An Exploration on the Lifestyles and Kansei Needs of Shower Bar Users

The shower bars are still in an introductory stage of a product cycle in the current Taiwan market. It is still far behind the shower head in terms of the household penetration. For the increase of the local acceptance of the shower bars and development of the market, the key lies in the developers´ understanding of the users´ feelings about, needs for and expectations of the shower bars and the launch of the products meeting their requirements. This study explores the shower bar user groups through survey of lifestyles and analyzes the kansei values and preferences of each group based on the survey results. An open-ended questionnaire was provided to understand the inconveniences and problems the consumers experience when using the shower bar while the kansei descriptive terms for the shower bars are were collected. According to the analysis results, the lifestyles of the shower bar users include the following ten aspects: trendy fashion, kansei living, recreation-minded, challenge trying, routine following, care for society, active, busy, celibatarian and resolute. Through cluster analysis, the users were divided into the four major clusters: relaxed and self-centered, ordinary and stable, fashion pursuing and busy living. The kansei value needs and expectations of each group was discussed and analyzed based on their characteristics and the returned questionnaire was reviewed to come up with 46 kansei descriptive words and 4 major issues for improvement were summarized for reference in designing the shower bars.