Lifestyle Based Segmentation of Rural Consumers of Central Gujarat: An Empirical Study

Abstract

Consumer lifestyle analysis has become popular tool in the case of marketing decision making. The present study attempts to segment rural consumers of Central Gujarat region of Gujarat on the basis of their perceived lifestyles. An instrumentinvolving Activities, Interests, and Opinions (AIO) has been used for the purpose of study. Initially, an effort is made to unearth the perceptions of rural consumers in the region, and then the same were factor analyzed so as to form homogenous groups of such consumers which would help marketers to ensure success in market targeting. This study providesgenerous insights to marketing managers in Gujarat with valuable visions for marketing segmentation, value creation, product positioning/re-positioning, and promotional decisions. With change in lifestyle paradigms of rural consumers, it has become significantly important for a marketer to know rural consumer behavior and the dynamics of it. Lifestyle segmentation being one of the most related and effective tool in gauging such behavior, this study will prove of a great help to marketers in designing customized marketing strategies specially for targeting the rural consumers.