A Detailed Look at Curaçao’s Consumers

With the surge in online advertising options and mobile media usage bringing rapid changes to the global marketplace, it has never been more important for businesses to stay informed on the preferences and expectations of their target customer. Consumer trends must be closely monitored in order to properly allocate advertising budgets and maximize returns. This is especially true when analyzing the nuances of the Caribbean market and its unique challenges, such as limited local resources and the need for close relationships between businesses, suppliers and their customers.

TEXT LAUREN BATEY

Reaching Curaçao 2015
Following up on the success of their previous report in 2010, MarkStra Caribbean, a local research and strategy based solutions team, will once again be supplying business owners with targeted data they can use to market their services and products more effectively. The aim of this report is to provide detailed insight into the island’s consumer culture. Over 25 local and international companies benefitted from the original study and many have already shown renewed interest. Banks, insurers, retail stores and advertising agencies will all be making use of the updated information. The statistical data found in Reaching Curaçao 2015 will aid businesses in making decisions on the most effective marketing tools available. When choosing how to best promote themselves, companies must look at options using traditional methods such as radio, television and print advertisement as well as emerging methods like web-based and mobile media ads. Then they must select specific platforms within those categories. For a relatively small economy, Curaçao has many individual opportunities for promotion, so making informed decisions is essential to success.

Creating a Picture
For the 2015 report, data will be compiled from several sources beginning with a local survey of about 400 randomly selected residents ranging in ages from 18-65. The study will be conducted via phone interview then analyzed using a web based survey tool. Participants will answer a series of questions not only on their spending habits, but on their lifestyle and values as well. For example, they will be asked about their household income and preferred methods of payment such as credit cards or cash. However they will also provide information on their hobbies, religious views, education level and the most commonly used media devices in their homes. Geographic research will also be included in this survey, highlighting the roads that are most traveled, as well as the corresponding areas of the island that receive the most traffic. This information can be used as a gauge for the potential success of any new development. Apart from MarkStra’s own phone survey, data will also be gathered from other sources such as the Curaçao Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). This branch of government is responsible for providing insight into all statistical facts about the island. One of the most important functions of CBS is the census, which is used to determine inflation. They conduct their own studies on a broad variety of topics ranging from population and language to tourism and climate, some of which will be used when creating the newest edition of Reaching Curaçao. Trends in local consumer thinking versus global standards will be compared as well using the information available from broad-spectrum international studies. One of the main focuses will be on how consumer spending has changed over the last 5 years in order to better understand the quickly evolving influence of the internet.

Tying It All Together
Once all of the data has been compiled, the report will be broken down by age, gender and socioeconomic status in order to create a clear profile of Curaçao’s consumers. It will be highly beneficial to existing companies looking to grow or simply streamline their marketing strategies, as well as to new businesses planning to invest in the development of Curaçao. In today’s competitive and knowledge based economy, this type of data is essential for assessing market potential, allocating budget efficiently, and maximizing ROI.

Reaching Curaçao 2015 will be available to business owners and any other interested parties in June of this year. For more information, please contact Mark- Stra Caribbean via email at tlacruz@markstra.com.