Market segmenatation - Essay Example

Consumers from similar market segments also respond in the same manner to market fluctuations. Basis on which market segmentation is done includes gender, income, age group, marital status, and occupation (Yankelovich, 2004: p86). Based on gender, the marketer will divide the consumer market into smaller sub-sets with regards to gender. Women and men possess different preferences and interests, which necessitates segmentation (Yankelovich, 2004: p87). Businesses and organizations should carry out different strategies in marketing when selling products to male consumers, which would not be as effective with female consumers.

Men will normally not buy products that the business markets to men while females would not buy male-marketed products. Gender-based market segmentation is vital in various industries such as apparel, footwear, cosmetics, and footwear. Age-group segmentation, on the other hand, is division of the market based on the target audience’s age bracket. Obviously, the manner in which a business markets products to teenagers will be different to how they market them to young children or adults. Examples of age-based segmentation include toys and sweet foods to those under ten years, apparel and music to those between ten and twenty years, and anti-aging products, magazines, and cosmetics to those over the age of twenty (Yankelovich, 2004: p87). . For example, Shopper’s Stop, Carrefour, and Pantaloon market their products to high-income groups while Big Bazaar, Reliance Retail, and Vishal Retail market products to individuals in the lower age bracket.

Market segmentation can also be done according to marital status of the people within the market population. For example, tour operators and travel agencies have holiday packages for married couples and different packages for unmarried women and bachelors. Finally, market segmentation is also done according to the occupation of the target consumers. People working in offices have needs that are different to those who go to college or high school, as well as people who are retired. One example of occupation-based market segmentation is the fact that T-shirts with witty and raunchy messages would not have a market among retirees, whereas it would be, when among college students (Beane & Ennis, 2007: p24).

Summary Businesses are able to attain a competitive edge through focus on specific market segments in their marketing efforts. The concept of market segmentation has to do with the use of market research in the identification of the ideal client and market for the business (Boote, 2011: p31). Using market segmentation, a business can develop different profiles for its customer base. The first profile is geographic profiles where customer segmentation is done according to their geographic location.

Small enterprises like pizza shops have a target market that lives within a ten-kilometer radius of its location. Business owners, therefore, can target customers using door hangers on all businesses and houses in the area advertising a special offer. The second one is demographic profiles, which refers to