Letter No.V-34564,Reg.

533/2007-2008 INDIAN JOURNAL OF RESEARCH(2012)6,11-16

ANVIKSHIKI ISSN 0973-9777 Advance Access publication 25 Nov. 2011

STUDY OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR IN THE INTERNATIONAL

MARKET WITH RESPECT TO CULTURAL FACTORS IN DELHI, INDIA
AND LONDON, UK

VAIBHAV MISRA* AND DR. R.K SHUKLA**

Declaration
The Declaration of the authors for publication of Research Paper in The Indian Journal of Research Anvikshiki ISSN 0973-9777
Bi-monthly International Journal of all Research: We, Vaibhav Misra and R.K Shukla the authors of the research paper entitled STUDY
OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOR IN THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET WITH RESPECT TO CULTURAL FACTORS IN DELHI,
INDIA AND LONDON, UK declare that , We take the responsibility of the content and material of our paper as We ourself have written
it and also have read the manuscript of our paper carefully. Also, We hereby give our consent to publish our paper in Anvikshiki
journal , This research paper is our original work and no part of it or it’s similar version is published or has been sent for publication
anywhere else.We authorise the Editorial Board of the Journal to modify and edit the manuscript. We also give our consent to the Editor
of Anvikshiki Journal to own the copyright of our research paper.

Abstract
This paper focus on the cultural elements present in the markets of Delhi and London. The study is done to find the
importance of cultural element on consumer behavior in the markets of Delhi and London. As the companies are
expanding their business in the foreign countries for increasing business profitability, it is focused that the companies
should not forget to consider the cultural elements while marketing the products and also while preparing the strategies.
Cultural considerations are shown as an important factor that influences the markets of Delhi and London. The cultural
importance is stated by means of examples where found necessary. The research is based on primary data that is authors’
opinion, teachers lecture and local people’s opinion and secondary data that is collected from journals, magazines and
internet.
The type of relationship was found between both the markets of Delhi and London with respect to the cultural
elements present in these markets. The correlation method for finding the relationship among the markets.
Keywords : Consumer Behavior, Culture, Religion, Values, Language, beliefs, Symbols and Color

Introduction
To operate in international market the companies consider different forces that influence business decisions
taken by the marketers. One of the important factors responsible for the success in global business is Culture.

*Research Scholar, NIMS University Jaipur (Rajasthan) India.

**Director, Trivedi Institute of Management and Technology, Fatehpur (U.P.) India.

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 MISRA AND SHUKLA

Culture differs from country to country and is a variable factor that changes according to time and generation,
that means there would be differences among the people and their preferences. From the perspective of
consumer behavior, culture can be defined as the sum total of learned beliefs, values and customs which serve
to regulate the behavior of members of particular society. These beliefs, values and customs may influence the
behavior in general way, in so far as they provide standard which direct lifestyle. They can sometimes be very
specific by encouraging or discouraging consumption of certain products. Culture is the major factor that
influences the consumer behavior. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on the cultural elements involved in the
London and Delhi markets.
Culture not only establishes the criteria for day- to- day business behavior but also forms general pattern of
values and motivations. (Deshpande & Farely, (2004))

Objective of the Study

The author will consider the following objectives for the study:
⇒ Identifying the Cultural Elements that effects the Consumer Behavior in London and Delhi
⇒ Identifying the relationship in the above markets with reference to the cultural factors.
⇒ Identifying the most commonly influencing cultural factors among the markets.

Literature Review
Defining Culture
Most traditional definitions of culture center around the notion that culture is sum of the values, rituals, symbols,
beliefs and thought processes that are learned, shared, by a group of people and transmitted from generation
to generation. (Herskovitz, (1959); Scupin & Decorse, (2005)).
Dutch Management Professor Geert Hofstede refers to culture as the “software of the mind” and argues
that it provides a guide for humans on how to think and behave; it is a problem solving tool. (Hofsted, (2001);
Douglas, (2001))
Culture is the integrated sum total of learned behavioral traits that are shared by members of a society.
(Terpstra, (1994))
Therefore, culture is a sum of values, beliefs, symbols, and rituals of individuals, group or community. The
culture is not same at every place and in every generation. Therefore, it proved that culture is dynamic in nature
and changes from place to place and from generation to generation.

