Free Essay

Market Segmentation

In:

Submitted By vaithegiram
Words 2611
Pages 11
Measuring the stability of Retail Market based on its store images – a fuzzy clustering approach.

Abstract

Purpose segmentation is the point where marketing activity starts. A flawless segmentation results in comparable competitive advantage. The purpose of this study is to examine the stability of segmentation.

Design / methodology/ approach - this research examines the stability of the segments. Shoppers have been segmented based on the importance they’ve given to store image. Data collected through mall intercept interviews has been used for it. Segmentation has been done by K-means clustering and fuzzy clustering methods. Membership grades give the samples’ relative position in the cluster.

Findings – Various approaches to segment the market has been analysed and the advantages of fuzzy methods has been obtained. Finally the most stable segment, on the other hand the most volatile segment has been found out. Study reveals that fuzzy clustering is potentially useful to assess the stability of segments.

Research limitations / implications Research findings are constrained, as the study concentrates on the behaviour of shoppers based on the influence of store images but segmenting based on demographic or lifestyle variables are not considered. However the stability of segments has been analysed for this segments.

Practical implications membership grade gives a clear picture of the real market to the marketer. And it helps the marketer to visualize individual’s level of multiple preferences. Hence the marketer can develop new strategies to suit the real market.

Originality/ value this research contributes to the world of marketing by analysing the validity of segmentation of market. Comparison of hard segmentation and soft segmentation is a novel thought to the field of segmentation

Keywords Market segmentation, stability of segment, shoppers’ segmentation

Paper type Research paper

Measuring the stability of Retail Market based on its store images – a fuzzy clustering approach.

Introduction:

Market segmentation is one of the important concepts evolved in the contemporary marketing. Same product or service can not satisfy two different customers in a market. A marketer has to decide whom to satisfy and then how to satisfy the selected people or market, which is possible only by segmentation. Hence segmentation plays an important role in deciding the market as well as the offerings by then it’ll lead to the competitive advantage.

Market definition presupposes the homogeneity of substitutive relations for an aggregate of actual or potential customers. If substitutive relations are heterogeneous, the total demand should be divided into internally more homogeneous submarkets. Otherwise one runs of obtaining measurement artefacts of substitutive relations. The problem of dividing a total demand into submarkets may be subsumed under the concept of market segmentation (Frank et al 1972, Wind 1978 and Freter 1983).

Market segmentation solutions necessarily to be effective, promising to gain profit and it should pave a way for designing market strategy. To be useful, the resultant segment should be identifiable, sustainable, accessible, stable, and actionable further it also should have the unique kind of responsiveness towards the offerings. Among these entire criterions the stability plays an important role in defining the segments, since it gives the validity of the obtained segment. This paper is dedicated to analyse the stability of the segments.

Literature review:

Aim of this paper to address the measurement of segment stability. The literature enabled with many procedures to segment the market and to assess the stability also. Here the stability is assessed by means of fuzzy clustering. This method is simpler to evaluate and compatible with hard cluster solutions. . The petite scrutiny on the mentioned literature review of segmentation method substantiates that the fuzzy segmentation method has a good potential to assess the stability of different segments.

The methods used to identify the segments will be an important aspect in obtaining a successful segmentation. Michel Wedel and Kamakura (1998) describe four classes of segmentation methods:

1. A priori descriptive methods (e.g. thru cross-tabs. OLAP cubes). 2. A priori predictive methods (e.g. discriminant analysis). 3. Post hoc descriptive methods (e.g. clustering methods and mixture models). 4. Post hoc predictive methods (e.g. cluster wise regression, CHAID, CART, mixture regression modes).

Unlike the descriptive methods which treat the variables as a single set without any distinction, predictive methods treat one variable as dependent and others as independent.

The market literature recommends to defining market boundaries based on the view of actual or potential customers (Bourgeois et al. 1980, 1982, Brockhoff 1981) and the methods used for structuring markets may be made up by two stages (i) If heterogeneity of customers is relevant, customers are grouped into segments with high internal homogeneity. And (ii) an appropriate presentation of the relations between brands is determined for each customer segment.

