Lifestyles

3497 Words7 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Gender identity impacts on individual

Lifestyles

Introduction

If you look up the word Lifestyle in the dictionary you will find the definition “a way of life or style of living that reflects the attitudes and values of a person or group”. However this definition does not pertain much to marketing, or consumer purchasing habits. Another definition that would be of more relevance and importance to marketers is “Lifestyle refers to a pattern of consumption, of how he or she spends their time and money”.

A lifestyle marketing perspective shows how people sort themselves into groups on the basis of activities they enjoy, how they spend their free time, and how they spend their disposable income. This gives marketers a chance for market segmentation strategies. Market segmentation is the selection of groups of people who will be most receptive to a product. This is done using both Demographics (variables such as age, sex, race, income, occupation, education, household status, and geographical location); and Psychographics (variables such as activities, interests, opinions, product-use patterns, product benefits, and the topic of this research paper lifestyles).

Life Styles are much more than just how a person chooses to spend their extra income. It is a statement of who one is in society, and who one is not. The self definition of groups by it’s members is based on the common symbol system to which said group is dedicated.

If the lifestyle marketing perspective is used then we must look at patterns of behavior to understand the consumers. We can better understand how lifestyles and products are related by looking at consumer choices in a variety of product categories, and also by identifying the set of products and services that are associated with a type of lifestyle in a consumers’ mind.

In other words we must define the consumption constellations (sets of products used by consumers to define, communicate, and perform their social roles) and find out which products are complimentary to each other (product complementarity is when the symbolic meanings of products are related to each other).

Two households can share highly similar demographic characteristics and yet be wholly different due to the different personality traits and different lifestyles of the occupants. By combining personality variables and lifestyle preferences marketers got psychographics (the use of psycholo...

... middle of paper ...

...f visitors. This information would serve to guide content development, partnerships, positioning, branding and communications.

Researchers designed an online study that looked into the lifestyles, behaviors and attitudes of over seven thousand visitors to Women.com and their network of web sites. Based on these characteristics, they were able to provide a segmentation of visitors, and then compare and contrast the segments along key measures and between the different sites. Multivariate cluster analysis was used to detect groupings, which were then examined against the remaining variables. Perceptual maps were created to finally arrive at the most meaningful differentiation between groupings of respondents.

As a result of research Women.com were provided with a thorough lifestyle and psycho graphic segmentation of their community. They were able to act on these insights to enhance their visitors' experience and develop more focused, meaningful content. In addition, their advertisers benefited from having more precise descriptive information about their target audiences.

Bibliography:

Research on Lifestyles.. and it's implications to marketing.. includes VALS2 sample.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Lululemon

    868 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lululemon, a premium yoga-focused retail chain, serves two market segments. One segment consists of consumers who are characterized as “trendy urban” and the other segment consists of “wealthy” consumers. The “trendy urban” segment, in summary, is fashion oriented or active women who live in metropolitan areas. The “wealthy” market segment is affluent women who live in either urban or suburban areas. As discussed below, these two market segments are defined by differences in demographics, geography as well as behavioral and psychographic characteristics.

    Read More

  • What is the Point of Suicidegirls?

    893 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to the website the audience of suicidegirls.com consists of over 5 million unique visitors a month. Domain Tools (one of many domain industry tracking sites) states something completely different. The actual online traffic based on their statistics is about 180 000 unique visitors per month. Those who have membership are mostly men but almost half of th...

    Read More

  • Bud Light Segmentation Analysis

    563 Words  | 2 Pages

    Segmentation variables can be classified into four major classes; geographic, demographic, psychographic and behavioural. The use of these categories either individually or in combination assists companies to identify and establish market segments which is relevant to the product or service they are offering. This in turn helps these organisations to evaluate the relevant segments to choose the pertinent target market.

    Read More

  • Fashion

    688 Words  | 2 Pages

    Fashion can represent a lifestyle using the economic status of a decade as a medium. The amount of economic resources available influences the lifestyle of a individual and a community at large and this can be represented through fashion. In the 1920s “Fashion played an important role in defining modern femininity: as a marker of economic status” stated Bartlett, Cole, Rocamora (2013:91). Furthermore it is also evident that an economic successful lifestyle is represented by expensive fashion brands such as Tommy Hilfiger and FUBU. Might the boom not represent a byproduct of the race to fashion a new consumer lifestyle (Senta, 1980-1995: 14). However economic thriving is not a great force behind lifestyle, as credit purchase is more common, but fashion is still a representative of our ...

    Read More

  • Who is the Target Audience for People Magazine?

    1207 Words  | 3 Pages

    Have you ever looked through a magazine and found it to be really interesting? That is because you are part of its target audience. You are part of a group of people that the magazine is trying to appeal to. There is a reason Sports Illustrated is more of a man’s magazine and Family Circle is more of a woman’s magazine. The people that run that magazine put certain things in those magazines to attract their audience. More commonly, men are interested in sports and anything to do with sports. In Sports Illustrated, the reader would find sports, and that is it. The reader would not find an article titled “How working women balance their careers and home lives.” An article such as that would be found in a magazine like Family Circle, as it is targeted more towards women who have a family. For the purpose of this audience visual analysis, I will be discussing the October 8th, 2012 issue of People magazine. Looking at this issue and reading through the magazine, it is evident that the publishers do have a target audience in mind. This visual analysis will discuss who its target audience is and how the reader can tell. Also, the essay will discuss how the magazine makes the advertisements relevant to its audience.

