A&A Research - Voice Of Middle East

A&A Market Research 28th February 2017

VOICE OF MIDDLE EAST

MISUNDERSTOOD STATUS OF WOMEN IN THE MIDDLE EAST

The status of women in the Middle East continues to be a subject of debate in the western world. However, most of these discussions are rooted in ignorance of the region and its cultural realities.

Women in the Middle East have as much a normal life as their counterparts in other parts of the developed world. They travel alone, attend university abroad, shop with friends, visit health clubs and do very much what their western counterparts would do. While some countries like Saudi Arabia have restrictions on movement and lifestyle, it in no way constrains a woman from leading a socially active life.

�1


So, the question that begets attention is the reason behind such a narrow view of the region. The answer possibly lies in the inability of the west to see beyond their own world. However, as global economies become interconnected, the west cannot afford to retain deep rooted misconceptions on the region. It will need to connect, understand and recognize that the Middle East has come a long way.

Further, it has to acknowledge the fact that women enjoy enjoy important positions in the social ladder even in areas that were otherwise dominated by men. The partial list of examples from various walks of life in the region provide ample evidence on the changed status of women.

1. Dr. Amina Al Rustamani is the group CEO of TECOM Group, one of the largest real estate developers in the Middle East

2. Ms. Mariam Al Mansoori is the first female fighter pilot in UAE Air Force3. Ms. Khawla Al Khuraya, a leading Saudi physician is credited with the identification of a

gene that triggers formation of cancer cells in the body4. In 2013, Ms. Bayan Mahmoud Al-Zahran became the first licensed female lawyer in Saudi

Arabia5. Ms Raha Moharrak was the first woman from Saudi Arabia to climb Mount Everest

Another important aspect that rarely gets attention is the economic power of women from within the region. Some estimates suggest that they are directly or indirectly responsible for between 70 and 80% of household spends in the region. This effectively translates into billions of dollars of potential revenue for local and multinational companies. It therefore does not come as a surprise to note that companies are spending millions of dollars to reach out to women through advertising & promotions. Another thing that is not known to the western world is the amount of independence that an Arab woman typically enjoys with respect to her own earnings. She does not have any social obligation to spend her earnings on the family, even though some women prefer to allocate some portion of their earnings to family.

The resulting disposable income is used by women to fund their lifestyle and lifestyle related needs. This typically includes cosmetics, fashion, jewelry, accessories and other personal care items. It therefore does not come as a surprise to note that the Middle East is the fourth largest beauty market in the world, with sales exceeding $25bn in 2015. Saudi Arabia has grown the fastest in beauty sales in the last five years, with a total spend of $5.3bn on beauty products alone.

�2


The status of the women in the Middle East is therefore at a respectable position, even though there are areas for improvement. It must also be noted that changing deep-rooted social beliefs takes time and the west needs to be cognizant of this reality before passing judgments.

SAUDI VISION 2030

Volatility in oil fortunes has resulted in a dramatic transformation in social and economic priorities of Saudi Arabia. In the last one year, the country has taken brave decisions to weather the effect of low oil prices. Raising of utility and gas prices was one of the first steps taken by the government. As these services were heavily subsidized, the country was losing millions of dollars of potential revenue every year.

In addition, it has embarked on an ambitious program to improve its economic position and stature in the world. This program titled ‘Vision 2030’ has four basic priorities:

1. Emerging as a leader and beacon of hope for Muslims and the Islamic world

2. Attracting global investments in diverse sectors to stimulate economy and diversify revenues

3. Using geo-strategic location to connect continents and emerge as gateway to global trade

4. Encouraging and skilling local talent to facilitate employment and meet industry needs

These priorities clearly indicate the drive to insulate the economy from uncertainties in the oil market. It also indicates growing openness to global organizations that seek to leverage the potential in the Saudi market. The plan has received appreciation from all quarters, as it seeks to prepare the country for the challenges in the future. Industry leaders are buoyed by the fact that it will make business easier and allow them to expand their operations without any restrictions. However, the path to achieving these objectives is fraught with challenges. The society collectively needs to make sacrifices for long term health and prosperity in the country. This would mean paying more for things that were otherwise heavily subsidized by the government viz. gas, fuel, electricity, water etc.

