International Marketing Review

A comparison of the purchasing and consumption behaviour of Slovenian and other

Eastern European consumers
Ica Rojsek

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Ica Rojsek, (2001),"A comparison of the purchasing and consumption behaviour of Slovenian and other
Eastern European consumers", International Marketing Review, Vol. 18 Iss 5 pp. 509 - 520
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A comparison of the
purchasing and consumption
behaviour of Slovenian and
other Eastern
European consumers

Purchasing and
consumption
behaviour
509
Received January 2000
Accepted July 2000

Ica Rojsek

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University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Economics, Slovenia

Keywords International trade, Consumer attitudes, Marketing, Slovenia, Eastern Europe
Abstract Formation of a single market within the EU and democratisation and development of
a market economy in Eastern Europe undoubtedly enhance standardisation of marketing in the
European area. Multinational companies planning to enter the Eastern European market
frequently assume that this region is culturally and economically undifferentiated. The purpose of
the study is to analyze whether the purchasing and consumption behaviour of Slovene consumers
is similar to that of consumers from other Eastern European countries. The attention is focused
on the following five dimensions: orientation towards domestic brands versus Western brands,
experimentation with unknown brands and new products; brand loyalty; quality orientation and
quality indicators; and price sensitivity.

Introduction
The appearance of global competitors and global consumers on one hand and
companies' tendencies to increase the efficiency of operations on the other
cause a shift in marketing strategies in many multinationals (Douglas and
Craig, 1995). Country-by-country orientation utilising marketing strategies
geared to local market development shifts toward a global orientation in
marketing strategy development and implementation. A global marketing
strategy defines a standard marketing mix and implements it with minor
modifications in all foreign markets. In professional literature we can find
different studies of advantages and disadvantages of global marketing
referring mostly to the existence of a global consumer (Levitt, 1983), size of
marketing standardisation (Jain, 1989; Kreutzer, 1990; Wang, 1996), problems
related to standardisation of individual elements of a marketing mix
(Papavassiliou and Stathakopoulos, 1997) and to financial advantages of
standardisation (Shoham, 1996). Greater standardisation of the marketing mix
elements brings the advantage of economies of scale in production and
marketing, which in turn enable a company to gain competitive price
advantages. However, these benefits could be outweighed by lost sales due to
avoiding local adaptations. Therefore, for many companies it is advisable to
find a middle ground, that is, to implement global strategies wherever possible
The author is grateful to Irena Arsov for providing the data used in this study.

International Marketing Review,

Vol. 18 No. 5, 2001, pp. 509-520.
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and adapt them to local conditions where necessary. This shows the usefulness
of segmentation in global marketing.
From the point of view of the problems being dealt with in the continuation
of this article, the definition of Hassan and Katsanis (1995) is quite appropriate:
global market segmentation is ``the process of identifying specific segments,
whether they are country groups or individual consumer groups, of potential
customers with homogeneous attributes who are likely to exhibit similar
buying behaviour''. According to this definition, formation of country clusters
is one of the methods of global market segmentation. Among the customers
within the country groups there exist similarities on which a company builds
its standardised marketing plan. The mentioned standardisation is not limited
by geographical proximity of countries; for instance Zandpour and Harich
(1996) have found that Canada, the USA, Germany, Austria and Korea form a
country group in which customers respond to emotional advertisements in a
very positive way.
In spite of the fact that geographical proximity of markets is not to be either
a sole or sufficient reason in itself for joining countries into a group, regional
groups are still of special importance in discussions on global market
segmentation. Daniels (1995) proposed the concept of regional versus global
markets or, in other words, moving regionally before moving globally. Many of
the factors that are in favour of a more standardised marketing, i.e. levelling of
cultures, reduction of trade barriers, etc. are more evident regionally rather
than worldwide. Countries are growing closer more often on an economic level
(e.g. NAFTA), and less frequently on a political level, as for example the EU;
journeys to nearby countries are also more frequent and simple, and
programmes of many radio and television stations across country borders. Of
course it cannot be ignored that minimisation of cultural differences among
customers, which is a result of more frequent contacts between people from
different countries, is a long-lasting but unavoidable process (Usunier, 1996).
Formation of a single market within the EU and democratisation and
development of a market economy in Eastern Europe undoubtedly enhance
standardisation of marketing in the European area. Research shows that
similarity among European consumers in purchasing behaviour and
consumption is not great enough to be sufficient reason for standardised
marketing in the whole European area. Yet it shows that there exist
transnational consumer segments (Schmidt and Pioch, 1996). Vandermerwe
(1993) believes that in the future the European market will consist of regional
markets she calls them Euro clusters ``with customers geographically close
but not necessarily living in the same country . . . Differences among customers
will exist but they will not be nationally determined''. The roughest geodemographic division of Europe today is its division into Eastern and Western
Europe. For 50 years Eastern Europe had a political and economic system that
was different from the system in Western European countries. Of course this
does not mean that the Western European region is culturally and economically
identical and that Eastern European consumers are undifferentiated as well.

