Effects of Demographic Trends on Gym, Pay Television, and Restaurant Industries

Describe about the Consumer Behavior for Demographic Trends.

The goal of each company is to expand its market share by having as many customers as possible. However, for the firms to achieve this objective they have to understand the behavior portrayed by the consumers concerning the various types of products or services (Durmaz & TaÅŸdemir, 2014, p. 188). The understanding of the consumer behavior assist the companies in enhancing the marketing techniques by acquiring the comprehensive understanding of the several issues that affect the consumer purchasing process (Brosekhan & Velayutham, 2013, p. 10). For example, through the study of the consumer behavior, the marketer will be able to know the psychological nature of the consumer regarding a particular product or brand.  Again, the marketer can be able to identify the consumer behavior while shopping as well as how the consumer is motivated by the different brands of the products. These are just a few scenarios on how the understanding of the consumer behavior can be very effective for the company when coming up with the marketing strategies. The core purpose of this report is to analyze and evaluate how the demographic aspect among the consumers can affect the purchasing power as well as the consumer buying decision and process.

In addition to age, there are also other factors that make up the demography of the population. These factors include family size, marital status, income level, geographical location, occupation, education, race, and sex. These factors play very critical role in determining the marketing strategies and identifying market niche. However, demographic can also be used in play other roles which are very vital for the marketers and companies at large. This report seeks to identify another alternative of demography in monitoring trends and changes in both social and cultural environments when searching for new market opportunities. For an extensive and comprehensive discussion of this aspect, the report uses case studies of industries such as Gym, Pay to watch televisions and to eat out in the restaurants.

It has come out clearly that some of the demographic trends can have either negative or positive impact on the marketing of the company industries. Some of the trends that the report discusses the mention industries are the long lifespan of the senior citizens, Baby Boomers generation, Generation X, and current small families or single adult family normally referred to as Generation Y.

Long lifespan among country citizens comes across with many challenges (Allebeck, 2009, p. 48). Besides, it does not only pose the problems to the nation economy but also to the industries manufacturing the products majorly consumed by the young generation. Based on the industries to be discussed in the group, this generation will have the various implications on the industries listed below:

Gym/Fitness Industry

The senior exercise for fitness is majorly based on walking, swimming, bike riding and hiking.  This fully indicates that the majority of the senior citizens are not consumers of the gym products. This is because it is rarely to get the elderly as active as the young ones. As a result, they undertake the fitness exercises that do not involve a lot of energy. Therefore, it is evident that the population largely comprised of senior citizens who are deemed to have long lifespan will have negative impacts on the gym or fitness industry.

Long Lifespan of the Senior Citizens

Pay Television Industry

Given the fact that the senior citizens are either depending on the government for provision of essential services or on their savings for expenditure, it will be very difficult for them to make pay television subscriptions. Therefore, the television industry will only have view customers, and thus it will be negatively affected.

Restaurant Industry

The senior citizens in the population are more like to eat at home than eating out in the restaurants. The findings indicate that the frequency of the people eating out tend to reduce as they get the order (Morran, 2013). This means that eat out restaurants industry will be affected if the large portion of the population comprised of senior citizens.

Bearing in mind, the baby boomers have a lot of money to spend, and they are about to retire they may either negatively or positively affect the industries based on their plans when they are not working or their live savings.

Gym/Fitness Industry

A large percentage of the baby boomers do not spend more on gym industry. However, there is a relatively good percentage that usually engages fitness industry in older to reduce the risks associated with the people like the approach the age of the senior citizens (Villarreal, 2012). Therefore, baby boomers generation will have both negative and positive impacts on the gym industry.

Pay-Television Industry

Findings are found that baby boomers spend less on entertainment. Therefore, this means they will be less likely to get much involved in the pay television industry and thus the industry will be negatively affected. For example, it has been found that the spending of baby boomers on entertainment has been falling since 2010 (Villarreal, 2012).

Eat out Restaurant Industry.

Despite the perceptions that baby boomers are the largest consumers in dining out the industry, the research findings dispute this (Villarreal, 2012). Instead, they indicate that baby boomers tend to spend more on education, adult children and mortgage debt other than either entertainment or dining out. 

The general definition of Generation X population implies the people born between the 1960s and 1970s. This is the generation which witnessed the introduction of advanced electronic devices as well as the eruption of the internet (Williams & Page, 2013, p. 2). There are normally known to be proud when making their informed decisions. However, they are best known for turning into the internet when looking information about the best value for their money (Branwell, 2010). This generation will the various impacts on the following industries.

Gym/Fitness

Generation X in as an active generation and are likely to engage in fitness exercises. This because this generation is more independent minded and is likely to engage in independent buying decision choice. Again, they are earning and thus have income which can utilize in maintaining their fitness to look more attractive. Therefore, generation X will positively impact gym of the fitness industry.

