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Cross Cultural Consumer Behavior

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Cross-Cultural Consumer Behavior
Brad Lytle
PSY/322
March 12, 2012
Chawn Williams

Cross-Cultural Consumer Behavior
When a company makes the decision to market their product or service to multiple cultures, they must be very aware of the intricacies and differences between each of the cultures. While some customs or traits associated with a particular culture are very overt or obvious, others may not be. Detailed analysis must be done to ensure that all of these traits have been considered. Failure to do so could result in a lack of profits at best and a negative hit to a brand name at worst. Two case studies give examples of companies attempting to market and sell their products and services in new cultures.

Case One: Japan to Apple’s iPhone: “No Thanks!”
When Apple unveiled its much anticipated iPhone to the United States the response was overwhelming. The iPhone broke new ground in smartphone technology with its touch display, 3G data network capability and internet-based applications and utilities. Apple enjoyed huge sales and revenue in the United States. Similar success was enjoyed when the iPhone was released in other countries around the world as well. Overall, the feedback was very positive. So when it came time to release the iPhone in Japan, analysts estimated a million sales. Revised estimates after the release, however, were a staggering 50% lower at 500,000 units sold. There was initially much confusion as to why actual sales were so much lower than what was initially anticipated due to the fact that Japan is a very technologically savvy country and previous Apple products such as the iPod and Apple computers were very successful in Japan.
As it turned out, one of the very factors that Apple was counting on for high Japanese sales turned out to be the reason sales failed to meet expectations. The Japanese are in fact a very

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