Global and Domestic Marketing in the Question,

Global and Domestic Marketing

In the question, I pick three factors social, cultural, and technological factors and see their effects on global and domestic marketing.

Social Factors:

In both domestic market and global market, a customer's buying behavior is influenced by social factors. The role of social factors becomes especially important to impress others and identify with the groups to which the customer belongs. Social factors interact to influence the purchase decision through various means. For example, a person first suggests or thinks of the idea of buying a particular product or service, then the individual with the power and/or financial authority makes the ultimate choice regarding which product to buy. If this behavior is adopted by others in the group, the social factors begin to influence the marketing by others.

Many consumers purchase noticeable goods to satisfy not just material needs but also social needs such as prestige. In an attempt to meet these social needs, marketing managers of noticeable goods like cars, perfumes, and watches employ several strategies to highlight the exclusivity of their products. These strategies include using exclusive distribution, charging high prices, and limiting production (McLean, 1998).

As in the present time, the traditional husband-wife buying roles are changing. Traditionally, the wife was the main buyer for the family, especially in the areas of food, household products and clothing. However, with increasing numbers of women in full-time work and many men becoming "home workers" (or "telecommuting") the traditional roles are reversing. Therefore, the challenge for a marketer is to understand how this might affect demand for products and services and how the promotional mix needs to be changed to attract male rather than female buyers.

An example of global marketing in this regard may be the purchasing of the computers for the work. Because women prefer a light laptop than men, therefore, in this regard, the size of the computers may be directly related to the social behavior of men and women. An example of domestic market in this regard will be purchasing decisions of television network programs. Because women and men prefer different kinds of program, so it is no wonder that social factors prevailing in a country will directly affect the purchasing decisions.

Cultural Factors:

Cultural factors influence the behavior of the buyers. Since the culture of a country, family, and clan directly affect what kinds of products and services people prefer. Therefore, it is important for the marketers that they take careful examination of their marketing strategies to suit the taste of different cultural groups (Rothschild, 1979)..

Marketers' roles become to spot "cultural shifts" which might point to new products that might be wanted by customers or to increased demand. For example, the recent cultural shift towards greater concern about health and fitness has created opportunities (and now industries) servicing customers who wish to buy: low calorie foods, exercise equipment, and activity or health-related holidays etc.

In same way, the increased desire for "leisure time" has resulted in increased demand for convenience products and services such as microwave ovens, ready meals and direct marketing service businesses such as telephone banking and insurance. Similarly, "youth culture" or "club culture" has quite distinct values and buying characteristics from the much older "gray generation" In same way, differences in social class can create customer groups who have quite different patterns of buying of different products and services.

An example of global marketing that takes into account cultural factors will be selling Jeans and American Soda to mass consumers that are universally liked by the men of all cultures. On the other hand, considering the domestic front, it would be considered quite irresponsible to target jeans and skirts in Arab countries' women, because the cultures of these countries prohibit women wearing skirts and Jeans.

Technological Factors:

We are in the middle of a digital revolution that is delivering more media rich information into our homes and when we are on the move. All major, and many medium size towns, now have cable TV. Telephone service suppliers around the globe are increasing. TVs and telephones with Internet access can now be purchased. These are promoted as easy to set-up and easy to use, mass consumer items. All these technologies are delivering a mass of information into people's homes. To-day it is mostly entertainment based, but increasingly it will be infotainment and later plain information services. Thus technology has considerably influenced the needs of the consumers (Wilkie and Moore, 1999).