Social and reference group through personal experience affect decision making process of consumer for FMCG products in Islamabad

The objective of the study is to examine a relationship between the social and reference groups and purchase decision-making process both directly and through the mediating aspect of personal experience of those groups. For this quantitative study, cross sectional data is collected by the virtue of convenience sampling technique from 245 customers of FMCG products in Islamabad through a survey questionnaire and their responses were further analyzed through SPSS 20. The results indicated a direct positive relationship between social and reference groups and purchase decision making process of customers and also displayed the partial mediating role of personal experience of those groups on the purchase decision-making process of customers. The findings of this study can be used by the marketing managers to influence different categories of customers in order to achieve their business objectives and has further added to the theory of how personal experience of those groups plays an intervening role between the social and reference groups and the purchase decision-making process of FMCG customers.