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Miaoli areaconsumers’willingness and consumptionpatterns forliving room sofasets Graduate Student: Chao-Fa Liu Advisor: Chien-Cheng Chang Department of Industrial Design, National United University Abstract This study aims to investigate the Miaoli area consumer’s willingness and consumption patterns in purchasing living room sofa set. From the data obtained, corresponding marketing strategies for specific types of consumers are provided. In this study, 137 furniture consumers living in Miaoli areas are invited for the questionnaires and semantic differential experiments. The results show that consumers at Miaoli area prefer living room sofa sets that are comfortable, young, and innovative in styles. They like L-shaped, innovative sofas, modern fabric sofas, and elegant style sofas with mixed colors. With the data of importance in 11 design attributes, consumers at Miaoli area can be divided into six categories: Type 1 Prudent and thoughtful group, Type 2Mass-market group, Type 3Luxurious group, Type 4 Price-oriented group, Type 5 Easy-going group, Type 6 Younger life-enjoying group. Each type of consumer groups varies in demographic variables, consumer experience, and preferences towards living room sofa sets. Consumers in Type 1 Prudent and thoughtful group are the oldest in average age. They have relatively high degrees of importance in all 11 design attributes. They are prudent in decision making and have lower degrees of in purchasing the sofa samples. For this type of consumers, fabric and leather sofas with simplicity style should be provided. Moreover, they like to see and sit in the physical sample in the store. The price they can accept is at the range of NT$50,000 to 70,000. The proper promotion channels will be newspaper and commercials in the local TV. Credit card service should be also provided. Consumers in Type 2Mass-market group have moderate degrees of importance in 11 design attributes. They come from all walks of life and have moderate level of family income. They prefer sofas that look young and modern with full functions and mixed materials such as fabric and leather. In addition to installment service, website and commercials in newspaper and magazines are proper for promotion. The price they can accept is from NT$30,000 to 100,000. Type 3Luxurious group, composed of business owners and professionals, has highest annual household income. They tend to have medium and large sized living room and emphasize a lot color, large size, weight, and brand name of furniture. They prefer modern and simple styles, particularlyluxurious sofas. Hence, the marketing strategies include credit card services, and promotion channels through the Internet and newspapers. The product price for them falls at the range of NT$50,000 to 200,000. As the title suggests, Type 4 Price-oriented group puts a lot of emphasis on product price. They require quality furnitures with reasonable prices. They think highly of product form, texture and warranty period, but not so much of brand names. For Type 4 consumers, fabric, rattan, wood, and mixed materials are suggested. They accept sofa sets whose prices are between NT$ 30,000 and 70,000. In addition, favorable conditions for installment services should be offered. Consumers in Type 5 Easy-going group have lower degrees of importance in all design attributes partly because they have the lowest annual household income and they are youngest in age. They prefer practical and simple styles with lower product prices. Therefore, it is recommended to provide small and medium sized living room sofa sets with mixed texture of fabric and wood as well as fabric and leather. Credit card services are necessary, too. Type 6 Younger life-enjoying group members emphasize the function, brand, and comfort, belonging to enjoyment-oriented class of consumers. On the contrary, they don’t think highly of price, warranty, and special discounts. For their marketing strategy, it is recommended to offer mixed texture design like fabric and wood, fabric and rattan as well as fabric and leather. The Internet and installment services are suggested for promotion. The product prices range from NT$ 50,000 to 100,000 for the emotional and innovative style of living room sofa sets. In this study, rigorous market research is conducted to collect Miaoli area consumers’ purchase intention and consumption patterns for living room sofa sets. Marketing strategies derived from this study can be used as references for future furniture design and marketing departments. Keywords: semantic differential analysis, furniture marketing, purchase intention , consumption patterns
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