Cross-Cultural consumer behavior

Cross-Cultural Analysis and Acculturation

Within the scope of consumer behavior, cross-cultural is defined as determining to what

extent the consumers of two or more nations are similar or different. Such analysis can
provide marketers with an understanding of the psychological, social and cultural
characteristics of nation they wish to target, so that they can design effective marketing
strategies for specific markets.

The objective of cross-cultural consumer analysis is to determine how consumers in two

or more societies are similar and how they are different.

The problems associated with cross-cultural analysis are difference in language,

consumption patterns, needs, economic and social condition and market research.

Acculturation is the process by which marketers learn-via cross-cultural analysis- about

the value beliefs, customs of the other cultures and then apply this knowledge to
marketing products internationally.

Localization versus Standardization:

Marketers must take various factors into consideration before deciding whether to
customize products for global market or to sell standardized ones.

The factors that must be taken into consideration are:

 Linguistic barriers: Marketers must take this factor into consideration as some
slogans did not translate well in some languages.
 Promotional appeals: Promotional appeals must reflect the local culture’s value
and priorities.
 Legal barriers: Sometimes markets have to alter their offerings as per the local
laws.

The greater the similarity between the nations, the more feasible it is to use relatively
similar marketing strategies in each nation.

Global market opportunities:

Many firms have learned that overseas market represent an important opportunity for
their future growth when their home markets reaches maturity.
There are several factors that are important for marketers to consider global
opportunities:

 Spending power and consumption pattern: The most important criteria for
identifying global marketing opportunities are a country’s consumer spending and
its growth.
 The growing global middle class: Recent projection state that the middle class
will increase by 1.8 billion people over the next decade.
 The Global teen market: Teenagers appear to have similar interest, desire, and
consumption behavior no matter where they live.

Cross-Cultural segmentation:

This segmentation is useful for the marketers to understand how to apply

psychographics to segmenting multinational markets.

Global psychographic research often reveals cultural difference of great importance

to the marketers. Psychographic identifies shared values, irrespective of national
borders. The VALS research methodology has been used to identify psychographic
segment in other countries.