Abstract

The present study was to explore the perceived saliences of reasons underlying consumer's product selections by adopting a macro level(i, e., product) perspective as opposed to the micro level(i, e., brand) as the units of analysis. In pursuing this issue, this study argued that consumption phenomena might be sought in the types of wants that consumers attempt to satisfy and related reasons for selecting one product version over mother, then developed a typology of want-based reasons and assessed the role of the wants and reaons for purchasing. The data were collected from the sample of 53 Korean housewives on 45 product categories. The application of multidimensional scaling techniques to these data reflected the wants typology by distinguishing meaningfully among products bought for various reasons, as indicated by the position of the relevant reason vector. These results would be useful basis for meaningful conceptualisation or classification of buying reasons as well as some important implications for advertising and marketing strategies.