When you finish this chapter, you should: Understand how population growth is shifting in different areas and for different age groups, obtain a feel for the size and importance of Canada's ethnic and French Canadian markets. Know about the distribution of income in Canada, know how consumer spending is related to family life cycle and other demographic dimensions, appreciate the relationship between family lifestage and consumer spending, understand the important new terms (shown in the margins). | Chapter 5: The Canadian Consumer Market: Demographic and Economic Dimensions Money Growth Concentration Literacy Relative Buying Power Rate of Growth Population Density Communication Concerns Focus: Focus: Focus: Focus : Identifying Potential Markets 5-2 Summary Overview Identifying important market dimensions involves verifying the existence of key market success factors. Demographic information -- facts about income, population levels, growth and concentration, and changing patterns of family structure -- help marketers make better decisions in locating and serving target markets. Important Market Dimensions Money. Markets consist of people with money to spend. This is more than a measure of income because the cost of living varies from location to location. Marketers must know how much money a market makes and how much of that income is available for the kinds of products the company offers. Growth. The current size of a potential market is important of course but whether a given market is growing and how fast is perhaps more important for long term planning. This is a key reason that more and more companies are considering global markets. In North America and most of the industrialized Western European countries, market growth is very slow. But in Eastern Europe, Asia, and Africa, most countries are experiencing rapid population growth. Some of these countries make excellent target markets. Concentration. How densely populated a potential market is has important implications for marketers. Highly concentrated markets are easier to serve logistically for a number of reasons. First, they simply have more people in a single location. Secondly, highly concentrated urban centers tend to have more of the modern infrastructure of roads, railways, and shipping that facilitates physical distribution. Literacy. The level of reading and writing present in a country, expressed as a percentage of the total population is important. For marketers, low literacy levels have . | Chapter 5: The Canadian Consumer Market: Demographic and Economic Dimensions Money Growth Concentration Literacy Relative Buying Power Rate of Growth Population Density Communication Concerns Focus: Focus: Focus: Focus : Identifying Potential Markets 5-2 Summary Overview Identifying important market dimensions involves verifying the existence of key market success factors. Demographic information -- facts about income, population levels, growth and concentration, and changing patterns of family structure -- help marketers make better decisions in locating and serving target markets. Important Market Dimensions Money. Markets consist of people with money to spend. This is more than a measure of income because the cost of living varies from location to location. Marketers must know how much money a market makes and how much of that income is available for the kinds of products the company offers. Growth. The current size of a potential market is important of course but whether a given
