Social class has a lasting impact on a person's buying behavior. Social class determines the economic conditions of a person. Economic conditions inturn determine how much a person can spend. So the people belonging to affluent economic class tend to spend more and on designer and high end products whereas people having low economic power tend to spend less and on lower end products and utilities.
Social class is the classification of members of society in different classes and these classes or strata's are given the name of social class.the purchase decisions made by the individuals are directly affected by the social class they belong to.This also relates to the concept of discretionary income with the consumer which is avaliable for the purpose of spending.The dimensions of social class such as income, occupation and education attainment has a direct impact on the way an individual spends his income. The higher the income of a person, the greater will be his capacity to spend and extra income generated by the individual will be spent on comfort and luxury goods to increase his standard of living.
Glamorous advertisements invite people to purchase a product but it lost it's attraction, once the product lose it's confidence. The word of mouth is main thing.
A particular brand is only purchased if it has good popularity. Secondly the buying power and the rate of the product also matters a lot. A cheap and good product is always admired and purchased in bulks.
A persons buying behavior is a true reflection of the social class he/she belongs to. Social class is basically determined by the level of income of a person. And as a matter of fact every individual spends according to the spending capacity he has, which, in turn, is determined by his level of income. Social class determines what a person would buy, and in what quantity. It also determines the frequency of use of a product. For more details see the link below: www.udel.edu
Social Class is totally distinctive, especially in growing economies. Un like in already grown economies like in the USA, UK, Canada, Malysia etc.., where almost every body has the same or belongs to the same social class, for economies like in Uganda, it has been evident in the recent 10-20 years of the emerging social classes, which were not there before and therefore these different classes buy/shop differently and according to their incomes and standards of living. We have the Elite Class, Middle Class, the Low level Class. All these spend differently depending on the power and amount of income each has at their disposal. Low level income earners-who are the majority citizens constituting up to 75% of the population in Uganda, shop in places like Kalerwe Market, Nakulabye Market, Bugolobi, Nakawa, St. Balikuddembe Market, small shops, retail shops, where the cost of items is relatively cheaper and addresses their needs at this level, while the middle class buyers/shoppers, who consitute about 20% of the Ugandan population go to shopping arcades, super Markets and Glosaries and such other designated shopping places. These are fairly clean, organised shopping places, which meet the type of class they belong to. Then there is the Elite class, who constitute about 5% of the population, who shop from Uchumi, Shopprite, Nakumati, Capital Shoppers to mention but a few.In all these classes, knowing ones level of income, achieving satisfaction when one shops/buys, accessibility and easy reach of the shopping place and standard of living are major factors in play. This therefore also defines how much, how often, what quantity, what quality and a host of other attributes of what is bought/shopped at a particular time. Every body would desire to live a defined life, but major limitations come in when the level of funds does not match the desired level of living. Whoever gets money would like to be associated with good class, would like to associate with such classes of people with money or good standards of living. Busuulwa Francis, a Bachelor of Entrepreneurship & Business Management Student of St. Lawrence University, Kampala-Uganda. Telephones + 256 70 3624 066, 71 2624 066, 75 1624 066
