Driving Forces in Asian Consumer Behaviour

While culture helps us to understand a society’s consumer behaviour, the reverse is true as well: observation of a society’s consumption behaviour illuminates aspects of culture. Consumption choices can reflect how an individual perceives himself, his gender and his role as part of a larger whole or as an isolated individual. Culture and consumer behaviour are therefore intimately and inextricably linked. As it is necessary to understand one in order to understand the other, we began with a discussion of the distinctive features of Asian culture compared with cultures of the West. We will now tie these observations to an explanation of current consumer behaviour among Asian cultures and provide an analysis of corresponding marketing implications.