Current cultural diversity in Sri Lanka is evolvement from its wealthy record and commenced from the civilization of Yaksha and Naga tribes and moreover nourishment from the Buddhism. Further, Sri Lankan culture is influenced by Indian invasions and from going right through Portuguese, Dutch and British guidelines; Sri Lankan culture is diverse like its natural traditions.
In the first 19th hundred years, the British guideline released democracy, modern education, legal and commercial agriculture system. Now Sri Lanka is a mirror of its own ancient and modern cultures which is diverse from it's locations to far villages across the island.
Sinhalese and Tamil are the most greatly spoken dialects in Sri Lanka, with around 74% of society can speak in Sinhalese, while more than 18% can speak Tamil. Muslims also talks Tamil as their main terminology. The colonization started with the Dutch followed by the Portuguese and finally long standing ruling by the English had a direct effect on the dialects, as well as opening the history to the international trade. In addition to Sinhalese and Tamil, British is also used by the Sri Lankan society which was concentrated to urban areas initially are now extending to rural areas with the more prominence to English is given in the training system and increased IT literacy. British is maily used for commercial and recognized purposes.
Sri Lanka is a multi-religious and a multi-ethnic country and Buddhists account for roughly 69% of the population, followed by the Hindus with around 15% of the population. Also inherited from India, Hinduism too has a long and rich background in the country. Most Hindus are Tamils plus they account for many in Northern Sri Lanka, as well as in the Eastern, American and Central areas (up country) of the united states. Islamic community accounts for around 8% with a majority are domiciled in the Eastern and American parts; as well as around 8% enthusiasts of Christianity.
Having a wholesome literacy rate of around 90% (source: United Nations Development Program Statement - 2009) and around 83% of the populace having supplementary education ranks Sri Lanka at the top among other expanding nations. The intricate ethnic and spiritual mix of Sri Lankan contemporary society and also customs and guidelines inherited from colonization have given go up to an assortment of laws which include Roman-Dutch Laws, English common legislation, , Kandyan, and Jaffna Tamil regulation (Thesawalamai Legislation).
Accordingly, Sri Lanka is a country rich with culture and ethnical diversity. Its people live their daily lives very close to their religious values, adherence to traditional norms, family orientation (close bond with their own families in all aspects of life from delivery to loss of life), mom centric society and connection to native foods (mainly rice) and etc. can be viewed as as main cultural worth. Hence, whatever the product or service that marketers are confronted of promoting, they will have to consider the Sri Lankan culture and ethnic values to be always a major influencing factors to the success of the product or service. Further, the actual fact that the culture is not static (dynamic) and change as time passes and folks get adjusted sets the Internet marketer in a far more challenging situation as he needs a knowledge of most aspects.
. Cultural Prices.
Societies have principles that are distributed by its participants. As explained above, values serve as guiding principles for culturally suitable behavior. It identifies what's right? What is wrong? What's important or unimportant?. The values emphasize those things, conditions that those associates consider important. Beliefs are more related to the norms of your culture, but can be more abstract than norms. For example increasing of the national flag during nationally significant situations or even in the case of a wedding or performing the Country wide Anthem in countrywide ceremonies and also government organizations (including some private entities) prior to commencement of work are values. Further, they reflect the worthiness of patriotism. Recently in Sri Lanka patriotism has taken a fresh wing especially in the aftermath of successful war and now it offers expanded to trading and commercial world with the theme "Buy Ours" ("Ganna Ape De"). Therefore this new trend has bearing on consumer behaviour. For example, recently launched KIK COLA (Elephant House) advertisement features that "till the last drop Sri Lankan" with principal focus on Coca Cola. Even "Lanka Bell" adverts mainly based on the theme "100% Sri Lankan".
Why are social prices so important? The cultural values of an community give it a distinctive identity of its own. People are the driving force of the uniqueness. Culture is shared one of the people in the community, contemporary society or sub group. Culture is passed on from one generation to the other and gets evolved over time. It links folks of a region or society together. The traditions and practices the society follow, the clothing they wear, the celebrations, the meals they eat, and importantly, the cultural values they follow, binds them.
