Segment criteria for a global market
There are four generic situations for segmenting a global market: “similar segments and similar positioning; similar segments but different positioning; different segments but similar positioning; and different segments and different positioning” (Johansson, 2009). In a micro-segmentation analysis, global marketers can compare similarities of consumer preferences in various countries by forming clusters. This process is critical to globalization of one product in its original form. For a known brand of bathroom tissue that is entering a market where consumers do not have a quality product that represents equal competition, the key element to penetration is changing consumer perception.
Knowing that there “are no best products, all that exists in the world of marketing are perceptions in the minds of the customer where the perception is reality and the rest is an illusion” (Ries, 1994), a marketer must understand how the customer thinks. Changing consumer perception requires a cluster analysis that groups consumers with similar economic and social indicators in order to design the appropriate message to target that group of people.
Market reaction to new global brands
Market reaction to global brands is often positive, especially if the brand has global recognition but has not entered the market yet. A good way to gauge in on how consumers will react to a new product hitting the market is through focus groups, sampling, and surveys. Consumers are always open to trying new product that make their lives easier, save money, or creates some form of emotional reaction.
In a country such as the United States where there is a large scale of diversity, marketer must have a full understanding of how the new product will affect the consumer the first time he or she tries it. For a product such as bathroom tissue that has