Consumer type

"Type C", shop window in Munich

In consumer research (especially in consumer sociology and consumer psychology ), the term consumer type (also consumer type , buyer type or customer type ) denotes a pattern of socio-demographic or psychological properties that are characteristic ("typical") of consumers (consumers) with a certain buying behavior .

The description of a consumer type answers the question: "What characterizes the people who buy a certain product (or a product group) or a certain service (or type of service)

know (or do not know),
like (or dislike) or
buy (or not buy) (would)? "

The division ( classification ) of consumers into consumer types is an important step in the market division and an indispensable prerequisite for successful market development .

In the mass media , but also in specialist literature , consumer types are often referred to with catchy, striking catchphrases (e.g. the "versed", the "pragmatist", the "fearful"). These nicknames emphasize a dominant characteristic of consumers of this type ( pars pro toto ).

Examples

" LOHAS " describes a type of consumer with above-average income who wants to promote health and sustainability through their consumer behavior (e.g. a targeted product selection, a conscious avoidance of cheap offers) . LOHAS-type consumers can often be found among nature and outdoor holidaymakers as well as among customers of health food stores or organic supermarkets .

Definition of terms

The term "consumer type" refers to a single person. The term " household type " refers to all of the people who live in a household. Only in a one-person household do the terms "consumer type" and "household type" coincide.
The term "consumer group" (also "consumer group", "buyer group" or "customer group") denotes a group of consumers, not a property pattern of consumers.

Formation of a consumer type

The pattern of properties that is characteristic of a consumer type is determined as follows:

Setting Description features:
First, all characteristics are defined, the basis of which to be described to be determined receiver type (eg. Sex , age , education , income , marital status , number of children, settings , designs ).
Formation of value classes:
For each characteristic (e.g. age) the values occurring in consumers (e.g. ... 33, 34, 35, 36 ... years) are divided into value classes (e.g. age groups: ... "over 25 up to 35 years "," over 35 to 45 years "...).
Analysis of consumers:
As part of a consumer analysis , a sample of people representative of the overall market is examined to determine - which people (would) show the purchasing behavior to be researched and - which values these people have with regard to the individual descriptive characteristics.

Allocation of consumers to value classes:
Those sample participants who (would) show the relevant purchasing behavior are allocated to a value class with regard to each individual description feature ( classification ). Those value classes to which the largest number of consumers can be assigned describe in their entirety a consumer type (typification).

The boundaries between the value classes of a feature formed in step 2 may be so narrow or so wide that step 4 does not provide a clear result. In this case, steps 2 and 4 can be repeated, shifting the class boundaries in such a way that after a certain number of repetitions ( iterations ) a consumer type still emerges.

Consumer typology

A consumer typology is usually a simple and at the same time complete system of distinct ( heterogeneous ) consumer types. Consumer typologies are often presented in the form of tables (with two descriptive features ) or cubes (with three descriptive features), in which each consumer type can be described by one or more combinations of value classes, each of which is used to describe exactly one consumer type ( Non-overlapping).

Assignment of consumers to consumer types

A consumer type is an artificial, abstract structure ( construct ) that has been derived from a large number of consumers with the help of a statistical procedure. An individual consumer can therefore not necessarily be assigned to a certain type of consumer: In some characteristics it is more in line with one, in other characteristics it is more in line with other consumer types ( discrepancy between real and ideal type ).

Whether and to what extent a consumer embodies a certain type of consumer also depends on the extent to which, for how long and how regularly he exhibits the properties that are characteristic of the type of consumer. The assignment of a consumer to a consumer type is therefore only a snapshot. It may also only apply to part of his purchasing decisions .

Dynamics of consumer types

Enterprises (i.e. producers, distributors and service providers ) have a strong interest in keeping the types of consumers they serve stable or even increasing in size. The latter increases your planning security and benefits your sales. Consumer research also endeavors to identify types of consumers whose purchasing decisions are guided by long-term basic convictions and therefore have a high degree of stability over time and content-related validity (behavioral constancy).

On the other hand, the number of consumers who embody a certain type of consumer is subject to constant changes. In addition, over the years, products and services are often requested by other than the original types of consumers. For these reasons, monitoring consumer types and identifying new consumer types is an ongoing task of consumer research.