Analysis Of How Sri Lankan Cultural Principles Affect THE INTAKE OF Selected Products And Services
First we will get a brief knowledge of Sri Lanka as a Customer. Based on the Annual Survey of the Central bank of Sri Lanka (2009) the population reports can be summarized as follows,
Mid-year inhabitants ('000) in '09 2009 : 20, 450 Mn
Age distribution ('000) in 2009
0 - 14 years: 5, 378 Mn
15 - 64 years: 13, 784 Mn
65 years and over: 1, 288 Mn
Also the Per Capita income is in the trend of USD 2, 000 which is expected to increase corresponding to the GDP expansion by 2016.
Having an understanding of what culture is, what cultural values are on the whole and the Sri Lankan culture and cultural values, we will now assess how those aspects have inspired the intake of several products and something in the Sri Lankan market.
Herbal Soaps:
Sri Lankan culture is very much indeed related to the nature. All most all the aspects of the Sri Lankan culture are associated with the wonders of the nature. Ayurvedic drugs is a treatment method unique to Sri Lanka and everything Sri Lankans (irrespective of what faith they belong to) know and also have beliefs on its therapeutic capabilities. We did not see herbal soaps in the market at the start and until recent times just a few manufactures saw the ability in natural and organic products. Then we found even overseas brands like Lux and Lifebuoy taking up the herbal path since the organic soaps end up being profitable and attract a larger target market segment because natural soaps are extremely much consistent with our principles and beliefs particularly it displays our attachment to aspect. Generally Sri Lankans value old things. Ayurvedic medication has been practiced in Sri Lanka for a large number of years and folks still have faith in it and principles it. It has been used by various marketers and now we can almost get anything in its herbal format.
Child Milk Natural powder:
The bond between the mother and her child is valued and appreciated in almost in any civilized culture. When considering the modern era, generally the talk about of that bond in Sri Lanka and other South Asian countries much more stronger than in virtually any other country. The connection between the child and the mom is built mainly through the nurturing facet of that relationship. Inside the Sri Lankan context (mother centric culture) it is deeply thought that there surely is nothing more vital to child than the love and comfort of a mother and mother's dairy (breast dairy). Breast feeding is fading away in many Europe and getting used to complement formulas, however in Sri Lanka it still retains strong. Sri Lankan mother generally breast nourish their children for at least for just two to three years. In this context child dairy powders have a massive challenge because it is widely thought that there is no alternative to breast dairy. Hence, the actual marketers strategy has been to place the merchandise as a supplementary which gives the nourishment and security from deceases. If it were to come as a replacement for breast dairy, the merchandise wouldn't have survived for long. This situation also facilitated with the upsurge in working women in Sri Lanka but culturally Sri Lankan women are largely supposed to be housewives also to manage the kids. The Brands like Anchor Pediapro, Cow & Gate, Nan, Enpro Grow, Enpro Lac are some of the child dairy powder available in Sri Lanka market.
Automobiles:
Sri Lanka has been using cars because the period where British were in electricity. First automobiles seen on the Sri Lankan highways were European made. But now we can see automobiles from India, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Korea, Taiwan and various other countries as well as the set up of vehicles was commenced in Sri Lanka recently. At first, European vehicles were used by the bigger end of the modern culture and today also European vehicles are driven by upper category people in the united states. Those vehicles are priced higher and can be afforded by only those individuals. But when the Japanese entered the marketplace (in 1960's), they came up with economical vehicles that can be afforded by the center school people as well. There may be strong belief on the list of Sri Lankans still that if someone desires to buy a good vehicle with quality, inexpensive fuel consumption, strength and moderate prices they would first select the Japanese vehicles among other countries that offer same features. This perception and attitude is further proven by the high prices in the next palm market for Japanese vehicles and folks prepared to pay more for Japanese vehicles. Western vehicles are relatively less valued in the second palm market. Hence the demand for Japanese vehicle is geared by the values one of the Sri Lankan people (adherence to traditional norms) that a Japanese vehicle is cost-effective and gives affordability and trustworthy. However, we've lately seen Indian brands promoting their vehicles to be the most cost-effective but nonetheless we cannot start to see the trust on Japanese vehicles heading down.