Cluster analysis has been used as a tool for segmenting the market and most often researchers use their Hierarchical and Non- Hierarchical clustering procedures which typically results in crisp partitioning form. To explain more, the partition is characterized by the fact that pairs of clusters do not contain the same objects. Most clustering algorithms build up such partitioning methods where one sample or member cannot belong to two or more groups and another important aspect to ponder is that the diverse substitution indicators may also serve as segmentation criteria. The similarity of customers with regard to the substitution indicator forms the basics of the construction of homogeneous submarkets. These pair-wise similarities between customers can be transferred into simpler classification types (i) Hard or Crisp Partition, (ii) Overlapping classification, (iii) fuzzy partition.

As mentioned earlier, the crisp partitioning is one which the one sample or member cannot belong to two or more groups where as the overlap clustering solutions will produce the similar kind of results as of fuzzy clustering solutions but it has different from the hierarchical clustering algorithm. Hierarchical clustering algorithms are among the most commonly used clustering analysis in market segmentation researches. These approaches will discard much of details related to the levels of nesting that happens for specific clusters. The overlap clustering will obtain a partition of the set of entities being clustered. That is to say, the objects are segregated into mutually exclusive (and exhaustive) subsets. For a single partition, there is no nesting of subsets or clusters, so that the representation of structure through a partition is necessarily non-hierarchical. The methods of overlap clustering can be allude to following ways like BK method of Jardine and Sibson (1968),as well that of Peay (1974) and ADCLUS (ADditive CLUStering) method (1981). About fuzzy partitioning, according to Zadeh (1965) the set theory concept of a partition may be generalized to a fuzzy partition. Fuzzy set theory replaces the hard membership or non-membership of an object to a subset by gradual membership indicating the nearness of an object to the class. Contrary to classical crisp partitions, the membership values may not only take the two values 0 or 1, but all values in the interval between 0 and 1. To substantiate the mentioned conceptual issue Cattell (1978) proves the boundary between groups is fuzzy in the real market, and so is the boundary between customers and competitors. Same like overlap clustering, the fuzzy clustering method can also be divided into two types (Yang 1993). One uses a fuzzy relation to perform fuzzy clustering and the other uses objective function to determine fuzzy clustering. The objective function of fuzzy clustering holds good potential for soft segmentation. The fuzzy clustering methods can convey more information than hard clustering (Zimmermann 1991, Wedel and Steen kamp, 1991), in fuzzy clustering theory, the sample is no longer said to ‘belong to’ or ‘not belong to’ a certain market segment. Instead a sample can belong to more than one segment, and has a tendency to be identified with a single stronger segment and also possible to measure the membership grade to analyze the characteristics of market segments.

The advantage of fuzzy partitioning over the crisp partitioning is that the fuzzy partitioning have fewer values of membership which allows to identify the ‘bridges’ i.e., objects between the classes. Moreover, the fuzzy membership values may be interpreted to measure the extent of correspondence to typical objects of a class (Kandel 1982).

About Store Image
Store image is the overall perception the consumer has of the store’s environment (M.Dunne, 2005). Image considerations are important aspects in the development of an integrated marketing strategy for individual stores, store chains and shopping centres. Store image has been found to be related to such key concepts of retail success as store patronage and profits (Korgaonkar et. al. 1985). A unique store image is one of the retailer’s most valuable marketing assets and creates a competitive advantage which is not easily duplicated by other retailers (Rosenbloom, 1983). Store Image and Segmentation
No store can serve all customers in the same manner. Different customer emphasizes on different things and has different opinion about the store. Store can give importance to particular attributes to develop a unique image to the targeted customer group. Store segmentation image provides guidelines for a retail firm’s marketing strategy and can increase profitability (Frank et.al. 1972; Wind et. al. 1978; Samli 1989).
The novel thought here is that to compare Hard and Soft segmentation for measuring and there upon to prove the differences in the size of the clusters. The important issue and the point to ponder here is that, the market size obtained from hard segmentations will be different from the soft segmentations. The basic market size differences will help us to evaluate the stability of the different market segments. The smaller differences of market size obtained from the FCM algorithm will indicate that the segmented market will be more stable.

