FAMILY DECISION MAKING

Family decision making is a concept in marketing & consumer behavior where an

individual decides to buy a certain product or service after deciding it along with his or
her family. Family decision making is a collective decision by the family, even if the
individual is going to buy the product or service entirely with his/her own money. Every
individual has his/her own taste of buying and consumption. This pattern is largely
inherited by the family or the people surrounding the individual. The buying behaviour
of the individual depends a lot on age, gender, location, income and willingness to
spend. 
Individual members perform different roles in a family which ultimately leads to a
unique buying tendency of the family as a whole. The roles are:
Information Gatherers – These are the individual who share information about the
product of relevance among the family members. These people have great power as
they can selectively transfer information which they favour and discard any information
which are not liked by them, thus playing a crucial role in family decision making.
Influencers - These people do not have the power to buy things but they have a great
power to influence the decision. For Ex- Children in family can really influence the decision
for which movie to watch in movie theatre.
Decision Maker – The decision maker has the power to decide whether to buy or not, what
to buy, when to buy, where to buy, etc.
Purchaser – The purchase is the one which actually purchase the items following the
orders to decision maker. But it can also decide the product in case of unavailability of
product or may/may not buy according to his/her will.

ROLE OF FAMILY DECISION

In a family decision-making model, it is important to understand how the family members
MAKING
interact with each other in the context of their consumer decision-making. There are
different consumption roles played by various members of the family. These roles are as
follows:

 (i) Influencers
The members who influence the purchase of the product by providing information to the
family members, the son in a family may inform the members of a new fast food joint. He
can influence the family members to visit the joint for food and entertainment.
(ii) Gate keepers
These members control the flow of information for a product or brand that they favor and influence the
family to buy the product of their choice. They provide the information favorable to themselves and,
withhold information about other product which they do not favor.

(iii) Deciders
These are the people who have the power or, money and authority to buy. They play a major role in
deciding which product to buy.

(iv) Buyers
Buyers are the people who actually buy. A mother buying ration for the house etc. Father buying crayons
for his children.
 Preparers
Those who prepare the product in the form it is actually consumed. Mother preparing food by adding
ingredients to the raw vegetable. Frying an egg for consumption, sewing clothes for the family, etc.
 User
The person who actually uses or consumes the product. The product can be consumed individually or
jointly by all members of the family. Use of car by the family, use of refrigerator, TV, etc.
The roles that the family members play are different from product to product. Some products do not
involve the influence of family members vegetables bought by the house wife.
She can play many roles of a decider, preparer as well as the user. In limited problem solving or extensive
problem solving there is usually a joint decision by family members.