www.sciedu.ca/ijba International Journal of Business Administration Vol. 4, No. 5; 2013 Published by Sciedu Press 73 ISSN 1923-4007 E-ISSN 1923-4015 Behavioural Characteristics and the Marketing Implications of the Low Income Consumers Nkanikpo Ibok Ibok 1 & Victoria Sunday Umana 2 1 Department of Marketing, University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria 2 Department of Business Management, University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria Correspondence: Nkanikpo Ibok Ibok, Department of Marketing, University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Tel: 234-80-2355-3684. E-mail: nkanikpo@yahoo.com Received: July 29, 2013 Accepted: August 26, 2013 Online Published: September 6, 2013 doi:10.5430/ijba.v4n5p73 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5430/ijba.v4n5p73 Abstract Existing knowledge about the characteristics and marketing implications of the low income consumers have not been well articulated by managers and academics alike. Yet research has demonstrated the strategic benefits of this market in contributing to market share and return on investment. This paper begins by discussing the importance of this market by reporting the insights obtained in an exploratory research by reviewing the limited number of studies in this area, highlighting its nature and characteristics, drawing some specific implications and offering propositions to stimulate further research about the low income market. Keywords: behavioural characteristics, marketing implications, low income market 1. Introduction In recent years, the study of consumers with limited income access has become very popular. This is evidenced in the number of academic publications in the area (Knowledge Resources, 2011; Schonfeldt, Gibson and Vermenlen, 2010). While the interest in low income consumers is immense, it is quite clear that much of the knowledge and understanding about low income consumers are mixed or daunting. At least, there appears to be little research on the characteristics and marketing implications of this group of consumers. And although, the low income market is a viable and highly untapped market, Ibok (2011) had observed that the level of marketing attention given to this market is low if not neglected in organizational plan; but noted further that the success of any firm lies in its ability to see beyond today, particularly as the government at various levels are making effort to fight poverty and improve the living standard of an average consumer. This therefore, suggest that there is need for marketers to take special interest in understanding the behavioural characteristics of this market because they display specific and unique needs which must be traded with caution. Thus, Bilijon and Rousburg (2011) noted that understanding the behaviours of consumers who have limited access to income and live in rural or urban informal setting where infrastructure is limited, provides unique research challenges. The above scenario therefore has contributed to the paucity of literature and the existence of a number of gaps in the knowledge base of the low income market. First, from a theoretical perspective, the characteristic of this market is largely unclear and its theoretical underpinning is such that it is doubtful. Second, from a research perspective, it is not very clear why this market is often disregarded as unimportant. Little effort is made to understand the needs and expectations of the consumers in this market and as such it appears that there is no meaningful literature review that has considered this market from a broader organizational perspective. In this paper, we attempt to present a balanced review of the behavioural characteristics of this market; because from the literature, there seems to be little understanding of the unique characteristics of this market (Prahalad, 2010; Adkins and Ozanne, 2005; Soyibo, 2007). Accordingly, Van, Britz and Myburgh (2002) concluded that marketing to the low income group in the society has been poorly understood and there is a high degree of confusion about its marketing implication. Thus, from a meta-analytical perspective, the issue of consolidating knowledge gathered along different applications raises some basic questions as to whether marketing to the poor has any coherent knowledge framework and what meaning does it have to marketers?