Buyer Profiles
Retailers know how vital it is to their success to appeal to those interested in buying their products. In order to create the atmosphere that attracts and keeps those customers, it’s imperative to understand who those customers are.
According to a survey done in 2004 by the independent agency Leo J. Shapiro and Associates, two profiles stood out as the “top shoppers” of those surveyed by income, age, gender, and shopping frequency. The study looked at the atmospherics of a variety of retail store types and showed a clear link between the atmosphere of a store and shopping behavior.
The Female College Student
This young woman is a 20-26 year old part-time student, with a household income of $28,000. She shops 6 times a week at mostly malls and specialty stores. She shares an apartment with friends and has a vibrant social life in which music and movies play a large role.
To her, music is important and it influences 26.8% of her (21-39 year old) age group to spend more time in a store, over the 19.4% average. Her age group also ranked video, audio announcements and promotional events higher than average, in influencing her to make purchases. She is attracted by a store’s atmosphere, but at the same time she’s more forgiving if the atmosphere is more targeted to different demographics. Based on the survey results for her age and income bracket, she is less likely to walk out of a store due to its music, with 21% of shoppers sharing her income bracket, and 28.2% of shoppers in her age range walking out, in comparison to 40.2% of the total population surveyed.
This frequent shopper is influenced by in-store audio messages, interested in saving money and time. Women are more likely to respond to audio messaging than men by 34% to 26.4%. Frequent shoppers respond more than infrequent shoppers by 34.1% to 25.9%.
The Working Mother of Three
This mother is 40-45 years old with a household income of $175,000. With 3 children, she shops nearly 10 times a week at a variety of stores, taking pride in her wise shopping decisions. Time is a limited commodity for her, so she’s shops at convenient locations near to family and work.
She is a practiced shopper who notices a store’s atmosphere. The survey showed that 83% of shoppers from higher income households recalled being influenced to make a purchase as a result of a store’s atmosphere, over 63.3% of the average. She will shop at stores that appeal to her tastes, and walk out of a store that doesn’t more often than other shoppers by 43.4% over the average of 40.2%.
With her high household income, she is more likely to buy than browse when influenced by a store’s atmospherics. 52.4% of shoppers in this income bracket are likely to buy more than the average survey respondents at 41.9%.
Women in all areas of the survey responded more to the atmosphere of a store than men except for video, which influenced men’s purchasing by 12.5% to women’s 6.4%.
Related posts:
- The Importance of Store Atmospherics
- The Impact of In-Store Video and Audio Messaging
- The Importance of Music to a Retail Storefront
- Spend More Time, Spend More Money
- Types of Stores Where Atmospherics Play the Largest Role
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Marketing research is really important for business growth. I find the more you know about how a customer responds to certain things, the better suited you are for choosing the correct tools to help aide you in creating the proper atmosphere for your customers. It really helps draw the right type of people into your store if you use the correct tools for creating atmosphere.
Comment by Danielle Marcotte — September 24, 2009 @ 10:35 pm
This is good information to have. When you know that a frequent shopper will respond more to a message than an infrequent shopper, then that shows you what your demographic is and is something to stick with for sure.
Comment by Christine D. — September 25, 2009 @ 3:12 pm