Chapter III SUBICULAR CURRENTS
3.18 Mixed cation anomalous rectifier, I H
There is no single way to segment a market. A marketer has to try different
segmentation variables, singly and in combination, hoping to find an insightful way to view the market structure. In this section, we shal examine the major geographic, demographic, psychographics and behavouristic variables used in segmenting consumer markets. In using these characteristics as bases for segmenting consumer markets, you should bear several points in mind:
(i)Buying behaviour is hardly traceable to only one characteristic. Hence, useful segmentation is developed by including several characteristics. At the same time, you should be careful in adding too many variables, since this may result in the
identified segments being smaller than necessary. The first characteristic to choose should be the one that provides the clearest and most distinctive division of the market.
Others should then fol ow in the order of how wel they discriminate among the
segments.
(ii)You need to be aware of the interrelationships among these
characteristics, especial y among the demographic variables. For instance, age and
income are often related. Income in turn, depends on the level of education and
occupation. Hence, for a particular product or service, the segments resulting from divisions according to income, education, and occupation may be very similar. Whenever this occurs, it is better to use only that at ribute for which the data are easiest to obtain.(iii)There are no rules for the number and range of categories used for most characteristics. For example, in Table 1, the first age category spans 6 years, the second category includes 7 years, the fourth cover 15 years while the last category is open-ended. Depending on the situation, it might be appropriate to use fewer or more categories or to have each category the same size. Considerable trial and error
experimentation may be needed for determining the category structure that provides the best segment descriptions.
Table 1 Segmentation bases for consumer markets
Segmentation basis Typical market segments
Geographic:
Region City size Urban-rural Climate
Demographic:
Income Age Gender
Family life cycle Social class Education Occupation
Religion
South-West middle belt North East and other census regions Under 25,000; 25,001 -100,001-500,000; 500,001 -1,000,000; etc.
Urban; suburban, rural Cool, warn;
Under 10,000; $10,000 -25,000; $25,001-$35,000;
N35,001 - $50,000; over N50,000
Under 6,6-12,13 -19,20 - 34,35-49, 50-64,65 and over Male, female
Young single; young, married, no children; etc.
Upper class, upper middle, lower middle, upper lower, etc Primary school, high school graduate, University graduate Professional, manager, clerical, craftsman, sales, student, Homemaker, unemployed
Christianity, Islamic, others
Ethnic background African, Asian, European, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, etc.
Psychological:
Personality Life style Psycho logic:
Behavioural Benefits desired Usage rate
Ambitious, self- confident, aggressive, introverted, extroverted, Sociable, etc.
Conservative, liberal, Health and fitness oriented, adventuresome VALS, VALS2, LOV
Examples vary widely depending on product: appliance-cost, quality, operating life; toothpaste-no cavities, plague control, bright teeth, good taste, and low price.
Nonuser, light user, heavy user
3.3.1 GEOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION
Geographic segmentation cal s for dividing the market into different
geographical units such as countries, regions, states, local government areas, cities, towns or neighbourhoods. Note that this is one of the widely used bases for
segmentation. It is premised on the assumption that consumers' want and product usage often are related to one or more of these subcategories. In addition,
geographic characteristics are also measurable and accessible.
Marketers consider a wide variety of elements when they use geographic seg- mentation. Population pat erns, transportation, climate, growth patterns, and
so forth. These elements are important because they influence and sometimes dictate the marketing mix for a given geographical segment.
3.3.2 DEMOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION
This is the most common basis for segmenting consumer markets. Marketers use demographic segmentation when they market on the basis of information about the size, composition, and distribution of a population, including age, sex, race,
religion, national origin, family size, marital status, occupation, social class, income and education. Information about demographic variables is general y available to marketers through government publications and other studies, thus making demographic segmentation a practical way of looking at the market. It is
interesting to know that many products can be natural y and realistical y targeted to segments defined by demographic variables.
However, you should note that people are moving targets whose demographics are constantly changing. It is therefore important to monitor these changes. There is usually the need to forecast the changes so that you can be ready with marketing
mixes that fit the demographic trends of the present and the future. The family life cycle is the sequence of events in adult lives starting with the unmarried stage and then moving through such stages as marriage, children, divorce, and remarriage.
Frequently, the main factor accounting for differences in consumption pat erns
between two people of the same age and gender is that they are in different life-
cycle stages.
There are nine distinct life cycle stages:
(i)Bachelor stage: young, single people.
(ii)Young married: couples with no children
(iii)Full nest I: young married couples with children.
(iv)Single parents: young or middle —aged people with dependent children (v)Divorced and alone: divorced without dependent children
(vi)Middle-aged married: middle aged married couples without children.
(vii)Full nest II: middle aged married couples with dependent children.
(viii)Empty nest: Older married couples with no children living with them
(ix)Older single: single people still working or retired.
You should realize that family life-cycle stage is a major determinant of buyer behaviour, and thus can be a very useful basis for segmenting consumer markets. For
instance, marketers can target specific needs that customarily arise in each
stage of the family cycle, from wedding invitations to drapers to legal advice.Income is another component of the demographic segmentation. Ordinarily, people alone do not make a market- they must have money to spend. This is the reason marketers should analyse the spending patterns of people at different income levels. Actual y, income segmentation has been a long standing practice in such product and service categories as automobiles, clothing, cosmetics, and travel.
The market for certain consumer products is influenced by such factors as education, occupation, religion, and ethnic origin. For example, with an
increasing number of people at aining higher levels of education, there may be changes in product preferences, as well as buyers with higher incomes and more discriminating tastes. Instead of income, occupation may turn out to be more
meaningful for segmenting some markets. For instance, commercial bus
drivers and auto mechanics may, on the average, earn as much as young
marketing executives or secondary school teachers. However, the buying
patterns of the first two are likely to be different from the second two because of
attitudes and interests.
Figure 1 demonstrates the traditional family cycle and the many possible