The Empirical study

Purpose and Research methods

To investigate the stability of market segmentation, a study to segment the shoppers based on the influences of store images, has been carried out. The questionnaire has been developed with 25 questions to measure the following attributes: ambience, prior information, availability and depth of merchandise, specific product, variety, roll of sales personnel, influence of price- price discounts, brand discounts, display of products and promotions, money value, priority, product information, brand conscious and recommendation to others.

All items are measured on 7- point likert type scale. The questionnaire has been validated by a pilot study with a sample of 25 items which include shoppers, management students, retailers, wholesalers. The questionnaire has been improved to suit the respondents’ knowledge based on the suggestions from feed backs. Further the merchandise managers of stores have been asked to examine, whether the questionnaire is exhaustive in nature in considering the entire domain of store images.

Data was collected from 6 different retail stores in Trichy, Tamilnadu by means of mall-intercept interviews. The usable questionnaire were received from the respondents with an average response rate of 67.57%

Discussions of the results

The results of the final clusters of both K-means and Fuzzy C means clusters are displayed in the following table.

Cluster centroid value for both Hard and Soft Segments

| |K Means Cluster centroid value |Fuzzy C means Cluster centroid value |
|Segmentation descriptors |Cluster No 1 |Cluster No 2 |
|Segmentation Label |Cluster Numbers |Cluster No 1 |Cluster No 2 |Cluster No 3 |Cluster No 4 |
| | |Pre determined |Economy |familiar |Variety seeking |
|Case/ sample Number | | | | | |
|1 |4* |0.002867 |0.000708 |0.00135 |0.995075 |
|2 | 1*** |0.998472 |0.000475 |0.000572 |0.000481 |
|3 | 3**** |0.001415 |0.00866 |0.985318 |0.004606 |
|4 |4 |0.007486 |0.022532 |0.010134 |0.959848 |
|5 | 2** |0.001123 |0.98276 |0.012386 |0.003731 |
|. |. |. |. |. |. |
|. |. |. |. |. |. |
|. |. |. |. |. |. |
|20 |1 |0.991326 |0.002021 |0.004317 |0.002336 |
|21 |4 |0.027149 |0.001396 |0.002849 |0.968607 |
|22 |3 |0.00724 |0.017497 |0.945668 |0.029595 |
|. |. |. |. |. |. |
|. |. |. |. |. |. |
|50 |4 |0.007162 |0.007189 |0.010574 |0.975075 |
|51 |2 |0.001506 |0.992084 |0.003734 |0.002676 |
|52 |3 |0.001959 |0.002232 |0.988498 |0.007311 |
|. |. |. |. |. |. |
|. |. |. |. |. |. |
|. |. |. |. |. |. |
|100 |2 |0.006242 |0.985656 |0.003178 |0.004925 |
|101 |4 |0.005877 |0.009274 |0.009316 |0.975532 |
|102 |3 |0.001949 |0.002615 |0.992815 |0.002622 |
|. |. |. |. |. |. |
|. |. |. |. |. |. |
|125 |2 |0.00075 |0.993468 |0.005087 |0.000695 |
|126 |4 |0.000495 |0.001894 |0.003002 |0.99461 |
|. |. |. |. |. |. |
|. |. |. |. |. |. |
|150 |3 |0.000279 |0.000679 |0.99885 |0.000193 |
|152 |2 |0.0014 |0.987909 |0.008223 |0.002468 |
|153 |4 |0.005131 |0.002078 |0.023609 |0.969181 |
|. |. |. |. |. |. |
|. |. |. |. |. |. |
|175 |2 |0.004295 |0.990234 |0.00443 |0.001041 |
|176 |4 |0.002353 |0.003851 |0.002974 |0.990822 |
|177 |2 |0.000247 |0.998668 |0.000353 |0.000732 |
|. |. |. |. |. |. |
|. |. |. |. |. |. |
|. |. |. |. |. |. |
|200 |2 |0.004655 |0.990464 |0.002111 |0.00277 |
|. |. |. |. |. |. |
|210 |3 |0.013421 |0.008215 |0.969211 |0.009153 |
|211 |2 |0.00316 |0.991874 |0.002982 |0.001985 |
|212 |4 |0.000396 |0.000665 |0.001516 |0.997423 |
|. |. |. |. |. |. |
|. |. |. |. |. |. |
|250 |4 |0.045273 |0.017967 |0.014595 |0.922166 |
|251 |3 |0.00724 |0.017497 |0.945668 |0.029595 |
|. |. |. |. |. |. |
|. |. |. |. |. |. |
|278 |4 |0.003485 |0.014314 |0.019871 |0.96233 |
|280 |4 |0.001416 |0.000596 |0.0015 |0.996487 |
|281 |3 |0.0395 |0.071962 |0.864136 |0.024402 |
|. |. |. |. |. |. |
|. |. |. |. |. |. |
|300 |4 |0.002402 |0.000515 |0.004598 |0.992485 |
|301 |3 |0.008844 |0.007586 |0.975212 |0.008358 |
|302 |2 |0.000589 |0.99781 |0.000888 |0.000713 |
|. |. |. |. |. |. |
|. |. |. |. |. |. |
|330 |1 |0.987351 |0.00792 |0.002233 |0.002497 |
|331 |3 |0.005759 |0.005285 |0.983846 |0.00511 |
|332 |4 |0.005697 |0.001623 |0.015023 |0.977657 |
|. |. |. |. |. |. |
|. |. |. |. |. |. |
|356 |4 |0.026548 |0.015788 |0.006092 |0.951572 |
|357 |3 |0.009709 |0.013585 |0.951385 |0.025321 |
|358 |2 |0.001506 |0.992084 |0.003734 |0.002676 |
|Market Size (Soft Segment) of | |68.84175 |62.10496 |79.10573 |147.9476 |
|358 samples | | | | | |
|Market Size (Hard Segment) of | |68 |61 |79 |150 |
|358 samples | | | | | |
|Differences | |0.84175 |1.10496 |.10573 |2.0524 |
|Compared to Hard Segments | |1.24% |1.81% |0.14% |1.37% |

