Page 82 - DMGT408DMGT203_Marketing Management

Unit 3: Consumer Markets and Consumer Buying Behaviour

Notes
Cluster 1987 (%) 1993 (%)
Troubled homebody 15.9 18.3
Tight-fisted traditionalist 14.8 10.0
Contented conservative 7.0 9.3
Archetypal provider 13.0 8.8
Anxious rebel 14.1 15.8
Contemporary housewife 19.2 22.1
Gregarious hedonist 8.7 6.6
Affluent sophisticate 7.3 9.1
The studies seek to track the macro level changes and movements within these 8 clusters
in a period of time.
We note from the table that in 1987, 8.7% of the women in the sample group could be
classified as “gregarious hedonist”—those who consider their own pleasure to be supreme
in life. In 1993, this figure fell to 6.6%. The “troubled homebody” segment—those with
large families and low-income, increased from 15.9% in 1987 to 18.3% in 1993.
Information such as this is obviously useful when it comes to assess the collective mood.
That’s why Pathfinders have an impressive list of clients for their P: SNAP, which includes
Hindustan Lever, Cadbury, Johnson & Johnson, and Gillette.
Profile Representative
The lady lives a ‘good’ life—she is a devoted wife, a doting mother of two school-going
sons, and a god-fearing housewife. She has been living her life by the traditional values
she cherishes—getting up at the crack of dawn, getting the house cleaned up, having the
breakfast of ‘Aloo Parathas’ ready in time before the children’s school-bus honks its horn,
laying down the dress her ‘government servant’ husband will put on after his bath, and
doing her daily one-hour Puja. She fasts every Monday for the welfare of her family, looks
at the ‘freely mixing’ and ‘sexually liberal’ youngsters with deep disdain and cannot
understand the modern young woman’s ‘greed’ for money, jewelry, and jobs.
Her one abiding interest outside the household is the Ganesh Mandir that she has visited
every Wednesday, ever since she got married. She lacks higher education and hence has
little appreciation for the arts, the literature, and the sciences. Her ample spare time is
spent watching TV, which is her prime source of entertainment and information.
Profile Representative

Shobha married young to the first person, she fell in love with, Prakash. Four children
came quickly before she was quite ready to raise a family. Now, she is unhappy. She is
having trouble in making ends meet on her husband’s salary (Prakash is employed as a
clerk in a private business and is often required to work late hours). She is frustrated, as
her desire for an idyllic life has turned sour. She could not get education beyond high
school and hence there are hardly any job opportunities for her. Her husband also keeps
on complaining of the long hours of backbreaking work he has to put in. He consumes
country-made liquor routinely.
Shobha finds escape in (Black and White) TV soap operas and films that transport her to
the world of her dreams. She watches TV almost all through the day while her children
roam around in the locality streets and cannot expect any help from their ‘ever-grumbling’
mother. Purchases are mostly limited to ‘essentials’ and any discretionary purchases are
postponed till they simply must be bought.
Contd...

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