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Behavior Shift
Dr. Abraham Maslow proposed that all human needs can be categorized into a basic hierarchy of needs in which people seek to satisfy needs in an ascending order of importance: biogenic, social, and psychogenic. Although not intended to predict shopping behavior , Maslow’s theory helps retailers understand the buying motivations of consumers. It is most common in today’s retail industry to review the demographics and psychographics of the consumer, along with the above noted factors. Demographic and psychographic factors often intertwine and present new avenues

You Are What You Buy

In the early years of retailing, trading posts sold basic goods such as fur skins for bodily warmth and axes for cutting down trees to gain materials for shelter and heat. Satisfying fundamental human needs were most important to consumers of this era. In direct contrast, affluent individuals of the 20th century choose Porsche automobiles and Rolex watches to fulfill the higher level ego needs for self-esteem. Today’s consumers may be somewhat less ostentationals, but many have discretionary incomes that equal or surpass those in the last few decades. Their self esteem may emanate from more intrinsic than extrinsic sources. US Consumers are making their decisions on the basis of who they are, who they want to be, where and how they live and how much they earn. These personality types and traits are also very influential factors in how one shops. As shopping becomes a form of self expression, understanding a personality type is helpful to retailers and manufacturers in order to develop products that satisfy their expectations. Special activities in which individuals choose to participate, unique combinations of interests they hold, and opinions they voice on a myriad of topics also affect the way they buy.

Demographic and psychographic factors often intertwine and present new avenues of customer understanding for retailers
of customer understanding for retailers. A classification of people on the basis of their lifestyles, activities, interests and opinions is considered psychographics; whereas statistics on populations, including age, gender, ethnic origin, education, income, occupation, type of housing, and other descriptors make up demographics.

Work with the Demographics

Population numbers, growth and density are statistics retailers utilize when seeking new markets whether they be in Chicago or China. They look at areas with high population growth, as growth rates and population density may be important measures for targeting new areas of wealth. Factors such as birth and death dynamics, immigration figures, health standards and marriage and divorce rates also help retailers understand a market’s population. In addition, the age levels of the population are an ultimate determiner of target customers within the market. To understand the significance of the newest age shifts in population

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THE BEST OF INTIMA – 02/2010

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