Module Code: ULMS 795 Module Leader: Matthews Paul
Module Code：ULMS 795
Module Title: Consumer Behaviour
Tutor Name: Matthews Paul
Title: The reflection about the differences in traditional
customs between China and Britain
Student Name: Lishan Luo (201281240)
Date of Submission: 16/03/2018
Word count: 958
Module Code: ULMS 795 Module Leader: Matthews Paul
1
In order to satisfy the needs and desires, there is a process for individuals or
groups to select, purchase, use, or dispose of products, services, ideas, or
experiences, which is Consumer Behaviour (Solomon et al, 2016). As reported
by Kotler and Keller (2011), there are three interdependent dimensions to
study consumer behaviour; the study of culture, the study of social groups and
the study of the individual. Moreover, cultural, social, personal and
psychological factors have great influence on the consumer’s purchasing
decisions (Kotler and Armstrong, 2018). No one can deny the power of culture
because it can affect all kinds of human life (Hall, 1989). Traditions and
customs are the key factors in the culture and they also can influence
consumer’s response. To understand the culture and help marketers to make
strategies precisely, we choose China and UK which are typical eastern
country and western country to discover the differentiation of traditions.
The strength of our group work is the well-rounded difference of traditions
between China and UK we discovered. By doing so, that information can be
provided for current marketers to make strategies more precisely when they
plan to enter eastern or western markets. For example, in China, myth is
changed with the change of its own history, but British mythology is mainly
combined with Rome mythology and Greek mythology (Folliot, 2015). In China,
reuniting with family is the main meaning of festivals, such as Spring Festival
and Mid-autumn Festival. In those festivals, people will come back home from
different places to meet their family and have a great meal. However, festivals
are in relation to Christianity or state in the UK ( Karami, et al, 2017). China is
collective country because the relationship is a key part of Chinese culture. On
the contrary, British people mainly focus on their own uniqueness and
personality, which represents the UK is an individualist country. Last but not
least, language is the biggest difference between China and UK.
The difference of myths implies marketers to build a relationship between
myths and products and give specific symbol or background to products in
certain markets. Because British people are more individualist, they will pay
more attention to their own needs and desires. Thus, marketers need to take
consumer’s real needs into account when they make promoting strategies. In
China or other collectivistic countries, relationship-based promoting strategies
can be primarily considered by marketers. The difference of language also can
lead to the misunderstanding during marketing process which...
