Skip to main content

BBS Researchers identify 'Shopping Tribes' in collaboration with Barclaycard

New customer segments have been classified following the research of Dr. Dorothy Yen and Dr. Maged Ali from Brunel Business School for Barclaycard. Our researchers analysed shopping behaviours to identify four modern shopping tribes:

  • The Bargain Hunter Gatherer: a promiscuous purchaser equipped with vouchers and multiple loyalty cards
  • The High Street Pounder: not afraid of negotiating prices with local shops and straying away from big chains or online shopping
  • The Screen Saver: inhabiting the world of online or mobile shopping
  • The Profit Prophet: super organised purchaser-researcher with fear of last minute sprees

Our researchers uncovered that a third of customers are very  promiscuous in their brand choices, and just as many shoppers rigidly  stick to the shopping lists to avoid uncontrolled spending. The recent  tight years in UK contributed to shoppers change in attitude, and smart  spending is very much in vogue.

This research project was commissioned by Barclaycard – who designed the Barclaycard Freedom Rewards credit card with the modern shopper in mind and oversees nearly half of all card  transactions in the UK – to better understand modern customer profiling  and to identify the pattern of spending in different regions in UK. The  findings of our researchers will enable Barclaycard and other companies  to improve their marketing campaigns, by taking note of the new shopper  tribes.

Dr. Dorothy A. Yen, a retail expert from Brunel Business School, said:

“It’s been fascinating to look at how modern life and the economic climate have impacted on our shopping habits. As a nation,  we’ve evolved into incredibly sophisticated shopping experts. Some of us are clearly savvier than others but with the wealth of deals and  loyalty incentives out there, we’ve all developed a system that works  for us. What was particularly interesting for us was the clear emergence of four very specific shopping ‘tribes’ who encompass the key consumer  attributes most prevalent at the checkout – real or virtual – today.”

The project was based on analysis of Barclaycard spending data and  consumer research carried by YouGov between 27th – 29th August 2013 with a total sample of 2,018 British adults online.