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Tertarik Tumbuhkan Bisnis? Pahami Riset Konsumen dan Cara Melakukannya

Isi Artikel

Pelanggan menjadi salah satu faktor penting dalam pertumbuhan suatu bisnis. Oleh karena itu, melakukan riset konsumen atau consumer research adalah cara yang tepat untuk mengenal mereka lebih dalam. 

Tidak bisa dimungkiri, setiap konsumen memiliki perilaku masing-masing dalam membeli suatu produk.

Tugas dari perusahaan atau pebisnis adalah mengenali setiap konsumen yang membeli produk mereka agar dapat mempertahankannya dalam jangka panjang.

Melalui riset konsumen , perusahaan tentu dapat mewujudkan hal tersebut dengan baik.

Lalu, sebenarnya apa sih pengertiannya? Bagaimana cara melakukannya? Jangan khawatir, Glints telah merangkumnya untukmu.

Apa Itu Riset Konsumen?

© Freepik.com

Agar mudah dalam memahaminya, mari kita bahas terlebih dahulu mengenai pengertiannya.

Menurut Lighter Capital , riset konsumen adalah praktik untuk mengidentifikasi perilaku, preferensi, motivasi dari pelanggan dalam membeli suatu produk atau layanan yang ditawarkan.

Praktik ini biasanya juga disebut sebagai consumer research dan merupakan bagian dari market research .

Tujuan dari diberlakukannya praktik ini tidak lain adalah untuk meningkatkan kepuasan dari para pelanggan.

Semakin mereka puas, pertumbuhan bisnis akan semakin baik.

Lantas, seperti apa praktiknya dalam kegiatan bisnis?

Sebagai contoh, perusahaan yang menjual produk kue brownies ingin meluncurkan produk terbarunya.

Akan tetapi, sebelum itu mereka melakukan riset terkait para pelanggannya dengan mencari tahu perilaku pembelian, masalah, serta permintaan tertinggi dari pasar.

Setelah itu, perusahaan tentu akan mengetahui apa saja kekurangan dari produknya serta solusi apa yang dapat menyelesaikan masalah dari pelanggannya.

Alhasil, perusahaan dapat menciptakan produk yang sesuai dengan keinginan dan kebutuhan dari target customer.  

Baca Juga: Pilihan 6 Aplikasi untuk Mempermudah Customer Relationship Management

Manfaat Riset Konsumen

1. Menumbuhkan bisnis

Secara tidak langsung, dengan riset konsumen bisnismu akan berkembang secara cepat.

Pasalnya, kamu telah mengetahui keinginan dan kebutuhan dari para pelangganmu. Dengan begitu, kemungkinan besar para pelanggan akan menyukai produk yang kamu tawarkan.

2. Mempertahankan konsumen

Manfaat lainnya yang bisa kamu dapatkan adalah berhasil mempertahankan customer yang telah membeli produkmu.

Sebab, kamu berusaha untuk meningkatkan kepuasan mereka sehingga konsumen tidak akan sungkan membeli produk lagi darimu.

Cara Melakukan Riset Konsumen

Bagi perusahaan, ada banyak cara untuk melakukan riset konsumen, entah itu dengan cara langsung maupun tidak langsung.

Kira-kira bagaimana caranya? Berikut Glints telah merangkumnya untukmu:

Dilansir dari Small Business , menelepon pelanggan dan melakukan survei kepada mereka merupakan salah satu cara efektif untuk melakukan riset konsumen.

Lakukan survei kepada pelanggan dengan melemparkan beberapa pertanyaan yang sudah kamu susun terkait pengembangan produk atau layananmu.

Pastikan kamu telah mengumpulkan kontak-kontak dari pelanggan untuk bisa melakukan survei lewat telepon secara langsung.

Baca Juga: Rekomendasi 10 Tools untuk Melakukan Survei secara Online

2. Survei online

Selain melalui telepon, cara lainnya untuk melakukan consumer research adalah dengan melakukan survei online .

Buat beberapa pertanyaan survei terlebih dahulu lewat tools seperti SurveyMonkey, Google Forms, dan lain-lain.

Setelah itu, sebarkan lampiran survei tersebut ke email masing-masing pelanggan. 

Hasil survei tersebut bisa kamu jadikan sebagai acuan untuk mengembangkan produk agar lebih baik lagi ke depannya.

3. Interview

Interview secara langsung dengan pelanggan mungkin akan memakan waktu dan tenaga yang cukup besar.

Kendati demikian, cara ini cukup efektif dalam menggali informasi mengenai customer journey .

Kamu bisa memanggil beberapa pelanggan yang telah membeli produkmu untuk melakukan proses interview .

Jika memungkinkan, kamu bisa melakukan interview secara publik dengan melakukan survei kepada beberapa orang.

Hal tersebut bisa saja kamu lakukan di mal, di samping jalan, atau tempat orang-orang yang sedang ramai berkumpul.

4. Focus group

Cara lainnya untuk melakukan riset konsumen adalah dengan focus group . Kamu bisa mengundang 6-10 konsumenmu untuk berdiskusi terkait produkmu. 

Focus group memungkinkanmu untuk mengumpulkan lebih banyak informasi sehingga dapat membantu dalam mengembangkan produk yang lebih baik.

Baca Juga: Ketahui 5 Cara Membangun Hubungan Baik dengan Customer di Sini

Nah, itu dia gambaran singkat mengenai riset konsumen beserta cara melakukannya.

Secara garis besar, praktik ini memang harus dilakukan oleh perusahaan supaya bisa meraih target konsumen yang tepat.

Maka dari itu, jika kamu ingin mendalami bidang business development,  jangan lupa untuk pelajari teknik riset konsumen ini secara mendalam, ya.

Nah, selain informasi mengenai consumer research , kamu masih bisa, lho, mendapatkan informasi lainnya seputar marketing dan sales dari Glints.

Caranya mudah sekali, kamu tinggal kunjungi kategori business dev & sales Glints Blog.

Di sana, tersedia banyak pembahasan seputar tips, strategi, dan istilah dunia bisnis yang sudah Glints rangkum menjadi artikel ringkas khusus untukmu.

Menarik, bukan? Yuk, temukan artikel yang sesuai dengan minatmu di Glints sekarang juga!

• What Is Consumer Research and Why Is It Important for Startups?
• Methods for Conducting Consumer Research

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Riset Konsumen: Definisi, Cara Melakukan, Manfaat bagi Bisnis

Riset konsumen atau consumer research merupakan kegiatan yang memiliki pengaruh penting dalam bisnis Anda.

Kita semua tahu bahwa perilaku konsumen sangatlah beragam. Oleh karena itu, dengan melakukan riset, Anda bisa memahami secara spesifik apa kebutuhan konsumen Anda.

Mengenali dan memahami konsumen secara baik juga dapat meningkatkan loyalitas mereka pada bisnis Anda.

Lantas, bagaimana cara melakukan riset konsumen pada bisnis tersebut? Yuk, simak pembahasannya di bawah ini.

Apa Itu Riset Konsumen?

Dalam menjalankan bisnis, pelanggan adalah salah satu kunci keberhasilan. Oleh karena itu, perlu dilakukan cara yang tepat untuk mengenal pelanggan Anda lebih dalam, di mana salah satunya yakni melalui riset konsumen. 

Menurut Lighter Capital, riset konsumen adalah sebuah praktik untuk mengidentifikasi perilaku, preferensi, motivasi dari pelanggan dalam membeli produk atau layanan yang ditawarkan.

Tujuan riset konsumen adalah meningkatkan kepuasan dari para pelanggan. Melalui metode ini, pelaku bisnis bisa mengetahui apa yang dibutuhkan oleh para pelanggan sehingga dapat meningkatkan performa bisnis mereka.

Sebagai contoh, Anda merupakan pelaku bisnis yang hendak menjual produk kue bolu ke pasaran. 

Sebelum melakukan pemasaran produk kue bolu tersebut, dilakukan sejumlah riset terhadap konsumen dengan mencari tahu perilaku konsumen , masalah yang dihadapi di pasaran, dan permintaan tinggi di pasar.

Lewat contoh riset konsumen di atas, Anda sebagai business owner pastinya menjadi lebih memahami apa saja kekurangan produk Anda serta mencari solusi agar produk tersebut berbeda dari yang lain sehingga banyak dicari oleh pelanggan karena sesuai dengan kebutuhan mereka.

Baca juga: Teknik Proyektif: Definisi, Kelebihan, dan Kekurangan

Cara Melakukan Riset Konsumen

Setelah memahami apa itu riset konsumen, tentunya Anda juga wajib mengetahui bagaimana cara melakukan riset konsumen yang tepat. 

Ada beberapa metode yang dapat Anda pilih untuk melakukan riset kepada konsumen. Yuk, cek metode-metodenya di sini!

1. Survei Online

Riset terhadap konsumen dapat dilakukan secara online , misalnya dengan menggunakan survei online. Survei online dapat memanfaatkan beberapa tools .

Hasil dari survei tersebut pun bisa Anda gunakan sebagai acuan mengembangkan produk atau layanan Anda.

Akan tetapi, perlu diketahui bahwa survei untuk bisnis ini perlu dilakukan dengan tepat. Jadi, apabila Anda masih belum terlalu paham bagaimana cara melakukannya, serahkan saja pada Populix .

Populix menawarkan jasa survei online bagi para pelaku bisnis yang membutuhkan data atau insight seputar usahanya untuk digunakan sebagai strategi pengembangan bisnis. Jika tertarik, langsung saja kunjungi Poplite by Populix sekarang!

Cara lain yang efektif untuk melakukan riset konsumen adalah dengan menelepon konsumen .

Berikan beberapa pertanyaan kepada konsumen sesuai dengan informasi yang Anda butuhkan untuk produk atau layanan Anda.

Jadi, pastikan juga Anda telah mengumpulkan kontak-kontak dari konsumen agar dapat melakukan survei lewat telepon secara langsung.

3. Interview

Interview yang dilakukan secara langsung memang terkesan menguras tenaga dan menyita banyak waktu. Namun, metode interview terbilang cukup efektif untuk menggali informasi dari pelanggan.

Metode ini dapat Anda terapkan pada orang-orang yang membeli produk atau menggunakan jasa Anda.

Interview dapat dilakukan di mana saja misalnya di pinggir jalan, mall , atau di tempat yang banyak dikunjungi orang-orang.

4. Focus Group

Cara lainnya untuk melakukan riset terhadap konsumen adalah dengan focus group . Anda bisa mengundang 6-10 konsumen Anda untuk berdiskusi terkait produk atau jasa yang Anda tawarkan.

Focus group memungkinkan Anda untuk mengumpulkan lebih banyak informasi sehingga dapat membantu dalam mengembangkan produk atau jasa yang lebih baik.

Baca juga: Tips Sukses Melakukan Riset Akademik, Ini Solusinya!

Pentingnya Riset Konsumen dalam Bisnis

Seperti yang telah dijelaskan di atas, riset terhadap konsumen memang sangat penting dilakukan pada suatu bisnis. Namun, agar lebih jelas, yuk, simak beberapa manfaat menerapkan consumer research berikut!

1. Menjaga Kepercayaan dan Kesetiaan Konsumen

Consumer research membantu mengetahui kelebihan-kelebihan yang dirasakan oleh konsumen ketika membeli produk atau menggunakan jasa Anda.

Dengan begitu, tentunya Anda berusaha untuk mempertahankan atau bahkan meningkatkan kualitas demi menjaga kepuasan konsumen.

2. Mengembangkan Bisnis

Fungsi riset konsumen juga untuk membantu bisnis Anda berkembang dengan cepat. Hal ini karena dengan riset tersebut, Anda menjadi tahu keinginan dan kebutuhan dari konsumen sehingga mampu mengadakan peningkatan kualitas untuk menambah kepuasan mereka.

Baca juga: Populasi dan Sampel Penelitian: Definisi hingga Perbedaannya

Riset Konsumen dengan Survei Online Populix

Mengingat riset konsumen itu penting bagi keberlangsungan bisnis, serta salah satu cara yang bisa dilakukan yaitu melalui survei online , Anda bisa memanfaatkan Poplite by Populix untuk menjalankannya.

Dengan menggunakan Poplite by Populix , Anda dapat membuat survei dengan mudah dan cepat. Terlebih, Poplite by Populix dapat memberikan 300.000+ responden untuk mendapatkan data-data berkualitas bagi bisnis Anda.

Kebutuhan riset konsumen untuk bisnis Anda pun menjadi lebih efektif dan efisien. Tunggu apalagi, yuk, mulai strategi riset bisnis Anda bersama Populix dan selangkah lebih pasti #DenganData!

Baca juga: Skewness: Penjelasan, Jenis, dan Rumus

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Home Market Research

Consumer Research: Examples, Process and Scope

What is Consumer Research?

Consumer research is a part of market research in which inclination, motivation and purchase behavior of the targeted customers are identified. Consumer research helps businesses or organizations understand customer psychology and create detailed purchasing behavior profiles.

It uses research techniques to provide systematic information about what customers need. Using this information brands can make changes in their products and services, making them more customer-centric thereby increasing customer satisfaction. This will in turn help to boost business.

LEARN ABOUT: Market research vs marketing research

An organization that has an in-depth understanding about the customer decision-making process, is most likely to design a product, put a certain price tag to it, establish distribution centers and promote a product based on consumer research insights such that it produces increased consumer interest and purchases.

For example, A consumer electronics company wants to understand, thought process of a consumer when purchasing an electronic device, which can help a company to launch new products, manage the supply of the stock, etc. Carrying out a Consumer electronics survey can be useful to understand the market demand, understand the flaws in their product and also find out research problems in the various processes that influence the purchase of their goods. A consumer electronics survey can be helpful to gather information about the shopping experiences of consumers when purchasing electronics. which can enable a company to make well-informed and wise decisions regarding their products and services.

