The prospects in consumer research over the next few years are likely to be governed primarily by the changing and developing needs of industry. These needs in turn are largely determined by major economic and social trends, such as increasingly active competition, the increasing tempo of marketing, the closer economic contacts in the Western world and increasing populations and living standards. Industry will look more and more to consumer research for still better help and guidance, not only in coping with its day-to-day marketing problems, but also in giving direction to long-term plans in such fields as capital investment and technical research. It may be helpful to look at this situation from the viewpoint of the user of consumer research, particularly of companies manufacturing and marketing mass market, non-durable and branded consumer goods. In this paper it is proposed to discuss some of the main problem areas where industry hopes and expects to get still more effective help from consumer research during the next few years, which will assist commercial judgement and reduce business risks. The direction which this help is already taking can be illustrated by reference to the papers which will constitute the balance of this session.
Everybody who is engaged in providing goods or services wants to act upon the American saying, "Buy today the newspaper of tomorrow". For this purpose he turns to the market researcher. If no clear answers can be found for the basic questions, he wishes hypotheses to be set up and carried through. By this means, as soon as a future trend takes a more or less definite shape, the interested party expects to be in a position, in company with his market researcher, to open the right drawer to take out the appropriate master plan prepared in advance, and to apply it. In this way, market research will satisfy its most important requirement: that it should help the industrialist or the businessman to supplement the somewhat primitive application of his instinct and accumulated experience through refined techniques and the results they produce. It is to be hoped that market research will tell us how to go about in harmony with the markets of the world of tomorrow.
Everybody who is engaged in providing goods or services wants to act upon the American saying, "Buy today the newspaper of tomorrow". For this purpose he turns to the market researcher. If no clear answers can be found for the basic questions, he wishes hypotheses to be set up and carried through. By this means, as soon as a future trend takes a more or less definite shape, the interested party expects to be in a position, in company with his market researcher, to open the right drawer to take out the appropriate master plan prepared in advance, and to apply it. In this way, market research will satisfy its most important requirement: that it should help the industrialist or the businessman to supplement the somewhat primitive application of his instinct and accumulated experience through refined techniques and the results they produce. It is to be hoped that market research will tell us how to go about in harmony with the markets of the world of tomorrow.
Pioneer consuming is often related to income and age of the consumer. Not completely however, nor is it always true. Pioneer consuming to a certain extent covers many product groups, durables as well as small ticket items. However--specific product groups have their own specific consumption pioneers, who only partly are overall early adopters of new products, new consumption patterns. Attitude scales can isolate consumption pioneers in specific product groups. The non-verbal "Stapel scale" has proved to he very successful in this field. A scale-based both on specific attitudes and past and present buying behaviour isolates consumption pioneers quite successfully. Such consumption pioneers should be a rewarding group to study in respect to success or failure of new brands or products, in analysing penetration-patterns, in product testing, etc.
Group discussion on the paper "The consumption pioneer" by Mr. Stapel.
Pioneer consuming is often related to income and age of the consumer. Not completely however, nor is it always true. Pioneer consuming to a certain extent covers many product groups, durables as well as small ticket items. However--specific product groups have their own specific consumption pioneers, who only partly are overall early adopters of new products, new consumption patterns. Attitude scales can isolate consumption pioneers in specific product groups. The non-verbal "Stapel scale" has proved to he very successful in this field. A scale-based both on specific attitudes and past and present buying behaviour isolates consumption pioneers quite successfully. Such consumption pioneers should be a rewarding group to study in respect to success or failure of new brands or products, in analysing penetration-patterns, in product testing, etc.
«Motivation Research» is a convenient shorthand term and it certainly has great sales, appeal, because every one wants to know why consumers do what they do. The use of this title holds out the hope or perhaps even the promise that this kind of problem will now be successfully tackled. But just therein lies its danger because as I suggest below this claim cannot yet be justified. The purpose of this paper is to try to put the matter into perspective, to sift out what is useful from what as rubbish, even if it glitters, and to try to indicate what these methods, which for the moment we will call «psychological», are likely to settle down into.
The following discussion will be limited to the consumer - why people buy and use a product - not only because this happens to be the field I know most about but because a good deal of the developments have been made in the field of consumer research. Obviously, they apply to opinion research in the broader sense as well.