketer may want to dump the goods i.e., he may charge a lesser price in the foreign market than in the home market, since they feel that these goods have no market at home. Problems related to the selection of distribution channel
There are striking differences in the number and type of

middlemen serving each foreign market. For example, to sell soap in Japan, Procter & Gamble had to work out a complicated distribution network. Having such a long distribution network may result in doubling or tripling of the consumers price over the importers price.

P & G----- General wholesaler-------Basic product speciality wholesaler------------ regional wholesaler---------local wholesaler--------retailers

Few of the differences in the behaviour pattern in the consumer markets over the world
The average Frenchman uses almost twice as

many cosmetics and beauty aids as does his wife Italian children like to eat a bar of chocolate between two-slices of bread as a snack The Germans and the French eat more packaged branded spaghetti than the Italians

Some business norms and behaviour also vary from country to country
American business executives prefer to keep a

reasonable distance during business talk American business executives come to the point quickly, where as Japanese business executives need time to mutually discuss the issue and take time before taking a decision