Generation X are fond of entertainment. This is the fact they are still young spouses and thus determined to entertain their families. Therefore, generation X will be a good target market for the pay television industry. However, this will be budgeted for and will not come out through impulse buying.

Baby Boomers Generation

Eat out Restaurant Industry

This generation is likely to frequent customers of eating out restaurant industry. This is because they tend to entertain their spouses as well as their young families by taking them out for dinner.

Generation X comprises of the population born between 1977 and 1994. This generation is majorly known for spending on a daily basis. This generation a bit spendthrift and thus more likely to be targeted marketers from different types of industries (Benjamin, 2008, p. 58). Therefore, generation Y will have negative impacts on industries discussed in this report.

Gym/Fitness Industry

Generation Y is very lively and active. They seem to care more about their body fitness, and they look. Therefore, they are more likely to engage in fitness that any other generation in the population.

Pay Television industry

Entertainment is quite evident in this group, and thus the higher percentage of the population will be consumers of the pay television industry products.

Eat out Restaurant Industry

The majority of the citizens in this generation are at dating age, or they are currently married. Therefore, they are like to go out for dinner during the dates. Again, they will tend to appease their partners by taking them out for dinner frequently.

Apart from age, other demographics trends that can influence consumer behavior are a level of income, gender, ethnicity, and race. Marketers are supposed to pick the right demographic attribute for the marketing campaign (Goldberg & Gunasti, 2007, p. 165). This will ensure that the industry efficiently and effectively meets the needs of the target market satisfactory. About the chosen industries in this report other industries may affect them as discussed below:

Level Income: Level of incoming determines the purchasing behavior as well the buying frequency of the consumer (Hawkes, 2007, p. 1965). Given the nature of the industries discussed in this report the level of income will be a key factor for the market entry of the case studied industries.

Gender: Gender in the population is used by the marketers to ascertain the type of the product to offer in the market (Donnelly, 2008, p. 20). In the case studied industries gender will have little influence on their success.

Ethnicity: Same as gender, ethnicity will not influence the entry of the three industries in the market. This because the products from the three industries are normally consumed by every ethnic group.

Race: Again, race falls in the same category as gender and ethnicity. This is because products offered by the suggested industries seem to universal to be consumed by each group of them.

Conclusion

The findings indicate the demographic aspect is very essential factor to the marketers when determining the potentiality of the target market, marketing mix to be used to expand or penetrate into the new markets and in identifying market segments. Demographics are usually linked with the segmentation and the subculture of the population. Therefore, this makes demographic aspect very vital in the study and understanding of the consumer behavior. For example, the findings portray that some of the fast growing economies such as Taiwan, China, and Korea the population comprise largely with young generations. Therefore, the marketers in these in regions should focus on products which are likely to be consumed by the youths.

References

Allebeck, P., 2009. Living longer, working longer? The impact of subjective life expectancy on retirement intentions and behavior. The European Journal of Public Health, 20(2), pp. 47-51.

Benjamin, K., 2008. Welcome to the Next Generation of Search. Revolution, 3(2), pp. 56-59.

Branwell, J., 2010. Technology: Generation XD Uses Internet for Better Social Interaction. Marketing Week, 14(7).

Brosekhan, A. A. & Velayutham, M., 2013. Consumer Buying Behaviour – A Literature Review. Journal of Business and Management, 2(2), pp. 8-16.

Donnelly, A., 2008. Playing to the Digital Generation. Marketing, April (16), pp. 19-20.

Durmaz, Y. & TaÅŸdemir, A., 2014. A Theoretical Approach to the Influence of Social Class on Consumer Behavior. American International Journal of Social Science, 3(3), pp. 187-191.

Goldberg, M. E. & Gunasti, K., 2007. Creating an Environment in Which Youths Are Encouraged to Eat a Healthier Diet. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 26(2), pp. 162-168.

Hawkes, C., 2007. Regulating Food Marketing to Young People Worldwide: Trends and Policy Drivers. American Journal of Public Health, 97(11), pp. 1962-1973.

Morran, C., 2013. Fewer Younger Adults Eating Out While More Baby Boomers & Elderly Hit The Restaurants. [Online]
Available at: https://consumerist.com/2013/01/16/fewer-young-adults-eating-out-while-more-baby-boomers-elderly-hit-the-restaurants/
[Accessed 16 September 2016].

Villarreal, P., 2012. How Are Baby Boomers Spending Their Money?. [Online]
Available at: https://www.ncpa.org/pub/st341
[Accessed 16 September 2016].

Williams, K. C. & Page, R. A., 2013. Marketing to the Generations. Journal of Behavioral Studies in Business, 1(1), pp. 1-17.

Zhang, Y., 2015. The Impact of Brand Image on Consumer Behavior: A Literature Review. Open Journal of Business and Management, 3(2), pp. 58-62.