LEARN ABOUT:  Test Market Demand

Consumer Research Objectives

When a brand is developing a new product, consumer research is conducted to understand what consumers want or need in a product, what attributes are missing and what are they looking for? An efficient survey software really makes it easy for organizations to conduct efficient research.

Consumer research is conducted to improve brand equity. A brand needs to know what consumers think when buying a product or service offered by a brand. Every good business idea needs efficient consumer research for it to be successful. Consumer insights are essential to determine brand positioning among consumers.

Consumer research is conducted to boost sales. The objective of consumer research is to look into various territories of consumer psychology and understand their buying pattern, what kind of packaging they like and other similar attributes that help brands to sell their products and services better.

LEARN ABOUT: Brand health

Consumer Research Model

According to a study conducted, till a decade ago, researchers thought differently about the consumer psychology, where little or no emphasis was put on emotions, mood or the situation that could influence a customer’s buying decision.

Many believed marketing was applied economics. Consumers always took decisions based on statistics and math and evaluated goods and services rationally and then selected items from those brands that gave them the highest customer satisfaction at the lowest cost.

However, this is no longer the situation. Consumers are very well aware of brands and their competitors. A loyal customer is the one who would not only return to repeatedly purchase from a brand but also, recommend his/her family and friends to buy from the same brand even if the prices are slightly higher but provides an exceptional customer service for products purchased or services offered.

Here is where the Net Promoter Score (NPS) helps brands identify brand loyalty and customer satisfaction with their consumers. Net Promoter Score consumer survey uses a single question that is sent to customers to identify their brand loyalty and level of customer satisfaction. Response to this question is measured on a scale between 0-10 and based on this consumers can be identified as:

Detractors: Who have given a score between 0-6.

Passives: Who have given a score between 7-8.

Promoters: Who have given a score between 9-10.

Consumer market research is based on two types of research method:

1. Qualitative Consumer Research

Qualitative research  is descriptive in nature, It’s a method that uses open-ended questions , to gain meaningful insights from respondents and heavily relies on the following market research methods:

Focus Groups: Focus groups as the name suggests is a small group of highly validated subject experts who come together to analyze a product or service. Focus group comprises of 6-10 respondents. A moderator is assigned to the focus group, who helps facilitate discussions among the members to draw meaningful insights

One-to-one Interview: This is a more conversational method, where the researcher asks open-ended questions to collect data from the respondents. This method heavily depends on the expertise of the researcher. How much the researcher is able to probe with relevant questions to get maximum insights. This is a time-consuming method and can take more than one attempt to gain the desired insights.

LEARN ABOUT: Qualitative Interview

Content/ Text Analysis: Text analysis is a qualitative research method where researchers analyze social life by decoding words and images from the documents available. Researchers analyze the context in which the images are used and draw conclusions from them. Social media is an example of text analysis. In the last decade or so, inferences are drawn based on consumer behavior on social media.

Learn More: How to conduct Qualitative Research  

2.Quantitative Consumer Research

In the age of technology and information, meaningful data is more precious than platinum. Billion dollar companies have risen and fallen on how well they have been able to collect and analyze data, to draw validated insights.

Quantitative research is all about numbers and statistics. An evolved consumer who purchases regularly can vouch for how customer-centric businesses have become today. It’s all about customer satisfaction , to gain loyal customers. With just one questions companies are able to collect data, that has the power to make or break a company. Net Promoter Score question , “On a scale from 0-10 how likely are you to recommend our brand to your family or friends?”

How organic word-of-mouth is influencing consumer behavior and how they need to spend less on advertising and invest their time and resources to make sure they provide exceptional customer service.

LEARN ABOUT: Behavioral Targeting

Online surveys , questionnaires , and polls are the preferred data collection tools. Data that is obtained from consumers is then statistically, mathematically and numerically evaluated to understand consumer preference.

Learn more: How to carry out Quantitative Research

Consumer Research Process

The process of consumer research started as an extension of the process of market research . As the findings of market research is used to improve the decision-making capacity of an organization or business, similar is with consumer research.

LEARN ABOUT:  Market research industry

The consumer research process can be broken down into the following steps:

• Develop research objectives: The first step to the consumer research process is to clearly define the research objective, the purpose of research, why is the research being conducted, to understand what? A clear statement of purpose can help emphasize the purpose.
• Collect Secondary data: Collect secondary data first, it helps in understanding if research has been conducted earlier and if there are any pieces of evidence related to the subject matter that can be used by an organization to make informed decisions regarding consumers.
• Primary Research: In primary research organizations or businesses collect their own data or employ a third party to collect data on their behalf. This research makes use of various data collection methods ( qualitative and quantitative ) that helps researchers collect data first hand.

LEARN ABOUT: Best Data Collection Tools

• Collect and analyze data: Data is collected and analyzed and inference is drawn to understand consumer behavior and purchase pattern.
• Prepare report: Finally, a report is prepared for all the findings by analyzing data collected so that organizations are able to make informed decisions and think of all probabilities related to consumer behavior. By putting the study into practice, organizations can become customer-centric and manufacture products or render services that will help them achieve excellent customer satisfaction.

LEARN ABOUT: market research trends

After Consumer Research Process

Once you have been able to successfully carry out the consumer research process , investigate and break paradigms. What consumers need should be a part of market research design and should be carried out regularly. Consumer research provides more in-depth information about the needs, wants, expectations and behavior analytics of clients.  

By identifying this information successfully, strategies that are used to attract consumers can be made better and businesses can make a profit by knowing what consumers want exactly. It is also important to understand and know thoroughly the buying behavior of consumers to know their attitude towards brands and products.

The identification of consumer needs, as well as their preferences, allows a business to adapt to new business and develop a detailed marketing plan that will surely work. The following pointers can help. Completing this process will help you:

• Attract more customers  
• Set the best price for your products  
• Create the right marketing message  
• Increase the quantity that satisfies the demand of its clients  
• Increase the frequency of visits to their clients  
• Increase your sales  
• Reduce costs  
• Refine your approach to the customer service process .

LEARN ABOUT: Behavioral Research

Consumer Research Methods

Consumers are the reason for a business to run and flourish. Gathering enough information about consumers is never going to hurt any business, in fact, it will only add up to the information a business would need to associate with its consumers and manufacture products that will help their business refine and grow.

Following are consumer research methods that ensure you are in tandem with the consumers and understand their needs:

The studies of customer satisfaction

One can determine the degree of satisfaction of consumers in relation to the quality of products through:

• Informal methods such as conversations with staff about products and services according to the dashboards.   
• Past and present questionnaires/ surveys that consumers might have filled that identify their needs.   

T he investigation of the consumer decision process

It is very interesting to know the consumer’s needs, what motivates them to buy, and how is the decision-making process carried out, though:

• Deploying relevant surveys and receiving responses from a target intended audience .

Proof of concept

Businesses can test how well accepted their marketing ideas are by:

• The use of surveys to find out if current or potential consumer see your products as a rational and useful benefit.  
• Conducting personal interviews or focus group sessions with clients to understand how they respond to marketing ideas.

Knowing your market position

You can find out how your current and potential consumers see your products, and how they compare it with your competitors by:

• Sales figures talk louder than any other aspect, once you get to know the comparison in the sales figures it is easy to understand your market position within the market segment.
• Attitudes of consumers while making a purchase also helps in understanding the market hold.      

Branding tests and user experience

You can determine how your customers feel with their brands and product names by:

• The use of focus groups and surveys designed to assess emotional responses to your products and brands.  
• The participation of researchers to study the performance of their brand in the market through existing and available brand measurement research.   

Price changes

You can investigate how your customers accept or not the price changes by using formulas that measure the revenue – multiplying the number of items you sold, by the price of each item. These tests allow you to calculate if your total income increases or decreases after making the price changes by:

• Calculation of changes in the quantities of products demanded by their customers, together with changes in the price of the product.   
• Measure the impact of the price on the demand of the product according to the needs of the client.   

Social media monitoring

Another way to measure feedback and your customer service is by controlling your commitment to social media and feedback. Social networks (especially Facebook) are becoming a common element of the commercialization of many businesses and are increasingly used by their customers to provide information on customer needs, service experiences, share and file customer complaints . It can also be used to run surveys and test concepts. If handled well, it can be one of the most powerful research tools of the client management . I also recommend reading: How to conduct market research through social networks.

Customer Research Questions

Asking the right question is the most important part of conducting research. Moreover, if it’s consumer research, questions should be asked in a manner to gather maximum insights from consumers. Here are some consumer research questions for your next research:

• Who in your household takes purchasing decisions?
• Where do you go looking for ______________ (product)?
• How long does it take you to make a buying decision?
• How far are you willing to travel to buy ___________(product)?
• What features do you look for when you purchase ____________ (product)?
• What motivates you to buy_____________ (product)?

See more consumer research survey questions:

Customer satisfaction surveys

Voice of customer surveys

Product surveys

Service evaluation surveys

Mortgage Survey Questions

Importance of Consumer Research

Launching a product or offering new services can be quite an exciting time for a brand. However, there are a lot of aspects that need to be taken into consideration while a band has something new to offer to consumers.

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Here is where consumer research plays a pivotal role. The importance of consumer research cannot be emphasized more. Following points summarizes the importance of consumer research:

• To understand market readiness: However good a product or service may be, consumers have to be ready to accept it. Creating a product requires investments which in return expect ROI from product or service purchases. However, if a market is mature enough to accept this utility, it has a low chance of succeeding by tapping into market potential . Therefore, before launching a product or service, organizations need to conduct consumer research, to understand if people are ready to spend on the utility it provides.
• Identify target consumers: By conducting consumer research, brands and organizations can understand their target market based on geographic segmentation and know who exactly is interested in buying their products. According to the data or feedback received from the consumer, research brands can even customize their marketing and branding approach to better appeal to the specific consumer segment.

LEARN ABOUT: Marketing Insight

• Product/Service updates through feedback: Conducting consumer research, provides valuable feedback from consumers about the attributes and features of products and services. This feedback enables organizations to understand consumer perception and provide a more suitable solution based on actual market needs which helps them tweak their offering to perfection.

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Consumer Research

Meningkatkan pemahaman terhadap perilaku dan preferensi konsumen lintas segmen, mulai dari touchpoint pertama hingga akhir customer journey

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Memahami perilaku dari pelanggan kendaraan niaga, khususnya dalam hal segmentasi, key influencer, dan channel preferences penting untuk brand

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Consumer journey study membantu brand untuk mengidentifikasi dengan jelas hambatan yang menghalangi proses pembelian konsumen.

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Kami menyusun hipotesis mengenai karakteristik yang menggambarkan pelanggan, kemudian melakukan segmentasi pasar pada kategori-kategori yang berbeda.

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Kami menganalisis pola pembelian dan mencari tahu faktor pendorong pembelian/penggunaan yang mungkin tidak disadari pelanggan.

Consumer Research: Definition, Methods and Benefits (+ Templates)

Nemanja Jovancic

Sep 02 2020

No comments

Launching a new product? Considering whether you should offer new services or tweak the current ones? Such moments can be challenging both for established brands and those just trying to break into the market.

Whenever you have something new to offer to your customers, there are numerous factors to be taken into account if you want to make well-informed decisions that would increase the chances of a successful launch, instead of stumbling in the dark and hoping for the best.

This is where consumer research kicks in.

What is consumer research?

Consumer research is the aspect of market research that focuses on identifying the motivation, preferences, and purchase behavior of (potential) consumers.

Companies rely on consumer research to analyze and better understand consumer psychology so as to improve their products or services, making them more customer-oriented, and ultimately increasing customer satisfaction and the number of sales.

Having a deep understanding of consumer decision-making and purchase behavior allows brands to build products that will find their market fit more easily, put the optimal price tag onto them, and establish the right distribution and promotion channels.

Let’s say a beauty industry company wants to launch a new skincare product. In order to de-risk their production and product placement, they could launch a skincare quiz to find out what it is that their consumers actually need:

And then they could do additional market research to find out more about their ideal customer’s demographics and purchase habits. Conducting this kind of consumer research is expected to facilitate a successful launch for the new product and ensure that there’s actual demand for such a product on the market.

Before we dig any deeper into consumer research, here’s a survey template you could easily use to do your own market research.

Consumer research survey template

Just here for an easy way to conduct your own consumer research? No worries, we’ve got you covered – grab this market research template and learn more about your consumers right now.

If you would like to learn more about how and why you should conduct the research using the template above, keep on reading.

Why you should conduct consumer research

Often, people do research just because they’ve been told to do so. But if you’re looking to better understand your consumers and their needs, you need to know why you should be conducting consumer research in the first place. Even though there are plenty of benefits, here are the top three I’d like to point out:

Understand market readiness

No matter how good you think your products or services are, there’s a fair chance you’re not completely objective nor representative of your ideal target consumer.

When launching a new product, there’s a lot of investments going around and, naturally, you’d expect adequate ROI. However, if there’s not enough market potential, your investment might fail. This is where consumer research kicks in.

Identify target consumers

Another important benefit of conducting consumer research is the ability to identify and analyze your target customers. In other words, this allows you to determine who might be interested in buying your products or using your services.

For example, you can use a demographic survey  to obtain various information on your customers such as age, gender, geographic location, employment, marital status, and more. Or you can rely on different types of market segmentation  to reach your ideal customer. This would allow you to customize your marketing efforts to better appeal to particular customer sets.

Get feedback on existing products or services

Finally, consumer research can help you obtain valuable feedback on your current business offer. Such feedback can help you update or improve your current products based on the valuable information from the actual consumers.

Getting feedback is important because it helps brands and businesses better understand the consumers’ standing point and come up with an improved product that would help address the challenges they’ve been having and fully meet the actual market needs and requirements.