Culture and Consumer Behavior

Further culture is also considered as on of the most important factor of consumer behavior, as it helps consumer
to make decisions regarding the product purchasing.
Culture’s influence on consumption and consumer behavior has received some attention in the Marketing
and consumer behavior disciplines, at the national and international level. However, consumer behavior studies
have addressed individual decision-making in lieu of social and cultural influences. (Engel, Blackwell, and
Miniard, (1995))
Belch and Belch (2004) defined consumer behavior as “the process and activities people engage in when
searching, selecting , purchasing, using, evaluating and disposing of product and services so as to satisfy their
needs and desire”.
According to Ugala (2001), two types of consumer behavior exist, i.e. cognitive and experience-oriented
consumer behavior. Consumers with cognitive behavior are logical and rational consumers while experience
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Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2189594

 STUDY OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR IN THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET WITH RESPECT TO CULTURAL FACTORS IN
DELHI, INDIA AND LONDON, UK

oriented consumers have more emotional reason to want to purchase a product. Dalqvist and Linde (2002)
characterized consumer behavior into four i.e. rational, learned, unconscious and social behavior and they are
represented by these three steps: knowledge→ Attitude→ Action.
Rational behavior: consumers with rational behavior first get some knowledge about the product and what it
may offer. By assessing this information, they get an attitude toward the product and finally act; whether or
not to buy the product. This type of behavior is mostly common when consumers are purchasing expensive
products for example cars. (KNOWLEDGE→ATTITUDE→ACTION)
Unconscious behavior: consumers with unconscious behavior begins with an attitude towards the product,
this attitude may either come from emotions or feelings. This attitude will lead the consumers to find out
more information about the product and get knowledge about it and finally act their choice.
(ATTITUDE→KNOWLEDGE→ACTION)
Learned behavior: this type of behavior stems from habits. These Consumers do not plan their choice of
product, they do it by habit. Example of this behavior is when buying a newspaper.
(ACTION→KNOWLEDGE→ATTITUDE)
Social behavior: consumers with social behavior choose their products as a result of the social environment
which they live in. Their status, lifestyle and influence from others determine the product they will buy.
(ACTION→ATTITUDE→KNOWLEDGE).

Consumers buying behavior

Consumers buying behavior has to do with the attitude, intention, preference and strength to commitment and
the consumer’s ways of identification. Consumers buying behavior can also be referred to as the buying
behavior of the final consumer. Consumer buying behavior is a complicated issue due to the fact that many
internal and external factors have effect on consumers buying decision. (Söderlund, (2001))
Culturally different groups have different opinion about the purchasing and decision making. They have
different thinking that influences the consumer behavior.

Importance of Cultural Elements in Marketing

Cultural elements are also important while formulating the marketing strategies as culture affects every aspect
of marketing. The culture affects the product positioning on one hand and on other hand it also affects the
advertising strategies, similarly it is necessary to understand cultural factors in selecting the marketing channel,
it also becomes necessary to consider cultural factors while formulating pricing strategies. In other words,
culture plays important role in designing the marketing strategies, and also in executing these strategies. It is
necessary for international marketer to understand the cultural factors so as to avoid failure in the market.
Local culture should be deeply understood by marketers before marketing the products in the local markets.
(Mishra & Srivastava, 2011)

Research Methodology
The study is primarily based on Primary data. Therefore, the primary data was collected from London and
Delhi markets. There was the requirement of collecting the secondary data for the support. Therefore both
primary and secondary data were used for the analysis.
Primary data is the data collected from the respondents by taking the interviews, apart from the collected
data the author’s opinion, teachers lecture and local people’s opinion about the topic is also considered as

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 MISRA AND SHUKLA

primary data. Secondary data is the ideas collected from some specialist’s articles we collect from internet,
books, journals and magazines. The sample size selected for the study is 100 respondents from London and
Delhi respectively. The use of stratified random sampling that is every nth respondent will be interviewed from
the research universe.