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Moreover, some countries, especially Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia,

Hungary and Slovenia, were in close contact with Western Europe before
communism was introduced, so it can be expected that they are still culturally
connected with Western Europe, as opposed to Russia, Romania and Bulgaria.
Apart from this, in those 50 years Slovene consumers lived in a different social
and economic environment than some other Eastern European consumers; the
special status of Yugoslavia during the Cold War and a milder form of
communism allowed social and business contacts with the West. So the
question arises as to whether the purchasing and consumption behaviour of
Slovene consumers is similar to that of consumers from other Eastern
European countries. In order to set a standard of comparison for the results of
our research, some characteristics of Eastern European consumers will first be
introduced, focusing mainly on Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and
Poland.
Some characteristics of Eastern European consumers
In the 1990s the Eastern European markets changed dramatically. Consumers
are now exposed to the constant introduction of new products and brands, the
disappearance of some local products or brands, aggressive advertising, the
breakthrough of foreign retail chains and so on. All these changes, together
with social problems, economic instability and unemployment, affect the
values, consumption patterns, purchasing behaviour and attitude towards
brands. Below is a brief overview of the changes especially important for the
purpose of the study.
Individualism versus collectivism
Individualism/collectivism refers to the form of the relationship between the
individual and the collective in a given society. The main distinction between
these two dimensions can be defined as the comparison between whether
behavior and values are determined by personal choices, personal goals and
motivation for achievement (individualism) or by collective groups of which
people are members, where the interest of the group prevails over the interest of
the individual (collectivism) (Smith and Bond, 1993). The growing importance
of individualism is one of the most noticeable cultural changes in the latest
period and one to which consumers respond differently. Younger and wealthier
consumers quite openly accept new, Western symbols and refuse tradition
while the older ones cling to old habits and customs. Although some Eastern
Europeans give an impression that they have accepted Western behaviour and
practices (for example, dressing, consumption patterns, role models)
psychologically they are still bound by learned cultural beliefs, attitudes and
values (Halman, 1995). Hence, some products may be preferred for their
Western symbolism, whereas other local products may be desired because they
reflect inner needs for cultural integrity, belonging and security (Tower and
Cooper, 1995).

