A Shopping Orientation Segmentation of French Consumers: Implications for Catalog Marketing

Although understanding of catalog patronage behavior has progressed substantially in the past decade, two avenues of inquiry have been largely overlooked. Psychographic characteristics have been neglected in favor of demographic descriptors. Further, much of the research has examined the U.S. consumer, while little attention has been paid to catalog shoppers in other parts of the world. This study uses factor analysis to identify shopping orientations within a French sample (n = 566) and cluster analysis to group subjects, with respect to their shopping orientation scores, into shopping segments that are homogeneous within segments and heterogeneous between segments. Particular attention is paid to a catalog shopping cluster. Analysis reveals a catalog shopping segment motivated primarily by recreational interests and only secondarily by convenience concerns. This finding is contrary to much of the extant research that suggests that catalog shopping is chosen for its convenience. The finding is also contrary to research conducted in the U.S. showing that catalog shopping has fractionated into multiple segments; only one segment is identified among this study's French subjects.