Main consumer research methods

There are two main types of consumer research – quantitative and qualitative . Both types rely on different research techniques that we’ll explore in more detail down below.

Quantitative consumer research

By 2025, the global data pool is expected to rise up to 175 zettabytes . That’s why meaningful data has become more valuable than ever and the way companies collect data  can either make or break their business success.

Quantitative research is a data collection method that revolves around numbers and stats. It’s an essential part of consumer research that can provide businesses with measurable data on their customers. Such data can be mathematically and statistically analyzed in order to gain more insight into consumer behavior.

The most effective and most popular techniques for obtaining quantitative data are different types of online questionnaires such as surveys and polls.

Surveys and polls

Nowadays, the easiest way to obtain consumer data is through online surveys, questionnaires, and polls. Thanks to highly-advanced and intuitive survey tools , it’s now easier than ever to create your own data collectors, either from scratch or using professionally written templates.

All the LeadQuizzes users, for example, gain free access to 78 professionally written and beautifully designed survey, quiz, and form templates. This includes market and consumer research survey templates such as the ones shown in the image below:

To access the LeadQuizzes templates, just log in to your account (or sign up for a free trial  if you don’t have an account yet) and select your preferred template from the selection of pre-made templates . You can use the templates as they are or easily customize them to meet your specific needs.

One of the easiest ways to obtain quantitative customer data is by using an NPS (Net Promoter Score) survey . This customer research technique allows you to easily evaluate the satisfaction of your current users and express it through numbers for easy analysis. With just one single question – “How likely are you to refer our business?” – you can easily measure consumer satisfaction and loyalty.

To preview (or use) an NPS survey template, just click on the image below:

Qualitative consumer research

Unlike quantitative research, which relies on numbers, qualitative consumer research is descriptive in nature. To obtain qualitative data, you need to be using open-ended questions with no predefined answer options. While this means that you can still be using online surveys to obtain qualitative data as well, there are a few more options to choose from.

Focus Groups

A focus group is a small group of people who are experts on a particular subject matter and whose job is to analyze a particular aspect of consumer research – e.g. a new update, feature, product, and so on.

Ideally, focus groups contain somewhere between 3-10 people, including an obligatory moderator. Depending on the research topic and goal, the members of a focus group should be brought together around certain common denominators.

For example, if you’re doing research on the use of birth control pills, all the members of your focus group need to be sexually active females. The remaining parameters like age, education, employment, and so on, may or may not be relevant here.

1-to-1 interviews

In most cases, this is a conversational method that presupposes an interviewer and an interviewee. During this type of consumer research, the researcher (the interviewer) asks questions (that are equivalent to the open-ended survey questions) related to products and services.

There are two main limitations to this method. Firstly, it’s very time consuming and might become overwhelming if you have to interview an excessively large number of consumers. And secondly, it very much relies on the researcher’s expertise and ability to extract the relevant information from interviewees.

Social media monitoring

This type of consumer research could also be described as content or text analysis but, in recent years, it primarily refers to the analysis of consumer behavior on social media. Here, the researchers analyze consumers’ social life by decoding their social media posts and interactions to draw inferences related to their consumer behavior and habits.

After the research

Above, we’ve introduced you to consumer research – what it is, why you need to conduct it, and what are some of the best ways to do so. Once you’ve managed to conduct your research, gather the necessary data, analyze it, and come to certain conclusions, you should have a better insight into the exact needs and pain points of your customers.

This will allow you to adapt your business, update, tweak or completely revamp your products and services, and develop a better marketing plan that would allow you to attract more consumers, determine the optimal price, increase the number of sales, and reduce costs.

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The past, present, and future of consumer research

Maayan s. malter.

1 Columbia Business School, Columbia University, New York, NY USA

Morris B. Holbrook

Barbara e. kahn.

2 The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA USA

Jeffrey R. Parker

3 Department of Marketing, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL USA

Donald R. Lehmann

In this article, we document the evolution of research trends (concepts, methods, and aims) within the field of consumer behavior, from the time of its early development to the present day, as a multidisciplinary area of research within marketing. We describe current changes in retailing and real-world consumption and offer suggestions on how to use observations of consumption phenomena to generate new and interesting consumer behavior research questions. Consumption continues to change with technological advancements and shifts in consumers’ values and goals. We cannot know the exact shape of things to come, but we polled a sample of leading scholars and summarize their predictions on where the field may be headed in the next twenty years.

Introduction

Beginning in the late 1950s, business schools shifted from descriptive and practitioner-focused studies to more theoretically driven and academically rigorous research (Dahl et al. 1959 ). As the field expanded from an applied form of economics to embrace theories and methodologies from psychology, sociology, anthropology, and statistics, there was an increased emphasis on understanding the thoughts, desires, and experiences of individual consumers. For academic marketing, this meant that research not only focused on the decisions and strategies of marketing managers but also on the decisions and thought processes on the other side of the market—customers.

Since then, the academic study of consumer behavior has evolved and incorporated concepts and methods, not only from marketing at large but also from related social science disciplines, and from the ever-changing landscape of real-world consumption behavior. Its position as an area of study within a larger discipline that comprises researchers from diverse theoretical backgrounds and methodological training has stirred debates over its identity. One article describes consumer behavior as a multidisciplinary subdiscipline of marketing “characterized by the study of people operating in a consumer role involving acquisition, consumption, and disposition of marketplace products, services, and experiences” (MacInnis and Folkes 2009 , p. 900).

This article reviews the evolution of the field of consumer behavior over the past half century, describes its current status, and predicts how it may evolve over the next twenty years. Our review is by no means a comprehensive history of the field (see Schumann et al. 2008 ; Rapp and Hill 2015 ; Wang et al. 2015 ; Wilkie and Moore 2003 , to name a few) but rather focuses on a few key thematic developments. Though we observe many major shifts during this period, certain questions and debates have persisted: Does consumer behavior research need to be relevant to marketing managers or is there intrinsic value from studying the consumer as a project pursued for its own sake? What counts as consumption: only consumption from traditional marketplace transactions or also consumption in a broader sense of non-marketplace interactions? Which are the most appropriate theoretical traditions and methodological tools for addressing questions in consumer behavior research?

A brief history of consumer research over the past sixty years—1960 to 2020

In 1969, the Association for Consumer Research was founded and a yearly conference to share marketing research specifically from the consumer’s perspective was instituted. This event marked the culmination of the growing interest in the topic by formalizing it as an area of research within marketing (consumer psychology had become a formalized branch of psychology within the APA in 1960). So, what was consumer behavior before 1969? Scanning current consumer-behavior doctoral seminar syllabi reveals few works predating 1969, with most of those coming from psychology and economics, namely Herbert Simon’s A Behavioral Model of Rational Choice (1955), Abraham Maslow’s A Theory of Human Motivation (1943), and Ernest Dichter’s Handbook of Consumer Motivations (1964). In short, research that illuminated and informed our understanding of consumer behavior prior to 1969 rarely focused on marketing-specific topics, much less consumers or consumption (Dichter’s handbook being a notable exception). Yet, these works were crucial to the rise of consumer behavior research because, in the decades after 1969, there was a shift within academic marketing to thinking about research from a behavioral or decision science perspective (Wilkie and Moore 2003 ). The following section details some ways in which this shift occurred. We draw on a framework proposed by the philosopher Larry Laudan ( 1986 ), who distinguished among three inter-related aspects of scientific inquiry—namely, concepts (the relevant ideas, theories, hypotheses, and constructs); methods (the techniques employed to test and validate these concepts); and aims (the purposes or goals that motivate the investigation).

Key concepts in the late - 1960s

During the late-1960s, we tended to view the buyer as a computer-like machine for processing information according to various formal rules that embody economic rationality to form a preference for one or another option in order to arrive at a purchase decision. This view tended to manifest itself in a couple of conspicuous ways. The first was a model of buyer behavior introduced by John Howard in 1963 in the second edition of his marketing textbook and quickly adopted by virtually every theorist working in our field—including, Howard and Sheth (of course), Engel-Kollat-&-Blackwell, Franco Nicosia, Alan Andreasen, Jim Bettman, and Joel Cohen. Howard’s great innovation—which he based on a scheme that he had found in the work of Plato (namely, the linkages among Cognition, Affect, and Conation)—took the form of a boxes-and-arrows formulation heavily influenced by the approach to organizational behavior theory that Howard (University of Pittsburgh) had picked up from Herbert Simon (Carnegie Melon University). The model represented a chain of events

where I = inputs of information (from advertising, word-of-mouth, brand features, etc.); C = cognitions (beliefs or perceptions about a brand); A = Affect (liking or preference for the brand); B = behavior (purchase of the brand); and S = satisfaction (post-purchase evaluation of the brand that feeds back onto earlier stages of the sequence, according to a learning model in which reinforced behavior tends to be repeated). This formulation lay at the heart of Howard’s work, which he updated, elaborated on, and streamlined over the remainder of his career. Importantly, it informed virtually every buyer-behavior model that blossomed forth during the last half of the twentieth century.

To represent the link between cognitions and affect, buyer-behavior researchers used various forms of the multi-attribute attitude model (MAAM), originally proposed by psychologists such as Fishbein and Rosenberg as part of what Fishbein and Ajzen ( 1975 ) called the theory of reasoned action. Under MAAM, cognitions (beliefs about brand attributes) are weighted by their importance and summed to create an explanation or prediction of affect (liking for a brand or preference for one brand versus another), which in turn determines behavior (choice of a brand or intention to purchase a brand). This took the work of economist Kelvin Lancaster (with whom Howard interacted), which assumed attitude was based on objective attributes, and extended it to include subjective ones (Lancaster 1966 ; Ratchford 1975 ). Overall, the set of concepts that prevailed in the late-1960s assumed the buyer exhibited economic rationality and acted as a computer-like information-processing machine when making purchase decisions.

Favored methods in the late-1960s

The methods favored during the late-1960s tended to be almost exclusively neo-positivistic in nature. That is, buyer-behavior research adopted the kinds of methodological rigor that we associate with the physical sciences and the hypothetico-deductive approaches advocated by the neo-positivistic philosophers of science.

Thus, the accepted approaches tended to be either experimental or survey based. For example, numerous laboratory studies tested variations of the MAAM and focused on questions about how to measure beliefs, how to weight the beliefs, how to combine the weighted beliefs, and so forth (e.g., Beckwith and Lehmann 1973 ). Here again, these assumed a rational economic decision-maker who processed information something like a computer.

Seeking rigor, buyer-behavior studies tended to be quantitative in their analyses, employing multivariate statistics, structural equation models, multidimensional scaling, conjoint analysis, and other mathematically sophisticated techniques. For example, various attempts to test the ICABS formulation developed simultaneous (now called structural) equation models such as those deployed by Farley and Ring ( 1970 , 1974 ) to test the Howard and Sheth ( 1969 ) model and by Beckwith and Lehmann ( 1973 ) to measure halo effects.

Aims in the late-1960s

During this time period, buyer-behavior research was still considered a subdivision of marketing research, the purpose of which was to provide insights useful to marketing managers in making strategic decisions. Essentially, every paper concluded with a section on “Implications for Marketing Managers.” Authors who failed to conform to this expectation could generally count on having their work rejected by leading journals such as the Journal of Marketing Research ( JMR ) and the Journal of Marketing ( JM ).

Summary—the three R’s in the late-1960s

Starting in the late-1960s to the early-1980s, virtually every buyer-behavior researcher followed the traditional approach to concepts, methods, and aims, now encapsulated under what we might call the three R’s —namely, rationality , rigor , and relevance . However, as we transitioned into the 1980s and beyond, that changed as some (though by no means all) consumer researchers began to expand their approaches and to evolve different perspectives.

Concepts after 1980

In some circles, the traditional emphasis on the buyer’s rationality—that is, a view of the buyer as a rational-economic, decision-oriented, information-processing, computer-like machine for making choices—began to evolve in at least two primary ways.

First, behavioral economics (originally studied in marketing under the label Behavioral Decision Theory)—developed in psychology by Kahneman and Tversky, in economics by Thaler, and applied in marketing by a number of forward-thinking theorists (e.g., Eric Johnson, Jim Bettman, John Payne, Itamar Simonson, Jay Russo, Joel Huber, and more recently, Dan Ariely)—challenged the rationality of consumers as decision-makers. It was shown that numerous commonly used decision heuristics depart from rational choice and are exceptions to the traditional assumptions of economic rationality. This trend shed light on understanding consumer financial decision-making (Prelec and Loewenstein 1998 ; Gourville 1998 ; Lynch Jr 2011 ) and how to develop “nudges” to help consumers make better decisions for their personal finances (summarized in Johnson et al. 2012 ).

Second, the emerging experiential view (anticipated by Alderson, Levy, and others; developed by Holbrook and Hirschman, and embellished by Schmitt, Pine, and Gilmore, and countless followers) regarded consumers as flesh-and-blood human beings (rather than as information-processing computer-like machines), focused on hedonic aspects of consumption, and expanded the concepts embodied by ICABS (Table ​ (Table1 1 ).

Extended ICABS Framework after 1980

Methods after 1980

The two burgeoning areas of research—behavioral economics and experiential theories—differed in their methodological approaches. The former relied on controlled randomized experiments with a focus on decision strategies and behavioral outcomes. For example, experiments tested the process by which consumers evaluate options using information display boards and “Mouselab” matrices of aspects and attributes (Payne et al. 1988 ). This school of thought also focused on behavioral dependent measures, such as choice (Huber et al. 1982 ; Simonson 1989 ; Iyengar and Lepper 2000 ).