*(variety seeking) ** (Economy) *** (Predetermined) **** (Familiar)

Based on the percentage of fuzziness, the familiar segment is considered to be the stable segment, which is followed by pre determined and variety seeking respectively. Among the four segments economy is the more volatile segment.

Conclusions and managerial implications:

This paper appraises various approaches to market segmentation. It is argued that fuzzy segmentation method is potentially useful to assess the stability of different segments. To substantiate the argument it is proved that the fuzzy clustering analytical method has the following advantages: i) FCM uses membership grade to do cluster numbering which help the marketer to understand the real market situation. ii) The FCM sketches membership value of every sample, which supports marketers to visualize individual’s level of multiple preferences. The concern to remind here is that the extent to which market segment is reached depends on the extent to which they can be profiled with consumer descriptors.

The grade value of each member will facilitate marketers to profile individuals who lie in different segments. This enables the marketer to establish new strategies to the development process. (iii) The results of soft segmentation solutions are adjusted for comparing with hard cluster solutions. So the manager will find it easy to assess the stability of segments.

However this research is not without its limitations, which may be addressed in future research. (i) The FCM involves computation in the choices of fuzziness weight exponent and the maximum termination tolerance. Further research might investigate on developing valid thumb rule value for fuzziness weight exponent as well for the maximum termination tolerance. (ii) This study concentrates on the behaviour of shoppers based on the influence of store images but, it has not considered the other usual segmentation variables like demographics, lifestyle etc.

References

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Market Segmentation

...Introduction: There are many ways for developing and adopting m market segments. Once the company identified its market segments opportunities, it must decide how many and which ones to target. To be effective in the market segmentations, market segments must be: • Measurable • Substantial • accessible The important component of Market segmentation is a market-based plans and strategy. Market segmentation allows businesses to concentrate on different needs of the costumers and different interest of certain goods and services in a different way from one another. “Market segmentation is the process of splitting customers, or potential customers, in a market into different groups, or segments, within which customers share a similar level of interest in the same, or comparable, set of needs satisfied by a distinct marketing proposition” (McDonald & Dunbar, 2004). The basic and main reason for dividing the market into small segments is make more profit and to make it easier to address the requirements of smaller groups of customers and try to create different and other related products according to their intense lifestyles. Some of the basis of Market Segmentation depends on and affected by the following factors: • Gender: Men and women are different in their consuming habits and likings. Marketing strategy is required to address each market and each costumers. Producing bikes for females will be different that for males. Making bike helmets with pink colors and making helmets...

