Social Factors
There is also a strong impact of Social factors on buying behavior of consumers. In context to Blackberry these may include reference groups, family, role and status.
Reference Groups
A person’s behavior or attitude may be directly affected by the reference groups. In case of Blackberry as it is visible, stylish and socially acceptable it has a definite influence of reference groups. This may include the working environment, social circle, opinion leaders such as friends & family.
Family
Family members also influence the buying behavior of Blackberry. Therefore Blackberry marketers have also focused on the roles played by the family members on buying decisions. For example they have several advertisements catering the family members to buy Blackberry as it is the most convenient and cheapest source of communication.
Roles and Status
Depending upon the different societies, groups and families every person possesses a role and a status. For example Muhammad Usman Ejaz is a financial analyst of Coca-Cola Middle East. He is married and has a son age of 22 years studying at Bradford University, England. In this case this man has a role of father as well as status of a financial analyst. Therefore his decision for buying Blackberry was influenced by both the role and the status. As he can communicate with his son who is away from home and simultaneously be connected to his work 24/7.
3. Personal Factors
Self-concept, personality, lifestyle, occupation, economic situation and age are the personal factors that have a strong influence in buying behavior of a person.
Age
At different stages of lifecycle consumer’s buying behavior changes. Their liking and disliking alters at every stage of their lifecycle. Considering the fact, the Blackberry manufacturers have produced their products in different shapes and features along with accessories that could satisfy the need at different stages such as for young singles, unmarried couples, married couples and professionals.
Occupation
There are some occupational sectors that need 24/7 monitoring and information updates. Considering the need of the market Blackberry has provided a platform which can contribute in getting updated anywhere and anytime. For example the companies who are involved in Forex have provided their clients with a platform that is compatible to their Blackberry. They can check their Equity, monitor the market and even execute their trade from their mobile phones.
Economic Situation
Consumer’s buying behavior is mainly associated to their economic situations; the more income and savings, the more buying power to purchase expensive and quality products. Considering this fact RIM has developed different Blackberry models for different income groups for example Blackberry bold for upper stream, Blackberry storm for upper-mid stream and curve for average stream.
Lifestyle
People in this region have a luxury lifestyle. They more spend on the luxurious items to cope up their social circle or status may be. In this region Blackberry is considered to be a luxury item, they considered to be socially empowered to have such items. On the other hand in UAE there is a corporate culture of having connected to work, so the employers provide Blackberry to their employees.
Personality
Different people at, different times and at different places, their personality change. It is the behavior of a person at different circumstances. Characteristics such as confident, organized, dominant and aggressive are associated to a person in different situations. According to our survey mostly working people said Blackberry keeps them organized.