Shift in Perception and Consumer Behavior

Introduction

The world is moving fast with the blessings of different technologies pooping out here and there and adoptions of new pattern of life styles are taking place at the same time. The adoption of new life-style is not only fired by new technologies but also by our desire to do things in a more convenient way. It is significantly different how we express ourselves today compared to the way we did it 10-15 years back. It is also noticeable that there is demand for different sorts of products and services which never existed before while many products and services are becoming worthless. For example, people used to use mailing services to send letters to tell their loved ones about themselves and recent events. Now people use Skype to video call each other for free. However, notice that in order to video call, we require an internet connection. Again the use of mailing services is becoming useless and as we barely send letters to our close ones now.

We can easily notice the change in consumer perception about goods and services. More shifts are noticed in people’s Life-styles, use of Technologies, and Communication. Along with other reasons, the work-life balance in the life-style of the upper middle class families plays a key role. The number of both parents working in corporate offices increasing due to more number of educated individuals and the growth in economy. These educated individuals are connected to the world through different sorts of media and they have all the updates about all the different aspects of life. Hence, they know the recent trends, they are choosy, and they want the perfectly suited products for them.

Comparison between today and yesterday

A closer look into the current society of Bangladesh, we can clearly identify a growing middle-class with both parents working outside. A major issue for this group is time management, and to save time they are ready to spend more. Therefore, demands for life easy making services, appliances, and goods are rising significantly.

Home appliances like blenders, whisks, ovens etc have seen considerable rise in demand. Nuclear/Unit families with both parents working outside consume them to make their daily-life much easier and faster. Simultaneously, families who are not in a similar phenomenon or in a similar time constraint still consume these products to gain psychological satisfaction. Most of them think that it is a sign of class and status to be able to use these products. Similar trends are also noticed in many other product ranges.

Both parents working outside love their children and have money in their hand. They both want to participate in making their children happy; as a result, they both purchase products for their children with their own money. Hence, demand for children’s toys and clothes have doubled in some cases. In traditional families, only the father is the source of family income and he purchases the goods needed for the family. Since he is the only source of income for the family, there is little chance that he will purchase more than the required quantity. In traditional families considers excess purchase or consumption as wastage.

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Perception: It was a generally accepted fact that mothers will stay home and take care of the children and fathers will run the family financially. With the education and job opportunity, the old perception has changed and now mothers are working outside. Similarly, the purchasing and consumption pattern is changing due to change in perception.

In such families, cooking is a challenge. After working long hours in the office none of the parents are in any shape to cook after they return home. More importantly, the traffic congestion in the city kills a lot of their valuable time. When they return home, they are totally drained out. Similarly, in the morning, they do not have time prepare breakfast for everyone. Hence, a quick solution is ready-made food or semi-prepared food. Therefore, they go out to restaurants to eat their dinner and enjoy some family time together or they depend on packed semi-prepared food (eg: Hand-made Breads, Masala Mix etc). Only few years back, few upper-middle class families would go out for dinner. Now not only families with both parents working but also other types of families go for dinner in different restaurants and also depend on semi-prepared foods as well.

Perception: Bengali parents’ perception about outside food is that it is not good. Traditionally, Bangladeshis love making their own food at home. Now the perception is changed, they consider the outside food to be less harmful. They find it tasty and enjoy the time together. Along with that, the other types of families are also considering this habit as a part of social status and that is also contributing to the booming number of restaurants in Dhaka and other major cities.

15 to 20 years back we used to notice that retired senior citizens of a family would not demand clothes or outfits that are colorful or even other fancy goods. They would constraint themselves within few selected dull colors. Now we can see more and more senior citizens retire late or even engage in alternative fields, as a result, they have cash but they do not know how to spend them. Hence, they spend behind goods that are generally not compulsory to have. They want to make themselves look younger; consequently, they spend behind anti-aging cosmetics and treatments, colorful attires and different arrays of gadgets.

Perception: Senior citizens 20 years back would think that their job in the world is done and the world has nothing to offer. Therefore, they would refrain from worldly pleasures and indulge themselves into players and other pious deeds. Now the jobs are not restricted to a period rather vast in all dimensions. The general nature of humans to get engaged by doing something comes into play as they find that there is many thing to do in life. Moreover, in order to experience so many things you need to live and live young. There is a tendency within our older citizens to hide their age and look younger.

Conclusion:

Over the years, our perception about things have changed and is changing. The way we used to perceive matters 20 years back, we do not see them in the same way anymore. Since the change is continuous, there will be more changes in our life styles. As a result, our behavior is also changing and will continue to change. It is in our gene to look for new things and experiences and adopt them thus changing our behavior. Hence, there is no end to the study of perception and consumer behavior.

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