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Customer trait profiling: A conceptual framework for lifestyle marketing in food retail
Journal of Cultural Marketing Strategy,
4
(2),
133-147
(2020)
Abstract
The role of the multicultural food marketer is to maximise the effectiveness of the customer-reaching product marketing mix (price, product, place and promotion) in as efficient and effective a manner as possible, while also paying attention to those cultural differences apparent between, for example, Hispanics, African Americans and Asians. To simplify the ability of the food retailer to reach the target customers, the most common method employed by food retailers has been the use of store volume and geographical location. As the makeup of the US population continues to evolve, the need to understand customer lifestyles is greater than ever. Geography will not define a population, and will not maximise sales in food retail stores. This study offers a conceptual framework that utilises customer lifestyle profiling to merchandise and market inside a food retail chain. The paper argues that assortment and promotional allocation should be based on more than simply store volume and geographic location, and that food retailers should assign more importance to lifestyle traits.
Keywords: customer-centric retailing; food marketing; demographic targeting; food industry merchandising; food promotional techniques
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
Russell J. Zwanka formed the food marketing courses at the State University of New York at New Paltz. He is also CEO at Triple Eight Marketing. He holds a doctorate in international business from the International School of Management in Paris, a master’s degree in management from Southern Wesleyan University, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of South Carolina. Dr Zwanka has written eight books, spoken at numerous events, and served on such committees as the IGA Retailer Advisory Board, the HVEDC Food and Beverage Alliance, the Consumer Goods Forum Marketing Committee, and the Nielsen Retailer Advisory Committee.