The latter was influenced by post-positivistic philosophers of science—such as Thomas Kuhn, Paul Feyerabend, and Richard Rorty—and approaches expanded to include various qualitative techniques (interpretive, ethnographic, humanistic, and even introspective methods) not previously prominent in the field of consumer research. These included:

• Interpretive approaches —such as those drawing on semiotics and hermeneutics—in an effort to gain a richer understanding of the symbolic meanings involved in consumption experiences;
• Ethnographic approaches — borrowed from cultural anthropology—such as those illustrated by the influential Consumer Behavior Odyssey (Belk et al. 1989 ) and its discoveries about phenomena related to sacred aspects of consumption or the deep meanings of collections and other possessions;
• Humanistic approaches —such as those borrowed from cultural studies or from literary criticism and more recently gathered together under the general heading of consumer culture theory ( CCT );
• Introspective or autoethnographic approaches —such as those associated with a method called subjective personal introspection ( SPI ) that various consumer researchers like Sidney Levy and Steve Gould have pursued to gain insights based on their own private lives.

These qualitative approaches tended not to appear in the more traditional journals such as the Journal of Marketing , Journal of Marketing Research , or Marketing Science . However, newer journals such as Consumption, Markets, & Culture and Marketing Theory began to publish papers that drew on the various interpretive, ethnographic, humanistic, or introspective methods.

Aims after 1980

In 1974, consumer research finally got its own journal with the launch of the Journal of Consumer Research ( JCR ). The early editors of JCR —especially Bob Ferber, Hal Kassarjian, and Jim Bettman—held a rather divergent attitude about the importance or even the desirability of managerial relevance as a key goal of consumer studies. Under their influence, some researchers began to believe that consumer behavior is a phenomenon worthy of study in its own right—purely for the purpose of understanding it better. The journal incorporated articles from an array of methodologies: quantitative (both secondary data analysis and experimental techniques) and qualitative. The “right” balance between theoretical insight and substantive relevance—which are not in inherent conflict—is a matter of debate to this day and will likely continue to be debated well into the future.

Summary—the three I’s after 1980

In sum, beginning in the early-1980s, consumer research branched out. Much of the work in consumer studies remained within the earlier tradition of the three R’s—that is, rationality (an information-processing decision-oriented buyer), rigor (neo-positivistic experimental designs and quantitative techniques), and relevance (usefulness to marketing managers). Nonetheless, many studies embraced enlarged views of the three major aspects that might be called the three I’s —that is, irrationality (broadened perspectives that incorporate illogical, heuristic, experiential, or hedonic aspects of consumption), interpretation (various qualitative or “postmodern” approaches), and intrinsic motivation (the joy of pursuing a managerially irrelevant consumer study purely for the sake of satisfying one’s own curiosity, without concern for whether it does or does not help a marketing practitioner make a bigger profit).

The present—the consumer behavior field today

Present concepts.

In recent years, technological changes have significantly influenced the nature of consumption as the customer journey has transitioned to include more interaction on digital platforms that complements interaction in physical stores. This shift poses a major conceptual challenge in understanding if and how these technological changes affect consumption. Does the medium through which consumption occurs fundamentally alter the psychological and social processes identified in earlier research? In addition, this shift allows us to collect more data at different stages of the customer journey, which further allows us to analyze behavior in ways that were not previously available.

Revisiting the ICABS framework, many of the previous concepts are still present, but we are now addressing them through a lens of technological change (Table ​ (Table2 2 ). In recent years, a number of concepts (e.g., identity, beliefs/lay theories, affect as information, self-control, time, psychological ownership, search for meaning and happiness, social belonging, creativity, and status) have emerged as integral factors that influence and are influenced by consumption. To better understand these concepts, a number of influential theories from social psychology have been adopted into consumer behavior research. Self-construal (Markus and Kitayama 1991 ), regulatory focus (Higgins 1998 ), construal level (Trope and Liberman 2010 ), and goal systems (Kruglanski et al. 2002 ) all provide social-cognition frameworks through which consumer behavior researchers study the psychological processes behind consumer behavior. This “adoption” of social psychological theories into consumer behavior is a symbiotic relationship that further enhances the theories. Tory Higgins happily stated that he learned more about his own theories from the work of marketing academics (he cited Angela Lee and Michel Pham) in further testing and extending them.

ICABS framework in the digital age

Present Methods

Not only have technological advancements changed the nature of consumption but they have also significantly influenced the methods used in consumer research by adding both new sources of data and improved analytical tools (Ding et al. 2020 ). Researchers continue to use traditional methods from psychology in empirical research (scale development, laboratory experiments, quantitative analyses, etc.) and interpretive approaches in qualitative research. Additionally, online experiments using participants from panels such as Amazon Mechanical Turk and Prolific have become commonplace in the last decade. While they raise concerns about the quality of the data and about the external validity of the results, these online experiments have greatly increased the speed and decreased the cost of collecting data, so researchers continue to use them, albeit with some caution. Reminiscent of the discussion in the 1970s and 1980s about the use of student subjects, the projectability of the online responses and of an increasingly conditioned “professional” group of online respondents (MTurkers) is a major concern.

Technology has also changed research methodology. Currently, there is a large increase in the use of secondary data thanks to the availability of Big Data about online and offline behavior. Methods in computer science have advanced our ability to analyze large corpuses of unstructured data (text, voice, visual images) in an efficient and rigorous way and, thus, to tap into a wealth of nuanced thoughts, feelings, and behaviors heretofore only accessible to qualitative researchers through laboriously conducted content analyses. There are also new neuro-marketing techniques like eye-tracking, fMRI’s, body arousal measures (e.g., heart rate, sweat), and emotion detectors that allow us to measure automatic responses. Lastly, there has been an increase in large-scale field experiments that can be run in online B2C marketplaces.

Present Aims

Along with a focus on real-world observations and data, there is a renewed emphasis on managerial relevance. Countless conference addresses and editorials in JCR , JCP , and other journals have emphasized the importance of making consumer research useful outside of academia—that is, to help companies, policy makers, and consumers. For instance, understanding how the “new” consumer interacts over time with other consumers and companies in the current marketplace is a key area for future research. As global and social concerns become more salient in all aspects of life, issues of long-term sustainability, social equality, and ethical business practices have also become more central research topics. Fortunately, despite this emphasis on relevance, theoretical contributions and novel ideas are still highly valued. An appropriate balance of theory and practice has become the holy grail of consumer research.

The effects of the current trends in real-world consumption will increase in magnitude with time as more consumers are digitally native. Therefore, a better understanding of current consumer behavior can give us insights and help predict how it will continue to evolve in the years to come.

The future—the consumer behavior field in 2040 1

Niels Bohr once said, “Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future.” Indeed, it would be a fool’s errand for a single person to hazard a guess about the state of the consumer behavior field twenty years from now. Therefore, predictions from 34 active consumer researchers were collected to address this task. Here, we briefly summarize those predictions.

Future Concepts

While few respondents proffered guesses regarding specific concepts that would be of interest twenty years from now, many suggested broad topics and trends they expected to see in the field. Expectations for topics could largely be grouped into three main areas. Many suspected that we will be examining essentially the same core topics, perhaps at a finer-grained level, from different perspectives or in ways that we currently cannot utilize due to methodological limitations (more on methods below). A second contingent predicted that much research would center on the impending crises the world faces today, most mentioning environmental and social issues (the COVID-19 pandemic had not yet begun when these predictions were collected and, unsurprisingly, was not anticipated by any of our respondents). The last group, citing the widely expected profound impact of AI on consumers’ lives, argued that AI and other technology-related topics will be dominant subjects in consumer research circa 2040.

While the topic of technology is likely to be focal in the field, our current expectations for the impact of technology on consumers’ lives are narrower than it should be. Rather than merely offering innumerable conveniences and experiences, it seems likely that technology will begin to be integrated into consumers’ thoughts, identities, and personal relationships—probably sooner than we collectively expect. The integration of machines into humans’ bodies and lives will present the field with an expanding list of research questions that do not exist today. For example, how will the concepts of the self, identity, privacy, and goal pursuit change when web-connected technology seamlessly integrates with human consciousness and cognition? Major questions will also need to be answered regarding philosophy of mind, ethics, and social inequality. We suspect that the impact of technology on consumers and consumer research will be far broader than most consumer-behavior researchers anticipate.

As for broader trends within consumer research, there were two camps: (1) those who expect (or hope) that dominant theories (both current and yet to be developed) will become more integrated and comprehensive and (2) those who expect theoretical contributions to become smaller and smaller, to the point of becoming trivial. Both groups felt that current researchers are filling smaller cracks than before, but disagreed on how this would ultimately be resolved.

Future Methods

As was the case with concepts, respondents’ expectations regarding consumer-research methodologies in 2030 can also be divided into three broad baskets. Unsurprisingly, many indicated that we would be using many technologies not currently available or in wide use. Perhaps more surprising was that most cited the use of technology such as AI, machine-learning algorithms, and robots in designing—as opposed to executing or analyzing—experiments. (Some did point to the use of technologies such as virtual reality in the actual execution of experiments.) The second camp indicated that a focus on reliable and replicable results (discussed further below) will encourage a greater tendency for pre-registering studies, more use of “Big Data,” and a demand for more studies per paper (versus more papers per topic, which some believe is a more fruitful direction). Finally, the third lot indicated that “real data” would be in high demand, thereby necessitating the use of incentive-compatible, consequential dependent variables and a greater prevalence of field studies in consumer research.

As a result, young scholars would benefit from developing a “toolkit” of methodologies for collecting and analyzing the abundant new data of interest to the field. This includes (but is not limited to) a deep understanding of designing and implementing field studies (Gerber and Green 2012 ), data analysis software (R, Python, etc.), text mining and analysis (Humphreys and Wang 2018 ), and analytical tools for other unstructured forms of data such as image and sound. The replication crisis in experimental research means that future scholars will also need to take a more critical approach to validity (internal, external, construct), statistical power, and significance in their work.

Future Aims

While there was an air of existential concern about the future of the field, most agreed that the trend will be toward increasing the relevance and reliability of consumer research. Specifically, echoing calls from journals and thought leaders, the respondents felt that papers will need to offer more actionable implications for consumers, managers, or policy makers. However, few thought that this increased focus would come at the expense of theoretical insights, suggesting a more demanding overall standard for consumer research in 2040. Likewise, most felt that methodological transparency, open access to data and materials, and study pre-registration will become the norm as the field seeks to allay concerns about the reliability and meaningfulness of its research findings.

Summary - Future research questions and directions

Despite some well-justified pessimism, the future of consumer research is as bright as ever. As we revised this paper amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, it was clear that many aspects of marketplace behavior, consumption, and life in general will change as a result of this unprecedented global crisis. Given this, and the radical technological, social, and environmental changes that loom on the horizon, consumer researchers will have a treasure trove of topics to tackle in the next ten years, many of which will carry profound substantive importance. While research approaches will evolve, the core goals will remain consistent—namely, to generate theoretically insightful, empirically supported, and substantively impactful research (Table ​ (Table3 3 ).

Future consumer behavior research questions

At any given moment in time, the focal concepts, methods, and aims of consumer-behavior scholarship reflect both the prior development of the field and trends in the larger scientific community. However, despite shifting trends, the core of the field has remained constant—namely, to understand the motivations, thought processes, and experiences of individuals as they consume goods, services, information, and other offerings, and to use these insights to develop interventions to improve both marketing strategy for firms and consumer welfare for individuals and groups. Amidst the excitement of new technologies, social trends, and consumption experiences, it is important to look back and remind ourselves of the insights the field has already generated. Effectively integrating these past findings with new observations and fresh research will help the field advance our understanding of consumer behavior.

1 The other papers use 2030 as a target year but we asked our survey respondents to make predictions for 2040 and thus we have a different future target year.

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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Customer Research dan Pentingnya Terhadap Sebuah Startup

• Startup Studio Indonesia
• September 28, 2021
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Konsumen menjadi salah satu faktor penting dalam pertumbuhan suatu bisnis. Oleh karena itu, melakukan riset konsumen atau customer research adalah cara yang tepat untuk mengenal mereka lebih dalam.

Jantung dari setiap bisnis atau perusahaan adalah konsumen mereka sendiri. Agar perusahan bisa bertumbuh secara konstan, diperlukan pemahaman secara mendalam mengenai siapa saja orang-orang yang menggunakan produk Anda dan bagaimana perilaku mereka.

Apa yang Dimaksud Customer Research ?

Customer research adalah praktik mengidentifikasi preferensi, motivasi, dan perilaku target konsumen. Terdapat banyak metode riset konsumen untuk mengumpulkan informasi-informasi tersebut. Karakteristik yang mirip di antara kelompok konsumen yang berbeda kemudian diidentifikasi dan dikategorikan ke dalam segmen konsumen atau persona.

Lalu digunakan untuk membuat iklan pemasaran yang menargetkan segmen atau persona tersebut. Riset konsumen adalah kunci untuk meningkatkan produk Anda. Wawancara, survei, dan banyak metode riset lainnya adalah beberapa alat terbaik dalam membantu perusahaan Anda meningkatkan kepercayaan konsumen.

Apa pentingnya Customer Research Bagi Sebuah Startup?

Suara perusahaan Anda harus merefleksikan suara konsumen Anda, dan produk Anda harus memenuhi kebutuhan mereka. Dengan menangkap suara dan pesan dari konsumen, sama artinya Anda berbicara langsung dengan mereka. Itu adalah ladang emas berharga untuk strategi pemasaran maupun perusahaan Anda secara keseluruhan.

Sebuah studi CoSchedule baru-baru ini mengungkapkan bahwa:

• Tim marketing yang memiliki performa tinggi memiliki kemungkinan melakukan riset konsumen sebesar 242% setidaknya sekali setiap kuartal.
• 56% tim marketing melakukan penelitian setidaknya sebulan sekali.

