Central European Business Review 2020, 9(5):63-80 | DOI: 10.18267/j.cebr.253

Clustering of Millennials by Brand Perceptions in Relation to Demographic Factors

Veronika Braciníková¹, Kateřina Matušínská²

¹ Silesian University in Opava, School of Business Administration in Karvina, Department of Business Economics and Management, Karviná, Czech Republic, bracinikova@opf.slu.cz

² Silesian University in Opava, School of Business Administration in Karvina, Department of Business Economics and Management, Karviná, Czech Republic, matusinska@opf.slu.cz

The corporate brand represents a global set of perceptions of the unique functional and emotional attributes associated with it. These are the result of interactions of all the impressions, experiences, feelings and knowledge of all participating sides based on the products of the company, management style, and the planned or unscheduled communication activities. The study aims to describe Czech Millennials using demographic criteria in relation to their brand perception. The questionnaire was used as the research technique for gaining the primary data. The respondents were questioned about their opinions and perceptions of many issues such as attitudes towards brands, life values, willing to pay, making decisions, searching and buying products, preferences in the field of stability, having fun. Several statements from the questionnaire were tested for the purpose of this paper connected to the sense and sensibility in the decision buying process of Millennials as the consumers in the marketplace of the Czech Republic as one of the Central European countries. Afterwards, the Millennials are classed according to these pre-selected variables into groups by using a cluster analysis in such a way as to ensure the greatest similarity within the clusters and the greatest variation between clusters. Two clusters were formulated. From the carried out survey is obvious consumers with a lower degree of education are more emotional when they purchase goods than consumers with other achieved degrees of education. In relation to gender, we can allege that women are much more motivated by emotions. Younger Millennials are more likely to be motivated by emotions than older ones.
Implications for Central European audience: Businesses in the 21st century, especially in developed markets should focus on the adequate targeting of selected market segments to use adequate marketing programs because the use of mass marketing approaches in different areas of business is currently uncompetitive and sometimes totally impossible. Proper targeting has a significant impact on consumers' behaviour and their brand perceptions. The Central European countries such as Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Germany, Switzerland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Austria, with a population exceeding 165 million, represent a solid and an attractive market for business opportunities. Ordun (2015) claims that customers (consumers) of so-called generation Y (also said as  Millennials) are said to be the second-largest population all of the world. It represents an occasion as well as a challenge not only for business units. Individuals of this generation have very strong buying power but they can as well influence the buying decisions of their parents and children. Moreno, Lafuente and Moreno (2017) present the findings of their research that suggest that Millennials were born in the time period when the technology is understood as an important part of people´s life in all aspects. Thanks to this fact Millennials perceive buying process as joy and their loyalty to purchased brands is relative. They are supposed to spend the money which they earn quickly using the online shopping channels.  The current research projects in the area of the currently ongoing and still unfinished phenomenon of the generation Y within the Central European countries does not bring clear and comprehensive results with the possibility of their reliable application on a practical level. The aim of this article is, therefore, to describe Czech Millennials using demographic criteria in relation to their brand perception. The results of the presented marketing research can be understood in general terms as applicable to other Central European countries which are supported by research conducted by Motyka (2017, p. 178) who states that "Czech Millennials are similar to their peers in other European states, but of course not identical because they usually differ from their European peers in terms of life priorities: enrichment and chasing certain trends are not as important for them."

Keywords: brand perceptions; generation; Millennials

JEL classification: M10, M30

Received: April 10, 2020; Revised: June 30, 2020; Accepted: July 16, 2020; Prepublished online: December 8, 2020; Published: December 21, 2020  Show citation