Segmentation

What is segmentation?

Segmentation "the subdividing of a market into homogeneous (or similar) subsets of customers, where any subset may conceivably be selected as a target market to be reached with a distinct marketing mix" (Kotler, 2000),

“Segmentation is based on the observation of evolution of demand and represents a more precise and rational adaptation of the product and the marketing effort to meet customer or user demands” (Smith, 1957),

or finding out what different groups of people want!

The STP Marketing Process

Segmenting dividing up the market into distinctive group
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Targeting
selecting a specific segment to target
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Positioning
developing a marketing strategy which positions the product in relation to rivals in order to appeal to target segments.

On this lesson we talk about profiling. Profiling is a really good source and helps to get information about customers. That information is very valuable for many companies because it helps to try understand the needs of purchaser and sometimes what they want. Good example companies who use profiling are Boots and Tesco. They have Boots and Tesco cards to keep in their database the most important information about clients such as: what they like to buy, how often, how many or how much? From my experience i have been asked couple of times in a shop about my post code - that is profiling too, because we as a customers we giving information what type of people we are and what kind of particular products we purchasing. http://www.upmystreet.com/ is one of the websites where you can find lots of information about your area of living.

Advertising agencies know what ads should look like. Also they know there is loads of different types of people. Some of them are for man some of them are for woman.


http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=0g8H1FcFAOw


That ad is for man.


http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=_VGW7vX629I




That ad is for woman


Have you ever think about how many different kinds of shampoo is on a market? The answer is simply an amount is huge. There are for long hair, for blond, for men, for damaged hair etc.
Have you think what will happen when you wash you hair shampoo for long hair and your hair are short? Answer: nothing, because the difference is not the shampoo but the packing. Everything is about how you see the product not what is inside. How much would be a cost of a shampoo if there were only one for all the types of hair, for long AND short AND blond AND damage AND etc. It would be very cheap. We pay more for some of the products because we think they are better but the truth is they are this same but adverts and marketing makes that products look different.


That is the reason why advertising is important and plays one of the main roles in our lifestyle.