Page 181 - Marketing Management

158 PART 3 CONNECTING WITH CUSTOMERS

Boutique hotel chain Joie de Vivre
uniquely positions each of its
properties and then offers an
online matchmaker to help
consumers find the hotel that
best fits their interests.

LOHAS Consumers who worry about the environment, want products to be pro-
LOHAS duced in a sustainable way, and spend money to advance their personal health, development,
and potential have been named “LOHAS,” an acronym for lifestyles of health and sustainability.
One estimate placed 19 percent of the adults in the United States, or 41 million people, in the
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LOHAS or “Cultural Creatives” category. The market for LOHAS products encompasses organic
foods, energy-efficient appliances and solar panels, alternative medicine, yoga tapes, and ecotourism. Taken
together, these account for an estimated $209 billion market. Table 6.2 breaks the LOHAS demographic
into six segments with estimated size, and product and service interests.

Lifestyles are shaped partly by whether consumers are money constrained or time constrained.
Companies aiming to serve money-constrained consumers will create lower-cost products and
services. By appealing to thrifty consumers, Walmart has become the largest company in the world.
Its “everyday low prices” have wrung tens of billions of dollars out of the retail supply chain, pass-
ing the larger part of savings along to shoppers in the form of rock-bottom bargain prices.
Consumers who experience time famine are prone to multitasking, doing two or more things
at the same time. They will also pay others to perform tasks because time is more important to
them than money. Companies aiming to serve them will create convenient products and services
for this group.