Abstract:

Identification and examination of characteristic behaviour patterns of target markets is thus a key element in the planning process. The present paper describes the first phase of a project to examine and compare alternative ways of profiling customers based on their product purchasing behaviour. The purpose of the study is 1) to determine what measures of product purchase behaviour and what analytical procedures can most effectively be used to characterise customers and; 2) to compare the efficacy of such classifications with those based on other types of variables, such as socio-economic characteristics or media exposure habits.