CHILDREN CONSUMPTION MARKET

Factors influencing the profitability of the children consumption market

Factors influencing the profitability of the children consumption market

Chapter 1: Introduction

Introduction

It is estimated that in the USA, children 12 years old and younger spend over $14 billion of their own money each year (Azoulay, 1998; McNeal and Yeb, 1993). Further, they influence over $160 billion in household purchases (Azoulay, 1998; Wolf, 1998). Given children's powerful presence in the marketplace, it has become increasingly important to understand their consumptive behaviors. This is a particularly significant issue as such behaviors tend to remain relatively unchanged throughout a person's life, provided the person remains within the specific subculture experienced during his or her formative years (Moschis, 1987).

Consumption patterns of children. While children have indeed captured the attention of market researchers, they have done so with skewed representation. Marketing researchers studying the consumption patterns of children have looked primarily at the behaviors of mid-to-upper status youths (e.g. Atkin, 1978; Capon and Kuhn, 1980; Haller, 1974). Little attention has been focused on the consumption patterns of economically disadvantaged children (e.g. Andreasen, 1975; Moschis, 1987). Those studies that have examined lower class youth suggest not only that their consumption patterns are different from upper class children, but also that such incongruities may be attributed to differences in their consumer skills. For example, Moschis (1987) argues that compared to their upper income counterparts, low income children are less able to “effectively” utilize market information when purchasing products due to their less than adequate learning of some aspects of consumer behavior (see also Riesman et al., 1956). Further, it is argued that lower income youth possess less consumer knowledge than their upper income counterparts as evidenced by the formers' diminished awareness of brands, prices, and even socially desirable consumer behaviors (Moschis, 1987).

However, it is important to ask, what kind of knowledge or skills do low income children need in an atmosphere where buying is often difficult and inconvenient? Perhaps differences in the consumption patterns of children from dissimilar socioeconomic backgrounds may be better understood by examining the consumer market in which the child is raised, rather than by measuring children's skills compared to some monolithic cultural norm of “effective” consumer behavior.

Consumer environment. In the present study, we investigate the influence of a child's consumer environment, defined as the concentration, size, and types of stores (including the products, brands, and services offered) in a child's immediate community, on his or her consumption patterns. In addition, the stores' architecture and atmosphere, both inside and outside the store, is noted. It is argued that this environment, rather than deficiencies in learning, may be able to better explain disparities in lower and upper income children's consumer-based skills. Further, by investigating children's consumption patterns in the context of their consumer environment, greater understanding may be provided as to how children are socialized as consumers.

This paper makes two significant contributions. First, by investigating children's consumer market , factors influencing the profitability of the children consumption market, we provide an initial attempt to enhance our understanding ...