A STUDY ON DETERMINING THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CONSUMER INNOVATIVENESS AND SHOPPING STYLES

The success of businesses that offer new products to the market is possible by appealing to consumers who can adapt and use these innovations. Innovative consumers adopted innovations faster than other consumers can be considered a target market for these businesses. To reach innovators and respond to their needs, it is necessary to examine how they behave. Consumers’ shopping style is one of the variables considered to evaluate their behavior. Therefore, businesses targeting innovative consumers can develop successful marketing strategies by determining their shopping styles. From this point of view, this research is aimed to determine the relationships between the innovativeness of consumers and their shopping styles. For this purpose, the study was conducted in Giresun. Based on the results, various suggestions were offered for researchers and practitioners. University students were preferred in the sample selection by considering both the Consumer Style Inventory (CSI), which was developed to quantify shopping styles, and the studies in the literature. The data obtained from 386 students at Giresun University were collected using a survey and analyzed via SPSS 23.0 statistical program. Factor and correlation analysis were used to analyze the data. The study findings indicated that there were significant relationships between cognitive innovativeness and quality and price consciousness in shopping styles. There were also substantial relationships between sensory innovativeness and fashion consciousness and impulsiveness in shopping styles. Accordingly, cognitive innovators consider the products’ price and quality at shopping whereas sensory innovators pay attention to the products’ trendiness and do unplanned buying.