Words: 1201 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Market Segmentation

...successful business plan. Without it, the organizations are challenged to achieve market penetration, high growth rate or brand recognition. What we find however, is that in times of economic downturn or slowdown, organizations commonly will sacrifice this line item first with trimming or cut-backs. Many professionals have historically had a hard time seeing the alignment between marketing and continued profitability- viewing this discipline and its related practices as ‘discretionary’. The article ‘rediscovering market segmentation’ focuses on understanding and assessing various aspects of consumer behavior as one of the key factors to effective marketing, sales and customer satisfaction. Once you know your customer segmentation by personality type, you can create personality type. This knowledge of individual preferences related to a respondent’s personality can be leveraged to create more effective marketing campaigns and increase sales. Market segmentation is a marketing strategy that involves dividing a broad target market into subsets of consumers, who have common needs, and then designing and implementing strategies to target their needs and desires using media channels and other touch-points that best allow to reach them. Market segmentation involves dividing up the potential market for a product into groups of people who have similar needs, and then addressing these needs in a focused way. Market segments allow companies to create product differentiation strategies to target...

Words: 1687 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

The Concept of Market Segmentation

...The concept of market segmentation. The conception of market segmentation is a marketing approach that consists of dividing a wide target market into subcategories of consumers, who share common needs, by planning and applying strategies to target their needs and wants to utilize media channels and other promotional elements that facilitate reaching the focused customers. Additionally, market segments allow businesses to design different marketing approaches to target them. However, reaching a market by recommending different, desirable, and competing products, that is in the outlooks of the target consumers. In which, buyers behaviors in numerous markets diverge in their wants or needs, incomes, localities, purchasing attitude, and buying habits. Within market segmentation, corporations break up large, diverse markets into smaller sectors that can be influenced more effectively with products and services that are compatible their individual needs. Furthermore, a marketer has to point various segmentation variables, to obtain the safest technique to analyze the targeted market structure; where, these market segmentations are classified in four different variables that are geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral (Kotler & Armstrong, 2010, p 191). An example is the Coca Cola Company; this company had expanded its business worldwide servicing over 200 countries and with a total of $35 billion in revenues annually (10-k: The Coca Cola Company). In fact...

Words: 504 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Market Segmentation of Faber Castell

...1. How would you define market segmentation? ( 5 marks) A marketing term referring to the aggregating of prospective buyers into groups (segments) that have common needs and will respond similarly to a marketing action. Market segmentation enables companies to target different categories of consumers who perceive the full value of certain products and services differently from one another. Generally three criteria can be used to identify different market segment. Homogeneity 同质化, common needs within segment. Distinction区别, unique from other groups.Reaction活跃, similar response to market.For example, an athletic footwear company might have market segments for basketball players and long-distance runners. As distinct groups, basketball players and long-distance runners will respond to very different advertisements. 2. How do geographic segmentation and demographic segmentation differ? (10 marks) Geographic segmentation is based on climate, density, market size, world or states. Many companies use climate if their products or services rely on the weather, such as snow shovels, melting pavement salt, wave runners and boats. For example, USA is more interested in targeting geographic locations that are located near the park in a 100-mile radius. They believe some customers will fly in from out of state, so in addition, they will target large-density areas nearby. However, demographic segmentation is extremely important to all marketing departments since the data is easily available...