Example: "Conscious", i.e. H. of sustainability and pleasure oriented consumers are characterized among other things by the fact that they food from fair trade , organic farming prefer and regional origin. Consumers of this type spend on average 16 percent more on food and beverages than less thoughtful households. Their share rose by 18 percent between 2007 and 2013.

Individual evidence

↑ Purchasing behavior includes all activities from the acquisition or recording of purchase-relevant information to the execution of the actual purchase.
↑ A systematic overview of the possible characteristics can be found in the article Market segmentation .
↑ Example 1: A divorce , a reduction in earning capacity or the entry into retirement age can reduce a consumer's disposable income to such an extent that he has to restrict his consumption considerably and henceforth represents a different type of consumer. - Example 2: A large inheritance or a large lottery win can enable a consumer to continue to live “on a large scale”, whereby the person concerned also represents a different type of consumer. - Example 3: The increase in age, the change in marital status and the number of children often change lifestyle habits and needs to such an extent that over the years a consumer grows into the role of another consumer type.
↑ Example 1: The bitter poverty and the precarious supply situation in the so-called "rubble years" after the Second World War forced many people in Germany to be extremely careful with their meager personal belongings and at the same time to be extremely reluctant to consume. With the so-called " economic miracle " and the associated increase in purchasing power , the type of (inevitably) extremely frugal consumer was replaced by the type of consumer eager to spend. - Example 2: The increase in environmental awareness since the early 1970s has led to the growth of an ecologically oriented type of consumer who until then only led a niche existence , but now exercises considerable market power.
↑ For example, a prestigious luxury good, which only well-heeled consumers can afford, can become a mass product through a gradual drop in price, which - precisely for this reason - is avoided by its former buyers ( snob effect ).
↑ Consciously enjoying food can cost more. GfK and BVE present new consumer study Consumers' Choice 2013 at Anuga . Press release of the Federal Association of the German Food Industry (BVE) of October 2, 2013. Accessed on December 28, 2013.

Web links

Typologies in market and media research. In: Uwe Scheid: Diploma thesis on the development of a user typology for German-speaking Internet users . Retrieved December 13, 2019. 1999.

literature

Hermann Freter: Market and customer segmentation. Customer-oriented market acquisition and processing . Kohlhammer. Stuttgart 2008, 2nd edition, ISBN 978-3-17-018319-3 .
Werner Pepels (Ed.): Market segmentation. Find and occupy niches for success . Symposion Publishing, Düsseldorf 2007, 2nd edition, ISBN 978-3-936608-86-1 .
Jens Böcker , Werner Ziemen, Katja Butt: Market segmentation in practice. The customer in focus . Business Village Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-934424-56-2 .

[1] Purchasing behavior includes all activities from the acquisition or recording of purchase-relevant information to the execution of the actual purchase.

[2] A systematic overview of the possible characteristics can be found in the article Market segmentation .

[3] Example 1: A divorce , a reduction in earning capacity or the entry into retirement age can reduce a consumer's disposable income to such an extent that he has to restrict his consumption considerably and henceforth represents a different type of consumer. - Example 2: A large inheritance or a large lottery win can enable a consumer to continue to live “on a large scale”, whereby the person concerned also represents a different type of consumer. - Example 3: The increase in age, the change in marital status and the number of children often change lifestyle habits and needs to such an extent that over the years a consumer grows into the role of another consumer type.

[4] Example 1: The bitter poverty and the precarious supply situation in the so-called "rubble years" after the Second World War forced many people in Germany to be extremely careful with their meager personal belongings and at the same time to be extremely reluctant to consume. With the so-called " economic miracle " and the associated increase in purchasing power , the type of (inevitably) extremely frugal consumer was replaced by the type of consumer eager to spend. - Example 2: The increase in environmental awareness since the early 1970s has led to the growth of an ecologically oriented type of consumer who until then only led a niche existence , but now exercises considerable market power.

[5] For example, a prestigious luxury good, which only well-heeled consumers can afford, can become a mass product through a gradual drop in price, which - precisely for this reason - is avoided by its former buyers ( snob effect ).

[6] Consciously enjoying food can cost more. GfK and BVE present new consumer study Consumers' Choice 2013 at Anuga . Press release of the Federal Association of the German Food Industry (BVE) of October 2, 2013. Accessed on December 28, 2013.