Social class based buying behaviour

As learnt in class, we know a few behaviour traits based on social class.

Car seating: The scenario is that there are two couples heading for a night out. They are all in the same car. The seating arrangement they chose is dependent on their class as follows:

Upper Class: The couples swap partners when sitting beside them in the car
Middle Class: The couples sit with their own partners beside them in the car
Lower Class: The men and the women sit beside each other.

I researched social class based differences in purchasing consumables. It was found that social classes differ in their buying behavior independent of their economic resources. Also it is not a general differentiation, rather it is based on the type of food and drinking.

Upper class households spent more money for fruits, vegetables and dairy products and significantly less money for meat, eggs, spices, coffee and tea, and tobacco than lower class households. No significant differences between upper class and lower class can be found in relation to expenditures for fish, fats, sugar, wheat and potato products and non-alcoholic beverages.

This information can be used when deciding pricing and products to carry in a supermarket.
For e.g. one can charge a premium price, or can sell premium products in the fruits, vegetables and dairy products category when targeting the upper class. Similarly, when catering to the lower class, one should try to offer cheaper alternatives for the same product categories. Advertising can also be catered towards a particular social class based on the product type.


Source:
The melting away of class differences? Consumption differences between employee groups in Finland, 1955-1985.
Timo Toivonen | Social Indicators Research | 1992-0526:n3, | 277(26) |

Social class differences in food and drinking expenditures:
Change and stability in West-Germany 1969 to 2003
Papastefanou, Georgios (ZUMA, P.O. Box 122155; D-68072 Mannheim,
papastefanou@zuma-mannheim.de, www.gesis.org/zuma)
Grund, Thomas (University of Trier, FB IV - Sociology, Universitätsring 15, 54286 Trier,
thomas.grund@gmx.de, www.uni-trier.de/uni/fb4/soziologie/faecher/amk)