Data Analysis and Representation

The data was collected the various cultural elements that influences the consumer behavior in London and
Delhi. 100 respondents were interviewed from London and Delhi markets for collection of primary data. All
the respondents are equally divided on the basis of age, gender, education and profession. The data is represented
in the form of pie- charts and data tables.
T A B L E 1 Cultural Elements
Cultural Element Delhi London
Religion 24 17
Language 28 31
Values 15 12
Beliefs 8 10
Symbols 14 11
Colors 11 19
Total 100 100
Religion: Religion is considered to be most important element of culture. It is focused as an important element
for the study. The religion varies from person to person and from place to place. Every religion had different
values and norms that affect the consumer’s behavior of the consumers belonging to that particular religion.
Language: Language is also an important element of culture. Language varies from place to place. Language
is considered as the major element cultural advertising; this is the main tool for creating the awareness of the
product among the customers. Language helps the customers to understand the attributes and use of the
product. Therefore it influences the purchasing behavior of the customers of any country. The major language
used in London for communication is English, whereas, in Delhi it is Hindi.
Cultural Values: Values also are beliefs. Values differ from other beliefs, how-ever, because they meet the
following criteria:
⇒ They are relatively few in numbers;
⇒ They serve as a guide for culturally appropriate behavior;
⇒ They are enduring or difficult to change;
⇒ They are not tied to specific objects or situation;
⇒ They are widely accepted by members of s society.
Therefore, in a broad sense, both values and beliefs are mental images that affect a wide range of specific
attitudes which, in turn, influence the way a person is likely to respond in a specific situation. (Schiffman and
Kanuk, (1997))
Beliefs: Beliefs consist of very large number of mental and verbal statements (for example: “I believe…..”) that
reflects a person’s particular knowledge and assessment of something (another person, a store, a product,
a brand). (Schiffman and Kanuk, (1997))
Symbols: Symbols are words, gestures and pictures or objects that hold a particular meaning only recognizable
by those who share the culture. This category includes words in a language or jargon, as well as dress
codes, hairstyles, flags. New symbols can be developed and old ones disappear. (Hofstede, G. (2001))
Color: Color is considered as the important element of culture. For example- Saffron is the holy color of
Hindus where as Muslims prefer green as holy color; when customers prefer to purchase the garments or
paint for their house etc, they consider color as an important factor of influencing their decision.
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 STUDY OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR IN THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET WITH RESPECT TO CULTURAL FACTORS IN
DELHI, INDIA AND LONDON, UK

Now calculating the median and correlation from the tabulated data
T A B L E 2 Calculation of Median and Correlation
Delhi London
Median 14.5 14.5
Correlation .764
It can be determined that there is positive correlation between Delhi and London markets. As the value of r is
+.764, it can be determined that there is high positive correlation between the markets concerning the
cultural elements. The correlation is said high positive because it fulfills the following statistical condition.
r < +.75
According to Jhunjhunwala, 2008 the above condition signifies high positive correlation between the variables.
Data Representation: The above data is represented by the help of graph. The collected data that influence
the consumer behavior can be represented through following graph:

Chart 1 Cultural relationship Between the Markets

Conclusion
It is concluded that cultural factors plays an important and vital role in changing the consumer’s behavior. The cultural
elements such as religion, values, beliefs, symbols, language and color that influences the consumer behavior in London
and Delhi market were identified. It is necessary for the marketers to analyze these cultural factors before entering the
markets of Delhi and London as these factors influences the product’s success in the market. It is also found that there is
a high positive relationship between both the markets, which means there is high degree of similarity between both the
markets with reference to cultural elements. There is a similar impact of cultural elements in both the markets. The most
influencing cultural factor in both London and Delhi market is Language. Language is the main means of communicating
with the consumers in the market. Therefore, it is necessary for the marketers to understand the language preferences in the
markets before pitching them.

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