Identify Influencers in Family Decision Making

When a group shops together, the total of the purchases is more than would be the total if each of those people were shopping on their own. The energy of the group and the opportunity to exchange reactions stimulate buying. Special events encourage people to shop in groups with this sort of excitement.
     When that group is a family rather than a set of friends, though, it gets more complicated. For one thing, if young children are along, the store should be set up to allow the adults to access and try out merchandise while keeping an eye on the little ones. Beyond this, selling to a family involves keeping aware of the different roles played by the family members.

• Just as with purchasing by businesses, the person doing the buying may not be the one intended as the user of the product or service. Present the appropriate benefits to each participant in the decision. For the prospective purchaser, the benefit might be cost, while for the prospective user, it might be novelty. With adults, focus on each participant as you present the benefits that will be of interest to that person. With children, be sure to look at the child when discussing benefits of interest to them, but also spend time looking at the responsible adult so it’s clear you’re not aiming to undercut the adult’s authority.
• Attend to attitudes toward spending. Researchers at University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania and Northwestern University provide some intriguing evidence that tightwads—who recognize they should be more willing to spend money—tend to marry spendthrifts—who recognize they should be more cautious in spending money. Rather than viewing such couples as having opposite attitudes, view them as having complementary approaches. They married each other to help moderate the extremes. When making a sale, give them sufficient time to work their magic with each other.
• Attend to attitudes toward innovation. When asking a family group to try a new product category or an unfamiliar brand, you’re appealing to their attraction to novelty and innovation. Researchers at University of Western Ontario and University of South Carolina find that when the family group includes young adults and their parents, the parents’ attitude toward innovation carries more weight than the siblings’ views. The researchers advise that if you want to get the next generation to try new products, target their parents.

For your profitability: Sell Well: What Really Moves Your Shoppers

Click below for more:
Encourage Group Shopping
Stage Special Events to Build Sales
Offer Family-Oriented Experiences
Stay in Touch for B2B Sales
Sell Spendthrifts with Opportunity Costs