Words: 644 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Market Segmentation of Kwality Walls Cornetto

...Market Segmentation of Kwality Walls Cornetto HUL had entered the ice-cream market through acquisitions of approximately 150 crores. It acquired Dollops from Cadbury’s in 1993 while it bought Kwality and Milkfood in 1995. Since Amul has entered into the ice-cream market, Walls has lost a huge market share to Amul. To again gain the lost market share, HUL has modified their market segmentation. On the basis of Density, it has segmented Indian market into Urban and rural area. It has decided to focus only on the urban segment specifically the top 6 metros of India. Over the years, it has expanded to the top 30 cities. The philosophy behind this decision is that the top 30 cities has 70% of total ice-cream consumers in India, i.e. the 30:70 principle. Kwality walls just want to increase the consumption of ice-creams in the markets in which they are present rather than entering into new market. HUL has also segmented the market based on demographics into three categories: Kids, Teenagers and Families. Cornetto as a brand Is targeted at teenagers while Paddle pop is for kids while red tub is for families. This kind of segmentation has allowed to create more consumption opportunity for different segments. For e.g. teenage hangouts for promotion of Cornetto. This segmentation also allows pricing based differentiation for the three segments. Paddle pop is sold at Rs.5 to Rs. 10, Cornetto for youth is priced between Rs. 20 and Rs. 30 while the family pack ice-creams are priced between...

Words: 690 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Market Segmentation

...Market Segmentation To reach different markets or to promote your products to different locations or people one has to use a method called market segmentation. "Market segmentation describes the division of a market into homogenous groups which will respond differently to promotions, communications, advertising and other marketing mix variable" (Cumming). Market segmentation is extremely important for companies around the world. If a company doesn't research the area in which they are going to market or they put a product that is either to expensive or to elaborate in an area that can't afford that then they will fail as a company. In my paper I will discussion why market segmentation is used in around the world, the types of segmentation, some techniques used to make segmentation work the best. Market segmentation is to divide the market into smaller segments. The reason for dividing the market is to make it easier to address the needs of smaller groups of customers, particularly if they have many characteristicsin common (Breen). It is easier if you find things in common that are the same such age, gender, benefits, lifestyles, etc. We also use market segmentation to find niches or to identify under-served or un-served markets. "Using niche marketing, segmentation can allow a new company or new product to target less contested buyers and help a mature product seek new buyers" (Cumming). Niche marketing can also take a normally large, identifiable group...

Words: 321 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Market Segmentation

...Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning (One-two pages. Use 1” margins, single spacing, and font size 12) A) Identify two potential and viable target markets for your product/service. (Make sure that at least three different segmentation variables (see Table 8.1 on page 246 of the text) are represented in your profiles (=descriptions) of each segment. Guidance: Remember that a target market profile is a statement of the description of the group of consumers that you will be targeting. This should be expressed in one or two sentences, and should include an array of descriptive representing at least three of the four categories of segmentation variables we learn in the course. After the complete profile is presented (i.e. in one or two sentences), the treatment here should direct itself to explicitly showing how each category is represented. Make sure that the profiles presented are quite distinct from one another. (N.B. Should the team choose a business-to-business good/service for the project, they will have to familiarize themselves with the array of segmentation variable categories for business-to-business products) The first potential target market would be Canadian males and females aged between the ages of 20 to 34. Those persons are either single or in a relationship, not married, with each an average of 20 000$ to 29 999$ a year, and are outgoing in their daily lives. The reason we’ve decided to target this market is because nowadays, many young adults feel that...

Words: 895 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Segmentation and Target Market

...Segmentation and Target Market Bradley A. Parks MKT/571 April 19, 2014 Tara Hall Segmentation and Target Market The author will show how Cedar Fair Entertainment Company can use market segmentation within the industry to sell their product. Using market segmentation can help identify a target market for the company and show the selection process the company can use to identify their market. Market segmentation accomplishes this by splitting the market up by these key components: demographic, psychographic, and geographic. The author will also prepare a position statement for the company using careful consideration of their brand and strategy. Demographic segmentation is one of the most important areas to the marketing department because the information is readily accessible and can drastically dictate the spending patterns of the consumer. Some of the key components of demographic segmentation are age, gender, ethnic background, and the life cycle of a family. Cedar Fair Entertainment Company runs eleven theme parks throughout the United States and targets the age range of 2-60 years. The company can target this vast age group because they provide a safe and fun environment for families and people of all ages to enjoy due to the array of rides and games. The target income level for this company would be middle to upper class with a house hold income of approximately $50,000 or more as their ticket prices are $50.00. The theme park appeals to all genders and ethnicities...

