Marketing to consumer segments using health-promoting lifestyles

Abstract

Consumers' orientation toward health issues often influences their behavior in the market-place, suggesting implications for marketers of health-related products and services on how best to reach their customers. This research introduces Pender's health promotion model (HMP) to a marketing audience and demonstrates how the concept of a health-promoting lifestyle can be used to characterize the market for health-related offerings. A cluster analysis of consumers' participation in 29 health-promoting behaviors identified six consumer segments. Using variables suggested as influencing such behavior by the HPM, these segments were further characterized using eight cognitive-perceptual variables and 22 personal and demographic variables. Four segments appear to be viable targets for marketers, based on their positive association with various combinations of exercise and nutrition behaviors and related attitudes and other descriptive characteristics. Two other segments were described in terms of members' lack of interest in health-promoting behavior or their participation in health-repressing behaviors.