Selain itu, customer research memiliki peran krusial untuk pertumbuhan bisnis. Dengan memiliki hubungan erat dengan konsumen, Anda akan tahu apa yang mesti dilakukan dan bagaimana memecahkan masalah yang mereka hadapi. Kepuasan konsumen juga bisa diukur melalui metode Net Promoter Score (NPS), yang memiliki korelasi erat dengan pertumbuhan bisnis.

Customer research , pada dasarnya merupakan elemen penting dalam perkembangan sebuah startup atau bisnis. Data yang dikumpulkan bisa menjadi basis dalam memahami pelanggan Anda, bagi pengembangan produk dan pemasarannya.

Bagaimana Melakukan Customer Research ?

Customer research dapat dilakukan dengan banyak cara, mulai dari catatan-catatan yang dimiliki tim Anda setiap harinya, hingga metode pengumpulan data yang lebih terencana dan terstruktur. Menentukan metode customer research untuk perusahaan Anda mungkin memerlukan beberapa kali trial-and-error , tetapi imbalannya jelas sangat sepadan. Jika memungkinkan, konsumen Anda harus dikelompokkan ke dalam segmen pelanggan untuk membantu Anda mencapai tujuan pengumpulan data.

1. Wawancara

Mewawancarai konsumen yang dimintai melewati berbagai tahap dengan produk Anda bisa sangat memakan waktu. Akan tetapi, wawancara dapat menjadi salah satu metode riset terbaik yang dapat dilakukan oleh startup Anda.

Wawancara bisa memberikan Anda masukan-masukan terbaik dengan detail spesifik tentang kebutuhan, keinginan, dan motivasi konsumen yang berkaitan dengan produk Anda. Informasi ini sangat berharga untuk setiap startup, tetapi tidak selalu mudah diperoleh.

Biasanya, data yang dikumpulkan dari wawancara dapat digunakan di semua aspek strategi pemasaran Anda selama periode 12 bulan. Setelah periode tersebut, Anda harus memulai proses wawancara lagi untuk memperhitungkan perubahan dalam bisnis Anda dan perubahan pada basis konsumen Anda.

Survei merupakan metode riset konsumen yang paling umum digunakan. Survei tidak selalu menawarkan tingkat wawasan yang sama dengan wawancara, tetapi survei jauh lebih mudah untuk membuat konsumen berpartisipasi dan memberikan masukan-masukan karena sifatnya yang sederhana.

Survei bisa dilakukan dengan berbagai cara dengan tingkat efektivitas yang berbeda-beda. Tetapi secara umum, tingkat respons untuk survei jauh lebih tinggi daripada wawancara. Survei juga memiliki ukuran sampel yang lebih besar, sehingga memudahkan startup untuk mengenali karakteristik dan pola yang sama di antara konsumen.

Beberapa metode survei yang paling umum adalah melalui email, panggilan telepon, face-to-face , di aplikasi atau situs web, dan bahkan melalui pesan singkat di smartphone . Berikut beberapa jenis survey yang bisa Anda lakukan:

• Survei konsumen baru;
• Survei konsumen lama/sudah ada;
• Survei konsumen yang sudah pergi;
• User testing ;
• Net Promoter Score (NPS).

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Consumer Decision Making Process: a detailed analysis

The consumer decision making process is complex and involves all the stages from problem recognition to post purchase activities. It has been noted that “the childhood and the human’s development has a crucial impact on personal decision making process” (Sokolowski, 2011, p.1) and the framework of consumer decision making process is found to be addressed by the majority of authors who have addressed the topic of consumer behaviour .

All the consumers have their own needs in their daily lives and these needs make them make different decisions. These decisions can be complex depending on the consumer’s opinion about a particular product, evaluating and comparing, selecting and purchasing among the different types of product. Therefore, understanding and realizing the core issue of the process of consumer decision making and utilize the theories in practice is becoming a common view point by many companies and people.

There is a common consensus among many researchers and academics that consumer purchasing theory involves a number of different stages. Depending on the different factors and findings, numerous researchers and academics developed their own theories and models over the past years. However, according to Tyagi and Kumar (2004), although these theories vary slightly from each other, they all lead to almost the same theory about the consumer purchasing theory which states that it involves the stages of search and purchase of product or service and the process of evaluation the product or service in the post-purchase product.

Five Stage Model initially proposed by Cox et al. (1983) is considered to be one of the most common models of consumer decision making process and it involves five various stages. These stages are: recognition of need or problem, information search, comparing the alternatives, purchase and post-purchase evaluation. This simple model clearly illustrates and explains how the consumers make a purchasing decision.

Furthermore, Blackwell et al (2006) highlight the argument why this model is more precise and clear compared to the other similar models is that because this model’s core focus is on motivational factors which helps the user to understand the reasons behind the purchasing decision easier.       

 1. Problem/Need Recognition in Consumer Decision Making Process

Recognition of need or a problem is the first stage of the model. Arnould et al. (2002) specify need as the difference between an actual state and the desired state. According to Agwaral (2006) a need may be recognised due to internal or external stimuli. Hunger, thirst or other basic human needs can be specified as internal stimuli, whereas external stimuli may be caused by various formats of advertisement.

According to Bruner (1993) recognition of a problem arises in the situation where an individual realizes the difference between the actual state of affairs and desired state of affairs. Neal and Quester (2006) further state that the recognition of a problem or need depend on different situations and circumstances such as personal or professional and this recognition results in creation of a purchasing idea. For instance, consumer may recognize the need to buy a laptop when there is need to carry it use it in different places which is convenient compared to a desktop computer.

Solomon et al (2006) classifies the human needs into two different categories depending on their nature. The following categories are mentioned: psychological and functional or physical needs. The authors state that the psychological needs are the outcome of emotional feeling of consumers whereas functional or physical needs are usually the results of necessity.

According to Tyagi (2004) need recognition at various levels often occurs during the process of encountering with the product at various circumstances. In other words, Tyagi (2004) convincingly argues that an individual might not be aware of the need for a specific product until he or she encounters with the product as a result of engaging in ‘window-shopping’, media advertisements, or in a range of other circumstances.

The human need has no limit therefore; the problem recognition is a repetitive in nature. According to Maslow theory, human being is always dissatisfied, when an individual’s one need is satisfied another one will come out and this trend continues repetitively.

2. Information Search in Consumer Decision Making Process

The next stage of the model is information search. Once the need is recognized, the consumer is likely to search more product-related information before directly making a purchase decision. However, different individuals are involved in search process differently depending on their knowledge about the product, their previous experience or purchases or on some external information such as feedback from others.

Majumdar (2010) divides sources of information into four categories: personal, commercial, public and experiential sources. Members of family, friends, colleagues and others can be specified as personal sources of information. The level of influence of personal source of information is greater compared to other sources.

Commercial sources of information refer to marketing communication messages in various formats. Consumers are usually subjected to commercial sources of information via media advertisement, direct marketing, viral marketing, commercial events etc. Public sources of information refer to mass media in print, television, radio and digital formats. According to Batra and Kazmi (2008), consumer rating groups represent can be specified as another important public source. Experiential sources of information related to products and services relate to the possibilities of examining and using products and services for a specific duration of time.

Search of information process itself can be divided into two parts as stated by Oliver (2011): the internal search and external search. In internal search, the consumers compare the alternatives from their own experiences and memories depending on their own past experiences and knowledge. For example, searching for fast food can be an example for internal search because customers often use their knowledge and tastes to choose the right product they need rather than asking someone for an advice. On the other hand, external search ends to be for bigger purchases such as home appliances or gadgets. For instance, consumers who wish to buy new furniture or a mobile phone tend to ask friends’ opinion and advices or search in the magazines and media before making a purchasing decision.

Winer (2009) argues that with the enhancing role of internet in professional and personal lives of people, increasing numbers of individuals are turning to various resources in internet when searching for information about product categories or specific brands. The author specifically highlights the role of online user reviews and forums in terms of their significant impact upon information search stage of consumer decision making process among internet users.

Colleagues, peers, friends and family members are highlighted as another important source of information by Kahle and Close (2006). Moreover, according to Kahle and Close (2006) the nature of influence of peers, friends and family members upon information search and consumer decision making process in general depends on a range of factors such as the nature of relationships, the level of personal influence, the extent of ‘opinion leadership’ associated with specific individuals etc.

3. Evaluation of Alternatives in Consumer Decision Making Process

After gathering enough information at the first stage the consumer gets into comparing and evaluating that information in order to make the right choice. In this stage the consumer analyzes all the information obtained through the search and considers various alternative products and services compares them according to the needs and wants.

Evaluation of alternatives is usually conducted with the application of a set of criteria depending on consumer value preferences. Specifically, consumer value preferences might be oriented towards price, quality or additional features and capabilities of products and services (Blythe, 1997). Neal and Quester (2007) discuss this issue with a greater level of clarity by specifying quality, price and features as product attributes specifies the degree of importance of each attribute as the most important factor impacting the outcome of evaluation of alternatives.

Furthermore, according to Ha et al (2010), the process of evaluation of alternatives can sometimes be difficult, time consuming and full of pressure for a consumer. This is because it is quite hard to find an ideal product or service that satisfies the needs of the customer as there are numerous factors that hinder the consumer purchasing decision making process. For instance, when it comes to online hotel reservation or furniture purchasing evaluation process, it can be quite complex. Several factors and aspects need to be considered before making a purchasing decision. Factors such as age, culture, taste and budget have all impact on the evaluation process by the consumer. For example, when purchasing a furniture, the young people consider the factors such as convenience and price where as the old people are likely to consider the quality and design.

Moreover, celebrity endorsement is seen as another factor with great potential impact on evaluation of alternatives stages of consumer decision making process. Cant et al. (2010) explain the effectiveness of celebrity endorsements with perceived greatness people associate with their idols and the willingness and desire to become like their idols.

 4. Purchase Decision in Consumer Decision Making Process

Once the information search and evaluation process is over, the consumer makes the purchasing decision and this stage is considered to be the most important stage throughout the whole process. In this stage, the consumer makes decision to make a final purchase as he or she has already reviewed all the alternatives and came to a final decision point.

Importantly, purchase decision may result from evaluation of alternatives or such a decision might be made due to a set of situational factors such as effective point of sales marketing technique, and other aspects of environment in the point of sales. Evans et al. (2009) draw attention to impact of other people in the purchase decision. Specifically, according to Evans et al. (2009) the outcome of evaluation of alternatives may change even in last minutes before the purchase due to the impact of attitude of other people or a set of other factors.

Purchased further can be classified into three different types: planned purchase, partially purchase and impulse purchase (Kacen, 2002). Kacen’s view is further supported by Hoyer and Macinnis (2008) stating that there are a number of factors that can affect the purchasing process. For example, the desired product may not be available at the stock. In this case the purchase process is delayed and consumer may consider buying the product through online stores rather than visiting traditional physical stores.

According to Wiedmann et al. (2007) department store sales assistants play in integral role in terms of impacting consumer purchase decision in a positive way from a business point of view. At the same time Wiedmann et al. (2007) warn that this impact must not be done in a pushy manner, in which case it can prove to be counter-productive.

 5. Post-Purchase Evaluation in Consumer Decision Making Process

The final stage in the consumer decision making process is post-purchase evaluation stage. Many companies tend to ignore this stage as this takes place after the transaction has been done. However, this stage can be the most important one as it directly affects the future decision making processes by the consumer for the same product. Therefore this stage reflects the consumer’s experience of purchasing a product or service. This view is further supported by Ofir (2005) mentioning that the consumer decision making process is a repetitive action and a good experience is vital in reducing the uncertainty when the decision to purchase the same product or service is considered the ext time.

According to Webb (2009), product’s perceived performance in customers’ viewpoint can result in customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction, with direct and immense implications on the level of customer loyalty. The opinions of peers, friends and family regarding the purchases made is specified as one of the most important factors affecting the outcome of post-purchase evaluation by Perrey and Spillecke (2011). This point is further expanded by Trehan and Trehan (2011), according to whom peer opinions regarding product evaluations tend to impact customer level of satisfaction regardless of their level of objectivity.

Brink and Berndt (2009) also highlights the importance of the post-purchase evaluation stage. According to the authors, the consumer may either get satisfaction or dissatisfaction depending on the evaluation of the purchase and comparison of their own expectations. The outcome forms the experience of the customer and it this experience is believed to have a direct impact on the next decision of the consumer to purchase the same product from the same seller.

Simply, if the consumer is satisfies with the purchase it is likely that the purchase may be repeated while if they have a negative experience from the purchase it is unlikely that the consumer may make the decision to buy the same product from the same seller or even may not buy the product at all.

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Cant, M.C., Strydom, J.W. & Jooste, C.J. (2009) “Marketing Management” Juta Publications

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Hoyer, W.D. & Macinnis, D.J. (2008) “Consumer Behaviour”, 5 th edition, Cengage Learning

Evans, M.M., Foxall, G. & Jamal, A. (2009) “Consumer Behaviour” John Wiley & Sons

Kacen. J. J. and Lee. J. A., (2002) “The influence of culture on consumer impulsive buying behaviour”, Journal of consumer psychology. 12(2), pp. 163-174.

Kahle L.R. and Close, A. (2006) “Consumer Behaviour Knowledge for Effective Sports and Event Marketing”, Taylor & Francis, New York, USA

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What Is Consumer Theory?

Understanding consumer theory, advantages of consumer theory, example of consumer theory, limitations of consumer theory, the bottom line.

• Guide to Microeconomics

Consumer Theory: Definition, Meaning, Objective, and Example

Daniel Liberto is a journalist with over 10 years of experience working with publications such as the Financial Times, The Independent, and Investors Chronicle.

