GENERATION GAP IN THE PURCHASE AND PAYMENT PROCESS

Companies can hardly produce a single product that will satisfy the needs and wants of all consumers. In the marketing literature, but also in practice, marketers advise the companies to use the so-called STP strategy, i.e. a Strategy of segmentation, targeting and positioning. This means that companies need to divide the market in smaller pieces and find the most profitable one(s) for them. Companies that offer their products to profitable targeted segments achieve bigger sales and higher profits. The segmentation (division) of the market into profitable targeted parts is carried out on the basis of several criteria, among which the demographic criteria are the most used. Generations fall into demographic criteria for market segmentation. A generation refers to a group of people who were born and live at about a same time. Generations, as consumers, are internally homogeneous entities and heterogeneous in relation to other generations. The purpose of this paper is to research the degree of heterogeneity between generations in the processes of purchasing and payment for shopping products. Although stereotypy shouldn‘t be exempted, the paper will show that there are certain same or similar behavior patterns of the generations in the purchase and payment processes. For the research secondary and primary data were collected. Primary data is obtained from a survey conducted in November 2022. The results claim that there are certain similar behavioral characteristics of the generations as consumers.

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