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Consumer Segments (consumer + segment)
Selected AbstractsTeens' consumer interaction styles: the impact of assertive and aggressive behaviour on attitudes towards marketing practicesINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONSUMER STUDIES, Issue 2 2010Christy Crutsinger Abstract Over half-billion global teens between the ages of 13 and 18 years represent a dynamic opportunity for marketers who wish to grow their businesses and build consumer loyalty. Consumer interaction styles are the consistent behaviour patterns that individuals employ in transactions or exchanges in the marketplace. Assertiveness and aggressiveness represent two distinct interaction styles that enable individuals to achieve a desired outcome. Because teen consumers are an important consumer segment and subscribe to the notion that their voices must be heard, understanding their interaction styles is necessary for businesses and marketers. The purpose of this study was to examine teens' consumer interaction styles according to specific demographic and lifestyle characteristics and investigate the impact of assertive and aggressive interaction styles on attitudes towards marketing practices (i.e. product, retailing, advertising, and pricing). Data were collected from a US teen sample (n = 467) at both rural and urban high schools. Independent t -tests compared the propensity of teens' assertive and aggressive consumer interaction styles according to specific demographic and lifestyle characteristics. Structural Equation Modeling using AMOS 6.0 program was performed to test the hypothesized relationships. Results indicated that an assertive interaction style was pervasive among US teen consumers, while the aggressive interaction style had disparities according to unique demographic and lifestyle characteristics. Assertive and aggressive interaction styles demonstrated negative influences on teen consumers' attitudes towards products and retailing practices. By interpreting the negative impact of teens' assertive and aggressive consumer interaction styles, marketers can develop effective strategies that appeal to this demanding consumer. [source] Preference for green packaging in consumer product choices , Do consumers care?INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONSUMER STUDIES, Issue 5 2008Joonas Rokka Abstract In this paper, consumer environmental choice is studied by analysing the relative importance of green packaging when compared with other relevant product attributes. The empirical study is based on a choice-based conjoint analysis of preferences for functional drink products of a sample of 330 consumers using these products. Our choice-based approach on environmental behaviour brings new insights to previous research, which predominantly relies on attitude models. Results indicate that consumers differ in their preferences for packaging, brand, price and convenience of use of daily products. In addition, various distinctive consumer segments can be identified on the market. Contrary to several previous studies, we found that the largest consumer segment, one-third of consumers, favoured environmentally labelled packaging as the most important criteria in their choice. The findings emphasize the increasing importance of ethical and environmental dimension in product choices. We also propose that the attention in environmental consumer research should be shifted from general attitude studies towards the study of actual product choices. [source] Organic purchasing motivations and attitudes: are they ethical?INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONSUMER STUDIES, Issue 2 2002M.G. McEachern Abstract Despite the increased documentation of consumers' purchases of organic food products, the motivations for such purchases are relatively under-researched. An individual's choice of food products can be linked clearly to ethical stances, but ethical choices can also vary from individual to individual, from industry to industry and among countries. Consequently, this paper investigates the degree to which ethical beliefs influence Scottish consumer perceptions, beliefs, attitudes and purchasing decisions, with regard to organic dairy products. Consumer purchasing motivations are revealed as being self-interest-centred (i.e. better tasting, safer), rather than altruistic. Therefore, to achieve future market development, organic dairy producers cannot rely upon the minority of hardcore green consumers to sustain growth, but must aim to modify perceptions and attitudes of larger consumer segments by implementing educational marketing campaigns that reinforce the ethical, environmental and societal benefits of organic production. [source] Risk and food: environmental concerns and consumer practicesINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, Issue 8 2001Bente Halkier Environmental risks related to food consumption produce needs among consumers to handle such risks through their consumption practices. Consumers' ways of coping with risks are dependent on the social relations of everyday life, of which consumption practices are a part. Risk-handling in food consumption is socio-culturally broader than the cognitive rationality assumed in expert knowledge and administrative procedures on risk and risk-handling. Likewise, risk-handling in food consumption is also characterized by ambivalences. The