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Consumer Behaviour

Notes Increasing numbers of working parents, much responsibility for shopping has been shifted to
teenagers. Teenage girls not only help in shopping but also spend time in preparing meals at
home for the family. Teenagers also have a say in family decisions for cars, TV sets, computers
and family vacations.
Many companies attempt to influence children's consumer socialisation in a manner that children
recognise brand names and company at an early age. Marketers use fun themes to target children.

Children of various age groups constitute a very large market. Many critics
point out that younger children do have limited ability to process information and to
make informed purchase decisions.

Task Contact two friends, one living in a traditional family and the other in a nuclear
family. Compare the consumption behaviour of the two families with respect to clothes,
furniture, and entertainment.

10.5 Consumer Socialisation of Children

Consumer socialisation is the process by which young people acquire skills, knowledge and
attitudes relevant to their functioning as consumers in the marketplace.

Parents' Role in Consumer Socialisation

Carlson and Grossbart have identified four types of parents in their study of parents' role in
children's socialisation.
1. Authoritarian Parents: Such parents tend to exercise a high degree of control over their
children and expect total obedience from them. They attempt to protect children from
outside influences.
2. Neglecting Parents: Parents of this type do not show much concern for their children and
neglect them. They show little concern in controlling the children or encouraging their
capabilities.
3. Democratic Parents: Parents with this approach encourage a balance between their own
and children's rights and encourage children's self-expression.
4. Permissive Parents: Such parents believe in as much freedom as possible for children
without putting their safety in jeopardy.

Methods of Socialisation

Parents teach their children, deliberately as well as casually, both directly relevant and indirectly
relevant consumption behaviour as they pass through various stages of consumer socialisation.
Professor James U. McNeal and his colleagues developed a five-stage process as shown in
Table 10.2.

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