EXAMINING THE NEW COVID-19 CONSUMER SEGMENTS, RISK ATTITUDES, AND CONSUMER DEMOGRAPHICS IN AN EMERGING MARKET: THE CASE OF TURKEY

Tulay Korkmaz Devrani
Baskent University

Zeliha Eser
Baskent University

Musa Pinar
Valparaiso University

ABSTRACT

There is no doubt that the Covid-19 pandemic has caused important changes and new
trends in all facets of people’s lives t hat created perception of new normal. Utilizing participants
from five developed nations (United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, and Germany),
Earnest and Young (2020) identified four new behavioral consumer segments (cut deep, stay calm,
carry on, save & stockpile, and hibernate &spend) due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This study aims
to find out if these same consumer segments do exist in emerging nations (e.g., Turkey). This study
also aims to find out if these consumer segments in Turkey, an emerging nation, are impacted by
selected demographic variables (gender, age, marital status, female size, education, employment
status, and monthly income). Further, this study aims to evaluate the risk attitudes of the surveyed
Turkish participants’ behavior r egarding the four consumer segments.
Results of this study revealed the existence of the same four consumer segments in
Turkey, but the distribution of respondents in these segments is different from those findings of
Earnest and Young (2020), where most o f Turkish respondents fall in the “deep cut” segment. It
was also found that the segments are impacted by the respondents’ gender and income. Finally, it
was found that all four-consumer segments were risk averse.

Keywords: Covid-19, Behavioral consumer segments, emerging nation, risk attitudes, Turkey