Investopedia / NoNo Flores

Consumer theory is the study of how people decide to spend their money based on their individual preferences and budget constraints. A branch of  microeconomics , consumer theory shows how individuals make choices subject to how much income they have available to spend and the prices of goods and services.

Understanding how consumers operate makes it easier for vendors to predict which of their products will sell more and enables economists to get a better grasp of the invisible hand , the unseen forces that shape the economy.

Key Takeaways

• Consumer theory is the study of how people decide to spend their money based on their individual preferences and budget constraints.
• Building a better understanding of individuals’ tastes and incomes is important because these factors impact the shape of the overall economy.
• Consumer theory is useful but not flawless, as it is based on a number of assumptions about human behavior.

Individuals have the freedom to choose between different bundles of goods and services . Consumer theory seeks to predict their purchasing patterns by making the following three basic assumptions about human behavior:

• Utility maximization —Individuals are said to make calculated decisions when shopping, purchasing products that bring them the greatest benefit, otherwise known in economic terms as a maximum utility .
• Non-satiation —People are seldom satisfied with one trip to the shops and always want to consume more.
• Decreasing marginal utility — Consumers lose satisfaction with a product the more they consume it.

Working through examples and/or cases, consumer theory usually requires the following inputs:

• A full set of consumption options
• How much utility a consumer derives from each bundle in the set of options
• A set of prices assigned to each bundle
• Any initial bundle that the consumer currently holds

Building a better understanding of individuals’ tastes and incomes is important because it has a big bearing on the demand curve , which is the relationship between the price of a good or service and the quantity demanded for a given period of time, and on the shape of the overall economy .

Consumer spending drives a significantly large chunk of gross domestic product (GDP) in the United States. If people cut down on purchases, then demand for goods and services will fall, squeezing company profits, the labor market , investment, and many other things that make the economy tick.

Consumer choice theory is taken very seriously, influencing everything from government policy to corporate advertising.

Let’s look at an example. Kyle is a consumer with a budget of $200 who must choose how to allocate his funds between pizza and video games (the bundle of goods). If a pizza costs $10 and a video game cost $50, Kyle could buy 20 pizzas, or four video games, or five pizzas and three video games. Alternatively, he could keep all $200 in his pocket.

How can an outsider predict how Kyle is most likely to spend his money? Consumer theory can help give an answer to this question.

Challenges to developing a practical formula for this situation are numerous. For instance, as behavioral economics points out, people are not always rational and are occasionally indifferent to the choices available. Some decisions are particularly difficult to make because consumers are not familiar with the products. There could also be an emotional component involved in the decision-making process that cannot be captured in an economic function.

The many assumptions made by consumer theory have caused it to come under criticism. While its observations may be valid in a perfect world, in reality, there are numerous variables that can expose a flawed process of simplifying spending habits .

Going back to the example of Kyle, figuring out how he will spend his $200 is not as clear-cut as it might seem at first. Economics assumes that he understands his preferences for pizza and video games and can decide how much of each he wants to purchase. It also presumes that there are enough video games and pizzas available to satisfy Kyle’s choices. Of course, none of these assumptions may be correct, even if generally they are.

What does consumer theory tell us?

Consumer theory attempts to predict how people will spend their money by looking at their budget constraints and individual preferences. Its weakness is that it assumes that people will always make rational choices.

Why is consumer theory important?

Because consumer spending is the engine of the U.S. economy, understanding how consumers may spend their hard-earned money helps businesses decide where to allocate their resources.

What is the demand curve?

The demand curve looks at the relationship between the cost of a good or service and the amount needed to satisfy consumer consumption over a stated period of time. It helps determine the shape of the economy.

Economists believe it’s possible to predict how individuals spend their money. The name for this is consumer theory and there’s a lot hinging on it as the population’s spending habits impact corporate profits and, as a result, the wider economy.

Give a scenario of somebody with x amount of money and a series of preferences, and consumer theory will tell you how that person will spend that capital. Of course, that means making a lot of assumptions. Consumer theory assumes that people are rational and essentially all the same. Normally, its predictions are fairly accurate, although they cannot be counted on 100%.

Oxford Reference. “ Consumer Theory .”

Easily Economics. “ Introduction to the Theory of Consumer Behaviour .”

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. “ Consumer Spending: An Engine for U.S. Job Growth .”

University of Chicago News. “ Behavioral Economics, Explained .”

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The term Consumer Culture refers to the system of commercially produced images, signs, discourses, experiences, and material objects that social groups use to make collective sense of their environments and to orient their identities and social experiences.

Consumer Culture Theory (CCT) is an interdisciplinary field of research oriented around developing a better understand of why consumers do what they do and why consumer culture takes the forms that it does. Theorists focus on understanding the interrelationships between various material, economic, symbolic, institutional, and social relationships, and their effects on consumers, the marketplace, other institutions, and society. Researchers typically draw from and build on theories rooted in sociology, anthropology, media studies and communications, history, literary criticism and semiotics, gender and queer theory, cultural studies, and marketing.

Accordingly, consumer culture theorists pursue a robust and nuanced understanding of how market-mediated, global consumer culture and its localized instantiations shape people’s identities. Their research illuminates the co-creative practices through which consumers integrate these resources into their contextually grounded lifestyles. And, it theorizes how these activities influence and are influenced by social relationships, power structures, and institutions.

Consumer Culture Theory research has tended to address four key theoretical domains and their various points of intersection: 1) Consumer Identity Projects; 2) Marketplace Cultures; 3) The Socio-historic Patterning of Consumption; and 4) Mass-Mediated Marketplace Ideologies and Consumers’ Interpretive Strategies. Across the areas of inquiry, research findings have implications for theory, organizational practice, public policy, and consumer’s lives.

Outlets for CCT Research

Consumer Culture Theory research is published in high profile academic journals such as the  Journal of Consumer Research   (generally regarded as CCT’s flagship journal), the  Journal of Marketing , the  Journal of Marketing Research , the  Journal of Retailing , the  Journal of Consumer Culture ,  Consumption, Markets & Culture , the  European Journal of Marketing ,  Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science ,  Marketing Theory , Journal of Marketing Management ,  Journal of Macromarketing ,  Qualitative Marketing Research , and  Recherche et Applications en Marketing , as well as a steadily growing volume of books, edited volumes (such as the  Research in Consumer Behavior  Series),  films , and conference proceedings.

Researchers participate in a range of public and industry facing activities including participating in the  Marketing Science Institute , engaging in independent consulting, providing expert opinion in media interviews, contributing to industry blogs, and writing for consumer websites.  Contact us  to be directed to appropriate experts for media inquiries and collaboration inquires.

For more detail about Consumer Culture Theory as a research field, see “ Consumer Culture Theory (CCT): Twenty Years of Research ” by Arnould and Thompson 2005,; “ Consumer Culture Theory: The Ironies of History ” by Askegaard and Scott 2013, and  Contemporary Consumer Culture Theory , eds Sherry and Fischer 2017; and Consumer Culture Theory, eds. Eric Arnould and Craig Thompson, forthcoming 2018, Sage.

History of the Consumer Culture Theory Consortium

After 25 years of research in the area now considered Consumer Culture Theory, the Consumer Culture Theory Consortium was established to provide a formal forum for researchers to exchange ideas and to support the study of Consumer Culture through a formal institution. The CCTC administers the  Sidney J Levy Award , provides support for the  Consumer Culture Theory Conference  as well as other  symposia and workshops , promotes CCT research, and provides travel scholarships.

Join the CCTC

To participate in the CCTC see the  membership page , join the  3,600+ member Facebook Group , attend a  CCT Conference , and  participate in a seminar or workshop .

In addition, regional groups of CCT scholars meet on a regular basis and are open to drop ins and new members. These include:  The Chicago Consumer Culture Consortium (C4) ,  Southern California Consumer Culture Community (SC4) ,  the Sociocultural Consumer Behavior Reading Group at the University of Arizona , and the London Consumer Culture Group.

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Consumer Behavior Of Teenagers In Different Age Groups

The article is devoted to examination of schoolchildren’s consumer behavior. The study was conducted via interview. Differentiating features of consumer behavior among Moscow and EU schoolchildren with respect to gender and age are discussed in this article. The qualitative study shows that age parameter produces the most differences in consumer behavior/socialization. We found that with age (from 10-12 y.o. to 13-15 y.o.) the amount of pocket money increases, the range of purchases widens, the path to purchase and the participation in family purchases grows more complex. The results of the survey are supported by data of marteking agencies (NAFI’s Children and Finances, New Generation of Comcon-2). Older teenagers have more ways of getting pocket money - part-time work is available for them. With age the understanding of ads becomes less emotional, more rational. Thus, the stage of child’s cognitive development (mainly defined by his/her biological age, according to J. Piaget) and universal norms of child-parent interaction with the regard to the child’s age mostly predetermine the tween’s involvement in family/parents’ purchases rather than gender or place of residence. Gender aspects of the process include the following finding: older teenage boys state that they’d spend a hypothetical large amount of money on things benefitting parental or their own future families. Cultural differentiation shows Moscow teenagers express distrust toward banks while European teenagers trust these institutions. Keywords: Consumer behavior consumer socialization school children

Introduction

Development of consumer society in Russia demands raising competent consumers, this challenge is getting more and more vital for the country. For example, in 2015 the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation in cooperation with the World Bank developed educational materials for schools ( Educational programs for population, 2018 ), some Moscow schools have extracurricular classes on financial literacy, earnings and savings management, questions on credits and insurance, etc. Generation of financial literacy is an important aspect of consumer socialization ( Solodnikov & Solodnikova, 2018 ). The results of consumers socialization become visible in consumer behaviour.

In turn consumer socialization research has three major approaches: cognitive, behavioral and interactionist one. Cognitive approach is based on Piaget’s (1969) theory of cognitive development. Followers of this approach suggest after Piaget that child’s development originates primarily by means of their (cognitive) adaptation to the world (including the world of adults). Rhoedder-John ( 1999 ) identified the following stages of child’s consumer socialization, based of colleagues’ research:

Perception stage (3-7 y.o.) that corresponds to Piaget’s (1969) pre-operational stage. At this age children make decisions based solely on visible characteristics of things. Symbolic thinking os only developing during this period.

Analytical stage (7-11 y.o.) corresponds to Piaget’s concrete operational stage. At this age children start to understand and use abstract concepts, when applied to consumer socialization it’s first of all commercials and its functions, brands, etc.

Reflective stage (11-16 y.o.) that corresponds to formal operational stage of Piaget’s theory. Teenagers are able to handle hypothetical situations, think in practically adult terms at this stage.

The second popular approach to consumer socialization analysis is based on behavioral school research, particularly Bandura and Walters’ ( 1963 ) theory of social learning. Followers of this approach think that new skills learning takes place through observation and the ability of modeling other consumers (parents, peers, etc.) ( Solodnikov & Solodnikova, 2018 ). In some cases, researchers use combination of cognitive and behavioural approaches ( Chan & McNeal, 2006 ).

There is also a third, less popular, approach, interactional one. Within this approach it is stated that a child should master a number of social roles, including the role of consumer ( Russel & Tyler, 2005 ). In this approach a child is an actor (as in the social learning approach), the end result being the acquiring of knowledge about the market, factors influencing the purchase, main stages of purchase process, etc.

Problem Statement

There are few quantitative studies on consumer behaviour/socialization of children and teenagers in Russian psychology ( Rebzyev & Savelyeva, 2006 ). In this article we attempt to conduct qualitative analysis of similarities and differences in consumer behaviour between Moscow and European schoolchildren. Similar studies are sufficiently popular in the scientific world ( Yang, Kim, Laroche, & Lee, 2014 ; Rose, Dalakas, & Kropp, 2002 ).

Research Questions

Are there any differences in consumer behaviour between Moscow and European school children in terms of age, gender or cultural peculiarities?

Purpose of the Study

The aim of this study is to find out peculiarities of Moscow teenagers’ consumer behaviour/ socialization when compared to European ones in terms of age, gender and culture.

Research Methods

Subjects (cases).

There was a total of 22 interviews with schoolchildren in 2017-2018 (12 of them were females).

Target audience was by gender, age (10-12, 13-15 y.o.) and place of residence (Moscow and EU – Germany, Bulgaria, Latvia).

The study was conducted via interview. All the data was collected at the respondents’ homes – through Skype or in person. The sample is non-representative, built with snowball approach. 13 interviews were collected in Moscow, the rest (9) – in three European countries. The average length of European interviews in 1h15min due in part to the need for translation from an assistant when conducting German interviews.

School children aged 10-12 y.o.

In regard to the pocket money amount and frequency of payments there are a lot of similarities. Younger children have less money given more often or irregularly. They don’t have bank cards yet. This being said, younger Moscow children name Troika transport card (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troika_card ) and schoolchildren social card (All-Russia project on introduction of an access, non-cash payment for school lunches, electronic grades record system in schools.) as bank card. The latter can actually be used for payments, but only in school.

The collected data is consisted with previous research. For example, according to Statista portal British children aged 8-11 years received on average 7 pounds a week ( How much pocket money do you get?, 2019 ). Dutch fifth graders get on average 7 euros a week while eighth graders get already 11 euros ( On what do you spend your pocket money?, 2019 ). Nearly 80% of fifth and sixth graders in the Netherlands spend their pocket money on toys (Pocket money weekly average in the United Kingdom (UK) between 2000 and 2017 (in GBP), 2019).

Regular purchases are very similar too among younger age group: children in Moscow and EU buy the three most popular categories: snacks, sweets and non-alcoholic drinks. According to findings of the Russian research company Comcon-2 the largest share of 10-12 y.o. schoolchildren spend their pocket money on these three categories (2013). Thus, our findings are corroborated by qualitative data.

