The Urban Low-income Consumers' Shopping Scope and Information Seeking Behavior

Original Article

Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association 1989;27(4):85-103.

논문편 : 도시 저소득층소비자의 구매장소범위와 정보탐색행동

이은재

인하대학교 교육대학원 가정교육과

The Urban Low-income Consumers' Shopping Scope and Information Seeking Behavior

이은재

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to figure out the urban low-income consumers' present possesion condition of electric appliances, the way of purchasing, shopping scope of groceries and electric appliances, and the shopping scope and information seeking behavior of groceries and electric appliances according to the socioeconomic variables, and the shopping scope of electric appliances according to the way of paying price. For this purpose 129 low-income consumers living in Inchon were interviewed through questionnares. Finally 100 questionnares were analyzed. The first major of this study is that the possesion rates of color television set and refrigerator are comparativelyl high, while those of washing machine, record player and camera are low. In case of electric appliances, consumers usually purchase things on credit and as a shopping place, they usually go to a commercial agent. In case of groceries, they usually buy things for cash, and in case of one price labeled groceries they usually buy things at a supermarket. Second, according to the way of paying price, the shopping scope of some electric appliances is broader in case of purchase for cach than in case of purchase on credit. Third, the shopping scope and information seeking behavior classified by the socioeconomic variables according to the income, age and education. That is as the income and education become higher and the age becomes lower, the shopping scope becomes broader, mass media information source is much more uaed and the frequency of seeking becomes higher. Through this study, I would like to suggest the followings. (1) The problem of low-income consumers is closely connected with the low education level, so it can be solved a bit through consumer education. (2) Especially the consumers' problem is more serious in case of those who are aged and get very low income and education. Therefore special attention is needed to those consumers.