Consumer psychologists use the term “aspirational group” to refer to a cultural group that a consumer wants to belong to, but believes they do not belong to yet. Newly minted MBAs may aspire to become part of a business professionals’ culture. Hispanic youth attending a U.S. university might aspire to view themselves as mainstream American college kids.
As a retailer, you’ve an opportunity to sell to these aspiring consumers the products to help them be recognized and recognize themselves as fitting in with their aspirational groups. Apparel for Hispanic youth constitutes one example. Researchers at Auburn University, University of Delaware, and Ohio State University used as subjects Hispanic students at a Midwestern university.
The researchers looked at the ways in which presenting reminders of Hispanic and of American non-Hispanic culture influenced the choices the students later made in brands of clothing. Would these reminders make them more likely to choose brands associated with the cultural identity of the reminder?
The answer is that the effect of the reminders was greatest on the students who saw themselves as navigating between their Hispanic heritage and their American non-Hispanic circumstances. One way to interpret these findings is that the bicultural students aspired to continue to be accepted as part of the Hispanic culture and also to be fully accepted as part of a mainstream American culture.
Research at Baruch College and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee looked at this issue from a different angle: Their findings suggest that Hispanic consumers who speak both English and Spanish feel more assertive when they are speaking Spanish. An assertive willingness to take educated risks is the sort of thing that can lead to larger purchases and so more profitability for you.
With bicultural/bilingual customers, communicate in the tongue they prefer, but also speak their language of cultural aspirations.
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