The National Retail Federation tracks consumer spending on holidays, and winter holiday spending has increased every year in recent history. In 2021, holiday spending was more than double the 2002 figures, indicating that the spending pattern is not declining. Last year, US holiday spending was $886.7 billion, compared to $416.4 billion in 2002 holiday purchases. However, some consumers are trying to stop living through the cycle of consumerism and “mandatory” holiday spending. The minimalist movement is gaining popularity as people try to find what’s important to them, and a marketing expert, Dr. Aniruddha Pangarkar, has explored this change in depth as he was one of the early pioneers to study and write about this subject.
The entire marketing career of Dr. Aniruddha Pangarkar in the business world was all about global dynamics. He received his MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Arizona, the top international business school in the world. With an interest in how people around the world are connected to brands and consumers, Dr. Aniruddha Pangarkar filled with international acclaim including working with different cultures through global travel.
His professional experiences at senior management levels gave him a unique perspective on how consumers make purchasing choices; he began to understand how different people in different places understood consumption. He also completed his doctorate in marketing from Texas Tech University and quickly realized that consumers have unique needs, wants and desires. In his influential research paper titled “Minimalism in Consumption: A Typology and Brand Engagement Strategies,” Dr. Aniruddha Pangarkar the role consumption plays in the human experience. Global in nature, the topic addressed the wave of consumers embracing minimalism and why they do.
Unlike many brands that condense minimalism into one consumer category, Dr. Aniruddha Pangarkar recognized that this movement was anything but homogeneous – meaning that all minimalist consumers are not equal in their consumption goals. The idea of minimalism is centered around owning less, consuming less, tidying up and improving your life through less stress and anxiety because you are not connected to excessive consumerism. Like dr. Aniruddha Pangarkar sees it, the minimalist consumers can be broken down into a typology (different types of minimalist consumers) and understood in a more unique dimension and perspective.
One type of minimalist consumer is the voluntary simplifier who aims to redirect their finances and energies to more meaningful life activities, such as hobbies and non-materialistic activities. Then there are consumers with reduced consumption who consume less due to financial constraints or certain life events that force the change. Then you have anti-consumer consumers who are driven by sustainability and focus their efforts on reducing their impact on the environment and solving social problems through recycling and reducing waste. Finally, unobtrusive minimalism consumers wear subtle designs and muted logos to signify adherence to a certain lifestyle, though many of these subtle signals can only be recognized by insiders, which is the intended purpose.
In the research paper by Dr. It was suggested to Aniruddha Pangarkar that companies should not view ‘minimalists’ as just one type of holistic consumer, but instead see the differences that could lead to the need for different, innovative marketing strategies that take into account different types of minimalist consumers and their unique life goals. His paper, published in the Journal of Business Research, a prestigious “A” journal, ranks in the top 10% of papers in its field on Google Scholar, has been cited multiple times since publication and has provided new insights into an increasingly important market segment.
The research that Dr. Aniruddha Pangarkar is supported by The University of Wisconsin – Green Bay where he is an assistant professor of marketing. His work not only inspires and challenges colleagues and professionals in the field, but he also brings passion into the lives of his students every day. His students recognize him as a dedicated professor who ensures that classroom concepts and his research results can be easily applied in the real world to solve problems facing businesses. He has received teaching awards, travels to marketing conferences around the world and even judges several competitions at those conferences. It is clear that the expertise of Dr. Aniruddha Pangarkar reaches far and wide; he offers useful insights and new ways of thinking to an industry that needs a continuous stream of innovation.
ⓒ 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Tags:
