Family purchasing behaviour and the roles of husbands and wives in domestic purchasing

In terms of family purchasing 80% of the UK purchasing decisions are made by women but 83% of 'creatives' are men. The main different family types are shown below:

Nuclear Family - father, mother & children who live together
Extended Family - nuclear family plus other relatives such as grandparents, aunts etc.
Family of Orientation - the family you are born into
Family of Procreation - the family founded through marriage

A family’s needs as consumers are affected by the number of children, their ages & whether one, two or more adults are employed outside the home. Further more the family life cycle concept which outlines income, family composition and changing demands on income also comes into play.


The Family Life-cycle:

Stage Title Characteristics

1 Bachelor Young, single, not living at home
2 Newly married Young, no children
3 Full Nest I Youngest child under 6
4 Full Nest II Youngest child 6 or over
5 Full Nest III Older married with dependent children
6 Empty Nest I Older married, no children living at home
7 Empty Nest II Older married, retired, no children living at home
8 Solitary Survivor I In labour force
9 Solitary Survivor II Retired

Family Roles and Decision Making
Field (1969) identified three dimensions to determine relative influences of husband, wife and children:

discernment - technical know how
price and expensiveness - who pays
satisfaction - who uses

In a traditional family the man is the main bread winner and earns the money that the women spends. However in the more modern family there is more shared participation with cultural background impacting on dominance of the husband or the wife. When marketing to the family the marketer must take into account who the gatekeeper of the money is, who the user is, who has influence over the purchase, who the buyer is and who the decider is within the family. Shown below are some statistics on who actually buys what within a traditional nuclear family:


Women are more likely to shop (Women 75% men 53%)
Men are more likely to do DIY (Men 46%, Women 26%)
Men are more likely to use the Internet (Men 49%, Women 40%)
Men are more likely to play computer games (Men 27%, Women 12%)
Men are more likely to have shopped online (Men 58%, Women 48%)
Around twice the number of men had bought computer software and hardware and electronic equipment)
Women shop online for groceries (Women 24%, Men 17%)

So in comparison wives tend to handle most fast moving consumer goods unless they are not specifically relevant to themselves. Further more women are more likely to shop all together with men more likely to buy and use technology and do DIY. Shown below is Davis & Rigaux's (1974) depiction on the husbands and wife's roles in family consumer decisions relevant to product category:


Relevant to the diagram above when marketing to the family marketers have to take into account whether a decision is joint, automatic or solely by the husband or wife. For example if i were to market a car to a family i would aim the advertisement at more of a male audience as it is usually the man who decides. On the other hand if were to market some kitchenware i would target the women as it is usually the women who decides. Shown below is a car advert aimed at a typical male audience: