Tough economic conditions and statutory measures leave consumers asking the question - which way - which is answered more often on their incomes by budgetary re-adjustments . This leads to a change in consumer behavior in terms of their purchasing power as well as where , when and how they source goods and services . need to find out whether there are new external market entrants in their bases offering similar services or goods hence splitting or taking a share of their consumer base .
RETAIL
An Inquiry Into Consumer Paradigm Shift – The Whereabouts
By Patrick Maninga
Economic times are getting dynamic day in day out with a lot of activities taking place both globally and locally . These have caused policy measures and strategic decisions from key players in the government and market at large to remain afloat and safeguard their economic interests . The decisions and strategies have borne fruits while in some they have not been sustainable in the market .
This has been the same case with consumers and since they are super bargainers , they have always found themselves where they can save a coin or two and / or get satisfaction to the maximum on every shilling they spend - they always seek to derive maximum utility from their income spending . This has made consumers to redesign and realign their market desires on what to categorize as a need and as a want to have a clear visual economic impression on where and what to spend their incomes on . This implies that the era where consumers would find themselves spending a chunk of their incomes on impulsive or unbudgeted expenditure is over and where there are still traces , then soon coming to an end .
The market players like producers , distributors , retailers , wholesalers and other intermediaries to the consumers might be asking themselves where the consumers might have vanished to or why there could be a decrease in consumer footfall in the recent times . It could be a point of concern in their strategic models and a parameter to rethink on in their decision-making tools on consumer whereabouts . What could have really impacted their consumer decisions in the market to the tune of not meeting their desirable volumes in production and distribution lines as well as projected consumer footfall in their target bases .
The consumer change of behavior in their purchasing can be understood through a deep dive into the below factors :
Inter-Competition
This refers to external competition in the same market by different producers , or channels producing or selling similar products / services while enjoying a similar consumer segment . The decisions makers
“
Tough economic conditions and statutory measures leave consumers asking the question - which way - which is answered more often on their incomes by budgetary re-adjustments . This leads to a change in consumer behavior in terms of their purchasing power as well as where , when and how they source goods and services . need to find out whether there are new external market entrants in their bases offering similar services or goods hence splitting or taking a share of their consumer base .
Consumers could be moving from retailer or distributor A to B . This can be attributed to the brand name and market perception the new or existing entrant has created that is making the consumers to shift . For instance , consumers could be moving to retailer B in pursuit of proper customer service , after sales service and due to the tough economic conditions . If producer B has been known to be the cheapest then consumers could be in search of better discounts , lower prices and consumer incentives making A to lose its customer base share .
Consumers could also be moving from channel A say General Trade to Modern Trade and vice versa that is switching channel because of consumer confidence in the operations of modern trade say standards , quality , professionalism or lower prices in either of the said channels . This is not to say that one channel has a monopoly of consumer retention , recruitment , incentives and wellbeing over the other .
Intra-Competition
In this scope , this can be termed as warring and flexing of market strategies and decisions between two or more sibling competitors say parent retailer or distributor A having two retail or distributive channels in the same locality while offering similar goods and services , serving common market segment while at the same time being controlled or answerable to one macro or parent retailer , distributor or wholesaler .
This is challenging at micro level but
76 MAL55 / 23 ISSUE