objective of the article is to show that an important social and cultural source of ambivalence in consumers' handling of risk in food consumption comes from food consumption practices being caught in the tension between desire and control. The article proposes a heuristic theoretical device, called ,the contested space of the body', which is used to discuss the bodily dimension of consumer risk-handling. This is based on a Danish empirical study of parents with small children. A typology of consumers' risk-handling is presented which differs from traditional typologies of consumer segments by allowing for overlaps and shifts between the individual positions in the typology. The three types of risk-handling are the worried, the irritated and the pragmatic. The results suggest that in worried risk-handling control marginalizes desire, in irritated risk-handling desire is openly in conflict with control, and in pragmatic risk-handling relief from the contested space of the body is attempted. [source] A typology of motor vehicle consumers using motives for leasing versus financingJOURNAL OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR, Issue 4 2006Philip J. Trocchia Previous consumer research suggests that individuals who finance high-cost items tend to differ from those who lease the same items. Some differences are economic, such as income and wealth, while other dissimilarities involve non-economic issues such as personal preferences. We employ non-hierarchical cluster analysis to create consumer segments of motor vehicle lessees and financers based on motives for leasing versus financing and demographics. Five segments were uncovered. Lessees predominate in two categories: budget gourmets and automotive hedonists. Another two categories, utility seekers and basic transportation seekers, are mainly comprised of financers. The final group, mature luxury seekers, consists of a roughly equal mix of lessees and financers. Differences between the segments are addressed here, along with a discussion of findings and implications. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] An assessment of consumer preference for fair trade coffee in Toronto and VancouverAGRIBUSINESS : AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 2 2010John Cranfield In this article, the authors use conjoint analysis to elicit the views of coffee consumers on the attributes of Fair Trade coffee using data from the Greater Toronto Area and Vancouver collected through face-to-face interviews with consumers. The impact of socioeconomic and demographic factors on respondents' acceptance of Fair Trade coffee is evaluated using cluster analysis and multinomial logit models. The results suggest that, regardless of location, consumers place a strong premium on price and labeling claims. Three consumer segments are identified in each city; in Toronto, these segments are labeled Fair Trade-Focused, Price Conscious, and Balanced Buyers; for Vancouver these segments are labeled Organic and Fair Trade-Focused, Price Conscious, and Balanced Buyers. Although a broad spectrum of variables influences segment membership, no single variable explains membership in the same segment in each city. Such a result is rather telling; it suggests deeper constructs underlie segment membership, and presumably consumption behavior with respect to Fair Trade coffee. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Consumer preference for production-derived quality: analyzing perceptions of premium chicken production methodsAGRIBUSINESS : AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 3 2009Brian Innes The authors assess consumer interest in a food product containing production-derived attributes. They use the French Label Rouge system in the Ontario chicken market as an example of a producer-controlled quality system. Conjoint analysis reveals a significant proportion of respondents value nonprice attributes; medication and housing had the highest importance scores, followed by price and brand ownership. Cluster analysis of the part-worth utilities revealed three consumer segments: price conscious consumers; consumers focused on naturalness; and those focused on animal health. Segments do not appear to differ on the basis of socioeconomic and demographic profile of respondents. However, multiitem scales reflecting attitudes towards production systems vary significantly across segments. Price-conscious respondents show agreement with use of medication and express concern over quality. Respondents in the naturalness segment express concern over quality, locality of production and impact of production methods on own health. Animal-health-conscious respondents show agreement with the use of medications, concern over quality, locality and impact of production methods on own health, but neutrality towards byproducts and traditional production methods. [EconLit citations: D120, Q130]. