Trends, whys and answers – part 6

Basically consumers are grouped according to socio-demographic features, e.g. sex, age, studies, income, etc., but qualitative market researchers can also characterise members of the target group according to psychographic characteristics – based on their hobbies, leisure activities, lifestyles and other similar factors.

For instance shopping and purchasing decisions are also influenced by the media channels consumers use. By finding out what kind of television programmes the customers of X retail chain like, we can give useful information to that chain’s marketing and communication experts. My experience is that when it comes to in-store sales stimulation, based on price sensitivity Hungarian consumers can be divided into three large groups: 50 percent belong to the ‘medi-level’ group, 15 percent are ‘fastidious’ and 35 percent are ‘price conscious’ – the latter category can be divided into two subgroups. In the first we find those who are price sensitive because of their low income, while in the second there are consumers with an average purchasing power, who at the same time are very cautious about what they spend their money on. We can observe and examine how they live, what they do – we can even accompany them on their shopping trips. Using this research method we can precisely understand why consumers do certain things and even those questions can be answered which would be impossible to answer with the help of questionnaires or interviews.