Magazine: Trends, whys and answers – part 3

In the last two decades market researchers started focusing on the psychology of consumers. Qualitative market researchers try to find the answer to questions such as ‘How do emotions influence consumer and shopper behaviour?’ and ‘How can emotions be created in consumers and how will these emotions be expressed in shopper or consumer behaviour?’ One of the retail chains in our region started selling low-price imported meat products with a good price/value ratio. Despite the fact that there were no problems with distribution they sold less than they had envisaged based on retail sales trends.

After interviewing consumers Nielsen found out that people did not only decide what to buy by looking at the price/value ratio: emotions strongly influenced their behaviour, e.g. many shoppers said they did not trust the unfamiliar import products, while others were deterred by the foreign-language name and other information on the products, which they could not pronounce and understand. In such cases advertisements, in-store messages, education, distributing samples and organising tasting sessions can improve the situation. Qualitative research can shed light on the difference between trends and reveal which factors influence consumers when they decide where to
purchase the goods they need.