Abstract
Graphical abstract
1. Introduction
2. Materials and methods
3. Results
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Acknowledgement
Appendix 1.
Appendix 2.
References
Abstract
Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS) consumers are seen as environmentally aware, socially attuned and with a view of the world that takes into account personal, community and planetary outcomes. The main aim is to identify the relationship between the consumer’s affiliation with a LOHAS segment and its buying behaviour. It is based on a questionnaire survey among costumers of shopping centers. The possibility of identifying the attitude and tendency among the consumers regarding the five factors as defined by the Annual LOHAS Forum was found by confirmatory factor analysis. Three LOHAS segments were found by cluster analysis with rmANOVA test. We have found age and especially gender as important for differentiation of LOHAS market segment. LOHAS consumers could be identified as a group with a specific buying behaviour. Healthy Lifestyles and Ecological Lifestyles correlate strongly in multivariable space (based on redundancy analysis) with the preference for products by companies with similar social values to those of the respondent, the strong interest in socially responsible consumption, and the preference to domestic and local products. Sustainable Economy negatively correlate with influence by marketing, advertisement and sales promotion, impulse buying behaviour, and importance of the price. It is positively correlated with the preference for Fairtrade products. It seems, that LOHAS factors are influenced by East-West paradigm as Personal Development and Alternative Health Care were of low importance for respondents.
Introduction
Lifestyles as “way of life” (Earl, 1986) influence in all directions and in the fundamental way consumption of population. Then the set ways of consumption cause a pressure on production. A general way of consumption in the “advanced” society is consumerism that was mentioned already by Veblen (1899). Yet, this way of consumption is not sustainable in long term (Thøgersen, 2014) and it is only enabled by conserving uneven position of producing and consuming countries in postcolonial world (Baldwin and Forslid, 2000; Rice, 2007). Therefore, the ways and processes are searched for to support such ways of consumption that are not only free of negative effects but also enabling enhancing quality of consumers’ life. One of the recent lifestyles in the consumer markets is called Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability, commonly known as LOHAS. Emerich (2000) saw a new breed of consumers e a population that is concerned about human rights, fair trade, the environment, sustainable practices, as well as spiritual and personal development. A global consumer trend of LOHAS has spread from Japan and the USA starting from the late 1990s (Korhonen, 2012). The LOHAS consumers are not necessarily a target group in the common sense; instead, they personify a “new” lifestyle: a new social majority that emphasizes values and is going to revolutionize the consumption markets (Mohr, 2011). Those consumers are seen as environmentally aware, socially attuned and with a view of the world that takes into account personal, community and planetary outcomes (Hofer, € ۲۰۰۹). Emerich (2011) sees LOHAS as not only a business strategy or a phenomenon for marketers but also as a window into processes of social change. On the other hand, Kettemann and Marko (2012) suggest LOHAS tends to be used to characterize a group from a marketing point of view. Thus, LOHAS consumers are worth studying from environmental, sociological or marketing point of view.