Human nature is such that once one want of individual is satisfied he or she begins to think about satisfying another want and this process is a never-ending cycle as although human needs are limited but human wants are unlimited. Hedonic consumption and utilitarian consumption tries to address this issue but they are not one and the same thing and that is the reason why one should understand the difference between hedonic consumption and utilitarian consumption –
Hedonic Consumption Vs Utilitarian Consumption
Meaning
Hedonic consumption refers to that consumption which is done by an individual after his or her basic needs like food, water, safety needs are satisfied but utilitarian consumption is that consumption that is necessary for the survival of an individual and without satisfying this consumption needs an individual will not be able to survive.
Example
An example of hedonic consumption would be a consumer buying an iPhone, or purchasing 3D television, or purchasing a BMW car, in simple words when the consumer has excess money he or she go for purchasing expensive brands as there is no limit to the wants of individuals. An example of utilitarian consumption is suppose an individual needs mobile as he or she is far away from the home than he or she decides to purchase a normal mobile instead of iPhone is consumer fulfilling utilitarian consumption or consumer eating food in a regular restaurant instead of eating food in the 5-star hotel is an example of utilitarian consumption.
Satisfaction Level from Consumption
In the case of hedonic consumption, every individual will have a different satisfaction level because suppose you and your friend are going to the Europe tour and this tour is your first tour while your friend is going for the second time then your satisfaction level will be different from your friend’s satisfaction level. While in the case of utilitarian consumption every individual has the almost same level of satisfaction, hence for example if two people are eating lunch then both will have same satisfaction that is their hunger will be satisfied while eating lunch.
Reason for Consumption
The reason due to which hedonic consumption takes place is due to the emotional nature of human beings because it is the happiness that leads individuals to purchase iPhones instead of normal mobile or consumers purchasing business class air tickets instead of an economy class air ticket. In simple words, if there were no emotion then hedonic consumption would not have been there. While utilitarian consumption takes place due to the physical requirements of human beings, hence for example if you are feeling hungry or thirsty then only you require food or water otherwise you will not spend money unnecessarily on food and water.
Consumption Delay
In case of hedonic consumption, an individual can delay his or her consumption as it makes no difference to your daily life if you buy iPhone after 2 or 3 months, in simple words one can be flexible as far as hedonic consumption is concerned but when it comes to utilitarian consumption an individual cannot delay the consumption, hence an individual cannot avoid eating food or drinking water for 2 or 3 days because it could prove to be fatal.
As one can see from the differences between hedonic consumption and utilitarian consumption that there are many differences between the two and as far companies are concerned they should be aware of this difference as companies targeting hedonic products in the utilitarian consumption market or vice versa will be a failure and hence will not be a right marketing strategy.