OTRAS INFORMACIONES
DIRECCIONES DE LAS INSTITUCIONES
wi ll rise from 30% to 50% over the
Boxfresh – ‘streetwear’ fashion This advert for urban ‘streetwear’
clothing brand Boxfresh challenges expectations of the target market.
Question 1
In addition to the fact that women have increased purchasing power, are there any other reasons why fi rms should target women?
Question 2
Identify three products that are being sold to both men and women but are designed primarily for men. How would you refi ne one of these products to make it more appealing to women (without alienating the male customer base)?
Question 3
Girlfriend groups have proven to be an effective way of collecting information about women. What other types of research methods might work especially well with women? Why? Girlfriend groups
Marketers have developed innovative ways of gathering data on women’s needs. A new trend is known as ‘girlfriend groups’.16 Marketers hire one female shopper to recruit several of her girlfriends and they meet for an evening of fun, food, and research. Once they get to their friend’s house, they meet researchers who ask them questions about brands and products. These sessions are less formal than focus
groups and tend to get more honest and forthcoming results. In a typical focus group setting, women tend to be more guarded, but in girlfriend groups, they let their hair, and their guard, down. These research results have proven to be useful for all types of industries including health care and beauty products.
Around the globe, more companies have realised that they overlook women at their own fi nancial peril. Such companies are realigning their marketing and design practices, and learning to court an
increasingly female-centric consumer base that boasts more fi nancial muscle and purchasing independence than ever before.
K2 Skis
US ski manufacturer K2 was able to increase ski sales to women by 25% within one year after developing a new model designed for women’s low centre of gravity.
Exercise 1
Locate two different websites that sell similar products, one that targets the upper class and one that targets the lower class. How do these websites differ in appearance and in their offerings? Do they differ in any other ways? What does this tell you about how marketers target the different social classes?
Exercise 2
Interview three teens and three seniors (people over 55 years of age). Determine what types of goods and services they purchase on a regular basis. What accounts for most of their spending? What items would they like to buy if money were no object? Do these two groups differ in signifi cant ways?
Discussion questions 1
What are the determinants of social class?
2
What are the different ways in which social class can affect consumer behaviour? Provide specifi c examples of products or services.
3
Marketers have identifi ed two different effects of age on consumer behaviour – age and cohort effects. Defi ne each and explain how these two effects differ.
4
What are upward and downward mobility? Which factors could lead to each occurring?
5
Men and women are motivated by different types of goals. Describe these goals and explain how they could impact on how consumers behave in the marketplace.
Endnotes 1
Anyon, J. and Green, K. ‘No Child Left Behind as an Anti-Poverty Measure’ Teacher Education
Quarterly, Spring 2007
2
Tom Hertz (2006) ‘Understanding Mobility in America’, Center for American Progress, 26 April 2006
3
Corak, M. (ed.) Generational Income
Mobility in North America and Europe, Cambridge, Cambridge
University Press, December 2004
4
Scott, J. and Leonhardt, D. ‘Class in America: Shadowy Lines that Still Divide’ The New York Times, 15 May 2005
5
‘In 2007 luxury consumer spending shifts’ Businesswire, 6 June 2007
6
‘The Elite Traveler Affl uent Consumer Survey’ Elite Traveler, January 2008
7
Healey, J. ‘Cheapest Jags get kicked to the curb’ USA Today, 28 May 2005
8
Matt Rosenberg (2009) ‘Baby Boom: The Population Baby Boom of 1946–1964 in the United States’, About.com, 26 March 2009
9
The 2008 Statistical Abstract, US Census Bureau
10
Parmar, A. ‘Global Youth United’
Marketing News, 28 October 2002
11
Puente, M. ‘From the Sandbox to the Spa’ USA Today, 1 August 2006
12
O’Donnell, J. ‘As Kids get Savvy, Marketers move down the age scale’
USA Today, 13 April 2007
13
Tsao, A. ‘Retooling Home Improvement’ Businessweek, 14 February 2005
14
‘Marketing to Women’, Special Report, Businessweek, 14 February 2005
15
Bonstein, J. ‘The Challenge of Marketing to Women’ Businessweek, 15 May 2007
16
Meece, M. ‘What do Women want? Just ask.’ The New York Times, 29 October 2006
Exercise 3
Think of a product or service targeted primarily to women that you believe could be successful if targeted to men. Create a brief marketing plan for this product or service. What would it look like? Would it be any different now that you are selling it to men? Where would you sell it? How would you price it? How would you advertise it? In what media? What would the ads look like?
for a reason; some are easy to articulate and others are not. Some satisfy very basic physiological needs such as thirst or hunger, while others satisfy more complex, psychological needs such as self-fulfi lment. This chapter examines the forces that drive
individuals to consume the products they do – to choose one product over another. On the most basic level, the forces that drive people to buy and consume products are usually easy to identify – for instance, a consumer might purchase bottled water simply because they are thirsty. However, even the choice of basic food products can still be tied to deeply held beliefs as to what is appropriate or desirable. Consider those consumers who choose to only purchase organic foods; they are often driven by beliefs about health, the environment and food safety. In some instances, these beliefs trigger emotional responses that lead to a deep commitment to certain relevant products. The theories of motivation, perception and attitude help us to understand why consumers such as these do the things they do.
Philadelphia cream cheese has been around since 1872, when it was fi rst made in a small New York dairy. Kraft now sells it in 80 countries around the world, with ‘light’ and ‘extra light’ versions for the diet market and now an organic option for a new group of specialist consumers. Most consumers who purchase organic foods are motivated by strongly held beliefs about their health.
Motivation refers to the inner state of arousal that leads people to behave the way they do. It occurs when a need is aroused within the consumer that they have to satisfy. If that need, is not satisfi ed then the consumer will undergo a certain amount of tension – the greater the need the more intense is the state of tension. This drives the consumer to engage in relevant activity to achieve their goal and satisfy the need.
Many factors can affect motivation, including personal relevance, perceived risks and a consumer’s personal values. The outcomes of high motivation include goal-relevant behaviour, high-effort information processing and high levels of involvement. Let’s return to our organic food example to see this in action.
The effects of high motivation More and more consumers are making a commitment to healthy living and environmental responsibility. These
consumers are therefore highly motivated to search for and purchase foods that support this commitment – affecting everything from the milk and cheese that they purchase to the meat that they eat.
This trend in healthy eating has been growing worldwide over the past decade. In the UK, despite the fact that organic products account for little more than 1% of overall food and drink sales, there is no doubt that these products have joined the mainstream. Indeed, organic products are now available from all the major grocery brands, and the majority of households buy organic food, even if some are only doing so very occasionally. This has led to the organic food market
experiencing double-digit growth in the United Kingdom. Fruit and vegetables had sales of £442 million in 2005, making up 37% of the total market. But the biggest rise is in meat and poultry sales – up nearly 150% between 2000 and 2005. This growth is expected to continue with sales projected to reach £2 billion by 2010. Consumer health and environmental concerns have had a very real impact on the grocery market.1