There is also the need to concentrate on the interaction of these personal demographic factors as the foundation for group factors analysis.
Group Factors Analysis
The accumulated effects of the personal factors defined in the first section of this paper are put into relevance when the social factors are quantified and measured specifically relating to the retail home furnishings industry. One of the most commonly used is the VALS2 methodology (Piirto, 1996) which has its basis in the following set of metrics as shown in Figure 2, Lifestyle Orientation Definitions.
Table 2: Lifestyle Orientation Definitions
Source: (Piirto, 1996)
Orientation
Definition
Achievers
I am successful and deeply committed to work, family, and community.
A like predictability and consistency over risk.
My work affords me material rewards and prestige that shows success to my friends.
Strivers like to be trendy want to be stylish and admire people who are well-known for their success and wealth
Although difficult at times, making money is a goal in my life
Fulfilleds
I am mature, self-assured, well-educated professional
I am content with my career, family, and doing leisure activities around the house buy durable, functional products with value for the money
Believers
My activities center around home, family and community prefer American-made products
I am not wealthy, but meet my needs sufficiently
Experiencers
I am young, impulsive and rebellious at times seek variety, and excitement through new, offbeat and often risk activities and new products and experiences
Exercise, sports, outdoor recreation, and social activities are important to me
Makers
I am "old fashioned" and focus all interest on family and hard work
I'd rather buy items that have a practical purpose
When I want something done right I do it myself
In defining each of these segments and their role in the purchasing process in the retail home furnishings industry it is first critical to consider how shared values-based segmentation is created using psychographics (Liu, Wang, 2008, 283). The fundamentals of defining market segments by the values that customers have had been first defined during initial retail-based research that sought to define segmentation through shared attitudes or psychographics. This lead to the development of social science research that has since served as the foundation for the development of research methodologies that turned the study of values, perceptions, and intentions into quantified research over mere observations revolutionized the concept of values-based segmentation in the retail home furnishings industry.
The cultural perspective on market orientation, meanwhile, emphasizes inter-organizational norms and values in the defining of key buying criteria and group-based affiliation needs of (Deshpande, Farley, Webster, 1993, 23). Organizational values and norms relate to this team's latency function and are exemplified by the strength of integration points throughout the Dynamic Structural Coupling of Firm-Customer Relations Model constructed based on their insights and accumulated research. Figure 1 shows an interpretation of the Dynamic Structural Coupling of Firm-Customer Relations Model specifically applied to the retail home furnishings industry, which specific focus on the quantification of shared trust across the retail channel on the one hand and with customers on the other. The Dynamic Structural Coupling of Firm-Customer Relations Model specifically shows that in the retail home furnishings industry there is a specific concentration on transparency of brand values and their corresponding impact on delivering exceptional customer value and service while still maintaining a strong level of consistency and equilibrium throughout the entire ecosystem of home furnishings retailers.
In effect this model creates a balance between the expectations of the broader lifestyle and referent group attributes of retail home furnishings consumers (Piirto, 1996) and the ability of retailers to specifically define, execute and reinforce loyalty through the execution of their unique services. What emerges then is an egalitarian-based model of home furnishing retailer to psychographic group interaction that places emphasis on the experiential aspects of the shopping, buying and customer loyalty experience. In this regard the Dynamic Structural Coupling of Firm-Customer Relations Model shown in Figure 1 specifically addresses how retail home furnishings companies can attain trust, over time, with each of the dominant psychographic customer groups.
Figure 1: Dynamic Structural Coupling of Firm-Customer Relations Model
The Dynamic Structural Coupling of Firm-Customer Relations Model then specifically defines how all social factors that contribute to retail home furnishings retailers gaining the trust of their specific target markets and audiences of consumers. It is important to note that these groups are more appropriately defined through social factors encompasses by psychographics first, demographics segment. Psychographics specifically...
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