The role of values and lifestyles on product preferences of consumers

Values building every person's structure and lifestyles that they have, as in the activities of their daily life as, show themselves in product preferences, in buying behavior and aim of product usage. Giving direction to human life and people moving in line with them, sometimes suiting them, and sometimes exhibiting contradictory behaviors, values, were put under the issues which always have to be a research topic by social scientists interested in consumer behavior in marketing. By the concept of lifestyle becoming much more emphasized by the mass media with consumption culture, information about the lifestyle of consumers and which lifestyle they want to have increasing in importance. Since each lifestyle is private and uniqe, changes according to the person and even people with same profession, gender, education and income rates have various lifestyles, it is clear that partitioning the market in accordance with these criteria would make the enterprises more efficient and profitable. Gradual increase of the remaining free time outside of working life each day, spreading different lifestyles by mass media consistently to consumers, proliferation of behavior patterns through this lifestyle, such as longing, emulation and imitation by consumers, the role conflicts and changes inhabited by women and men, weaknesses occurring in the function of social institutions and the regulatory impact in society such as family, religion, schools, change the values beside adopting new values every day, while causing settled values to be wiped out. With the reduction of effects of laws and religion in our society, importance given to values has also decreased, and by giving a value education from the beginning of children's education life, (kindergarten level) it is attempted to raise individuals who stake a claim on values, maintain his life on good, beautiful, acknowledged values which he has. Thus, it is thought that the society would attain more powerful, indivisible and a healthy structure with value education. Why consumers favour a product, how and what for they will use the preferred products, what the benefits are expected from products, how they see themselves, how they want to look, what they give importance to nor to the concern, how they make purchasing decisions, how they spend their money and time, can only be obtained by lifestyle analysis and determined in-depth information . In this sense, the results related to demographic factors does not offer researchers the information listed above or offer quite limited. This is an obstacle for a marketer to create an effective and efficient marketing strategies, to satisfy the consumers on higher levels, to increase his market share and to share business opportunities accurately. Keywords: Values, lifestyle, product preference, psychographic analysis