    Read More

  • La Fitness Marketing Plan Phase III

    1824 Words  | 4 Pages

    Consumer behavior is the ways that consumers exhibit in searching for, purchasing, using, evaluating, and disposing of, products and services. The study of consumer behavior as a separate marketing discipline all started when marketers realized that consumers did not always react as marketing theory suggested they would (Ekström, 2003). Many consumers rebel at using the identical products that everyone else used, instead they prefer differentiated products that they feel reflect their own special needs, personality and lifestyles.

    Read More

  • Marketing Stacy's Pita Chips

    1709 Words  | 4 Pages

    Many factors should be addressed when defining a target market. These factors include market segmentation, product life cycle, and the four "P's" that make the marketing mix. Market segmentation is the process of dividing a total market into market groups consisting of people who have relatively similar product wants and needs. There are four major segmentation variables: geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral. Geographic segmentation includes world region, country region, city, density, or climate. Demographic segmentation can consist of age, gender, income, occupation, education, race, religion, or nationality. Social class, lifestyle, and personality fall into the psychographic segment. The behavioral segment divides buyers into groups based on their knowledge, attitudes, uses, or responses to a product (Bethel, 2007). Once the market segment is identified, that market can be targeted.

    Read More

  • What Are The Four Types Of Consumer Offerings

    1114 Words  | 3 Pages

    Consumer offerings are essential products that are available in the consumers’ market. However, not all these offerings are part of the consumers’ need at a particular time. In this brief piece of writing, readers will understand the consumer offerings that relate to their needs and when. Similarly, readers will learn the difference in these offerings and probably the products the author has patronized with a vivid example. At the end of the paper, readers should feel free to consult the references that aided the writing.

    Read More

  • Market Segmentation Essay

    1165 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to Kotler, market segmentation can be defined as ‘grouping buyers according to their separate products or their desired marketing mix (Kotler, 2013). This report will focus on the psychographic aspect of market segmentation. The concept of psychographic segmentation is defined as ‘grouping consumers according to their social class, lifestyle or personal characteristics (Kotler, 2013). Ultimately this will have a large impact on consumer behaviour towards luxury goods. Consumer behaviour is heavily impacted upon by psychographic behaviour, therefore making it an important aspect of market segmentation. Luxury goods are promoted effectively through firms’ careful consideration of consumers’ psychographic attributes.

    Read More

  • Glastonbury Festival- Music Event

    1225 Words  | 3 Pages

    Caroline and Jennifer said that ‘Market segmentation is a crucial marketing strategy. Its aim is to identify and delineate market segments or set of buyers which would then become targets for the company’s marketing plans.’ (Tynan and Drayton, 1987) There are many ways to segment the market, such as age, region, environment, psychology and wages (Hall, Jones and Raffo, 2010).

    Read More

  • Influence Of Buying A Car

    815 Words  | 2 Pages

    Consumers can be type/price/brand dominant. By type, we can look at sports, passenger cars etc. Consumers might be directed because of the price of the

    Read More

  • Modern Society and Consumerism

    1027 Words  | 3 Pages

    Consumerism is defined as “the theory that an increasing consumption of goods is economically desirable” (“Consumerism”). Its primary motivation is the idea that if one does not have all that money can buy, then he or she cannot be happy. This school of thought has become an integral part of modern society not only in the United States, but internationally as well. While the exact source of this term and ideology are debatable, it is certain now that consumerism is here to stay, intertwining with all aspects of American culture.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Collaborative Consumerism

    878 Words  | 2 Pages

    What I need is not the product, but the experience. This change in consumers has influenced new technologies that have led to the creation of collaborative consumption. Where in corporate consumerism, we care what we consume; the collaborative consumerism is about how we consume. It can also be seen as an increasing possible to terminate ownership and still enjoy the full benefits. So, collaborative consumerism allows us to go beyond the line of the traditional ownership and helps declutter, share, and connect in an eco-friendly way.

    Read More

  • SPAR Case Study

    1480 Words  | 3 Pages

    By using psychographics we can segment the market into groups based on social class, lifestyle and personality characteristics.

    Read More

  • Case Study Of Mustela

    1246 Words  | 3 Pages

    Nevertheless, one of the most important constants among all of us, regardless of our differences, is that, above all, we are buyers. We use or consume on a regular basis food, clothing, shelter, transportation, education, equipment, vacations, necessities, luxuries, services, and even ideas. As consumers, we play an essential role in the health of the economy; local, national and international. The purchase decision we make affect the requirement for basic raw materials, for transportation, for production, for banking; they affect the employment of employees and the growth of resources, the successfulness of some industries and the failure of others. In order to be successful in any business and specifically in today’s dynamic and rapidly evolving marketplace, marketers need to know everything they can about consumers; what they are want, what they are think, how they are work, how they are spend their leisure time. They have to find out the personal and group influences that affect consumer decisions and how these decisions are made. In these days of ever-widening media choices, they need to not only identify their target audiences, but they have to know where and how to reach

    Read More

More about Lifestyles

Open Document