Pain Comfort Balms:
Sri Lanka using a rich heritage in Ayurvedic drugs, people were used to applying Ayurvedhic oils and pastes with their every day bruises. The meals and formulas have been passed on through generations and some recipes are household known facts. Over the last ten years or two we noticed the marketplace bombarded with various balms to be used for bruises and also to relive pain. Wintegino, a famous UK brand, can be highlighted for utilization among the people and now sprays (apart from balm) with the same effect can be seen on the market. However, it is an acknowledged fact that "Siddhalepa" a brand which has its roots in the Ayurvedic medicine tops all such balms and oils in the market by sales, and it has been doing this for many years. The secret of the success is the faith/beliefs that Sri Lankan people have on Ayurvedic medication which the results have being proven over generations. The folks still has the faith (values) that Ayurveda is the safest way of medication with reduced or minimal side effects. Siddhalepa is proven product with real Ayurvedic fact. Unless it is usually to be used in quick and convenient manner (in a sport event to be cared for to injured players, where probably a spray would be used) Ayurvedic balms are preferred by Sri Lankans where in fact the demand is immediately linked to ethnic beliefs and abundant heritage.
Pawning of Jewelries:
The provision of funding for immediate money needs by pawning jewelries has turned into a prominent business segment for financial services sector like the banks (formal banking sector). However, usually pawning business was dominated by the village stores (Poli Mudalali) and regardless of the high interest levels and also the low security of jewelries pawned the folks still used to look these village vendors simply due to reason that culturally the pawning were regarded as an indicator of severe economical hardships and economical mismanagement of this person and family. Specifically in rural areas and areas near Colombo, the people have an extremely close marriage with their own families, relatives and neighbors and therefore the negative tips of view produced by others are believed to be very critical and long lasting. Therefore people used to visit in times (especially night times) to the amount of money lenders to ensure the confidentiality and didn't turn up at banking institutions.
However, the amount of money blood flow on pawning is known as to be high and which provided a new perspective to financing sector to increase this business segment. Accordingly, in the recent past all financial institutions are seriously promoting the pawning business as it is without risk (credited to security in terms of gold) and profitable. For this purpose, the first effort was to have split areas for pawning customers to confidentially attend to the matter which was major relief from a severe cultural burden. This situation in conjunction with low interest levels and high security for the customers reduced the negative tendencies or values towards pawning in Banking companies. In fact today the all finance institutions and other financial institutions use advertising seriously and also sales promotions are in spot to attract customers specifically providing the best amount per pound, service to settle the amount in installments, offering presents on each pawning, raffle draws and etc.
Analysis On How Cultural Values ARE ESSENTIAL For Marketing Strategic Decisions
Based on preceding areas it is clear the impact of culture and ethnical principles on consumer tendencies. Accordingly, cultural ideals must be considered in marketing and growing marketing strategies as they may have a significant impact on the purchasing behaviour of the consumers. How culture and ethnical values could impact the buyers/consumers buying decisions? This is not an easy process which someone could easily conclude but rather it needs a detail exam. Since the individuals are culturally different, the handling of information in a cursory and spontaneous manner displays culture-based differences. As an example when you go go a roadside billboard or when you watch a Television advertisement, they will effect/persuade you provided it consistent with your cultural values or norms.
When creating a marketing strategy for something, it's important to understand the amount of the culture of the market since habit at different levels of the culture varies. Through the marketing perspective four levels of civilizations could be determined and corresponding to Srnka (2004) they can be Supraculture, Macroculture, Mesoculture and Microculture as shown in Body 1 in next site.
Figure 1:
Four Degrees of Culture Predicated on a Marketing Perspective
Source: Article by Dr. Katharina J. Srnka on Culture's Role in Marketers' Moral Decision Making: A Theoretical Platform - 2004
As we move down the ethnic levels the strategy of the internet entrepreneur must be customized to the prospective market, because when we move down the quantity of people for the reason that level boils down as well as the fine detail of their preferences increases.
It is not possible to evaluate the impact of any respective consumer's ethnic track record on marketing strategies generally, because the precise components of the marketing- combination, i. e. , 1. price, 2. place, 3. product and 4. advertising strategies are all more or less influenced by culture and therefore each element of the marketing mix should be compatible with the cultural context as non compatibility of even one part may result in products being turned down by the target market.
Pricing, which is the first aspect of the marketing- blend, identifies decisions about the real product or service price the buyer has to pay and considers development costs, as well as the consumer's willingness to pay, which can especially be influenced by his or her cultural background. The willingness to pay represents the valuation of products. Since consumers learned during the procedure for which products they should approve of and that they shouldn't, the culture affects the understanding of certain products as well as the determination to pay. Alternatively, decisions concerning charges connect to the monetary development of a country. Hence, ethnical background might serve as a determinant of the mark market and pricing mechanism.
