The consumer is emerging

MRSSL Immediate Past President Kantar Sri Lanka CEO Himalee Madurasinghe	MRSSL President Quantum Consumer Solutions Partner Roshani Fernando
Nielsen Sri Lanka Managing Director Sharang Pant	Management Consultant, Trainer, Author, Speaker, Accredited Master Coach and Mentor Deepal Sooriyaarachchi

• Market Research Society of Sri Lanka presents a reflective measurement
  
   

Market Research Society of Sri Lanka (MRSSL) introduced the proposed classification to a captive audience of business leaders, marketers, and market researchers to whom the consumer behaviour becomes a foundation of planning. Given the need to set up a classification more relevant to feature the emerging consumer, this initiative becomes pertinent and timely.

Postgraduate Institute of Management, Management Consultant Ravi Bamunusinghe

Mandarin ReidDigital Garage Managing Director Prashanth Supramaniam

Seylan Bank Deputy General Manager Tilan Wijesekara

The social, economic, and cultural fabric has changed, the consumer today has evolved from her counterpart 15 years ago. Marketers have got used to classifying the consumers using the traditional two dimensional method, which takes into account the education and the occupation of the Chief Wage Earner. Although this has been prevalent for a long time the inadequacies of this measurement to reflect the true situation is becoming apparent. With the evolving trends across SECs, we observe complex changes which can no longer be clearly articulated using the limited two dimensional parameters. 

Delivering the welcome address, Roshani Fernando, President of MRSSL, Partner – Quantum Consumer Solutions said, “The need has been clearly established already, and the proposed classification that comes with extensive deliberations, and testing, will surely provide a more conducive landscape for planning purposes. It is a collaborative effort endorsed by all member companies within the MRSSL, which will support a consistent, comparable classification.”

Addressing the audience Nielsen’s Sri Lanka CEO Sharang Pant said, “The need cannot be emphasised any further. Most countries have already embraced this thinking to bring greater meaning to the definitions of the population. We would have benefited if this had been done some years ago.”

Presenting the Proposed Classification Kantar Sri Lanka CEO Himalee Madurasinghe stated, “When exploring the alternative method, the following needs have been considered, sensitivity to changing Sri Lankan consumers with better discrimination across and better homogeneity within grades, eradicating income disparity among same occupation categories and obtaining the combined effect of all earners.”  She added further, “The proposed new classification captures three dimensions – Ownership of Durables, Education, and Occupation. The two parameters that are continuing has been revised to meet the current realities. To establish the lifestyle measurements, eight durables have been identified to be captured. It is believed the new classification will be able to deliver a far more realistic reflection of the existing socio-economic status of the consumer. With this system the classifications become more heterogeneous across and homogenous within.” 

MRSSL the Market Research Society of Sri Lanka embarked on this challenging project, with the active participation of all its stakeholders, which covered extensive, crafting, planning, testing, and finalising prior to the launch of the proposed new method to the marketers for their use. This will now enable them to capture a more realistic situation of the current environment, which in turn will help them make far sharper, more effective plans of action.

The insightful presentations were followed by an interactive panel discussion with, Deepal Sooriarachchi, Ravi Bamunusinghe, Prashanth Supramaniam, and Tilan Wijesinghe who shared their thoughts on the need, importance and the relevance of a revised classification to suit the market context moderated by Nisthar Cassim. 

Market Research Society of Sri Lanka (MRSSL) is a professional membership body, dedicated to uplifting the knowledge and standards of the market research in Sri Lanka. The Society is managed by a committee drawn from the leading research agencies. The Market Research Society of Sri Lanka is founded on, and aspires to achieve through its thought, deed and efforts a clearly set objectives that can help raise the standards of the industry and better support the needs of the corporates.

 – Pix by Ruwan Walpola