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Attitude towards brands

At the beginning of the 1990s many Western companies were entering Eastern
European markets with great confidence; they thought there was no true brand
loyalty among Eastern European consumers and that the people were
impatiently waiting for Western goods. However, research done in early 1994
in the Czech republic, Hungary, Poland and Russia showed that the awareness
of international brands was still quite low and that local brands were much
stronger than previously expected. Of course there are differences between
some countries. Especially in the Czech Republic, the familiarity with local
brands was very strong due to the constant presence of these brands on the
Czech market in the times of communism. Familiarity with local brands was
lowest in Hungary. Western brands were also most known in the Czech
Republic (Williams and Mather, 1995), followed closely by Hungary. In general
the Hungarians are most open towards foreign products and brands and the
purchasing frequency of foreign and local brands is about the same, whereas in
some other Eastern European countries (Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia)
local brands are bought more frequently (Damisch, 1995). Eastern European
consumers also show a very interesting pattern of loyalty to foreign brands:
they are more loyal to local than foreign brands (again with the exception of
Hungarian consumers who are equally loyal to both ) (Damisch, 1995). Inspite
of all this, they are still more inclined towards brand switching, as compared to
Western European consumers.
Purpose of the study
The purpose of the study is to analyze the attitude of Slovene consumers
towards the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands from the viewpoint
of the five dimensions defined by Gibbs and Boguszak (1995) as the most
important ones for understanding the attitude of the Eastern European
consumers towards the FMCG brands. The dimensions are: orientation
towards domestic brands versus Western brands, experimentation with
unknown brands and new products, brand loyalty, quality orientation and
quality indicators, and price sensitivity. In order to consider the fact that the
nature of a product also has an effect on the degree of marketing
standardization, the brand attitude is examined in a case of two different
products: yogurt as a representative of food products; and toothpaste as an
example of products for personal hygiene. It is assumed that in some aspects
the attitude of Slovene consumers towards FMCG brands differs from the
attitude of other Eastern European consumers.
Research hypotheses
Based on the literature reviewed, 12 hypotheses were developed regarding the
attitudes of Slovene consumers towards FMCG brands.

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Orientation towards domestic versus Western brands

The usual practice of Slovene consumers has been to do their shopping in
Austria and Italy; in fact, they were familiar with foreign brands a long time
before the economic system was changed. In addition, at that time domestic
brands were also available, which was an exception to the rule in most other
Eastern European countries. Therefore, in the case of FMCG, Slovene
consumers are expected to be more similar to Western European consumers
who prefer domestic brands to foreign ones (Williams and Mather, 1995).
H1. The majority of Slovene consumers purchase mostly Slovene FMCG.
H2. Consumers who buy mostly Slovene FMCG believe that Slovene
products are of the same quality as Western products.
Experimentation with unknown brands and new products
According to Tower and Cooper (1995) a low level of individualism is one of the
main factors that compels Eastern European consumers to accept a new
product much more slowly and to be less trusting of unknown brands; this is
extremely characteristic of the older part of the population. At present it would
not be easy to say how far the process of individualization has developed in
Slovenia, yet it is assumed that older users find it much more difficult than the
younger ones to accept the unknown brands and to be open-minded towards
new products.
H3. Older Slovene consumers are less trustful of unknown brands than
younger consumers are.
H4. Older Slovene consumers buy products with unknown brands less
frequently than younger consumers do.
H5. More younger than older Slovene consumers believe that new products
do not differ from the existing products only in price, name or
packaging.
H6. More younger than older Slovene consumers prefer to buy the latest
FMCG brands.
Brand loyalty
Until recently it was believed that Eastern European consumers, unlike
consumers in mature markets, often switch from one brand to another,
especially in the case of new foreign brands. However, brands are evaluated
differently in different countries. According to research, the Czechs are rather
loyal to local FMCG brands (Williams and Mather, 1995), while Hungarian
consumers are not (Damisch, 1995). It is expected that those Slovene consumers
who buy domestic FMCG have developed a loyalty to their brands; the choice
of these brands and the frequency of introduction of new brands are, compared
to foreign brands, much smaller and therefore the inducement to brand
switching is not so strong. For the purpose of this study brand loyalty has been
defined as a type of behaviour: the regular buying of a specific brand
(Antonides and van Raaij, 1998).