Words: 697 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Market Segmentation Strategies

...and lifestyle. The undifferentiated targeting strategy ignores the undeniable differences between the distinctive market segments, and as a result, the product or service being marketed comes off generic and fails to resonate with the customers. The customers have a hard time identifying any clear advantages over competitor offerings. In addition, a lot of marketing funds and efforts can be wasted if the marketing message is not reaching the specific customers who would be interested in the product or service, or if the message is only reaching an audience that has little or no interest in the offering. These days, customers seem to be more particular about their preferences, so it is virtually impossible to cater to every customer’s individual conditions; therefore, undifferentiated targeting is not a good idea in most cases. A differentiated segmentation strategy is a strategy in which a firm targets several market segments, employing a separate and distinct offering for each segment. In contrast, a concentrated segmentation strategy involves selecting a single, primary target market segment and therefore means that the firm will focus all of its efforts and resources on creating and providing a product or service that satisfies the needs and wants of that particular target market. In even more contrast, micromarketing is the most extreme approach to segmentation. With this strategy, products and services are specifically tailored to suit the needs and preferences of individual...

Words: 896 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Skincare Market Segmentation

...Skin Care Market segmentation of Great Britain The beauty cosmetic industry is one of the largest contributor to the Great Britain economy by spending on cosmetic and skin care products. The Bionsen surveyed that the average woman in the UK will be spent £100 thousand on cosmetics during her lifetime According to the market research company called Mintel, the Great Britain’s beauty and cosmetic market enhanced a size of £16.6Bn in 2014, up from £13.8Bn by 2009 since the Global Crisis in 2008 due to the growth of wages. Furthermore, the customers have become adept at seeking out a bargain. The sizable growing UK population, consistent economic growth and higher disposable income have driven the growth of demand for various beauty product sectors. In the Great Britain, the sale of premium beauty market in spending on skincare products has been robust during 2012 to 2014 with a growth of the economy, disposable income and consciousness about beauty and health of skin, followed by hair care and cosmetic segments in the UK. The market increased on average between 5-6 percent in the last couple of years and an immense opportunity to rise to new highs in the coming years. The sale of skin care products has grown consistently from £454 million in 2012 to £501 million in 2014. We can see on the Exhibit 1, skin care sector sales have continued to support the UK economy totally £1.44Bn during the over past 3 years. Exhibit 1 Within that, sales of facial skin care for women reached...

Words: 845 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Segmentation and Target Market

...Segmentation and Target Market MKT/571 January 26, 2015 Dawn Obermoeller Segmentation and Target Market Understanding the current demands of consumers is key to determining new ideas, knowing how to present those ideas to the public, and ensuring a better chance at success. When first putting together the business plan for a new product, product suppliers need to evaluate and monitor their target market; after of course determining what the target market may be. Airguard has been in business since 1964 and has continuously tackled the competitive industry of air, oil, and water filtration. With their success since the beginning, they have successfully shown their understanding of how to target consumers and maintain them. Positioning Statement For residential and commercial filter users, Airguard’s DP40 brand pleated filters rank amongst the highest in quality and durability for any user, as the newest technology in filter manufacturing is used to construct the most efficient filters. Airguard’s patented technology allows the product to be just as effective as their biggest competitors but at a lower price bracket. As these products are usable by both residential and business consumers, the DP40 filter can last up to three months which in turn saves the end user even more money. Market Segmentation With Airguard being a major manufacturer in the filter industry, it is impossible for them to target all potential consumers. In order for Airguard to be...

Words: 1143 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Market Segmentation and Market Positioning

...telecommunication or VOIP phone distributor that provides friends and families in the US with an affordable call rate service that allows subscribers to choose from a wide range of service offerings. Additional product features are added for free to ensure customers high service satisfaction. Membership subscription is offered to customers in order to take advantage of the low rates. NetSpeak provides the lowest phone call rate for friends and families to stay in touch. Marketing Objectives * Launch new product on January 1, 2012 to target market, achieving sales target of $250,000 by December 31, 2012. * Increase product awareness among the target audience by 35 percent in one year. * Inform target audience about features and benefits of our product and its competitive advantage, leading to a 15 percent increase in sales in one year. 1. Identify the marketing segment for the product and explain why this segment was selected;  The market segment selected for this product was young adults between the ages of 18 to 28. According to Zdnet Research in January 2006, the highest online activity by age group for instant messaging and text messaging were young adults between the ages of 18 to 28. It is believed that this age group spends the most amount of time communicating with each...

