I think we all have memories of a parent scolding us and stating “why did you do get a D”. As independence seeking teenagers, our responses were generally defensive and short “I studied!” Imagine if our parents had changed a few words and asked “how did this happen”. Perhaps we would have retold the events causing us to not fully understand the material while simultaneously fostering more understanding between ourselves and our parents.

By simply asking what consumers like and why, we are only receiving a small glimpse of the story and possible creating a disconnect, just as our parents only saw one side of the situation. Projects and clients often require us to gather vast amount of information in a short time frame, making the collection of grocery sales based on household income and ZIP code necessary, but far too often we stop there instead of using this knowledge to dig deeper. While this information provides a great deal of information and a starting point it merely tells us what consumers are buying, not why. Discovering the how and why allows us to truly know our customers.

By asking why or what framed questions, people tend to give answers they believe the questioner/interviewer wants. Therefore, we tend to receive answers that sound logical and are even what we expected. This is why polls and surveys have too many variables. With the social media world providing a quick turn about on a large sample size, the holes in polls and surveys are being illuminated as questioners are finding that the time of day the survey is offered drastically changes the results.

So how does market research evolve? As an anthropologist, I am biased towards the anthropological method and therefore suggest we take a lesson from Claude Levi-Strauss and move beyond studying the mere content provided by polls, surveys and classic quantitative demographics to analyzing the structure – or connections accomplished through examining the sub-cultures of our consumers and engaging with them on a deeper level. With the economic meltdown, I believe we are seeing a drastic shift in consumer spending. Brands have to compete more for their consumers. Investing in more in-depth ethnographic research will enable them to build a stronger bond with their customers. For instance, in the wake of many luxury retailers closing shop in Japan I ask is Japan loosing prestige as a luxury retail destination or are the retailers not connecting with a changing mindset of its Japanese clientele. I argue that these luxury retailers are becoming too elusive and exclusive and the up and coming generation connects more and has more loyalty to brands they can relate to through events such as Tokyo Girls Collection.

A model waves to a fan during the Tokyo Girls Collection fashion show