A group are a two or more individuals who share similar interests, norms, behaviors as each other. There are many types of groups ranging in all different ages and types. Groups are not only male or female , they can also be mixtures of both. These groups of people share the similar interests or have something in common with each other. Groups influence the socialization process, as they influence the way a person behaves and different things they learn.


There are large ranges of different groups that are targeted by certain organisations for their customers to be from. Their target market may also be chosen from a certain group. As they have the same attitudes and behaviour. These groups can be from a range of types and the customers can be grouped in different ways. According to Maslow hierarchy of needs groups are located in the “belonging need” .everyone needs unconditional positive regard , such as children learn through conditional positive regard. Marketers and advertisers use this as a pivotal message in ad campaign to gain more consumers.

Social Comparison Theory

We tend to look to the behavior of others to provide a guide and to reassure our self-evaluation. Therefore most consumers are careful about whom they use for benchmarks. Most people tend to compare themselves with others from the same level, or co-oriented peers.
Norms and peer pressure
The main influence that groups have is the acceptance of certain behavioural expectation such as norms and rules. This can be a reaction of pressure from others , internalisation and identification , compliance or counter conformity.

There are a range of reasons to why people may be pressured in to joining groups or change their behaviour to get involved in to a group. This can be because of the importance of becoming a group member, or fear of negative sanction , as well as the support they would get from other group members.

Many organisers also may target certain groups, for their products and services. They advertise their products to these certain groups. They chose these groups in order to be able to market their products to the right target group. In order to find the right group to chose as their target market the organisers use a range of different market research methods to figure out different attitudes , likes and dislikes of their customer group.

There are many companies that a directly targeting certain groups types. Either according to gender, age , social class etc. There are many high street shops that cater for certain groups. These shops mainly cater for 1 or few types of similar groups of group rather many as the group chosen are of large scales.

e.g. bonmarche is a retailer that provides clothing for women over 45. The target group the retailer is targeting are women 45+ therefore there advertisements and clothing are going to appeal for that group. Whereas it would not appeal to teenagers or young women. Whilst new look is a retailer targeted at a younger age group mainly for females however some shops have male clothing as well. You would not see a customer from bonmarche shopping from new look as the retailer of new look is not targeting the 45+ group. Likewise you would not see a new look customer buying cloths from bonmarche as they are not their target market group.