Research Paper: Cultural Factors that Influence the Purchase of Nike Shoes

Cultural factors significantly affect the decision of individuals to buy Nike shoes. Every person has a distinct set of habits, beliefs, and principle they acquire from the status of their families and background. What people see from childhood usually develops to become a culture. For instance, if a child is brought up in a family that wears Nike shoes, he or she will automatically be bought (as a kid) Nike shoes. When the child grows up, he or she will likely buy Nike shoes.

Another cultural factor that can influence the purchase of Nike shoe is the subculture. Members of various subcultures possess principles, beliefs, and customs that distinguish them from the other members of the same culture. They may stick to a particular status, cultural beliefs or societal model (He & Wang, 2014). These subcultures which include religion, racial groups, nationalities, status, age, gender among others may influence a persons choice to buy Nike Shoes. Regarding nationality, the demand for Nike shoe is relatively low in third world countries, which is contrary to their demand in developed countries. Sports as a subculture also influence the purchase of this brand since the company mostly specializes in sport's shoes. A culture that is grounded in sports is likely to make more purchases than the one which is not. Gender also plays a bigger role in the purchase of Nike shoes. Nike offers more options for men in the sports shoes than women. This implies that men as expected to make more shoe purchase than women.

Social class is another cultural factor that influences the purchase of Nike shoe. Social class reflects peoples income as well as other indicators like education and occupation. Nike Shoes are considered relatively expensive (He & Wang, 2014). Therefore, purchasing them depends entirely on the status of a person. They are consequently associated mostly with people from upper and middle class.

Social Factors that Influence the Purchase of Nike Shoe

Apart from the cultural factors, social factors may also influence a person to buy Nike shoe, and such factors include family, reference groups, statuses and social roles. Consumers may purchase Nike shoes to become a member of a group. For instance, football teams may decide that all members wear Nike shoes, hence the demand for the brand automatically goes up.

Family can greatly influence the purchase of Nike shoes because it is the most significant consumer buying organization in a society. A family comprises of a father, a mother and a child who can all have strong influences on the purchase of Nike shoes (Rani, 2014). These members occupy specific roles in the purchase process, for example when purchasing Nike shoe for the baby, the parents may be the initiator, the father may be the decider, and all of the parents may be a buyer, while the user is the baby.

Roles and status can also influence the purchase of Nike shoes. Roles entails the activities an individual is expected to carry out. These roles come with status. Since Nike shoes are relatively expensive, their purchase can be influenced directly by the roles and status people acquire either at work or in the society (Rani, 2014). For example, managers may purchase more of relatively expensive shoes like Nike shoes to ascertain their status in their places of work. Summarily, a person can purchase Nike shoes as a way of communicating their role and status in the society.

References

Rani, P. (2014). Factors influencing consumer behavior. International Journal of Current Research and Academic Review, 2(9), 52-61.

He, J., & Wang, C. L. (2015). Cultural identity and consumer ethnocentrism impacts on preference and purchase of domestic versus import brands: An empirical study in China. Journal of Business Research, 68(6), 1225-1233.