264 The Marketing Book
date, he or she will receive direct mailings
soliciting defection to the sponsoring company.
Although the industry has claimed there is
now a lifestyle census, the reality is somewhat
different. Admittedly, a large number of indi-
viduals (around 20 million in the UK) have
responded, but the survey is by definition a
self-selected sample and it is known that some
respondents do not tell the whole truth in
completing the questionnaire (Evans et al.,
1997). The difference between the more tradi-
tional form of lifestyle segmentation discussed
earlier and the current approach is that the
former builds psychographic profiles of seg-
ments from relatively small data sets and
expands these to generalize patterns within the
larger population. The latter, however, has the
ability to list names and addresses of those who
claim to be interested in specific products,
brands and services, and it is this, of course,
that contributes to more directed segmenting
and targeting of markets. It provides data on
what respondents claim they buy, but doesn’t
in itself reveal the same type of affectivedata on
opinions and ‘outlook on life’ that can be
derived from traditional AIO analysis.
Table 10.8 shows one segmentation
approach, based on the new lifestyle data, for
the UK.
What is currently happening, however, is
for geodemographic data to be further overlaid
with lifestyle data, so the data fusion paradigm
continues apace.Biographic segmentation
A further development, and yet another sig-
nificant one, is the progression from profile
data to transactional data. Bar code scanning at
point of purchase can match products pur-
chased with details of the customer. A similar
story applies to mail, telephone or Internet
purchases, because these can match purchases
with individuals. For example, an inspection of
a resulting retail loyalty scheme database
revealed, for a certain Mrs ‘Brown’, her address
and a variety of behavioural information,
including: she shops once per week, usually on
a Friday, has a baby (because she buys nappies),
spends £90 per week on average and usually
buys two bottles of gin every week – on
Thursdays (Mitchell, 1996). Analysis via data
mining software (demonstrated later) can iden-
tify purchasing patterns of individuals. By
knowing what individual consumers buy, the
retailer might be able to target them with
relevant offers. For example, special offers
relevant to a shopper’s child’s birthday can beTable 10.7 Contemporary ‘lifestyle’ research
Please indicate your marital status
(single, married, divorced/separated, widowed)
What is your name and address?
What is your partner’s full name?
Holidays:
How much are you likely to spend per person on your next main holiday
up to £500 £501–£999 £1000–1499 £1500–£2000 £2000 +
In which country are you likely to take your next main holiday?
In which month are you likely to take your main holiday?