Words: 981 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Market Segmentation for Wine in Singapore

...MARKET SEGMENTATION Segmentation factors The significant rise in Singapore’s wine consumption, in recent years, has lead to the rapid increase in the number of brands looking to enter this seemingly attractive market. In order for Seabrook to gain a competitive advantage and market their Pinot Noir and Shiraz successfully, they need to ensure that they effectively segment their potential customers in order to maintain focus, save resources and provide measurability. Market segmentation is a useful tool used to identify categories of consumers or groups of firms that are likely to use or buy a product or service (Hall & Winchester, 2001). It is the process of defining and subdividing a large, homogenous market into clearly identifiable segments of consumer, who have similar needs, wants and demand characteristics. Market segments ideally should aim to be measurable, sizeable, accessible and actionable. Once segments are established an organisation should then chose to target the segment they believe they can serve most effectively. Therefore, Seabrook should aim to segment consumers in the market by a combination of the following bases: • Demographics – Age, Gender, Income • Psychographics – Life style, Social Class • Behavioural – Benefits sought, Brand loyalty, Type of users. Through the use of all three bases, four wine consumer segments based on Spawton’s (1991) wine consumer model, can be derived. These four segments consist of the ‘Connoisseur’, the ‘Aspirational...

Words: 928 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Osim Market Segmentation Analysis

...2.2 Osim Market Segmentation Market segmentation is the process of dividing a broad target market into subsets of consumers who have common needs so as to design and implement strategies to target their needs. The general target group for Osim is mid to high-end customers. This is so as they are less vulnerable to recessions and demands will become more resilient to cyclic demand patterns exhibited in typical consumer companies. This also allows them to actually charge a premium to consumers over their competitors’ products. However each of Osim products is actually created for a specific target market group in mind as they try and gradually increase their market share. These target markets are mainly sorted out through the use of age group, gender and income levels. Below shows an example of a product’s target market. Osim uPaPa Hug Age Group 25-35 & 50 years old onwards It focuses on providing a relaxing experience as well as a stress remover which young working adults are facing in the fast paced lifestyle. As the society advances, young adults are often suffering from muscle discomfort due to their work nature. In addition, OSIM UPAPA Hug was also advertised as a perfect present for the elders. Gender Male and Female As seen on their advertisements, a young lady with toned figure was portrayed. It displayed the ‘gentle’ side of the product, symbolising that it is suitable even for female usage. The male models playing the drums symbolised that the product has...

Words: 1975 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Market Segmentation and Product Positioning

...Assignment #1 Market Segmentation and Product Positioning Firstcup ^ Coffee Shop (Toronto, Canada) Marketing Management Abstract This paper will provide the market research plan for Firstcup Coffee Shop. The store will be located in Toronto, Canada. The objective for the first year of operations is to be selected as the “Best New Coffee Shop” by the local restaurant authorities of the city. Firstcup coffee shop is expected to become a constant necessity for local coffee lovers and active people. It is a place to enjoy while you try to escape from the daily stresses and just a comfortable place to meet your friends, have a conversation, surf the web, or read books and magazines, all in one. Taking into account the growing demand for high quality gourmet coffee and great service in this city, Firstcup will take advantage of a strategic localization in Down Town to build a core group of repeat customers. The following plan will include a report of Firstcup Coffee Shop’s data source implemented, the research approaches used, the research instruments that will be apply to interpret the data, the sampling plan and the contact methods. Furthermore, potential market opportunities and threats have been identified by a SWOT Analysis. All of this information will be absolutely important to continue building an accurate marketing plan for the coffee shop. The results of the plan will be definitely very important...

Words: 1075 - Pages: 5