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H7: Those Slovene consumers who buy mostly Slovene FMCG are loyal to
the brands.
An analysis of Eastern European consumers has shown that there is a
relationship between brand loyalty and the age of consumers with older
consumers being more loyal to brands than younger consumers (Gibbs and
Boguszak, 1995). The same applies to Western European consumers (Schmitz
and Koelzer, 1996), and it is believed that Slovene consumers have similar
patterns of loyalty for FMCG.
H8. Brand loyalty is greater among older than younger Slovene consumers.
Quality orientation
Gibbs and Boguszak (1995) have discovered that today's Czech and Slovak
consumers use modernity, convenience and brand image as indicators of
quality; however, quality is no longer linked to Western products only. After
having tested Western brands, which had been short in supply for many years,
Eastern Europen consumers realized that a Western brand itself is not a
guarantee of quality (Gibbs and Boguszak, 1995; Feick et al., 1995). It is
assumed that there is even less implicit confidence in the quality of Western
FMCG among Slovene consumers since they have had experience with them for
a much longer time than other Eastern European consumers.
H9. Slovene consumers believe that the local FMGC are as good as foreign
ones.
For Eastern European consumers, for example Hungarians, Czehs and Slovaks
price is an indicator of quality only for the most discriminating and
sophisticated type of consumers who do not buy cheap products (Feick et al.,
1995; Gibbs and Boguszak, 1995). It is assumed that Slovene consumers
predominantly use price as a cue to quality when purchasing FMGC; a similar
relationship is also expected with regard to brand, mostly due to Slovene
consumers' extensive experience with exposure to foreign and local FMCG
brands.
H10. The majority of Slovene consumers believes that the cheapest FMCG
products are of worse quality and do not buy them.
H11. The majority of Slovene consumers believes that FMCG products of
different brands differ in quality.
Price sensitivity
A great number of Eastern European consumers are price sensitive, which is
probably a result of relatively low purchasing power on average (Magistretti
and Dohnalik, 1995; Gibbs and Boguszak, 1995). Compared to these countries,
the purchasing power in Slovenia is the highest, with the GDP per capita of
USD 9,471 in 1996 as compared with USD 5.087 for the Czech Republic, USD
4,314 for Hungary, USD 4,152 for Croatia, USD 3,512 for Slovakia, etc.[1].
H12. In the case of FMCG, Slovene consumers are less price sensitive than
other Eastern European consumers.

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Methodology
The survey instrument was based on multi-item measurement scales which
have been used in previous research (Gibbs and Boguszak, 1995), and
contained 22 attitude statements pertaining to the five dimensions driving
consumer behaviour mentioned in the previous section (for complete wording
of statements, see the Appendix; when the results of the research explained
later the statements will be referred to by using their serial numbers).
Response was measured using a five-point Likert-style scale ranging from
1 = strongly disagree, to 5 = strongly agree (with a neutral midpoint). The
instrument was pretested through a face-to-face interviews with ten
respondents and through a telephone interview with ten respondents. This
enabled the identification of ambiguities in the wordings of particular items.
The data were collected by means of a telephone survey using a systematic
sample and a phone book was used as the sampling frame. The sample
contained 245 Slovenes over 18 years of age.
Results
Orientation towards domestic FMCG brands
Of respondents, 62 per cent mostly buy (scores 4 and 5 were taken into account)
Slovene yogurt and toothpaste, which supports H1, as the z-test produced a
significant result (at p < 0.05).
It is assumed that the reason for this does not lie in not being familiar with or
not trusting foreign brands, as in some parts of Eastern Europe; one of the
principal important reasons for this belief is presumably the fact that this type
of Slovene product is perceived to be as good as Western products, which was
anticipated by H2. The results provide strong support for H2, the correlation
between purchases of Slovene products and the opinion that Slovene products
are of the same quality as foreign products is relatively strong (the
corresponding Pearson's correlation coefficient is 0.403) and highly statistically
significant (p = 0.000, two-tailed test).
Experimentation with unknown brands and new products.
An important difference between Eastern European and Western European
consumers is the level of individualism which is reflected in the behaviour of
consumers as acceptance of unknown, new and foreign products. To calculate
how open Slovene consumers are, the scores on the items which relate to
suspicion of unknown brands and new products and to the tendency to buy
new products, unknown products and/or Western products were summed to
produce the average total score (items 3, 5, 7, 8, 11, 16, 18 and 20 were taken into
account; all items except 7 were reverse scored prior to summing). The result
(mean = 2.72, standard deviation = 0.90) indicates a low level of individualism,
at least as far as consumer behavior is concerned. Moreover, only 31.6 per cent
of respondents can be seen as open minded.
As it can be seen that the invidualism process has been developing in
Eastern Europe (Tower and Cooper, 1995) and that mostly young people are

