External Influences on Consumer Behavior SaGa is a European fashion store chain that specializes in accessible, trendy clothes and accessories for men and women. Its target audience includes fashion-conscious young men and women, ages 16-30. After success in Europe, SaGa is getting ready to launch its flagship stores in five U.S. markets-New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, and Miami. Based on its product offerings, SaGa is targeting millennials (those born between 1982 and 2000, also called gen Y). As a group, millennials are open to making impulse purchases, and are socially connected as demonstrated by their use of Twitter to tweet about products and brands. Also, based on its "accessible" price for its fashion offerings, SaGa is targeting middle-to upper-middle-class millennials. SaGa's advertising agency of record was excited about the impending launch campaign in the U.S. and its first-ever foray into the American market, which is heavily influenced by celebrity and pop culture. The agency was developing a campaign that focused on "usage occasion"-the ad would show a group of friends, in their 20s, getting together for a Friday night out in the city. A social occasion such as a night out with friends, combined with the setting of a city street lined with trendy clubs and restaurants, highlighted a perfect usage occasion for wearing fashionable clothes from SaGa. In the ad, the friends walk through a busy city street that has a party atmosphere, and pass several other people whose fashion sense is not as trendy as theirs. As they pass these people, the contrast between their group and the other people is highlighted by the use of muted, fading colors (for the other people) versus bright and pleasing colors (for the group of friends wearing SaGa). The agency was thus contrasting those who do not wear SaGa, a dissociative group, with those who do. Meanwhile, RaZa, a high-end fashion store chain in Europe, is planning to enter the Japanese market. RaZa's promotional strategy decisions include highlighting the purchase situation in their ads by showing the exclusive boutique store atmosphere, and by using international supermodels that denoted an aspirational group for their target audience. RaZa targeted older and more affluent consumers compared to SaGa; their target market consisted of upper-class gen X'ers in Japan (those born between 1965 and 1976). RaZa's research revealed that the Japanese culture understood and respected high-end fashion. The consumer does not make purchase decisions in isolation. A number of external factors have been identified that may influence consumer decision-making, such as culture, subcultures, social class, reference groups, and situational determinants. Match the various external (or environmental) influences on consumer behavior to the relevant situations in SaGa's promotional decisions. Then match these external influences to examples found in RaZa's decisions. Culture Exclusive boutique-like shopping atmosphere SaGa's Promotional Decisions External Influences on Consumer Behavior Examples of External Influence from RaZa's Promotional Decisions