BuyerGraphics by Socio-Economic Class in Brazil

In the book Consumer Profiles: An Introduction to Psychographics, Barrie Gunter and Adrian Furnham wrote that psychographics “seeks to describe the human characteristics of consumers that may have bearing on their response to products, packaging, advertising and public relations efforts. Such variables may span a spectrum from self-concept and lifestyle to attitudes, interests and opinions, as well as perceptions of product attributes.”  But when dealing with a specific product, psychographics may still be too generalized.  Along comes Buyergraphics, which connects to specific attitudes, opinions and behaviors that are directly connected to consumption.

We will now use an example from the 2004 TGI Brasil study.  This is a survey of 13,312 persons between the ages of 12 to 64 years old conducted during year 2004.  During the interview, the survey respondents were shown a list of statements and asked if they complete agree with them.  In the following chart, we show the overall responses as well as the responses separately by the socio-economic classes in Brazil.

(source: 2004 TGI Brasil)

The sixth and seventh statements ("I look for the lowest prices when I shop" and "I always look for special offers") are very much expected since rich people probably never even have to think about the prices of things.  The first five statements are more subtle as they refer to brand loyalty.  The upper class seemed less impressed with advertising, but they also seem to have a firm sense about the name brands and are less likely engage in variety-seeking behavior.  The lessons here are actually obvious.  If you have a product for the mass market, pricing, promotion and advertising are your tools of the trade.  If you have an upscale product, then you will need a long-term brand image-building campaign to go after the rich people.

(posted by Roland Soong, 1/22/2005)

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