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Spanish wine consumer behavior: A choice experiment approachAGRIBUSINESS : AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 3 2006Nadhem Mtimet Overall wine consumption in Spain is decreasing, while at the same time, designation of origin (DO) wine consumption is increasing gradually. This study examines Spanish DO wine consumer behavior by the use of a choice experiment technique. A main-effects model as well as an interaction-effects model is estimated based on four attributes: designation of origin, price, wine aging, and grape variety. Willingness-to-pay estimates, depending on the price segment, is derived for switching from one attribute level to another. Consumer segmentation is undertaken based on purchase frequencies. Market simulations are presented for consumer segments. Empirical results indicate the importance of the DO and the wine aging attributes on wine selection. The interaction-effects model shows the importance of attribute interactions on consumers' choice process. Differences as well as similarities are detected among consumer segments. [EconLit citations: D120, Q120, Q130]. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Agribusiness 22: 343,362, 2006. [source] CONSUMER EXPECTATIONS AND PERCEPTION OF CHOCOLATE MILK DESSERTS ENRICHED WITH ANTIOXIDANTSJOURNAL OF SENSORY STUDIES, Issue 2010GASTÓN ARES ABSTRACT A study was carried out to identify consumers' previous expectations of chocolate milk desserts enriched with antioxidants and to determine if these expectations affected product perception. Seventy-five consumers participated in the study and were asked to complete a word association task before the evaluation. Then, consumers tried six milk desserts with different polyphenolic concentration, scored their overall liking and willingness to purchase and provided up to four words to describe each of the samples. Cluster analysis performed on consumer-elicited terms in the word association task allowed the identification of three consumer segments with different expectations and motivations toward chocolate milk desserts enriched with antioxidants. These groups also differed in their evaluation of the desserts when tasting them, showing different overall liking, willingness to purchase and sensory description of the samples. This suggests that consumers' prior expectations and motivations significantly affected their response when tasting the desserts. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Word association was used to get an insight on consumer expectations of chocolate milk desserts enriched with antioxidants, proving to be a useful methodology. This approach could be a simple technique to understand consumer expectations before tasting a product, and to study how these expectations affect their response after tasting the product, particularly interesting when novel products are considered. Consumer segmentation based on their previous thoughts about a product could help to assure that a product meets consumer expectations appropriately, leading to a higher satisfaction. [source] ASSESSING CONSUMER EXPECTATIONS FOR FOOD BARS BY CONJOINT ANALYSISJOURNAL OF SENSORY STUDIES, Issue 6 2009K. MAHANNA ABSTRACT Food bars, which include meal replacement, protein, granola and cereal bars, have rapidly increased in sales with current estimation of above $3.2 billion. Despite such rapid growth in the market, research on consumer expectations for these products is still lacking. Conjoint analysis was used to probe the effect of different elements of food bar products on purchase intent, including types of bar, ingredients, macro-nutrients, health claims, calories and sensory characteristics. Overall, consumers wanted a food bar to be less than 150 kcal, made with whole grains and higher in protein. Consumers divided into four mind-set segments were characterized as "Label Readers" (n = 213), "Calorie Health Nuts" (n = 90), "Flavor Energy Seekers" (n = 79) and "Chocolate Lovers" (n = 44). Sensory characteristics and types of bar categories were not important to consumers, although calorie elements played the largest role in motivating purchase intent for food bars. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS The results found from this research help to guide new product development in the food bar market by identifying the desires of specific consumer segments. Consumers were interested in food bar products with lower calorie content, which supports the idea that food bars are more typically consumed as a snack than a meal replacement. Half of the sample consumers tested belonged to the "Label Readers" segment. These consumers are interested in a healthful food bar product high in fiber. Development of a bar that is considered healthful would appeal not only to the "Label Readers" segment, but also to the "Calorie Health Nuts" segment. When developing a food bar product, the labeled bar type or sensory claims are not important to consumers. Consumers are more interested in the ingredients and caloric content of the food bar. [source] CONSUMER EVALUATION OF MILK AUTHENTICITY EXPLAINED BOTH BY CONSUMER BACKGROUND CHARACTERISTICS AND BY PRODUCT SENSORY DESCRIPTORSJOURNAL OF SENSORY STUDIES, Issue 6 2007L.W. FRANDSEN ABSTRACT Consumer authenticity tests were used to elicit consumer response to the influence of fodder and storage time on the flavor of cow milk. A panel of professional tasters was used to provide a descriptive profile of the sensory characteristics of the milk. Consumer background characteristics were collected through a questionnaire concerning demographic and consumption pattern variables as well as assessments using two attitude scales: a modified food neophobia questions and a set of milk xenophobia questions. A multivariate data analytical method (L-shaped partial least squares regression) was used to model the variation in the authenticity evaluation simultaneously from two different sources: the storage/feed effects as described by the sensory panel and the consumer background variables. Results showed that milk samples with storage/feed characteristics were evaluated as "foreign" (not Danish) by some segments of the consumers. