Marketing-Segmentation analysis of Shell
Shell Oil Products Company succeeded in building its new brand image to increase retail marketing revenues.In this case analysis, we will use STP to analyze Shell’s sucessful marketing strategy.
1. Segmentation
Oil station market consists of buyers who differ in one or more ways, so Shell need first segment its potential consumer market.
There are several major variables that can be used in segmenting consumer markets, including geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral variables. In this case, SOPC used the latter two variables to segment its market. It chose “personality” and “benefit” as its segmentation criteria, of which the former belongs to psychographic segmentation and the latter belongs to behavioral segmentation. * Why to choose these two criteria?
According to the requirements for effective segmentation, SOPC has to make sure that its market segments are measurable, accessible, substantial, differentiable, and actionable. The requirement of differentiable market segments means that the segments are conceptually distinguishable and respond differently to different marketing mix elements and programs. Neither geographic segmentation nor demographic segmentation can be effective, because those criteria do not affect Shell’s customers’ attitude of stopping their automobiles at gasoline stations. That’s why SOPC aimed at customer needs and chose personality and benefit as segmentation criteria.
We can find that Figure1.1 gives a very clear market segmentation: 10 market segments are determined according to two criteria – personality and benefits.
