STP ANALYSIS

No one product brand can satisfy the needs of all consumers, just as companies cannot connect with all customers in large, broad and diverse markets. For this reason, different marketing strategies are developed by companies to satisfy various consumer needs, to achieve maximum results and to compete more effectively. Marketers do this through the process called Target Marketing, which includes three activities: Market Segmentation, Market Targeting and Market Positioning. Many companies are now focusing on those consumers they have the greatest chance of satisfying rather than scattering their marketing efforts. Segmentation

Market Segmentation is breaking down a diverse market into homogeneous group with common needs, and with similar response to a marketing action.1 There are two bases for segmenting consumer markets: (1) consumer characteristics and (2) consumer responses. The major segmentation variables for consumer markets are geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral.
Marketers may use these variables singly or in combination. Geographic. In this approach, markets are divided into different geographic units which may include nations, states, regions, counties, cities or even neighborhoods. Because consumers often have different buying habits depending on where they reside, the company can operate in one or few areas, or operate in all, but pay attention to local variations. Demographic. The markets are divided into groups on the basis of variables such as age, family size, family life cycle, life stage, gender, income, occupation, education, marital status, religion, race, generation, nationality and social class. Psychographic. This refers to the science of using psychology and demographics to better understand consumers. Buyers are divided into different groups on the basis of psychological/personality traits, lifestyle, interests, motivations or values as they relate to buying behavior in a particular product category. Behavioral. This is dividing the market into groups on the basis of their knowledge of, loyalties, attitude toward, use of, or response to a product. Targeting A company cannot please everyone with the same products even though everyone may be able to benefit from what it offers. Once the company has identified its market-segment opportunities,

Market Targeting is a proactive way of deciding how many to target as clients and which ones offer the most potential. This also allows the company to find out where and how it can most effectively
market its goods and/or services. Positioning Positioning has been defined as the art and science of fitting the goods or service to one or more segments of the broad market in such a way as to set it meaningfully apart from competition.2 After a company identifies its market segments, and which are its target markets, it now designs a distinctive message or a market offering that it positions in the minds of the target buyers as delivering some central benefit.3

Belch, George E. and Michael A. Belch. Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective. 6 ed. The McGraw-Hill Companies, 2003. 2 th Belch, George E. and Michael A. Belch. Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective. 6 ed. The McGraw-Hill Companies, 2003. 3 th Kotler, Philip and Kevin Keller. Marketing Management. 13 ed. Pearson Education, Inc. 2009.

th

The wedding industry is so competitive so in order to succeed, a company will need to apply a marketing strategy that would give them an edge and sets them apart from the others. In the Runaway Pride episode, geographic and demographic were the major segmentation variables used by marketers for consumer markets. Given the location of the bridal shops, the exclusive sale organized by both teams catered to the markets residing within the neighborhood of New York City. Since the shops were selling wedding dresses, normally the markets were segmented based on the demographics such as gender, age, marital status, income, life stage and religion. The bridal shops exclusive sale mainly targeted low-to-middle income/budget adult brides-to-be. The other group targeted was the parents (mothers in particular) of the bride as well, who were likely to get involved and be supportive (morally, if not financially) to their daughters when purchasing their wedding gowns. From the fact that it was an exclusive sale, both teams used price characteristics in positioning their shops. 4 Ps ANALYSIS Once the target marketing process has been completed, it is the marketers task to devise marketing activities and assemble fully integrated marketing programs to create, communicate, and 4 deliver value for consumers. In 1960, McCarthy classified these activities as marketing-mix tools, which he called Four Ps of marketing. Product It is defined as either a tangible good or an intangible service that is mass produced with a specific volume of units. In the case of Runaway Pride, the tangible products were mainly the discontinued wedding gowns and accessories that the teams managed to get from the participating bridal vendors. Price It is the amount a customer pays for the product. It must be competitive, reasonable, and fit the budget and income ranges of the market to which it is intended. Each of the teams had the discretion in pricing, but since their theme was on SALE, they used promotional pricing strategy. Promotion This represents all of the communications that a marketer may use in the marketplace. Advertising and promotional action plans are necessary for any products success. In the direct marketing field, this is largely up to the company representative and often augmented with replicable sales tools from the company. Both APEX and MOSAIC were given only one day to prepare for the opening of their respective bridal shops. Due to the limited time allotted to them, both teams had to think and act quickly on how they could reach a wide target market. As pointed out in the case, the teams wouldnt be

able to sell any dresses if no one would show up to their bridal shops.
Place It is also known as channel, distribution, or intermediary. It is the mechanism through which the products are moved from the manufacturer to the end user. It can be in a physical store, at various public venues, or virtual stores online. In the case, the locations of the shops were already decided upon by Mr. Trumps team. The two competing teams APEX and MOSAIC were given stores that have comfortable retail spaces and the same mailing address in the city. All of these elements must be coordinated to provide an integrated marketing communications perspective. All product strategies, pricing strategies, promotion strategies and place choices must be made with the objective of contributing to the overall image of the product. The overall marketing strategy (consisting of target market identification and marketing mix selection) provides the impetus and direction for the choice of both advertising and media strategies.

Kotler, Philip and Kevin Keller. Marketing Management. 13 ed. Pearson Education, Inc. 2009.

th