The last solo purchase illustrates the same trend: younger children buy sweets, presents for friends and relatives and stationary. It is worth noting that according to Australian data first Internet purchases happen at the age of 11-12 years. At the age of 12-15 years Australian respondents already become Internet sellers ( Tahichon, 2017 ). Yet, our respondents of younger age group did not display such behavior.

The last purchase decision making process is quite simple and straightforward among younger age group regardless of place of residence: one comes to the shop and buys the cheapest item or the one that is usually bought.

Regarding more costly planned purchases younger children say that they don’t have enough money for toys and pets.

The ways of gaining money for things wanted are characterized by passiveness.

One of the goals of these interviews was to find out ways of spending ‘substantial’ sum of money (after a question about what ‘large amount of money’ means to them the sum was multiplied by 10).

The numbers named by the schoolchildren reflect the place of consumption in their drawn-up life strategy. The contents of those answers will be analyzed by two parameters: hedonism (spending on oneself) vs altruism (spending on others) and tactical vs strategic purchases.

First of all, great variability of answers about the large amount of money should be noted. It fluctuated between 50 euros to 1 mln leva (approximately €500 000) as a single payment or 36 000 euros of yearly income. The definition of ‘substantial’ sum of money by European residents includes a clarification about frequency of receiving it.

The highest variability of answers was registered among younger girls. They have tactical purchases (a cell phone, a toy), as well as strategic consumption plans (an apartment, an extension to the house). There is also a wish to spend money on themselves (travelling, recreating with friends), but altruistic plans are there too (giving money away to animal protection organizations).

Moscow younger schoolgirls also display saving behavior, a wish to save part of the sum and not spend it, but the attitude toward banking institutions is mixed:

« [I’d keep] it at home so no one could steal it». (F, 11 y.o., Moscow)

«It’s safer [to keep money in a bank], no one can steal it… I’d chose Sberbank (A state-owned banking system in Russia, the largest in Russia and CIS.) » (F, 11 y.o., Moscow).

Moscow younger schoolboys wish to fulfill tactical consumer needs (to buy a cell phone). There is a wish to give the money to the parents:

«They did help me». (М, 12 y.o., Moscow).

European tweens are more preoccupied with strategic plans and personal/individual goals (to buy an apartment, to get education, to buy furniture).

It must be said that both boys and girls living in EU say that they will work even with a large amount of money available.

From the point of view of participation in family purchases there are no differences between target groups by place of residence. According to one of classifications ( De la Ville & Tartas, 2010 ) the younger group are on the first (peripheral participant of purchase process) or the second stage of consumer behavior development (active participant but restrained by other people in the purchase decision making process).

Thus, the stage of child’s cognitive development (mainly defined by his/her biological age, according to Piaget) and universal norms of child-parent interaction with the regard to the child’s age mostly predetermine the tween’s involvement in family/parents’ purchases rather than gender or place of residence.

The peculiarities of consumer socialization and the forming of the corresponding competencies is closely connected to interpretation of the term commercial.

One of definitions of a commercial states that it is “information distributed in any form about persons, commodities, services or social movements that is paid for by the advertising client and has the goal of drawing attention to the object of the commercial and its sales increase” ( Dmitrieva, 2005, p. 7 ). In this definition we are mostly interested in informing and motivating function of advertising. Previous research shows that understanding of commercial communication increases with child’s age: younger children think that the purpose of an ad is entertaining or informing the audience, while older children have ambivalent attitude towards advertising, and they can put themselves into advertisers’ place. There are no differences in terms of gender ( Chan & McNeal, 2006 ).

Within this framework answers to question ‘Please, explain to me what an advertising is can be grouped according to age rather than by country of residence or gender. Children of younger age group more often mention one advertising function - motivating one.

It is worth noting that some European respondents aged 10-12 years did not mention advertising functions at all, appealing to expenses on it or commercial images/mediums.

The attitude toward advertising is primarily negative or neutral in the younger age group.

The collected data corresponds in part with the results of American research. On one hand, according to the latter school children aged 10-12 years acknowledge that advertising is not always truthful and express skepticism toward advertising as a social institute ( Moore & Lutz, 2000 ). On the other hand, some researchers note mostly positive attitude toward advertising among children aged 8-10 years ( Ali, Batra, Ravichandran, Mustafa, & Rehman, 2012 ), while our respondents of younger age show negative/neutral attitude.

School children aged 13-15 y.o.

There are two differences between them and younger children in terms of pocket money amount: firstly, European teenagers have larger sums available. We presume it has a lot to do with different standard of living in Russia and EU.

Secondly, teenagers in Europe have more ways of getting pocket money: not only  installments from (grand)parents, but also, for example, from recycling plastic bottles (Germany).

With more pocket money teenagers make wider range of purchases. They can buy alcohol (with help of older friends), a book, a bicycle; they can eat out or buy clothes through the Internet (paying with parents’ card).

The range of everyday purchases increases accordingly - when compared to 10-12-year-olds. Last purchases in the 13-15 age group include organizing an in-home party, a visit to a club, buying clothes, ordering ready-to-eat food home, a taxi ride, etc.

Teenagers want to buy rather expensive, but familiar things (a computer, a bicycle, a tablet, a video adapter, headphones).

A ‘substantial’ amount of money varies between RUR 20 mln and €1 mln in a single payment or €250 000 -500 000 annually. It must be said that some Moscow residents named sums in dollars or euros.

EU residents dream of more expensive things they don’t have money for right now (their own apartment, driver’s license).

Purchase decision making process among teenagers becomes more complicated, for example:

- saw the item at home - tested it with friends - bought it

- choose the item on their own - went to the store, handed the money to the parent because the teenager didn’t have a bank card - father and brother helped to choose the item

Some teenagers have their own bank cards - in Moscow, as well as in EU. It’s another significant difference between younger and older school children.

Teenagers show more initiative when discussing ways to get pocket money. Some even mention attempts at working part time.

We again analyzed the ways of spending ‘substantial’ amount of money by two parameters: tactical/strategic and hedonistic/altruistic purchases. Older girls both in Moscow and EU mostly mention tactical purchases (clothes, eating out with friends, wristwatch).

At the same time, they are willing to spend part of money on other people - relatives and strangers (to give part of the sum to relatives, to give it to charity).

Ways of saving of ‘substantial’ amount of money differs among Moscow and EU teenagers. Older EU boys have positive attitude toward banks and are willing to use their services (for example, bank deposits). At the same time Moscow teenagers regardless of gender will not trust a bank with their money - under no circumstances.

Teenage boys regardless of place of residence think strategically, keeping in mind attributes of prosperity - both their own and attributed to the family of origin.

Such results can be linked to gender stereotypes and masculine features that men (and boys) are expected to fit ( Klecina, 1998 ). It can also be linked to interiorized traditionally masculine role of breadwinner in the family.

The data on more rational purchases among teenage boys correspond with Russian qualitative findings ( Rebzyev & Savelyeva, 2006 ). According to his conclusions, teenage girls are more likely to rely on social motives of consumption (approval of others, conspicuous consumption, choosing comfort over price) while teenage boys more often follow economic reasons (choosing items based on their functional/economic characteristics).

Moscow teenage boys also show a tendency to hedonistic individual spending (for example, travels).

Older teenagers have more independence in the purchasing process which according to some authors ( De la Ville & Tartas, 2010 ) corresponds to second (active participant restricted in purchase decisions by others) or third level of consumer development (active participant playing the main role in the purchasing process). This independence of purchasing behavior covers mainly food for parental family as well as clothes (for females) and gadgets (for males) for personal use.

Understanding of the ad nature gets more complicated with age. Older teenagers (males more so) mention two functions of ads - informing and persuading.

Attitude toward ads among older teenagers (both Moscow and European) changes from negative to more neutral one.

Data analysis of our qualitative survey on distinctive features of teenagers’ consumer behavior again shows heuristic side of cognitive approach of socialization complemented by behavioural and interactive one.

In general, we found that with age (from 10-12 y.o. to 13-15 y.o.) the amount of pocket money increases, the range of purchases widens, the path to purchase and the participation in family purchases grows more complex. The results of the survey are supported by data of marketing agencies (NAFI’s Children and Finances, New Generation of Comcon-2). Older teenagers have more ways of getting pocket money - part-time work is available for them. With age the understanding of ads becomes less emotional, more rational.

Gender distinctive features of consumer behavior consist of older male teenagers’ claim that they’d spent a hypothetical large amount of money on strategic purposes, mainly aimed at increasing living standard of parental family. It can be interpreted as an attempt to comply with traditional masculine standard of behavior that is expected of them. Also, girls tend to start their independent purchases with clothes while boys prefer gadgets.

In terms of cultural differences, the following peculiarities were noted: Moscow school children express distrust toward banks, they don’t want to keep their money there. European school children trust financial institutions. Also, despite having hypothetical large amount of money European school children express the wish to work, rejecting the lifestyle of an investor. Finally, the most important elaboration from them concerns the definition of large amount of money: they ask if the money is to be received regularly or as a single payment.

A distinguishing feature of Moscow school children in the same situation is to name the sum in dollars or euros.

It must be noted that the results of this qualitative survey are illustratory and need further elaboration which includes a qualitative survey.

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Petrushihina, E. B., Solodnikov, V. V., Solodnikova*, I. V., & Solodnikova, N. V. (2019). Consumer Behavior Of Teenagers In Different Age Groups. In T. Martsinkovskaya, & V. R. Orestova (Eds.), Psychology of Subculture: Phenomenology and Contemporary Tendencies of Development, vol 64. European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences (pp. 499-506). Future Academy. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2019.07.65

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More From Forbes

How to achieve equity—not just equality—in consumer research.

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Nihal Advani is the Founder and CEO of QualSights , which was named the fastest-growing consumer insights platform by Inc. magazine in 2022.

Over the past few years, society has made an important realization about the difference between equality and equity . While ensuring that everyone is treated equally is important, it’s also vital that we think of ways to level the playing field so those who are disadvantaged and marginalized can be heard.

One important way to accomplish this goal is to incorporate real equity into product development and the insights industry. In this article, I will look at three ways how consumer research can level up in order to help provide more equitable product development:

Fostering A Culture Of Consent

Whether you realize it or not, you’re probably being studied by someone right now. Companies are watching your every move on your computer and smartphone. How long will you linger on this webpage? When will your cursor move? What will you consume next?

You might say you don’t mind this kind of scrutiny and that it’s expected. But did anyone ask your permission? This may seem like an odd thing for the CEO of a consumer research company to say. But I envision a world where people can opt-in and participate in the kind of product research to which they want to contribute, fully understanding and willfully consenting to their part in the process.

Lending A Voice To Underrepresented Communities

Asking someone their opinion is a quiet way of telling them that you care. Conversely, when you don’t ask, you’re sending a message that they don’t matter.

As anyone who collects feedback from consumers knows, it’s very easy to find out how your most- and least-satisfied customers feel about your product. You don’t even have to ask these days; just head to the reviews section on Amazon. Market research is so valuable because you’re hearing from people who aren’t yet your customers to help you avoid the negative review.

But here’s an ugly secret in the consumer research world: Some voices are much louder than others. With traditional consumer surveys and focus groups, you only hear from the people who have the time to fill out a survey, shop alongside a researcher or sit in a conference room. Is your study accessible to people with disabilities? What about five-year-olds or participants in rural areas? To send the message that all voices matter, you need to go out of your way to hear from everyone.

Developing Consumer Empathy

Much as gathering the thoughts of others is a form of care, actually acting upon them helps us improve their real world situation and experience.

Imagine that you’re undergoing treatment for breast cancer. In the middle of the night you’re up, unable to sleep due to the disruptive side effects from your treatment. You pick up your phone from the nightstand and call the pharmaceutical company responsible for this feeling and unload, careful not to wake up your spouse while letting drug manufacturers know exactly how you’re feeling at this particular moment.

This version of consumer insights may sound like fantasy, but it’s actually more possible than you might think with technology. As an industry, we must explore how tapping into technology can achieve higher levels of empathy as well as the other forms of equity described above.

How To Boost Consent, Representation And Empathy In Research

So, how do you turn these ideals into action? Here are a few suggestions:

Be open and honest about data gathering and usage.

The best market research studies will result in people being vulnerable with you, sharing some of their deepest thoughts and feelings. Unless you make these individuals feel comfortable, you won’t get the raw, quality insights you need to make productive changes or improvements. This is especially important when research participants are creating audio or video recordings of themselves. Here are a few steps to ensuring consent:

• Implement a rock-solid privacy policy, and communicate it upfront to all study participants.

• Create a consent form for all participants to complete, detailing the study and letting them know exactly how their data is going to be used.

• Store data securely and confidentially, and only share research findings publicly when they cannot be tied back to a specific individual.

Use asynchronous data-collection techniques.

The Big Pharma example mentioned above illustrates a real truth: We shouldn’t be asking vulnerable people to use antiquated feedback avenues when technology can help us to collect data in a more convenient way. When you force participants to abide by your schedule, you cut out those who live in inconvenient time zones or don’t have the luxury of flexible schedules.

Instead, allow study participants to record their experiences for later parsing. You’ll not only open your study up to a much wider array of people, but you’ll also be able to better empathize with them when you can see their reactions and feelings in context at the exact moment they are using a product.

Stop relying on in-person interviews and in-store shopping alone.

Users with mobility issues can participate in online focus groups or interviews, or bring you along through screen sharing as they fill their virtual carts online. This increases demographic representation to include those who may have disabilities, aren’t in close proximity to brick-and-mortar shops or don’t have reliable transportation.

Consent, comprehensive representation and empathy are all achievable in consumer research. In order to achieve them, though, we must look at the tools at disposal and to consider how we gather feedback with these three goals top of mind.

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MoSCoW method

What is the MoSCoW method?

