The concept of the ‘average consumer’ no longer exists

    Over the years, we have become accustomed to thinking about the market in terms of groups and segments. We talked about young consumers, families with children, the elderly and residents of large cities. We created customer profiles, analysed their purchasing decisions and tried to predict their needs a year or two ahead.

    This approach worked well for a long time. However, today I increasingly get the impression that the biggest mistake an entrepreneur can make is to believe that the ‘average consumer’ still exists.

    The world is changing too fast to be able to describe people using just a few simple categories. Lifestyles, social relationships, ways of working and daily habits are changing – as are expectations of products and brands. More and more often, it is not age but lifestyle that determines our choices.

    I thought about this again while we were preparing the latest issue of the Coffee & Tea Marketing Journal, published by the Coffee and Tea Market Research Institute, of which I am the president. This issue features a study by Prof. Tomasz Zalega of the University of Warsaw, which focuses on the behaviour of young and older singles in the coffee market. While it is an interesting study, for me the most important aspect was not the coffee-related findings themselves. The reflections they provoked were far more intriguing.

    It is very easy to say ‘singles’. It is harder to realise just how diverse this group is. A young person starting their career, an active person in their forties who has consciously chosen to live alone and an older person running a single-person household are all lumped into one category by statistics. In reality, however, they live differently, have different needs, organise their days differently and make purchasing decisions for completely different reasons.

    This is a valuable lesson, not only for coffee producers.

    I am increasingly coming to the conclusion that entrepreneurs should approach simple definitions of their customers with greater caution. Today’s market is far more complex than it was just a dozen years ago. Two people of the same age may have completely different expectations of the same product. One seeks convenience, while the other seeks quality. One is guided by price, while the other is guided by the origin of the raw materials. One person prioritises the speed of the purchase, while the other prioritises the brand’s history and the values behind it.

    This is precisely why I have less and less faith in universal recipes for success. There is no such thing as one-size-fits-all product. There is no form of communication that will appeal to everyone in the same way. As consumers become more diverse, the ability to listen carefully and observe the market becomes increasingly important.

    Research is extremely helpful in this regard. Not because it provides ready-made answers. On the contrary, it often prompts us to ask new questions. A good entrepreneur should not use research to confirm their own beliefs. They should look for signs of change that are just beginning to affect the market.

    The inspiration for this column came from the article ‘Young and Silver Singles as Consumers in the Coffee Market in Poland – Selected Issues’ by Prof. Tomasz Zalega in the Coffee & Tea Marketing Journal, Vol. 3, No. 1 (2026), published by the Institute for Coffee and Tea Market Research.