A study of differences in food purchasing behavior and lifestyle of working women versus non-working women in Turkey

Abstract

In this thesis, differences between working and non-working women in their food shopping behavior and life style was studied. To understand their food shopping behavior better, womens' eating and food preparing behavior together with their openness to advertisements was also analysed. Moreover, working womens' opinions related to their jobs were explained. The study included the literature review and the field study which was conducted through a questionnaire. Data was analysed and the findings together with the implications for marketers and researchers were given. Together with the case for Turkey, a field study which was conducted in Germany is also presented in the Appendix of this thesis. Although the same data was collected in both countries and was analysed in the same way, the studies are independent from each other and unables comparison due to different sample characteristics. Turkish findings showed some differences in the shopping behavior of working and non-working women. A greater proportion of work-wives shopped less frequently per week, shopped on Saturdays, and generally alone. Work-wives also visit less food outlets and shop from supermarkets more than their non-working counterparts. Work-wives do not make price/quality comparisons as much as housewives do and buy high quality and if necessary expensive food products. On the other hand, work-wives bargain more than housewives. The findings of this research also showed that there are di fferences in the time food was prepared. Work-wives prepare food a day before or whenever they have free time, whereas housewives get meals ready just before meal time. This study also showed that the most effective media for food advertising is television for all women. The most important result that was found from the life-style analyses of the study was that working women strongly feel that they have work-overload. These findings can implicate that women in Turkey should not be seen by marketers as a whole and more focus should be placed upon working women, which should be accepted as a different market segment, where convenience plays an important role.