CONCLUSIONES Y FUTURO

To get a product or service to the right customer, a marketer would firstly segment the market, then target a single segment or series of segments, and finally position within the segment's .

Segmentation is essentially the identification of subsets of buyers within a market who share similar needs and who demonstrate similar buyer behavior. The world is made up from billions of buyers with their own sets of needs and behavior. Segmentation aims to match groups of purchasers with the same set of needs and buyer behavior. Such a group is known as a 'segment'.

The requirements for successful segmentation are:

 homogeneity within the segment

 heterogeneity between segments

 segments are measurable and identifiable

 segments are accessible and actionable

 segment is large enough to be profitable...

Eg. The market for Laptops can be segmented into – Students, Business Executives, IT professionals – both backend and front end.

Criteria needed for segmentation are:

1. Segments must have enough profit potential to justify developing and maintaining a Marketing Mix

2. Consumer must have heterogeneous (different) needs for the product. 3. Segmented consumer needs must be homogeneous (similar)

4. Company must be able to reach a segment with a Marketing Mix.

Have you seen children making choice for themselves or for the family? How do you think they know what they want? How do marketers reach children? Yes, today they are an important part of our market. They not only make decisions regarding their cloths, they actually help parents make decision regarding high priced products and services such as televisions, clubs and hotels, car, shoes etc.

The marketers use various tools to reach them- some of the media channels they focus on:- o Cartoons Network o Toon Disney o POGO o Nickelodeon o Cereal boxes

o Sports illustrated for kids

Look at how media has changed recently due to changing demographics etc. and therefore the need of marketers to reach these groups.

Media must respond because they are essentially financed by the marketers or at least heavily subsidized

Bases for Marketing Segmentation:

 Geographic variables - dividing the market into zones or geographical regions

o region of the world or country

o country size

o climate

 Eg. MTR chilly or any of their items price their products region-wise. Within Karnataka Rs.15 /100grams AND Outside Karnataka Rs. 18/100 grams

 Demographic variables - is a shorthand term for 'population characteristics'. Demographics include race, age, income, mobility (in terms of travel time to work or number of vehicles available), educational attainment, home ownership, employment status, and even location. Distributions of values within a demographic variable, and across households, are both of interest, as well as trends over time. Demographics are primarily used in economic and marketing research.

o age

o gender

o sexual orientation

o family size

o family life cycle

o income

o occupation

o education

o socioeconomic status is the social science of the social and economic impacts of any product or service offering, market intervention or other event on an economy as a whole and on the companies, organizations and factors that influence how an intervention is likely to change a society will be unique to each situation, but generally may include, for example:

 Prevailing economic conditions

 Race or ethnicity

 The level of economic development and the extent of disparities within a society

 Political stability and the relationship between government and judiciary

 Levels of education, literacy and familiarity with technology

 Maturity and openness of markets

 Propensity for entrepreneurial activity

 Strength of tradition in terms of beliefs and behaviours

o religion

o nationality/race

 Eg.Spice Telecom has a special plan for the ―Youth

segment‖ called Spice youth, they have special benefits like 100 sms free, zero balance recharge.

 Psychographic variables are any attributes relating to personality, values, attitudes, interests, or lifestyles. They are also called IAO variables (Interests, Attitudes, and Opinions). They can be contrasted with demographic variables (such as age and gender), and behavioural variables (such as usage rate or loyalty).

When a relatively complete assessment of a person or group's psychographic make-up is constructed, this is called a psychographic profile. Psychographic profiles are used in market segmentation and advertising. It only relates to one form not two as geodemographic which would relate to the geographical spread of different age groups across the India for example. The variables are-

o personality

o life style

o value

o attitude

 Behavioural variables – are any attributes relating to the behaviour or pattern of use of a product by the consumers.

o benefit sought

o product usage rate

o brand loyalty

o product end use

o readiness-to-buy stage

o decision making unit

When numerous variables are combined to give an in-depth understanding of a segment, this is referred to as depth segmentation. When enough information is combined to create a clear picture of a typical member of a segment, this is referred to as a buyer profile. When the profile is limited to demographic variables it is called a demographic profile (typically shortened to "a demographic"). A statistical technique commonly used in determining a profile is cluster analysis.

