O mercado maduro nas cidades de Uberlândia e Uberaba: uma contribuição ao estudo da segmentação de mercado

Abstract

The world has been ageing fast. In the major of the countries, mature consumers grow faster than ever before. There are two reasons to explain this: first is the increase of life expectance and on the other hand, the decrease of born ratio. The combination of these two facts has produced a gray planet. Learning how to deal with this will be a challenge in the next decades, once the mature market is attracting the attention of both academic researchers and businessmen all around the world due to their importance as a consumer group. A strong characteristic of this group is its heterogeneity, that suggests the existence of several important subgroups for marketers. This study employs a segmentation technique based upon lifestyles, purchase behavior and demographics characteristics to subdivide the consumer market composed of people aged 49 plus living in the Uberlândia and Uberaba, important cities in Minas Gerais State. The analysis of the data sample was based on multivariate statisticals techniques. Factor Analysis was used to identify the major important groups of variables that compose the purchase behavior and the lifestyle of mature consumers. Then, Cluster Analysis was applied to identify and to characterize the segments. Results indicated the existence of five clusters: elderlies reserved, retirees not worried, secure workers, balanced active, well-educated youngers. This study contributes to the knowledge of the mature consumer, helping future researches about this subject. Besides, it provides information to marketers directing and positioning their products, better fitting them to the lifestyle and purchase behavior of the mature market.