cultural environment in marketing

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CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT IN INDIAN MARKETING SYSTEM Page 1

PGDM 2010-12

Atreya Chakroborty(10)

Gaurav Kumar Singh(15)

Nathan R.K.(32)

Suhan Sarkar(52)Varun Ahooja(59)

[CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT IN

INDIAN MARKETING SYSTEM]


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CULTURE :

y Culture is the totalityof behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and allother products of human work and thought. It has also been defined as

shared behavior, which is important because it systemizes the way people do

things, thus allowing cooperation so that groups of people can accomplish

what no single individual could do alone. It is usually imposed by sanctions,

rewards and punishments for those who are part of the group.

y Culture is mainly constituted by language, aesthetics, education, religion,attitudes and values.

y Culture operates by setting somewhat loose boundaries for individualbehavior in a society and by influencing the functioning of different

institutions such as family and mass media etc.

y Culture not only influences consumer behavior but also reflec ts it. It is amirror of both the values and possessions of its members.

y Culture is not static but it is evolving and changing slowly over time.y In India, this dimension of culture goes further, with its abundant subcultures

due to multiplicity of language s and custom, differing geographical features

and different festivals and traditions. The 100 year colonial rule of the British

empire left its imprints on a variety of areas, such as dress codes, leisure

activities, and job preferences. In addition, expos ure to western culture and

living practices through media such as TV, cinema, books and magazines has

had an influence on the cultural values and outlook among young people in

the subcontinent.

CULTURAL VALUES :

y Some cultures emphasize and reward individual initiative while some othersencourage and value cooperation and conformity to a group. Americanculture falls in the first category whereas Indian culture comes under the

second category. This difference in culture has an influence on many

components of marketing such as reactions to advertising, luxury goods, fast

food joints and preferred sources of information. Families are very important

in India and marketers must understand this because adolescents are more


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likely to seek parental advice or to re spond favourably to their advice in

making purchases.

y In India, we observe a changing and expanding role of women. This change ismore visible in urban areas. Increasing number of women taking up

employment has led to increased demand for time saving gadg ets and otherrelated products targeted at working women. This is offering several new

opportunities to marketers.

y Indian culture values diversity and accepts all sorts of religions and politicalbeliefs. Such a culture is most likely to welcome diversity in terms of food,

dress, and a vast variety of products and services.

y India is a very tradition bound country and people in general areuncomfortable with change. Advertising themes are affected by this value

and many advertisements in India use traditional settings to communicate

with consumers. Such cultures are more likely to show higher incidence of

brand loyalty.

y Some societies are more fatalistic in their outlook than others and believethat whatever is destined will happen. This discourages people from taking

initiative and expressing formal complaints with an unsa tisfactory purchase.

Marketers must keep this in mind while deciding their strategies.

y Many cultures value nature, admire it and believe in living in harmony withnature. In India, many t hings from nature are worshipped and a high value is

placed on environment. Differences in attitudes towards environment areevident in consumers purchase and consumption decisions and recycling

methods.

y Religion plays a very major role in Indian culture. It is important for marketersto understand the extent and type of religious influences in a given culture to

effectively develop marketing programmes.

CROSS CULTURAL INFLUENCE :

The theme of cross cultural influences has two variations. Cross-cultural

influences are norms and values of consumers in foreign markets that influence

strategies of MNCs marketing their products and services abroad. The second

variation refers to sub culturalinfluences that concern differences in values among

different groups within a country that distinguish them from society as a whole.

Cross cultural analysis helps marketers to determine to what extent the consumers

of two or more nations are similar or different. The greater the similarity between

consumers, the more feasible it is to use relatively similar strategies in each country.


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But if there are wide cultural differences, then a highly individualized marketing

strategy may be indicated for each country.

The change in Indian culture over the last few decades has been du e to a

variety of reasons.Urbanization, liberalization and globalization of the economy, the

IT revolution, the success of the global Indian diaspora, the affirmation of religiousidentities and reaffirmation of ancient world views, reinterpretations of history, new

medias and transnational megagurus, and new political landscapes denote some of

these processes.The urbanisation of small and mid -sized towns,the advent of MNCs

,the emergence of double income no kids families,the change in lifestyle owing to

higher purchasing power and the pace of life,as theorists put it across has resulted

in a cultural paradigm shift.

From a marketers point of view ,while consumers across the world are

seeing a growing number of "Made in India" labels on the goods they buy, Indian

shoppers are witnessing a more subtle change. Increasingly, multinationalcompanies are selling products that are not just made in -- but that are made for

India which after the U.S. and China, is the largest consumer market in the world.

MARKET FOR PIZZA :

With the arrival of branded pizza such as Domino's and Pizza Hut in early

to mid 1990s it has reached almost all major cities in India by 2010.Pizza has

embraced food-on-the-run ,corporate enterprise and an Indian ingenuity .Pizzas

currently form about 2% i.e a market of almost 1000 crore out of the 58000

crore Indian food market.

