Look to Teens in Low-Income Families

When a teenager and his or her mother are shopping together, who will be making the primary purchase decisions? With low-income families, researchers at University of the West of England and University of Stirling suggest you look to both, but to the teen more than to the mother.
     In the study, 524 mothers answered questions about how savvy they considered their child to be at shopping for a summer holiday and for clothing the child would wear. Mothers from lower socioeconomic circumstances tended to see their children as skilled consumers who could be depended on to manage money and make wise purchase decisions. This was especially true when the child was older and female.
     When considering the list of item benefits, the teen might place them in a different order of importance than does the mother. Still, the teen’s final purchase preferences often reflect the mother’s. Both genetics and upbringing influence things like favoring innovative products and making compromise choices.
     Here are selling tips for the low-income teenage decision maker:

• Offer smaller package sizes at lower prices. I recommend against abandoning your largest package sizes, though. Low income customers usually realize they’ll get better value from those, and it helps their spirits to think about purchasing the larger sizes in the future.
• Carry low cost healthy merchandise. The research says that one of the greatest difficulties for low income consumers is denying the requests of children, and this can become even more difficult when the decision maker is the child. Among the items you carry should be ones that parents can feel good about allowing their children to buy and that the children will appreciate, even if the items aren’t the children’s favorites.
• Present the appropriate benefits to each participant in the decision. For the prospective purchaser, the benefit might be cost, while for the prospective user, it might be ease of use. With adults, focus on each participant as you present the benefits that will be of interest to that person. With children, be sure to look at the child when discussing benefits of interest to them, but also spend time looking at the responsible adult so it’s clear you’re not aiming to undercut the adult’s dignity.
• When low-income family members shop together in your store, allow them privacy to discuss purchase decisions on the sales floor and even—briefly—at the cash/wrap.

Click below for more:
Identify Influencers in Family Decision Making
Give Low Income Customers Dignity
Attend to Genetic Influences in Selling
Watch Out for Discrimination