¿Incide el nivel de ingresos en la atención a los precios individuales?: un análisis del comportamiento del consumidor en compras habituales

Abstract

This study arises from the discrepancy between microeconomic theory of perfect information and the observed behavior that not all consumers pay attention to prices when purchasing regular consumption products. Due to this, the objective is to analyze the factors that influence the propensity to notice or not notice individual prices of regularly consumed household products, especially in relation to family income levels. The study follows a mixed-deductive cross-sectional methodology, carried out cluster sampling with equal allocation. Eight supermarket establishments located in the urban area of Cuenca were randomly selected. Subsequently, a simple random sampling was calculated, resulting in 440 consumers, that is, 55 customers in each establishment. An exploratory analysis was conducted to identify variables, and information was collected using surveys. The main results indicate that there is a significant relationship between income level and consumers' focus on prices, as well as the influence of age, search for deals and promotions, purchase planning, and supermarket loyalty on this behavior. From this, it could be concluded that consumers with high family income levels ($921 to more than $1,380) are 10.11% more likely to not pay attention to prices, which demonstrates a real divergence from some microeconomic assumptions. The contribution of this study will allow companies to determine consumer profiles and develop more effective loyalty strategies.