Introduction and Definition
When it comes to marketing strategies, most people spontaneously think about the 4P (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) – maybe extended by three more Ps for marketing services (People, Processes, Physical Evidence). Market segmentation and the identification of target markets, however, are an important element of each marketing strategy. They are the basis for determining any particular marketing mix. Literature suggests the following steps:
Adapted from Kotler and Doyle
The importance of market segmentation results from the fact that the buyers of a product or a service are no homogenous group. Actually, every buyer has individual needs, preferences, resources and behaviors. Since it is virtually impossible to cater for every customer’s individual characteristics, marketers group customers to market segments by variables they have in common. These common characteristics allow developing a standardized marketing mix for all customers in this segment. |Definition: | |Market segmentation is the segmentation of markets into homogenous groups of customers, each of them reacting differently to promotion, | |communication, pricing and other variables of the marketing mix. Market segments should be formed in that way that differences between | |buyers within each segment are as small as possible. Thus, every segment can be addressed with an individually targeted marketing mix. |
Criteria for Market Segmentation
There are a huge number of variables that could be used for market segmentation in theory. They comprise easy to determine demographic factors as well as variables on user behavior or customer preferences. In addition, there are differences between private customers and businesses. The following table shows the most important traditional variables for segmentation. |Consumer Markets |Industrial Markets / Business Markets | |Geographic: |• Industry | |• Land or region |• Intermediary or final consumer | |• Rural or metropolitan area |• Type of corporation (public or private sector) | |Demographic: |• Size of corporation | |• Age, sex, marital status |• Geographical location | |• Income, occupation, education |• Intensity of product use | |• Religion, nationality, ethnical group |• Organization of purchasing function | |Psychographic: |• Centralized or decentralized | |• Social status |• Purchasing policies, rules and criteria | |• Lifestyle-type | | |• Personal type | | |Behavioral: | | |• Intensity of product use | | |• Brand loyalty...