The MoSCoW method is a four-step approach to prioritizing which project requirements provide the best return on investment (ROI). MoSCoW stands for must have, should have, could have and will not have -- the o's make the acronym more pronounceable.

A variety of business disciplines use the MoSCoW method. It enables everyone involved in a project to know what work to complete first and how that work helps increase revenue, decrease operational costs, improve productivity or boost customer satisfaction. On the business side, it can help stakeholders frame discussions about the importance of specific product features when choosing a software vendor. On the IT side, the MoSCoW method plays an important role in Agile project management by helping project teams prioritize story points.

Furthermore, prioritizing requirements enables project teams to understand the amount of effort and resources each project element requires. This knowledge improves the team's time management, makes the project more manageable, increases the likelihood of completion by deadline and optimizes ROI .

The MoSCoW method is also known as MoSCoW analysis , MoSCoW prioritization , MoSCoW technique and MoSCoW rules .

Prioritization of requirements

Before implementing the MoSCoW method, businesses must ensure the teams involved in the project and other stakeholders agree on the project objectives and the factors they use for prioritization. They should also establish plans for settling disagreements.

Next, teams should decide what percentage of resources they assign to each category. For example, they could allocate 20% of the resources to the could-have requirements, while giving 40% to must-haves and 30% to should-haves.

Once the teams and stakeholders gather requirements and reach agreements, then the teams can start assigning requirements to each of the following four categories.

1. M: Must have

This first category includes all the requirements that are necessary for the successful completion of the project. These are non-negotiable elements that provide the minimum usable subset of requirements.

Statements that are true for must-haves include the following:

• There is no point completing the project by its target deadline without this requirement.
• The final product or software would not be compliant or legal without this requirement.
• The final product or software would not be safe without this requirement.
• The final product or software does not deliver an effective solution without this requirement.

If there is any way to work around a particular requirement, teams should consider it a should-have or could-have element. Assigning requirements to the should-have and could-have categories does not mean the team won't deliver the element; it just reveals that it is not necessary for completion and, therefore, is not guaranteed.

2. S: Should have

This second category of requirements is one step below must have. It can prep requirements for future release without impacting the current project. Should-have elements are important to project completion, but they are not necessary. In other words, if the final product doesn't include should-have requirements, then the product still functions. However, if it does include should-have elements, they greatly increase the value of the product. Minor bug fixes, performance improvements and new functionality are all examples of requirements that could fall into this category.

Teams can distinguish a should-have element from a could-have element by assessing the amount of pain caused by leaving the requirement out. This is often measured in terms of the business value or the number of people affected by its absence.

3. C: Could have

This category includes requirements that have a much smaller impact when left out of the project. As a result, could-have requirements are often the first ones teams deprioritize -- must-have and should-have requirements always take precedence as they impact the product more. An example of a could-have is a desirable but unimportant element.

4. W: Will not have

This final category includes all the requirements the team recognizes as not a priority for the project's time frame. Assigning elements to the will-not-have category helps strengthen the focus on requirements in the other three categories, while also setting realistic expectations for what the final product does not include. Furthermore, this category is beneficial in preventing scope creep -- or the tendency for product or project requirements to increase during development beyond what the team anticipated.

The team can eventually reprioritize some requirements in the will-not-have group and work them into future projects; others are never used. To differentiate between these types of elements, teams can create subcategories within the will-not-have group to identify which requirements they should still implement and which they can ignore.

MoSCoW method for Agile

The Agile project management methodology breaks projects into small sections called iterations. Each iteration focuses on completing specific project elements in work sessions called sprints -- typically lasting two to four weeks. The MoSCoW method is frequently used within Agile project management to determine which elements -- including tasks, requirements, products and user stories -- the team should prioritize and which can be put on hold. These decisions make an Agile project schedule that enables teams to rapidly deploy solutions, more efficiently use resources, increase their flexibility and adaptability to changes, and more quickly detect issues.

Advantages of the MoSCoW method

The MoSCoW method is easy to use and understand. It can help individuals with prioritization, but it more greatly benefits project teams. Other advantages include the following:

• Resolves disputes and form agreements with stakeholders.
• Ensures a minimum viable product is produced.
• Sets priorities at different levels of the development pipeline.
• Enables categorizing requirements to rely on the expertise of the team.
• Can be used for both existing and new projects.

In addition, the MoSCoW method enables users to assign specific percentages of resources to each of the four categories. This action ensures resources are effectively managed ,and it optimizes productivity analysis.

Criticism of the MoSCoW method

However, there are some drawbacks with the MoSCow method, including the following:

• There is uncertainty surrounding will-not-have requirements and whether they are left out of the release or the entire project.
• There's no clear way to prioritize requirements within the same category.
• There is no reasoning for why one requirement is a must-have and the other is a should-have.
• If an organization's decision-making process excludes collective leadership, prioritization may become subjective and inefficient.

History of the MoSCoW method

The MoSCoW method has its roots in the dynamic systems development method -- an Agile project delivery framework that aimed to improve rapid application development processes.

Software development expert Dai Clegg created the MoSCoW method while working at Oracle , the multinational computer technology corporation. Clegg initially designed the prioritization technique for timeboxed projects and initiatives within releases.

Editor's note: This article was reformatted in 2023 to improve the reader experience.

Continue Reading About MoSCoW method

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MoSCoW Prioritization

What is moscow prioritization.

MoSCoW prioritization, also known as the MoSCoW method or MoSCoW analysis, is a popular prioritization technique for managing requirements. 

  The acronym MoSCoW represents four categories of initiatives: must-have, should-have, could-have, and won’t-have, or will not have right now. Some companies also use the “W” in MoSCoW to mean “wish.”

What is the History of the MoSCoW Method?

Software development expert Dai Clegg created the MoSCoW method while working at Oracle. He designed the framework to help his team prioritize tasks during development work on product releases.

You can find a detailed account of using MoSCoW prioritization in the Dynamic System Development Method (DSDM) handbook . But because MoSCoW can prioritize tasks within any time-boxed project, teams have adapted the method for a broad range of uses.

How Does MoSCoW Prioritization Work?

Before running a MoSCoW analysis, a few things need to happen. First, key stakeholders and the product team need to get aligned on objectives and prioritization factors. Then, all participants must agree on which initiatives to prioritize.

At this point, your team should also discuss how they will settle any disagreements in prioritization. If you can establish how to resolve disputes before they come up, you can help prevent those disagreements from holding up progress.

Finally, you’ll also want to reach a consensus on what percentage of resources you’d like to allocate to each category.

With the groundwork complete, you may begin determining which category is most appropriate for each initiative. But, first, let’s further break down each category in the MoSCoW method.

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Moscow prioritization categories.

1. Must-have initiatives

As the name suggests, this category consists of initiatives that are “musts” for your team. They represent non-negotiable needs for the project, product, or release in question. For example, if you’re releasing a healthcare application, a must-have initiative may be security functionalities that help maintain compliance.

The “must-have” category requires the team to complete a mandatory task. If you’re unsure about whether something belongs in this category, ask yourself the following.

If the product won’t work without an initiative, or the release becomes useless without it, the initiative is most likely a “must-have.”

2. Should-have initiatives

Should-have initiatives are just a step below must-haves. They are essential to the product, project, or release, but they are not vital. If left out, the product or project still functions. However, the initiatives may add significant value.

“Should-have” initiatives are different from “must-have” initiatives in that they can get scheduled for a future release without impacting the current one. For example, performance improvements, minor bug fixes, or new functionality may be “should-have” initiatives. Without them, the product still works.

3. Could-have initiatives

Another way of describing “could-have” initiatives is nice-to-haves. “Could-have” initiatives are not necessary to the core function of the product. However, compared with “should-have” initiatives, they have a much smaller impact on the outcome if left out.

So, initiatives placed in the “could-have” category are often the first to be deprioritized if a project in the “should-have” or “must-have” category ends up larger than expected.

4. Will not have (this time)

One benefit of the MoSCoW method is that it places several initiatives in the “will-not-have” category. The category can manage expectations about what the team will not include in a specific release (or another timeframe you’re prioritizing).

Placing initiatives in the “will-not-have” category is one way to help prevent scope creep . If initiatives are in this category, the team knows they are not a priority for this specific time frame. 

Some initiatives in the “will-not-have” group will be prioritized in the future, while others are not likely to happen. Some teams decide to differentiate between those by creating a subcategory within this group.

How Can Development Teams Use MoSCoW?

  Although Dai Clegg developed the approach to help prioritize tasks around his team’s limited time, the MoSCoW method also works when a development team faces limitations other than time. For example: 

Prioritize based on budgetary constraints.

What if a development team’s limiting factor is not a deadline but a tight budget imposed by the company? Working with the product managers, the team can use MoSCoW first to decide on the initiatives that represent must-haves and the should-haves. Then, using the development department’s budget as the guide, the team can figure out which items they can complete. 

Prioritize based on the team’s skillsets.

A cross-functional product team might also find itself constrained by the experience and expertise of its developers. If the product roadmap calls for functionality the team does not have the skills to build, this limiting factor will play into scoring those items in their MoSCoW analysis.

Prioritize based on competing needs at the company.

Cross-functional teams can also find themselves constrained by other company priorities. The team wants to make progress on a new product release, but the executive staff has created tight deadlines for further releases in the same timeframe. In this case, the team can use MoSCoW to determine which aspects of their desired release represent must-haves and temporarily backlog everything else.

What Are the Drawbacks of MoSCoW Prioritization?

  Although many product and development teams have prioritized MoSCoW, the approach has potential pitfalls. Here are a few examples.

1. An inconsistent scoring process can lead to tasks placed in the wrong categories.

  One common criticism against MoSCoW is that it does not include an objective methodology for ranking initiatives against each other. Your team will need to bring this methodology to your analysis. The MoSCoW approach works only to ensure that your team applies a consistent scoring system for all initiatives.

Pro tip: One proven method is weighted scoring, where your team measures each initiative on your backlog against a standard set of cost and benefit criteria. You can use the weighted scoring approach in ProductPlan’s roadmap app .

2. Not including all relevant stakeholders can lead to items placed in the wrong categories.

To know which of your team’s initiatives represent must-haves for your product and which are merely should-haves, you will need as much context as possible.

For example, you might need someone from your sales team to let you know how important (or unimportant) prospective buyers view a proposed new feature.

One pitfall of the MoSCoW method is that you could make poor decisions about where to slot each initiative unless your team receives input from all relevant stakeholders. 

3. Team bias for (or against) initiatives can undermine MoSCoW’s effectiveness.

Because MoSCoW does not include an objective scoring method, your team members can fall victim to their own opinions about certain initiatives. 

One risk of using MoSCoW prioritization is that a team can mistakenly think MoSCoW itself represents an objective way of measuring the items on their list. They discuss an initiative, agree that it is a “should have,” and move on to the next.

But your team will also need an objective and consistent framework for ranking all initiatives. That is the only way to minimize your team’s biases in favor of items or against them.

When Do You Use the MoSCoW Method for Prioritization?

MoSCoW prioritization is effective for teams that want to include representatives from the whole organization in their process. You can capture a broader perspective by involving participants from various functional departments.

Another reason you may want to use MoSCoW prioritization is it allows your team to determine how much effort goes into each category. Therefore, you can ensure you’re delivering a good variety of initiatives in each release.

What Are Best Practices for Using MoSCoW Prioritization?

If you’re considering giving MoSCoW prioritization a try, here are a few steps to keep in mind. Incorporating these into your process will help your team gain more value from the MoSCoW method.

1. Choose an objective ranking or scoring system.

Remember, MoSCoW helps your team group items into the appropriate buckets—from must-have items down to your longer-term wish list. But MoSCoW itself doesn’t help you determine which item belongs in which category.

You will need a separate ranking methodology. You can choose from many, such as:

• Weighted scoring
• Value vs. complexity
• Buy-a-feature
• Opportunity scoring

For help finding the best scoring methodology for your team, check out ProductPlan’s article: 7 strategies to choose the best features for your product .

2. Seek input from all key stakeholders.

To make sure you’re placing each initiative into the right bucket—must-have, should-have, could-have, or won’t-have—your team needs context. 

At the beginning of your MoSCoW method, your team should consider which stakeholders can provide valuable context and insights. Sales? Customer success? The executive staff? Product managers in another area of your business? Include them in your initiative scoring process if you think they can help you see opportunities or threats your team might miss. 

3. Share your MoSCoW process across your organization.

MoSCoW gives your team a tangible way to show your organization prioritizing initiatives for your products or projects. 

The method can help you build company-wide consensus for your work, or at least help you show stakeholders why you made the decisions you did.

Communicating your team’s prioritization strategy also helps you set expectations across the business. When they see your methodology for choosing one initiative over another, stakeholders in other departments will understand that your team has thought through and weighed all decisions you’ve made. 

If any stakeholders have an issue with one of your decisions, they will understand that they can’t simply complain—they’ll need to present you with evidence to alter your course of action.  

Related Terms

2×2 prioritization matrix / Eisenhower matrix / DACI decision-making framework / ICE scoring model / RICE scoring model

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Report on Contract for Deed Lending

Contracts for deed are a form of seller financing, where the seller retains legal title of a home until the borrower completes the payments. Contracts for deed are also known by other names, sometimes including “land contracts,” “installment land contracts,” “land sales contracts,” or “bonds for deed.” During the contract term, the borrower typically assumes the responsibilities of homeownership, including repairs, property taxes, and improvements. The contracts usually provide for forfeiture in event of any default in the contract terms, such as missed payments. Upon forfeiture, the seller may repossess the home and retain all accumulated equity and payments, including the buyer’s downpayment and improvements made to the property. Buyers’ exercise of their rights regarding the property is often complicated because the contract showing the buyer’s interest is not recorded. Key findings of this report follow:

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