�3


Corporates would also need to loosen their purse strings and return favors that were extended to them by the government. In addition to the above, public needs to accept and support disinvestment programs in public enterprises. While it might result in some temporary issues, it would have a positive effect on the economy in the long run. Creation of such an economy would address a host of social and economic issues. It would also result in diversification of the economy beyond oil. Hence, with all these changes, Saudi Arabia is expected to become an economic force that could challenge behemoths within and outside the Middle East.

“It is my pleasure to present Saudi Arabia’s vision for the future. It is an ambitious yet achievable blueprint, which expresses our long term goals and expectations and reflects our country’s strengths and capabilities”

HH Sheikh Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, Chairman of Council of Economic & Development Affairs, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

INSTINCTS & MARKET RESEARCH

As human beings, our instinctive response to the life around us is the best indicator of our thinking and behavior. However, instincts are deep rooted and not obvious to the outside world. Moreover, they do not even come to the fore unless and until the individual finds himself in a specific situation.

Importantly, very often instincts sway perfectly rational decisions, as explained in the following example.

A customer walks into a car showroom that has seven different cars lined up. The customer enters the showroom with a clear set of rational requirements from the car he wishes to buy … budget, size, acceleration, boot space, smoothness of ride, design, mileage etc. Taking those requirements into account, the salesman suggests models A and B, as they meet the customers requirements precisely.

�4


However, the customer decides to buy model C, even though it does not meet all his rational requirements.

Something at the final stage sways his decision. A closer look would point to the role of underlying instincts in the situation.

So, what exactly is an instinct and how can understand its impact on usual purchase decisions.

According to Webster, instinct is defined as 'a largely inheritable and unalterable tendency of an organism to make a complex and specific response to environmental stimuli without involving reason’. In simple words, it means response to a specific situation without reason. For a researcher, understanding instincts are not easy, as conventional research methods single-mindedly focus on rational and stated mentions. To decode instincts, one needs an intense observation of the customer in his own space and environment, wherein he is more likely to respond to his natural instincts than confirm to a certain type of behavior. This explains the reason for growing interest in observational / passive research over the years viz.

* Accompanied shopping activities* Discreet retail observations* Social media listening* Joint cooking sessions

In such sessions, there is no pressure on the customer to either posture or hide the truth. Hence, he lets his instincts and underlying habits drive his behavior. Careful observation of the customers behavior in such a scenario can therefore provide a richer understanding of instincts that drive behavior. For a detailed writeup on observational research methods and their utility, please send an email to [email protected].

MURRAY’S PSYCHOGENIC NEEDS

Human needs or consumer needs are the basis of all modern marketing. The key to a company’s survival, profitability and growth in a highly competitive marketplace is its ability to identify and satisfy latent and unarticulated consumer needs better and sooner than competition. Successful marketers make consumers aware of their latent and unarticulated needs.

�5

mailto:[email protected]


This in turn creates a strong, unique and distinct position for the brand in the consumers mind vis-à-vis competition. It also ensures that the consumer is less susceptible to lures from competition.

In this context, Murray’s construct of psychogenic needs helps us greatly, as it helps in eliciting consumers’ latent and unarticulated needs. This theory states that every individual has deep-rooted psychogenic needs.

Identification of these psychogenic needs can help in better defining and pred ic t ing consumer behav ior. Moreover, they cou ld he lp i n innovative / ingenuous positioning of brands.

The section below provides a partial list of psychogenic needs defined by Henry Murray.

