0’s growth in the jeans market was due to adoption of jeans by 15-18 year olds…Now these people are 25-49 and Dockers meshes perfectly with what the brand is about for them”. (Consumer behaviour, A European perspective p.12). The younger generation represents an important demographic to marketers because they have their own purchasing power, kids influence their parents buying decisions and are the adult consumers of the future. Marketers have various strategies that are used to target children and teens such as “Pester power” this is used by many children to influence their parents into buying them what they want. It involves the child nagging parents into purchasing items that the parent may not otherwise buy. “Brand loyalty” is the process of a consumer staying loyal to a certain brand that they are familiar with. Children are very familiar with brand recognition from early ages. For example a child aged 8 is more likely to persuade their parents to buy them a burger from McDonalds rather than a more cheaper unfamiliar option such as a burger stand. Mainly due to how popular and well known McDonald’s is. Another technique that marketers use to attempt to influence the younger generation is placing advertisements in between popular children’s television shows. Marketers are very clever in the way in which they operate, they know exactly what time children are most likely to be watching television which is just as they arrive home from school, and they know exactly which television show the vast popularity of the younger generation are going to be watching. Marketers advertise toys, new gadgets; fast food and trendy clothes because they know it will attract the young consumer’s attention which will then result in the child pester powering their parents.
Marketers use income as a way to influence a consumer’s decision when it comes to purchasing services and products. People with similar income tend to come from the same social class, they often make purchases in order to maintain their lifestyles for example an upper class individual is most likely to purchase certain higher end cars such as Mercedes, BMW and range rover. Social class is determined on an individual’s income, family background and occupation. People who work in similar occupations tend to share similar interests such as music, cars and clothing. “The distribution of wealth is of great interest to marketers, since it determines which groups have the greatest buying power and market potential” (Consumer behaviour A European perspective p.13). For example an expensive clothing company such as Ralph Lauren tend to grab a middle class/upper class individuals attention because marketers know that these groups of individuals have the money to purchase their products, so they hold the greatest market potential in relation to expensive brands. One way in which marketers uses income/social class to influence customers includes the use of the media. Marketers have common knowledge about which groups of people tend to read which newspapers. For example Lower middle class individuals tend to read papers such as The Sun and often have access to certain television programmes such as free view and the main channels 1-5. Upper middle class individuals tend to read newspapers such as The Times and National Geographic and they tend to have subscriptions to all sky channels. After marketers identify which types of media appeal to which type of social class they then place ads in newspapers and certain Television programmes which they think will appeal to the groups of people who are reading and watching. For example The Sun may have tokens for money of at Tesco when you spend a certain amount and The Times may have information about how much shares are in certain businesses. “The choices of magazines are also linked to education and reading ability” (Class PowerPoint presentation, Income and class). Different types of newspapers may have different types of English language to