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turning into individualists, we have tried to deduce whether the age of Slovene
consumers affects the acceptance and purchase of products with unknown
brands. The results in Table I provide support for H3 and H4: older Slovene
consumers are less trustful of unknown FMCG brands, and they also decide to
purchase such brands less often than younger consumers.
Different results were provided with regard to H5 and H6. Specifically, the
older as well as the younger consumers are relatively untrusting of new FMCG
(Table II). Thus, hypotheses H5 and H6 were rejected. From this we can
conclude that in this respect the Slovene consumers differ from other Eastern
European consumers, as ``new'' is of great importance to mostly younger
Eastern European consumers. Slovene consumers are, irrespective of their age,
rather untrusting of new products; the reason for this may also be the fact that
there is a flood of products labelled ``new'' on the market and consumers
probably do not put much faith in such statements any more.
Brand loyalty
The relation between the variables describing brand loyalty (items 1, 2, 10, 14,
15 and 21 were taken into account; items 10 and 21 were reverse scored prior to
summing) and those describing the purchase of Slovene FMCG is positive and
statistically significant (the corresponding Pearson's correlation coefficient is
0.203 and statistically significant at p < 0.01, two-tailed test). This is especially
noticeable with yogurt, which shows specfics in the behaviour of consumers
regarding food products; here it should be added that 82 per cent of
respondents mostly buy yogurt made by Slovene producers. Thus the results
provide full support of H7.
Age
(years)

SD
Std.
Mean deviation error

Table I.
Comparison of means
Purchase of unknown brands (items 3,16)*
<41
124
2.82
0.89
for variables of
>40
121
2.60
0.73
acceptance of unknown Trust to unknown brands (item 7)*
<41
124
2.70
1.03
FMCG brands
>40
121
2.44
0.84
according to the age of
Notes: scale: 1 completely disagree, 5 completely agree. Significant difference at:
respondents

Age
(years)

Table II.
Purchase of the newest products (item 8)
<41
124
Comparison of means
>40
121
for variables of
Trust to new products (items 5 and 20)
<41
124
acceptance of new
>40
121
FMCG according to the
Note: scale: 1 completely disagree, 5 completely agree.
age of respondents

0.16
0.13
0.18
0.15
*< 0.05

SD
Std.
Mean deviation error
2.93
2.90
2.96
2.80

1.07
0.97
0.77
0.59

0.19
0.17
0.13
0.11

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Research in Eastern Europe has shown that older consumers are more loyal
than younger consumers to brands. A similar result was also expected for
Slovenia, yet the analysis shows that the differences in loyalty between older
and younger consumers are statistically insignificant and that H8 has to be
rejected. In this respect, Slovene consumers differ from other Eastern European
consumers.
Quality orientation
There is a general opinion among Eastern European consumers that foreign
products are of better quality than those produced domestically (Gibbs and
Boguszak, 1995). As our research shows, Slovene consumers do not share the
same opinion, since 83.7 per cent of respondents believe that Slovene FMCG are
of the same quality as foreign ones, which supports H9 (the z-test produced a
significant result at p < 0.05). As mentioned above, such a belief is statistically
significantly correlated with the preference for purchasing Slovene FMCG.
Price and brand are also very important indicators of the quality of the
product. Almost 57 per cent of respondents never buy the cheapest toothpaste
or yogurt because they belive they are of a lower quality. The proportion of
respondents who believe that FMCG with different brands distinguish
themselves in quality is not much lower (52.7 per cent). Thus the results
support H10 and H11 (the z-test returned a significant result at p < 0.05 with
regard to both hypotheses).
Price sensitivity
The results have shown that only 7.3 per cent of respondents are price sensitive
(in the case of FMCG purchases), which provides support for H12 (at p < 0.05).
However, it must not be ignored that price sensitivity has been defined in a
very strict way, namely, as always preferring the lowest-priced alternative
irrespective of the brand. Moreover, respondents with low incomes economize
on price more than respondents with high incomes.
Conclusion
After looking at the results of the research, we can say that as far as FMCG are
concerned, Slovenes as consumers are rather conservative. They are rather
inclined to buy local brands (especially among food products); the proportion of
the consumers who buy mostly local products is greater than that in some other
Eastern European countries. Yet it is believed that the main reason for this
cannot be found in the traditionalism of consumers, as is true for other parts of
Eastern Europe, but is more related to the perception that the quality of Slovene
FMCG is as good as that of Western ones; in this Slovene consumers differ from
other Eastern European consumers. Furthermore, a relatively large proportion
of younger consumers prefer local goods, whereas in some other Eastern
European countries the younger consumers are those who tend to buy Western
products. Slovene consumers are more loyal to local than foreign products and
are thus similar to other Eastern European consumers. The research has shown

