Sociologists and consumer researchers have long been attracted to the concept of the family life cycle (FLC) as a means of depicting what was once a rather steady and predictable series of stages that most families progressed through.
The current decline in the percentage of families that progress through a traditional FLC (to be explored shortly) seems to be caused by a host of societal factors including increasing divorce rate, number of out-of-wedlock births, and breaking up of joint families.
FLC analysis enables marketers to segment families in terms of a series of stages spanning the life course of a family unit. The FLC is a composite variable created by systematically combining such commonly used demographic variables as marital status, size of family, age of family members (focusing on the age of the oldest or youngest child), and employment status of the head of household.
The ages of the parents and the relative amount of disposable income usually are inferred from the stage in the family life cycle.
Traditional Family Life Cycle
Traditional family life cycle models have five basic stages:
Stage I - Bachelorhood: Young single adult living apart from parents
Stage II - Honeymooners: Young married couple
Stage III - Parenthood: Married couple with at least one child living at home
Stage IV - Post parenthood: An older married couple with no children living at home
Stage V - Dissolution: One surviving spouse
Stage I – Bachelorhood
The first FLC stage consists of young single men and women who have established households apart from their parents. Most members of this FLC stage are fully employed; many are college or graduate students who have left their parents’ homes. Young single adults are apt to spend their incomes or rent, basic home furnishings, the purchase and maintenance of automobiles, travel and entertainment, and clothing and accessories. It is relatively easy to reach this segment because many special-interest publications target singles. Marriage marks the transition from the bachelorhood stage to the honeymooner stage.
Stage II – Honeymooners
The honeymoon stage starts immediately after the marriage vows are taken and generally continues until the arrival of the couple’s first child. This FLC stage serves as a period of adjustment to married life. These couples have available a combined income that often permits a lifestyle that provide them with the opportunities of more indulgent purchasing of possessions or allows them to save or invest their extra income. Honeymooners have considerable start-up expenses when establishing a new home (major and minor appliances, bedroom and living room furniture, carpeting, drapes, and a host of utensils and accessory items).
Stage III – Parenthood
When a couple has its first child, the honeymoon is considered over. The parenthood stage (sometimes called the full-nest stage) usually extends over more than a 20 year period. Because of its long duration, this stage can be divided into shorter phases: Preschool phase, Elementary school phase, High school phase, and College phase.
Throughout these parenthood phases, the interrelationships of family members and the structure of the family gradually change and the financial resources of the family change significantly. Many magazines cater to the information and entertainment needs of parents and children.
State IV – Post parenthood
Post parenthood, when all the children have left home, is traumatic for some parents and liberating for others. This so-called empty nest stage signifies for many parents almost a ‘rebirth,’ a time for doing all the things they could be while the children were at home and they had to worry about soaring educational expenses. For the mother, it is a time to further her education, to enter or re-enter the job market, to seek new interests. For the father, it is a time to indulge in new hobbies. For both, it is the time to travel, to entertain, perhaps to refurnish their home, or to sell it in favour of a new home or condominium.
Married couples tend to be most comfortable financially. Many empty nesters retire although they are still in good heath. Older consumers tend to use television as an important source of information and entertainment. They favour programmes that provide the opportunity to ‘keep up with what’s happening,’ especially news and public affairs programmes.
Stage V – Dissolution
Dissolution of the basic family unit occurs with the death of one spouse. The surviving spouse (usually the wife) often tends to follow a more economical lifestyle.
It is possible to trace how the FLC concept impacts a single product or service over time. Throughout the FLC, the priorities of the family members undergo changes. The type of products bought, and the amount of leisure time, priorities in life, financial security, etc. change over various stages in the life cycle, thus calling for differential investments in activities and products and services.
Modifications to the FLC
The traditional FLC model has lost some of its ability to represent the current stages a family passes through. The underlying socio-demographic forces that drive this expanded FLC model include divorce and late marriages, with and without the presence of children. Although the modified FLC model is more true to reality it only recognizes those families that started in marriage, and tends to ignore such single-parent households as unwed mothers and single persons who adopt a child.
Non-traditional FLC stages are derived from the dynamic socio-demographic forces operating during the past 25 or so years. These non-traditional stages include not only family household but also non-family households: those consisting of a single individual and those consisting of two or more unrelated individuals.
When households undergo status changes they become attractive targets for many marketers. In another sphere, the substantial increase in dual-income households (i.e., working wives and the subset of working mothers) has also tended to muddy the lifestyle assumptions implicit in the traditional FLC. The side-by-side existence of traditional and non-traditional FLC stage is another example of the contemporary marketplace which is complex in its diversity, and a challenge to segment and serve.
