Measuring Brand Choice in the Older Customer Segment in Japan

Abstract

As populations around the world age, brand choice behaviour by older customers becomes an increasingly important issue for marketers. This is especially the case in Japan, which has the largest older customer segment as a proportion of the population of any country. Our study measures brand choice behaviour of the older customer segment in Japan in fast-moving consumer goods categories. We employ an 11-point purchase probability scale, the Juster, to calculate brand performance measures such as penetrations, buying frequency and sole buying for three age-based customer segments. The Juster output is used as input into a mathematical model, the Dirichlet, for benchmarking the brand performance measures. The findings here reveal new insights into the brand purchase behaviour of older customers. There are more similarities than differences between the brand purchase of younger and older customers in most categories analysed here. The results have practical implications for understanding and creating appropriate marketing strategies for the older customer segment. Our study also demonstrates a novel method for analysis of brand choice data collected via a survey instrument, as compared to the traditional consumer panel data. The research framework in our study is recommended for further empirical research in other regions where demographic changes are presenting challenges to marketers, and where panel data are often not easy to obtain.