Acquisition Need to acquire products that others have. Such people do not want to be left behind and want to stay in touch with others

Conservancy Need to respect traditions. Such people fear experimentation and prefer to stay with the tried and tested methods

Order Need to plan. Such people fear failure and hence plan all their actions carefully before proceeding with anything

Retention Need to protect / maintain. Such people fear losing their current status and hence work hard to retain / maintain things that they have

Superiority Need to prove self as better than others. Such people do not like being second to others and always want to be in the top league

�6


Also, over the years, many psychologists have spent countless hours trying to study Murray's psychogenic needs and the way it can be used to better understand human behavior. For example, research on the need for achievement has revealed that people with a high need for achievement tend to select more challenging tasks. Studies on the need for affiliation have found that people who rate high on affiliation needs tend to have larger social groups, spend more time in social interaction, and more likely to suffer loneliness when faced with little social contact.

Murray contended that environmental forces played a significant role in the exhibition of the psychogenic needs. He called the forces "press," referring to the pressure they put on us that forces us to act. He further argued for a difference between the real environmental forces, alpha press, and those that are merely perceived, beta press. This theory therefore makes for interesting reading and goes a long way in understanding consumer and their needs. If you want to discuss the theory and its benefits in detail, please write to [email protected].

SOCIO ECONOMIC CLASSIFICATION

SEC or Socio Economic Classification is a method by which the consumer universe within a country is classified into distinct sub segments. This method of classification helps marketers identify and finalize user segments that they wish to cater to. It therefore helped marketers in targeting their marketing efforts on the desired audience.

Achievement Need to get / reach to the unachievable. Such people get a kick out of achieving the difficult / unachievable. This is an ambitious lot of people

Recognition Need to get presence acknowledged by others. Such people will do anything to get noticed and recognized by others

Exhibition Need to display worth by virtue of products owned. Such people will try to own products that others do not have

�7


Historically, the basic measure of income was used to classify the universe. This resulted in creation of six distinct income based segments - poor, lower middle class, middle class, upper middle class, affluent and super rich. Over the basis of earnings of a family, they were put into one of the buckets.

While this method worked well in the initial years, over a period of time, it proved to be ineffective, as it had no way of classifying the audience which hid their actual income or who were unaware of their income. Further, it did not stand the test of time, as money would lose value with passage of time due to inflation and other factors. As an improvement, variables of education and occupation were used to create a new method for socio economic classification.

Based on the combination of education and occupation, people are classified into five distinct segments - SEC, A, B, C, D and E. This system stood the test of time, as change in education or occupation would automatically change the socio economic status of the individual. It also removed the vagaries associated with income levels across times and geographic destinations.

However, as time passed, two major flaws emerged in this system. First, it put all the educated and evolved as SEC A. Hence, it did not differentiate between an educated person working at a middle to senior level in the company and the owner of the company. To address this discrepancy, market research agencies started to include a series of lifestyle and product ownership questions i.e. class of airline travel, credit card owned, number of holidays in a year, type of house and club ownership among others.

While these questions provided a better understanding of profile, it was subjective in a major way. Hence, the need for another alternative. To enhance the objectivity in the process, points were assigned to each aspect of ownership and lifestyle. More the number of points accumulated, higher the Socio Economic Class. The point based system increased the objectivity in the process and helped bring greater accuracy in the respondent identification process. The system has been tweaked by various countries depending on their socio-cultural realities.

For details on the classification process and the way research agencies use them, please write to [email protected].

�8


A&A MARKET RESEARCH

A&A Market Research is a young and dynamic market research organization. Since commencing operations in 2013, the company has grown from a two-member team to a ten-member team and a field force exceeding 200. Our growth in these years can be largely attributed to our unrelenting emphasis on quality and ability to customize a study to suit client requirements.

We are headquartered in UAE and through our partner network, we also conduct research in more than 15 countries across the MENAP region. This includes prominent economies like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Lebanon, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia among others. In addition, through our network of ESOMAR affiliated partners and sample providers, we are also capable in conducting research in more than 20 leading countries across the globe, including US, UK, China, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Singapore, Australia, Italy, South Korea and Japan. We also have a full functioning CATI setup at our office in Sharjah. Through this setup, we can call countries across the Middle East & North African region and beyond, if required. For further enquiries about our services, please write to [email protected] or call us at +971 6 561 6300.

�9

mailto:[email protected]

Marketing

A&A Research - Voice Of Middle East