The process of dividing a market into distinct subsets of consumers with common needs and selecting one or more

segments to target with a distinct marketing strategy

It is the process of dividing a heterogeneous market into homogeneous subunits. Why market segmentation? buyers having different needs and wants. purchasing power may vary. different geographical locations. different buying attitudes and habits

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Price conscious customer- CD DELUXE Fuel conscious customer- SPLENDOR Power conscious customer-CBZ Style/luxury KARIZMA

Identifying group of customers with similar wants. Analyze their buying behavior and characteristics. Providing products matching with needs. Satisfying needs while meeting organizations objectives.

Customer-based Product related Competition-related

Geographic-location of customers-based upon where people live. Rural- urban, Metro-non metro. The present situation of geographic segmentation? It is believed that rural markets are different from urban markets. Today it is gradually changing. Significance of branded products in rural markets is growing. Rural people do little shopping at their villages. Significance of brand,price,size,product features in decision making is highly considered.

Age. Infants market(newly born,-1 year). Child market(1-12). Teens market(13-19). Adolescent market(16-19). Youth market(20-35) Middle-aged market(36-50). Elders or senior market(50 yrs and above)-

Low income. Low middle income. Middle income. Upper middle income. Higher income.

Male and female. Have different attitudes and behave differently. Shopping styles are different. Decision making methods are different. More serials on T.V channels are focusing women. Emami has introduced fair and handsome for men. Sharukh khan as the brand ambassador.

Educated,assertive,confident,financialy secured.

Product-use situation. One Product can be used for different use situations or occasions. Dividing the market of a product on the basis of different product use situations or occasions. Occasions- Birthday,marriage,festivals,parties. Product-Biscuit. Consider the biscuit consuming market and observe different biscuit consuming situations. It can be served as a snack with the evening tea.

Based on the customer loyalty. Hard-core loyal-strong brand loyal. Newspaper readers,smokers,tea drinkers. Understand product strength with respect to the competitor. Soft-core loyal-loyal to two or three brands. Which brand is more competitive and why? switchers-never stick to a brand. Is it due to the behavior cased by indifference,habit,non-availability of competing brands, low price.

In addition to having different needs, for segments to be practical they should be evaluated against the following criteria:

Identifiable: the differentiating attributes of

the segments must be measurable so that they can be identified. Accessible: the segments must be reachable through communication and distribution channels.

Measurable:

It has to be possible to determine the values of the variables used for segmentation with justifiable efforts. This is important especially for demographic and geographic variables Substantial: the segments should be sufficiently large to justify the resources required to target them. Unique needs: to justify separate offerings, the segments must respond differently to the different marketing mixes. Durable: the segments should be relatively stable to minimize the cost of frequent changes.