Understanding the Sri Lankan consumer “Psyche”

Prasanna Perera, Marketing & Management Consultant, Chartered Marketer, CIM U.K.

The Sri Lankan consumer mindset is unique and not so easy to understand. Even the most experienced Sri Lankan marketing organizations have made serious mistakes in this regard.

Prasanna Perera

In general Sri Lankan consumers are inquisitive. Hence, they are happy to try out new products and services but with no intention of repeating the purchase. This is the reason why new brands have a great run in the beginning only to fizzle out shortly after that. The lesson to marketers is to be patient and monitor the repeat purchase levels.

Family and peer pressure have a great impact on Sri Lankan consumer buying behaviour. Dependency in decision making is a habit among Sri Lankans. In most instances it is what others prefer that is purchased, not what is liked by the user.

Quantity is what most Sri Lankan buyer segments look at, rather than quality. Hence, a discount mania prevails, since quantity is purchased.

Brands are preferred even if they are not originals. This is probably due to the inability to purchase originals, since disposable income is limited. Once brand loyalty is built, for either the original or the duplicate, it is not easy to break the loyalty cycle.

Several shopping trips are preferred, as against less frequent trips. Shopping is a Sri Lankan habit, be it in a supermarket, clothing store, village pola or street market. The upper income groups may be the exception, as they can afford to purchase large quantities and varieties.

Word-of-mouth (WOM) is still the most powerful method to create awareness and induce purchase. Word-of-mouse (WOM) is also a powerful addition.

Whether Sri Lankans are pre-planned shoppers is debatable. My assumption is that some consumers are pre-planned, whilst others are more impulsive and decide at the purchase moment. Either way, quite a few purchase decisions are made at the last moment.

In my experience, I find that Sri Lankan men are more brand conscious than women, who tend to be more price conscious and product centric. Of course, variations can be observed across income segments.

Sri Lankan men “buy” whilst women “shop.” This is an universal trend and not something special to Sri Lankans.

Amongst Sri Lankan consumers there is a lack of clarity, between value-for-money and lower/cheaper prices. Sri Lankans believe that value-for-money is the lowest possible price! (Of course, this is not the reality).

Sampling of products and services should be done with care. In Sri Lankan culture, anything given free is accepted and rated positively (even if it is negative).

Sri Lankans project a hybrid lifestyle i.e. a combination of western and eastern. Hence, both western and eastern brands are preferred equally. For example, a Sri Lankan who consumes pulses in the morning for breakfast may be seen patronizing western fast food for lunch and Chinese food for dinner.

There is a school of thought that Sri Lankan consumers give preference to brands that are projected as of “Sri Lankan” origin. However, this is not certain, as some segments are anti-Sri Lankan, when it comes to brand related purchases. They prefer the country-of-origin to be a developed country.

In this brief article, I have endeavored to share certain insights into the Sri Lankan buyer psyche and behaviour.