Prestige seeking consumer behaviour

Abstract

This research aims to identify different characteristics of prestige seeking behaviour. We aim to identify why and how people get lured behind prestige seeking in order to understand consumer behaviour better. Through this, we can achieve a better customer experience and product marketing and develop a good strategy for marketing managers to position their products in the market and promote them by targeting the right audience. We started the study reading articles on prestige seeking behaviour to ensure a thorough market spanning from research spanning over decades of experience of top writers of this field. Based on our primary understanding of the research objectives and then thoroughly conducting some groundwork to understand things better, we proceeded with the primary survey floated to understand the adult behaviour better which helped us in understanding the nerve of the consumer in a better way along with what goes on in the human mind. This paper consists of many fold research done to ensure a good coverage of various points. During our research, we found that people tend to give in to prestige seeking behaviour due to our various idiosyncrasies. We found that people tend to behave a certain way to ensure that they are seen in good, positive light. We find that people find prestige seeking behaviour as naturally occurring to them since humans are social animals. They are bound to behave in this way to ensure that they do not submit to anything that is sub-par. They also want people around them to perceive them in certain way and respond to this external stimulus in a certain way that increases their reputation on the society and makes them feel better. Some consumers may do it just to make themselves feel better or superior to other human beings. During our study, we identified two popular brands — one which is doing great in terms of sales and other one — which failed. We tested the hypothesis that one of these products (Apple iPhone) is seen as socially acceptable and the other one (Tata Nano) as socially inferior. We tested that both of these products are doing the way they did in the market due to their image in the eyes of customers, Apple iPhone, although just a phone with features, tends to capture the attention of people around and shows you in a positive light when people see the brand logo on your device. People feel it gives an enhanced socio-economic status in the physical world. On the other hand, Tata Nano failed because it built an image of a cheap product in the mind of the customers which is not what most Indian customers wanted when buying a car to improve their social status. Thus, we analysed these situations in this paper to get a better understanding of the topic and provided managerial implications and recommendations to marketing managers on how to structure their approach while building a brand image. This might be critical move especially in today’s digital era where brands are extremely focussed on capturing higher market share and making use of cutting-edge strategies to gain the comparative advantage over each other.