Maslows Theory On Food Retailing

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Described by the commonly known source Wikipedia, Maslow’s Hierarchy notes that “Courses in marketing teach Maslow's hierarchy as one of the first theories as a basis for understanding consumers' motives for action. Marketers have historically looked towards consumers' needs to define their actions in the market. If producers design products meeting consumer needs, consumers will more often choose those products over those of competitors. Whichever product better fills the void created by the need will be chosen more frequently, thus increasing sales. This makes the model relevant to transpersonal business studies” (Wikipedia, 2010). According to Abraham Maslow, a noted psychologist, people tend to satisfy their needs in a particular order – a theory he calls the “hierarchy of needs.” Maslow’s theory rests on three assumptions: 1) people have a number of need that require some measure of satisfaction, 2) only unsatisfied needs motivate behavior, and 3) the needs of people are arranged in a hierarchy of prepotency, which means that as each lower-level need is satisfied, the need at the next level demands attention. Basically human beings are motivated to satisfy physiological needs first (food, clothing, shelter); then the need for safety and security, then social needs, then esteem needs, and, finally self-actualization needs, or the need to realize their potential. Looking at physiological needs, the needs for food, clothing, sleep, and shelter are survival needs. When our economy is strong and most people have jobs, these basic needs are rarely dominate because there are reasonably well satisfied. During hard economic times, with unemployment rates increasing, people are less likely to be concerned with the type of work they do, working solely to ensure their own and their families’ survival. Contributions to food shelves, government sponsored programs such
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