Considering that the pizza is a food foreign to the Indian palate, this is no

small feat. Pizza Hut tried to develop a bond with the Indian consumer. We

learnt that if we are to make an impression on the complex Indian palate, we had

to become relevant to the Indian consumer. This kick-started the Indianisation

campaign at Pizza Hut.

They created Indian toppings and vegetarian pizzas. The success of

flavours like Chicken Tikka, Spicy Korma and the Tandoori range has been

beyond expectations. The worlds only 100 per cent vegetarian Pizza Hut

restaurants located in Ahmedabad, Surat and Mumbais Chowpatty, and a special

Jain menu sans root-based ingredients are again a reflection of their adaptation

to local preferences. Root-based pizzas do not contain onion and garlic. Instead

of garlic bread, special Jain bread is served. Moreover, dressings on our salads

are completely egg-less. What has worked for Pizza Hut is the strategy to think

global and act local. It is an international brand with an Indian heart, in terms

product, quality of service as well as pricing.


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EVOLUTION OF ADVERTISEMENTS:

Over the years, Pizza Hut has invested time and resources in

understanding the market and customer preferences. The advertising strategy

for Pizza Hut is two-fold. Firstly, laying emphasis on it being an international

brand with an Indian heart, Pizza Huts communication is reflective of familyvalues, family bonding, etc. Take for instance, Pizza Huts arranged marriage

commercial in Indian settings, and the Palat pizza commercial in Hinglish.

Secondly, highlighting the premise that the pizza is a catalyst that brings people

together ensures that this is a brand that connects with the Indian consumer.

Today, Pizza Hut spends approximately Rs 10-12 crore on advertising annually

using a media mix of print, television and radio.

Pizza Hut understands that the Indian consumer is value conscious, and

not just price conscious. So they have been continuously reinforcing their

product quality and standards to remain in sync with the Indian consumer. So

while they have maintained the highest quality standards, they also believe in

delivering affordability. For example, Pan Pizzas start at just Rs 65, which is

probably among the lowest in the world. The recent `Pan 4 All initiative is also

an example of good value for money, where you can actually get four pizzas

beginning Rs 200!

Since its entry into India, Domino's introduced nine new toppings for

Pizzas to cater to the local tastes. Different flavors were introduced in different

parts of India. Advani said, The Indian palate is very definitive people are

extremely finicky and choosy, not too willing to experiment. Food tastes vary

from region to region. To capture the market, we had to localize flavors.

Thus, Deluxe Chicken with Mustard Sauce'and Sardines were confined to

the East, Mutton Ghongura and Chicken Chettinad to the South and Chicken

Pudina to Mumbai. Butter chicken, Makhani Paneer and the Chatpata Chana

Masala were confined to the North. Very soon, Pizza Hut followed Domino's and

offered customized Spicy Paneer and Chicken Tikka toppings.

Apart from this, it also opened a 100% vegetarian restaurant at

Ahmedabad, a one-of-its-kind worldwide. The restaurant also offered a special

Jain menu, which did not have a single root -based ingredient to fit in with the

food habits of Jains. Salads dressings in pizza outlets in india do not have any egg

contains in it. Another city-specific adaptation of its menu by Pizza Hut was therestaurant in Hyderabad, (Andhra Pradesh) which offered Halal meat and

chicken only with no beef and pork products in the menu.

Domino's and Pizza Hut initially restricted their ad strategy to banners,

hoardings and specific promotions. In August 2000, Domino's launched the

Hungry Kya? (Are You Hungry)'sequence of advertisements on television. A


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For the same reason as stated above it is still very tough to make a part of

rural Indian food habit.

EFFECT OF VARIOUSMARKETIING ENVIRONMENTS ON THE

MARKETIING OF PIZZA

Factors Effects

Economic With increasing purchasing power of the Indian middle

class, the market for pizza is all set to boom.

Demographic Due to rapid urbanization of tier 2 and tier 3 cities, the

market for pizza is expanding with more and more outlets

being opened.

Social Dining out has become much more popular in India of late,

than what it used to be earlier.

Some fast food joints have obtained licenses for serving

alcohol according to customer preferences.

Legal Recently, the government has allowed unrestricted FDI in

fast food business. As a result, more investment would flowin.

Marketing

Communication

Print (Pamphlets etc) and broadcasting(TV) and

electronic(Internet) media is used extensively to market

Pizza in India.

Internal Marketing Preferences of the Indian consumer has coerced the firms

to modify their orientation. For example, Pizza Hut was

primarily a dine-in food joint but it has introduced home

delivery service to meet consumer preferences.

Dominoes promises its customers delivery within 30 mins

or free.

Technological With the advent of ultra modern machinery andequipments, processing time can be reduced considerably.

References:

1.Consumer Behaviour Insight ,ICFAI Hyderabad

2.Text and Cases by Satish K Batra and SHH Kazmi

3.Consumer Behaviour ,Mazumdar

4. www.knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/india

5. www.marketerskaleidoscope.com


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