Culture Analysis – Turkmenistan

1. How do consumers shop in this country? What types of retail outlets do they use, are the retailing infrastructures very well developed or not? Are these the same as or different in the urban vs. rural areas? How often do they shop? How much do they shop? How much do they tend to purchase at a time? How do they pay for the goods purchased do store offer credit? What about major credit cards?

In the most parts of their lives the Turkmenistan has managed to sustain their culture of nomadic as well as being horsemanship. With the current waves of modernization, the Turkmen have managed to make some changes to their lifestyles which have also influenced their consumption patterns at the market place. There are a number of factors which can be used to describe the consumer’s behavior at the market place. In this paper an analysis is made on the consumer behavior in Turkmenistan in relation to their culture (Buyers, pp, 50-176)[1].

In Turkmenistan the typical consumers are involved in the purchase of the basic needs such as food shelter and clothing, as well as some other additional needs which make their life more comfortable. The consumers in the urban areas in most cases make frequent visits to both the average retail stores and the modern stores, which are operated with the applications of modern technological devices indicating that some of the retail stores are well structured. The urban consumers buy on a frequent basis especially for the basic commodities like food and clothing, and for the other durable goods they make occasional purchases because they make quantitative investments in such goods and also considering that the decision making process involved is demanding on their part. They usually buy on both credit and cash terms, and in most cases utilize the credit services like those offered by master card and visa card services, which are rarely used by the typical consumers in Turkmenistan as the credit services are not easily available to them (Pastor et al, pp, 8-12)[2].

The consumers in the rural areas make occasional visits to the urban areas to purchase the goods and services, which are not available within the rural setting. Some of the goods and services that they are likely to purchase include basic food stuff like cooking oil, salt and flour. The clothes and other households include the traditional Muslim clothing, carpet as their furniture. The additional services include educational services and medical services. In the rural areas the retail infrastructure systems are less developed, and would at times lack the basic commodities considering the fact that some of those stores have low management standards. Such consumers display such consumptions considering their lifestyles which involve time to time movements, and also the poor ling conditions in the rural areas which do not allow them to obtain enough money to support their budgets (Buyers, pp, 50-176)[3].

2. What is the typical consumer like in this country? Give the general characteristics in your profiles. Do consumers who live in the major cities behave differently that those in the rural areas?

            The typical consumer in Turkmenistan will usually be involved in the buying of the very basic goods and services such as basic food stuffs, clothing and cloth wear and basic leisure goods among other basic goods which are within their average income. Most of the consumers who live in the urban centers in Turkmenistan are those that are working or prospecting to get employment, and very few unemployed persons who depend on others. The consumption patterns of the people in the urban areas of Turkmenistan consists of the purchase of basics needs, as well as additional luxurious attachments to these goods and services. For example, the people living in the city are likely to purchase more often the upcoming cloth designs, cosmetics, variety of foods and decent houses. The people in the urban centers are more likely to visit the nightclubs and other places of relaxation as well as make frequent shopping exercises in the trendy shopping centers. The urban consumers in most occasions involve the rich people who own most of the resources in the country, and would therefore tend to buy products and services which are imported, and therefore create a difference with those other consumers in the society (Pastor et al, pp, 8-12)[4].

The rural consumers are mostly the nomads and horsemen and they rarely involve themselves, in the shopping of the goods and services that the people in the urban areas shop for. The rural consumers make occasional visits to the urban centers to buy the basic needs like food and clothing, and some few additional services like medical care services and goods when needs dedicate. These rural consumers in most part rely on the products and services in the rural places such as medicine and foods stuff as well as shelter structures. They rarely make purchases for the luxurious products such as entertainment services (Buyers, pp, 50-176)[5].

References

Buyers, L, 2003. Central Asia in focus: political and economic issues. Nova Publishers.

Pastor, G, Rooden, R, International Monetary Fund, European II Dept. Turkmenistan, the Burden of Current Agricultural Policies. International Monetary Fund.

[1] Buyers, L, 2003. Central Asia in focus: political and economic issues. Nova Publishers

[2]Pastor, G, Rooden, R, International Monetary Fund, European II Dept. Turkmenistan, the Burden of Current Agricultural Policies. International Monetary Fund.

[3]Buyers, L, 2003. Central Asia in focus: political and economic issues. Nova Publishers

[4] Pastor, G, Rooden, R, International Monetary Fund, European II Dept. Turkmenistan, the Burden of Current Agricultural Policies. International Monetary Fund.

[5] Buyers, L, 2003. Central Asia in focus: political and economic issues. Nova Publishers