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that there are no significant differences between younger and older consumers
in the degree of brand loyalty; the same can be said about the brand as an
indicator of the product quality, while in other parts of Eastern Europe a brand
is an important indicator of quality, especially among younger consumers. The
results of the research support the hypothesis that Slovene consumers of FMCG
are less price sensitive than other Eastern European consumers, although price
elasticity would need closer examination.
From the results of the research the conclusion can be drawn that in some
respects Slovene consumers are similar to other Eastern European consumers.
They differ from them as well, which speaks in favour of authors who claim
(e.g. Halman, 1995; Lascu et al., 1996) that Eastern Europe is an area as
heterogeneous as is Western Europe. The myth of ``Euro-consumers'' has been
discussed often in the literature (e.g. Kaynak and Ghauri, 1994; Schmidt and
Pioch, 1996). Similarly, treating the Eastern European market as a global one is
an over-simplification. However, marketing standardization is possible but it
should be related to types of product and to market clusters cutting across
cultural and national boundaries. In summary, customers are ultimately the
only judges who matter.
Limitations and suggestions for future research
The study emphasizes a number of attitudinal factors which have an impact on
buying behaviour. Although under certain conditions the behaviour of
consumers can be predicted by their attitudes towards products and brands,
other factors may also have an effect on purchasing behaviour, considering the
extended attitude model by Ajzen and Fishbein (1980). Thus, claimed
behaviour can differ from actual purchasing patterns. In our study, actual
purchase habits have not been examined to find the correlation between actual
purchase and claimed preference. Moreover, values and beliefs need to be
examined in the future. Finally, future studies should also test the validity of
our hypotheses on other types of FMCG (e.g. soft drinks, beer, detergents and
candy bars).
Note
1. Statistical office of the Republic of Slovenia, available http://www.sigov.si/zrs/slfig/
indexslo.html
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Appendix. Scales used in the survey instrument

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1. I have been buying this toothpaste brand for many years.

2. I always know which brand to buy before the purchase.
3. I never buy a toothpaste with an unknown brand.
4. I never buy the cheapest toothpaste as I believe that it is of worse quality.
5. A new toothpaste has only a new name and a higher price, otherwise it does not differ
from the others.
6. Toothpastes with different brands do not differ in quality.
7. I do not trust unknown brands of toothpaste.
8. I buy the latest toothpaste, even if it is more expensive.
9. I do not buy toothpaste of the same brand as there are so many different brands
available that I would like to try.
10. Slovene toothpastes are as good as foreign ones.
11. I mostly buy Slovene toothpaste.
12. I always buy inexpensive toothpaste, irrespective of brand.
13. I have been buying yogurt of the same producer for many years.
14. I always know which yogurt brand I will buy before I go shopping.
15. Slovene yogurts are as good as the foreign ones.
16. I never buy yogurt with an unknown brand.
17. I never buy the cheapest yogurt, because I believe it is of worse quality.
18. I buy mostly yogurt made by Slovene producers.
19. I do not always buy yogurt with the same brand as there are so many different brands I
would like to try.
20. New yogurt has a new name, packaging and higher price, but otherwise it is not different
from the others.
21. Yogurt with different brands does not differ in quality.
22. I always buy the promotionally priced yogurt, irrespective of brand name.

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