This paper describes recent attempts to use virtual reality components for improving the generation and presentation of experimentally varied tasks in discrete choice analyses. These tasks, particularly in consumer purchase situations, have historically shown a notorious lack of realism for the consumer, with obvious disadvantages for an accurate understanding of purchase behavior. Virtual shopping systems, on the other hand, offer intriguing opportunities for a flexible generation and realistic presentation of consumer choices within typical retail environments and product categories. A recently completed research study of consumer purchases of baby napkins is used to demonstrate the advantages of this approach.
A relationship between colour preference and fragrance, should one exist, might enable inferences to be drawn from information concerning the former about which types of perfume a consumer might be expected to wish to buy. This paper seeks to determine whether perceptual mapping techniques can be used to determine the existence or otherwise of such a relationship by subjecting the results of a study specifically conducted to explore the possibility of the existence of such a relationship to this methodology.
The retail trade in Finland is very much centralized; the four major chains dominate the market. Mass marketing by making use of mass media and mass bargains has been very powerful in the past few years. Segmentation of the consumers by shop chains or by type of shop has occurred in a very small extent. Buying loyalty has decreased and people do shopping in several chains and and in several types of shops. Our survey shows that the customers of supermarkets in different chains differ very little from each other concerning sociodemographic and psychographic factors. Today and especially in the future it is more essential to study segmentation by benefits or situational segmentation. The choice of the shop can be effected by fast tepo special bargains and going over to an other type of shops happens easily. New shop groups that sell dry food stuff and non food-products have clearly taken customers from the traditional trade chains.