How to implement market segmentation?
To get a bigger slice from the market pie
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Before we jump into the concepts let’s look into the following tables for a better understanding of the forthcoming example. We have implemented market segmentation for our example by selecting the appropriate ones from each of these tables.
Level of Market Segmentation |
Segment Marketing |
Local Marketing |
Niche Marketing |
Individual Marketing |
Bases for Segmenting Consumers Markets |
Geographic Segmentation |
Demographic Segmentation |
Psychographic Segmentation |
Behavioral Segmentation |
Patterns of Marketing Segmentation |
Homogeneous preference |
Diffused preference |
Clustered preference |
Selecting and Entering Market Segments |
Single segment concentration |
Product specialization |
Selective specialization |
Market specialization |
Full market coverage |
Levels of Market Segmentation
For instance, we want to open a bakery shop “Jolly Bakes” in a town called “Southern” where there are only few shops that exist to cater the needs of the town.
So, the first thing we have to do is to choose the level of market segmentation. From the above given scenario, it would be feasible for us to choose ‘Local marketing’ rather than ‘Niche or Individual marketing’.
If we are planning to open a bakery shop with only products that are made from ‘Plant-based’ and ‘non-diary’ materials then choosing Niche marketing would be a wise option and also, we should have enough consumers for those vegan products for the business to sustain.
Choosing Individual marketing would also not be a wise option because we could customize designs (E.g., mickey mouse birthday cake) but not products (E.g., Customer wanting an ice cream cake) for the small town.
And also, segment marketing suits well with services rather than tangible products (E.g., Disney hotstar categories – Free, VIP, Premium)
So, in our situation, it would be appropriate to choose local marketing.
Patterns of Market Segmentation
For the patterns of market segmentation, first step is to identify the preference of the market. Here in this case the market is a town called “Southern”. We need to find whether people of Southern like bakery products, if yes then which items they prefer and so. For this purpose, market segmentation research procedure must be carried out in 3 stages.
- Survey stage: Interview the sample population of the town
- Analysis stage: Apply factor analysis to remove highly correlated variables and cluster analysis to group the clusters
- Profiling stage: Each cluster must be profiled in terms of its distinguishing attributes (demographics, psychographics, attitudes, behavior, media patterns)
Let’s say from the research it was found that the town has a clustered preference. Some people like cookies, some like cupcakes, some like pastries but many like cakes. Each of these clusters could be a potential product segment.
So, a bakery shop predominantly concentrating on making cakes followed by cookies and cupcakes would be suitable one to carter the town’s clustered preference.
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Segmenting Consumer Markets
Next step is to segment this consumer market to target our right audience in a better way. For which we will be choosing Demographic and Behavioral segmentation to know their age groups and buying patterns of the town. Since we are using more than one attributes, it can also be called as multi-attribute segmentation.
We will not be choosing Geographic segmentation because our bakery shop is currently going to be opened in one location only and also Psychographic segmentation because it has a very little role to play in bakery business.
To check whether the market segmentation is effective, following steps has to be taken care,
- Measurable: Size and purchasing power of the town must be quantifiable
- Substantial: The town must be large and profitable enough to serve
- Accessible: Jolly Bakes must be in a location where people of the town could reach
- Differentiable: Each segment must respond differently to different marketing mixes if not then there is no segments
- Actionable: Effective program must be formulated to attract the segments
Selecting and Entering Market Segments
For entering market segments, we should choose selective specialization because we are going to serve cakes followed by cookies and cupcakes. Since it is a confectionary business, we can observe some synergy among the product segments based on the materials used (flour, sugar, eggs). Other businesses may or may not have synergy among their segments. (E.g., Procter and Gamble: Oral care products and Hair care products)
Back to our entry strategy, we also can’t choose any other strategies because we are not going to specialize in a single product say cakes alone (product specialization) or serve the market with all bakery items (market specialization).
We hope you guys have understood the market segmentation concepts with this example. Try thinking of an example and analyze them as above. There is no hard and fast rule. Different industries segment their market differently based on their size, demographics, psychographics, behavior and so.
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