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Very small differences in a food product, here milk, sometimes cannot be discerned by standard sensory methods. The test in this article , authenticity test , is able to assess such differences. In this article, it is studied whether there are influences of the consumer on the results of the authenticity test, to see if this test is broadly applicable. With respect to milk, a number of effects appear that have an effect on the acceptance of milk as a result of fodder and storage time. These factors can be of use for milk producers, and the differences in the acceptance of the products between the consumers may help milk producers to aim products to consumer segments. [source] Value-based segmentation of luxury consumption behaviorPSYCHOLOGY & MARKETING, Issue 7 2009Prof. Dr. Klaus-Peter Wiedmann Following a broader perspective in exploring customer perceptions of and motives for purchasing luxury brands, it is not sufficient to explain the whole picture of luxury consumption in terms of socially oriented consumer motives and the desire to impress others. The main contribution here is to explore a multidimensional framework of luxury value as a general basis for identifying value-based consumer segments. The empirical results can be seen as a first step toward a better understanding of consumers' luxury value perceptions as based on social, individual, functional, and financial aspects. ©2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Relationship between product groups' price perceptions, shopper's basket size, and grocery store's overall store price imagePSYCHOLOGY & MARKETING, Issue 10 2003Kalpesh Kaushik Desai This research investigates how consumers form an overall store price image (OSPI) of grocery stores. Whereas prior research on this topic has explored the influence of the number of products offered at lower prices and of the magnitude of such price reduction, this study addresses the following two questions: How do the (lower) prices offered on different types of products influence OSPI? Does such influence vary across consumers, and, if so, how? A general framework of product-price saliency on consumers' OSPI is developed and tested. Specifically, based on two product-related factors,consumption span (length of time required to finish the consumption of a standard unit of the product) and unit price, grocery-store products are classified into four exhaustive and mutually exclusive product groups, and the relationship between OSPI and group-level price perceptions across the four product groups is examined. The framework also examines to what extent this relationship is moderated by consumers' shopping-basket size. Consistent with the proposed framework, this research finds strong empirical evidence of a systematic but differential relationship between OSPI and product group-level price perceptions and also a systematic interaction effect with consumers' basket size. The findings help to identify focal product categories across distinct consumer segments and thus hold important strategic implications for category management and target marketing that are likely to increase the overall effectiveness of retail promotional strategies. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] Analysis of consumers' preferences and behavior with regard to horse meat using a structured survey questionnaireANIMAL SCIENCE JOURNAL, Issue 6 2009Woon Yong OH ABSTRACT In this study, a structured survey questionnaire was used to determine consumers' preferences and behavior with regard to horse meat at a horse meat restaurant located in Jeju, Korea, from October 1 to December 24, 2005. The questionnaire employed in this study consisted of 20 questions designed to characterize six general attributes: horse meat sensory property, physical appearance, health condition, origin, price, and other attributes. Of the 1370 questionnaires distributed, 1126 completed questionnaires were retained based on the completeness of the answers, representing an 82.2% response rate. Two issues were investigated that might facilitate the search for ways to improve horse meat production and marketing programs in Korea. The first step was to determine certain important factors, called principal components, which enabled the researchers to understand the needs of horse meat consumers via principal component analysis. The second step was to define consumer segments with regard to their preferences for horse meat, which was accomplished via cluster analysis. The results of the current study showed that health condition, price, origin, and leanness were the most critical physical attributes affecting the preferences of horse meat consumers. Four segments of consumers, with different demands for horse meat attributes, were identified: origin-sensitive consumers, price-sensitive consumers, quality and safety-sensitive consumers, and non-specific consumers. Significant differences existed among segments of consumers in terms of age, nature of work, frequency of consumption, and general level of acceptability of horse meat. [source] | |||||||||||||