The camp: Poster of primitive needs

During the camp 6.-8.10 we did several big mind maps about different topics to clear the ideas and build our knowledge. One of the posters was this one about primitive needs of women and men and the needs they try to fulfill while shopping.

We did this poster with Mathias and had long and deep coversations about the topics. Why we wanted to concentrate on the primitive needs is simply because those are the driving force behind all our other needs. If a company could understand and exploit these well would the satisfaction and commitment of the customer be wide and deep. The trick with the primitive needs is that we might not recognize these in everyday life but subconsciously we often go for the option that manages to fulfill one or more of these.

Discussing this subject we found many similarities between the needs and behaviour of men and women but then again a lot of big differences that play an imporant part in the overall view. First we can concentrate on women.

From a commercial point of view the most important ones are probably the need to be wanted and desired and to feel beautiful. These are widely exploited already as you can tell by the moneyflow of these days in the beauty industry. Women also look for reward or comfort from shopping; simplified one could say that in both bliss and sorrow women turn to shopping. Women also have a strong need to share the whole experience or atleast the result of the shopping trip with someone. 

Both men and women want to make a bargain (the word that we didn't spell correctly on the poster..) but the concept of the word is different. For women a bargain can happen in two situations; when you've wanted something for a long time and finally find it or get it (the price doesn't matter) OR when you make a great catch and find the last piece of something or manage to find something with an amazing price (price is the most important factor). Then again for men a bargain is all about making a good deal. Men feel like they've succeeded if they manage to haggle over the price a bit or they get a special offer just for them. They feel pride because they've made a better deal than the guy entering the store after them will probably get. Or atleast this is what the store wants them to think. 

Thinking men and their needs from a commercial point of view makes one need more relevant than others. The strongest need behind everything is being the "alpha male", being the most wanted, desired, succeeded and overall better than other compeeting males around. We thougth this is not as well put into practice yet as the needs of women are and it could be taken advantage of a lot more.