 Segmentation variables should be related to consumer needs for, and uses of, or behavior toward the product. Eg. Stereo; age not religion.

 Segmentation variable must be measurable. No best way to segment the markets. Selecting inappropriate variable limits the chances of success.

Developing a Target Market Strategy

A Product will not sell by itself; It needs the best of strategies. After drawing a strong strategy plan, we need to develop a target market .Developing a target market strategy has three phases:

1. Analyzing consumer demand 2. Targeting the market(s)

o Undifferentiated

o Concentrated

o Multi-segmented

3. Developing the marketing strategy

1. Selecting Target Markets by Analyzing Demand

Demand is the quantity of a good that consumers are not only willing to purchase but also have the capacity to buy at the given price. For example, a consumer may be willing to purchase 2 Kgs of potatoes if the price is Rs.3 per kg. However, the same consumer may be willing to purchase only 1 Kg if the price is Rs.5.00 per Kg. A demand schedule can be constructed that shows the quantity demanded at each given price. It can be represented on a graph as a line or curve by plotting the quantity demanded at each price. It can also be described mathematically by a demand equation. The main determinants of the quantity one is willing to purchase will typically be the price of the good, one's level of income, personal tastes, the price of substitute goods, and the price of complementary goods.

The capacity to buy is sometimes used to characterise demand as being merely an alternate form of supply.

As marketers we need to aggregate consumers with similar needs. We need to identify demand patterns. Identification of demand could be done by asking the following questions and analyzing the same.

Do all potential customers have similar needs/desires or are there clusters? What are the demand patterns ?

A marketer can normally identify 3 demand patterns, they are:

 Homogeneous Demand-uniform, everyone demands the product

for the same reason(s). eg. A prescribed textbook for a course

 Clustered Demand-consumer demand classified in 2 or more

identifiable clusters. Eg. Automobiles:

o luxury

o cheap

o Sporty

o Spacious

 Diffused Demand-Product differentiation more costly and more

difficult to communicate Eg. Cosmetic market; need to offer hundreds of shades of lipstick. Firms try to modify consumer demand to develop clusters of at least a moderate size.

2. Targeting The Market

After analyzing the demand pattern we as marketers, can identify how the consumers can be targeted. This would include 3 approaches in which a marketer can target its consumers.

a) Undifferentiated Approach (Total Market Approach) – This approach does not differentiate the market according to any variable. In this case a Single Marketing Mix for the entire market identified is laid out. All consumers have similar needs for a specific kind of product. Homogeneous market, or demand is so diffused it is not worthwhile to differentiate, try to make demand more homogeneous. Eg. Nirma Detergent soap – for any kind of stain, for any kind of person or cloth one soap.

Single Marketing Mix consists of:

 1 Pricing strategy

 1 Promotional program aimed at everybody

 1 Type of product with little/no variation

 1 Distribution system aimed at entire market

The elements of the marketing mix do not change for different consumers; all elements are developed for all consumers.

Examples include Staple foods-sugar and salt and farm produce. This approach is popular when large-scale production began. In today‘s competitive market this approach is out-dated and could cause a product to fail, as the competition is very high and the availability of alternatives are very extensive.

If this approach is incorporated into an organization it must be able to develop and maintain a single marketing mix. In this case the major objective is to maximize sales.

b) Market Segmentation Approach.

Indians are very price conscious people. The would like the best of products at a very economical price. Well there is another set of people who believe the higher the price better he quality of product. It can be understood that Individuals with diverse product needs have heterogeneous needs.

Market segmentation is the process of dividing a total heterogeneous market into market groups consisting of people who have relatively similar product needs, there are clusters of needs. The purpose is to design a Marketing Mix (s) that more precisely matches the needs of individuals in a selected market segment(s). A market segment consists of individuals, groups or organizations with one or more characteristics that cause them to have relatively similar product needs.