In the framework of distribution plan (place), culture might also make a difference to differentiate between several aim for marketplaces, even if the characteristics of the culture don't have a direct effect on decisions related to product distribution. Nevertheless, different ethnic values have to be considered when distributing products because consumers from different cultures have different buying habits. For instance, in Sri Lanka liquor is prohibited to be sold near any spiritual places because of the strong religious base accompanied by Sri Lankans. Thus, ethnic background has to be taken into account in deciding the distribution route of products, but the differences between civilizations that are appealing for decisions on circulation insurance plan are observable, which makes it easier to consider these differences in product circulation.
The third element of the marketing- combine, product development, is much more affected by the consumer s' cultural backdrop. As the product attributes are expected to bring about solutions which should satisfy different' ethnic history of consumers, culture should be considered in the development of products. In any other case, products might not exactly be in accordance with what the consumers expect the products to be. Furthermore, products that happen to be preferred in certain consumption situations such as spiritual ceremonies fluctuate because of culture and for example in a Hindu wedding which mainly carry out in "Hindu Kowil" are dished up with vegetarian foods. The "PIZZA HUT" experienced pizzas crafted from all meats particularly chicken, meat, pork and mutton. However, Muslims due to their religious preaching do not eat pork and also do not turn up in places where pork is served. Also having Halal recognition is a must for Muslims to get chicken. Appropriately, PIZAA HUT has stopped providing pizza crafted from pork and received qualification from All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama Committee for Halal Qualification.
The fourth element of the marketing- blend is the development of communication strategies (promotion) which broadly contains Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) tools such as advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, immediate marketing and publicity. It really is argued that even the branding and packaging also form part of IMC. IMC are extremely much culture very sensitive and therefore should be designed properly. For example, Anchor always uses the theme "Trusted by Mothers" for its milk powder which is a powerful communication strategy. Whereas once "Nespray" (full cream milk powder) got an advertisement featured by famous Celebrity Sriyani Amarasena and for the reason that it was emphasized that she was given Nespray dairy by her parents which she did for her princess and now same milk is given for her granddaughter. But this advert was not popular as it was considered as an insult to motherhood. Further, if a Marketer would like to connect that its product is particularly appropriate to certain usage situations, it isn't reasonable to only see consumption patterns, it is also necessary to get to know the reason why for culture - specific utilization habits. Hence, to be able to persuade consumers of the appropriateness of certain products, it is of major importance to know the reasons why consumers like some products over others. Generally IMC strategy should consider distinctions in religions, dialects, dissimilarities in infrastructure and legal guidelines. The interdependency between culture - specific buying motives and the introduction of communication strategies is due to the main elements of culture such as symbols, heroes, rituals and values. As advertising plays a major role in a company's communication strategy (IMC) which is affected by all sorts of cultural dimensions and therefore advertising especially has to consider cultural beliefs and mix - cultural differences. Including the "Avenger" men's perfume advertising included that after making use of the perfume the person came out for the advertising campaign become violent or very emotional with young ladies. However, this promotional strategy had not been successful as it had not been culturally suitable in the Sri Lankan context. Also the recent advertisement on "Provado", an agro substance made by Heyleys Agro Products Limited, has an advertisement that famous musician Sunil Perera appeared and it got double so this means phrases and there were many complaints against this from all levels from agricultural community and hence certain parts were edited/deleted and the new version is most likely satisfactory. Further, the Ceylinco Insurance which uses negative procedure in advertising is not culturally feasible though the norm that things including human being lives are uncertain since culturally we are still not ready to agree to or think of an fatality or other form of hazard.
Conclusion
If a marketing strategy can influence the behaviour of a possible client in manner that makes potential customer convert to an actual customer (makes him to buy) the online marketing strategy can be judged to be always a success. To achieve that effectively it is required to know very well what makes people respond in the manner they are doing especially their buying behavior. Many studies have proven the behaviour of a person is mainly inspired by that person's culture and the ethnical values see your face holds. According to this analysis it is clear that the demand for products and services are manufactured by the influences of cultural principles regarding the respected culture. Further it can be stated that a successful online marketing strategy used in Sri Lanka must addresses and consider the cultural variety and uniqueness aspects in the Sri Lankan culture which effect the Sri Lankan customers' purchase of products or use of services in a continuing manner.
