When it comes to the field of marketing, consumer behavior is a significant phenomenon. Various researchers have tried to articulate the meaning of this term, and they have reached a consensus. Thus, Hawkins and Mothersbaugh (2012) stipulate that consumer behavior draws attention to how people and legal entities select and use services, products, and experiences. This field of study helps experts identify any trends in the market and predict how consumers will approach appropriate products or services in the future.
However, one should state that it is a challenging issue to forecast consumer behavior. It is so because there are different types of customers, and each of them implies its own characteristic features. Thus, one should comment on the concept of culture and cultural values in terms of consumer behavior and consider the existence of global youth culture to understand how marketers can use this information.
To begin with, one should state that culture is an integral component of everyday life. According to Hawkins and Mothersbaugh (2012), culture is “the complex whole that includes knowledge, beliefs, art, law, morals, customs, and any other capabilities acquired by humans as members of society” (p. 40). At the same time, cultural values are those phenomena and beliefs that determine what is desirable in the given society. They are different for people of various ages, nationalities, religions, and backgrounds.
When it comes to the field of marketing, the information above represents essential concepts. It refers to the fact that appropriate phenomena unite various groups of consumers, and it is necessary to address some beliefs to influence a particular group of people. For example, if a company wants to reach consumers who keep a healthy lifestyle, it should stipulate that the products are useful for health. In this case, customers will believe that the given products meet their cultural values.
The information above has stipulated that cultural values depend on multiple factors. However, it is possible to suppose that there exists a global youth culture that unites representatives of numerous world countries. Various examples support the idea, but it is reasonable to draw attention to the study by Abeele (2016). The researcher explains that youth throughout the whole world forms a global culture in terms of how young people use their mobile phones (Abeele, 2016).
These devices occupy an essential role in the life of almost every teenager. In addition to that, the existence of a global youth culture becomes more evident when one draws attention to the fact that adults do not use their gadgets so often (Abeele, 2016). Consequently, the examples above demonstrate that this specific culture exists in the modern world, and producers of mobile phones benefit from this marketing peculiarity.
In conclusion, one can say that culture and cultural values are essential when it comes to marketing. It is so because these phenomena allow marketers to identify characteristic features of various consumer groups and use this information to influence them. For example, representatives of different social groups draw specific attention to appropriate beliefs. If marketers manage to address these phenomena, these people will appreciate it. In addition to that, there exists a global culture that unites young people from multiple countries. The youth has a few shared features, including a high significance of mobile phones, and appropriate marketers know how to benefit from the given fact.
References
Abeele, M. V. (2016). Mobile youth culture: A conceptual development. Mobile Media & Communication, 4(1), 85-101.
Hawkins, D., & Mothersbaugh, D. L. (2012). Consumer behavior: Building marketing strategy (12th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.