Hedonic and utilitarian shopping motivations among Portuguese young adult consumers

The purpose of this paper is to identify the main factors that explained the shopping motivations among Portuguese consumers and to categorize possible groups based on those dimensions. The paper also intends to confirm the results obtained in previous studies carried out in the USA, applying their measure instruments to a sample of young adult Portuguese consumers.

The authors performed a quantitative analysis by means of a personal survey using a sample of Portuguese undergraduate students. Principal axis factoring and cluster analysis were carried out to identify main dimensions in shopping motivations and categorize shopper groups.

The paper identifies seven shopping dimensions: “Pleasure and gratification shopping”, “Idea Shopping”, “Social Shopping”, “Role shopping”, “Value Shopping”, “Achievement” and “Efficiency”. Based on these factors, the paper finds five groups of consumers: “Social shopper”, “Dynamic Shopper”, “Pragmatic Shopper”, “Moderate shopper” and “Involved Shopper”. The findings on the whole confirm the results obtained in previous studies carried out in the USA. This fact contributes to the validation of this motivations framework showing its application on different contexts.

The paper may contribute to the knowledge of the South European consumer, and states some implications for the international retail chains that work, or intend to work, in this region. Based on the shopper groups, the paper suggests some marketing communication strategies and tactics for retailers.

The results confirm the results obtained in the USA by Arnold and Reynolds and Kim. These findings demonstrate the international applicability of those authors' scales. The paper also proposes a new Portuguese young adult consumer profile based on hedonistic and utilitarian shopping motivations.