Jan 26, 2012
Recent research into the needs and wants of today’s consumer is quite revealing. The research attempts to map attitudes towards consumer needs and wants from an emotional and a functional perspective. The result is a quadrant chart that positions various products, services and activities in relation to one another.
Laundry detergent, trash bags and taking taxis score high on the functional scale whereas going to concerts, sporting events and theatre score high emotionally. On the need/want scale, health care, fresh produce and gas all score highly as consumer needs whereas spa treatments and jewellery measure highly as wants.
So what do we find in the middle of the map, near the intersection of all four quadrants? This is where we find magazines, smartphones, cable/satellite TV, flat panel TVs and music purchases: products that are in the mainstream of today’s world. Arguably, these products and services fulfill functional and emotional needs and wants equally.
Not surprisingly, magazines are positioned slightly more towards the emotional side of the quadrant centre. This finding supports a wide array of previous studies that show magazine reading to be a very intimate activity resulting in high engagement with content that feeds personal interests and passions.
Source: “The New Necessities: What Products and Services Can Consumers Not Live Without?” AdAge, November 14, 2011
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We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund of the Department of Canadian Heritage for this project.
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