October 22-28 has been designated National Consumers Week, a time to reflect on the role of consumers in our society. This year's theme, "Service - It's Your Right," was chosen by the U.S. Office of Consumer Affairs to highlight the importance of honesty, courtesy and fairness in the marketplace.
President Clinton emphasized the importance of service last year, when he added "The Right to Service" to the Consumer Bill of Rights, originally put forth by President John F. Kennedy three decades ago."The technological complexity of much of what we buy and, frequently, the distance between buyer and maker or seller have expanded the importance of service. Americans understand that service means the commitment to consumers that their experiences in the marketplace will meet all reasonable expectations of civility, responsiveness, convenience, performance and fairness," said Clinton.
"Good service has always been the hallmark of American business, and good service has helped make our nation the economic powerhouse it is today," says USOCA acting director Bernice Friedlander. "Good service makes consumers feel confident about their purchases and helps businesses thrive by encouraging customer loyalty."
To better serve consumers, a lot of manufacturers and businesses strive to know more about those consumers.
Which brings up the question: What kind of consumer are you?
Marketers and advertisers like to sort consumers into groups so they can more easily reach the consumers most likely to buy their products or services.
One of the latest studies to do that is a system called VALS 2 developed by the Stanford Research Institute. VALS (for values and lifestyles) 2 (because the system was first developed in 1978 and recently updated) is designed to go beyond simple demographics to identify potential consumers.
"The consumer marketplace has seen substantial change over the past decade," says the institute. "Technical advances, product proliferation, new competitors, expanding media and distribution channels and an increasingly diverse and fragmented consumer base have made doing business more challenging than ever before."
So to help businesses stay in touch with consumer segments, VALS 2 attempts to identify consumers on the basis of actions and beliefs. There are three main categories:
- Principle-oriented consumers tend to make decisions based on abstract, idealized criteria (for example, quality, integrity, tradition) rather than on feelings, experiences or a desire for social approval.
- Status-oriented consumers strive for a clear social position and thus make choices based on the expected reactions, concerns and desires of valued social groups.
- Action-oriented consumers base their choices on direct experience, taking events at face value and attempting to make an impact on the physical world.
Within these broad categories, VALS 2 further classifies consumers into eight categories:
Actualizers: Are principle-oriented and have abundant resources that give them a unique view of the world - a mixture of the reflective and the active. As consumers, they are adventurous and quality conscious and exhibit a cultivated taste for the "finer things in life."
Fulfilleds: Also have a principle orientation and a high level of resources that give them a mature, satisfied, self-confident outlook on life. As consumers, they are conservative and practical but open to new products and services.
Believers: Have a principle orientation but a more moderate level of resources, which results in a traditional, comfortable outlook, founded on family, community and moral principles. They are loyal and predictable consumers, not easily persuaded to change their buying patterns.
Achievers: With a status orientation and a high level of resources, they define their goals and valued activities according to their relationships with social, professional and family groups. As consumers, they prefer established brands and respond to products and services that will enhance their position in the eyes of valued social groups.
Strivers: Also have a status orientation but are constrained by a modest level of resources, which tends to make them unsure of themselves and concerned with the opinions and approval of others. As consumers, they follow fashion and fads and often desire products that are beyond their reach.
Experiencers: Combining an action orientation with a high level of resources, they try to savor the new, the offbeat, the risky. As consumers, they buy things on impulse and are effectively persuaded by promises or action, variety and adventure.
Makers: Their action orientation and moderate level of resources finds outlet in constructive activity - working on or building the things that surround them. As consumers, they seek out products with a practical purpose and make decisions based on considerations like comfort, durability and utility.
Strugglers: Their low level of resources places them outside the realm of self-orientation. Experiencing the world as pressing and difficult, they are content just to meet immediate demands. As consumers, they are extremely price sensitive.
Recognize yourself? Or at least some of your tendencies? (The checklist on this page gives you some further indications of categories.) You may not fit totally within one group. Categorizing may be getting more sophisticated, but there is still a lot of individual difference out there. Still, it is interesting to see how you might compare to other groups.
There is not necessarily a "best" kind of consumer to be, says Sally Archer, sales marketing director for KUTV. (The VALS 2 was part of a larger consumer study along the Wasatch Front commissioned by the television station.)
The categories are a tool to help companies better understand consumers, to make products that fit consumer needs and to better communicate to consumers, she says.
"But consumers need to understand that advertisers are doing that. You can be a better consumer if you are aware of the sophisticated techniques advertisers use.
"I think it's a positive thing. As a consumer, I want to find the products that are going to best meet my needs. So this matching features of products to the needs of consumers can be beneficial."
The marketplace used to be very product-driven, she says. "You had a black Model T and that was it. But it has switched to be consumer-driven. And in that kind of market, you have to understand consumers and be able to communicate with them."
There are just so many choices out there, she says. Today's advertisers have to be more savvy - and so do today's consumers.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Where do you fit? System puts consumers into 8 categories
The VALS 2 system, designed by Stanford Research Institute, divides consumers into eight categories:
ACTUALIZERS
- Sophisticated consumers.
- Adventurous and quality conscious.
- Successful.
- Active.
- Expect special treatment.
- Persuaded by technical information and product superiority.
- Words that appeal: quality, variety, independence, confident, successful, unique.
- 10 percent of Wasatch Front consumers.
FULFILLEDS
- Informed consumers.
- Like understated luxury.
- Mature.
- Satisfied.
- Buy functional, quality products.
- Open to new products but like established brands.
- Words that appeal: well-informed, responsible, content, reliable, confident.
- 16 percent of Wasatch Front consumers.
ACHIEVERS
- Conforming consumers.
- Judge people by their possesions.
- Buy expensive, stylish products.
- Deliberate.
- Successful.
- Want special treatment.
- Brand conscious.
- Words that appeal: stylish, successful, goal, professional, predictable.
- 8 percent of Wasatch Front consumers.
EXPERIENCERS
- Inexperienced consumers.
- Short attention span.
- Want features and options.
- Enthusiastic.
- Buy on impulse.
- Want creative financing.
- Words that appeal: new, different, unique, fun, now.
- 23 percent of Wasatch Front consumers.
BELIEVERS
- Traditional consumers.
- Buy established American products.
- Loyal customers.
- Conservative and conventional.
- Price sensitive.
- Words that appeal: comfortable, low-price, conservative, guarantee.
- 10 percent of Wasatch Front consumers.
STRIVERS
- Imitative consumers.
- Want it all but can't afford it.
- Follow fashion and fads.
- Price sensitive.
- Unsure.
- Imitative.
- Words that appeal: status, approval, affordable, trend, easy-credit.
- 17 percent of Wasatch Front consumers.
MAKERS
- Practical consumers.
- Want comfort, durability and value.
- Tend to buy American.
- Conservative.
- Price sensitive.
- Words that appeal: practical, durable, self-sufficient, comfortable, hands-on.
- 10 percent of Wasatch Front consumers.
STRUGGLERS
- Constrained consumers.
- Buy necessities.
- Brand loyal.
- Focused on meeting needs of the present.
- Buy inexpensive, reliable products.
- Words that appeal: traditional, friendly, easy-to-use, sale, free.
- 6 percent of Wasatch Front consumers.