Segmentation - This is the process of dividing buyers into separate groups according to certain characteristics by virtue of which they respond similarly to a specific positioning strategy. The characteristics include: volume, frequency of purchases, commitment to a particular brand, method of using the product. Segmentation is the process of identifying subgroups of buyers in the total mass of market consumers; the possibility of segmentation appears when the total market demand, thereby presenting the possibility of its division into separate segments, according to one or another dominant feature.

The basis for segmenting consumer markets is the characteristics of buyers and their reaction to the products offered. The main variables for segmenting consumer markets include: geographic, demographic, psychographic, behavioral. Variables can be used individually or in combination with each other. Market segments must be measurable, accessible, of appropriate size, distinctive features, and activity.

Market segment - a group of buyers with similar needs

Levels of segmentation. The variety of media - advertising means and distribution channels makes it difficult to use unified marketing. Some analysts argue that mass marketing is dying. More and more companies are moving away from using it and turning to micro marketing at one of four levels - segment, niche, region and individual level.

1) Marketing in the market segment. The company's task is to identify segments and decide which of them to serve. A company can create a product or service according to its functional and price characteristics that meets the needs of the segment of consumers. The choice of optimal distribution and communication channels has been simplified, and the circle of competitors is more clearly visible - these are companies serving the same market segment. Possibility of applying a flexible market offer - a general solution (elements of products and services that have value for all members of the segment) and additional options (value for some entities)

2) Marketing in a market niche. A market niche is a narrower group that requires a distinctive set of benefits; a niche is usually identified by dividing the segment into subsegments or identifying a group of consumers seeking a specific set of benefits. The attractiveness of market niches is determined by the following characteristics: niche buyers have a specific set of needs; they are willing to pay a high price to the company that is best able to satisfy their needs; the likelihood that a competing company will pay attention to this particular niche is low; the company receives certain cost savings due to narrow specialization; a niche has a certain volume, profit level and growth prospects.

3) Local marketing. It is based on special marketing programs aimed at meeting the needs of local groups of customers: shopping areas, stores for residents of remote areas, stores for specific customers. Proponents of this level consider national advertising campaigns to be pointless, since they do not take into account regional characteristics and needs. Possible disadvantages: reduced savings associated with the scale of production, increased production marketing costs, erosion of the brand image.

4) Individual marketing. At the last level of segmentation there are “segment-individual”, “personal marketing”, “adaptable marketing”. This approach is not applicable everywhere, but with its help a company can quickly secure a competitive advantage.

Stimulate trade and repeat purchases by meeting individual customer preferences and demonstrating additional features.

Real-time market research, studying customer preferences.

Reduced costs for manufacturers and suppliers: goods are not needed, they are not produced, and therefore there is no forced sale at discounts and disposal.

Stages of the segmentation process

1. Segmentation by needs. Consumers are grouped into segments based on the similarity of needs and benefits sought when solving a specific consumer problem.

2. Identification of segments. For each needs segment, distinctive (functional) demographic characteristics, lifestyles and consumer behavior are identified.

3. Assessing the attractiveness of segments. Using predefined criteria (such as market potential, intensity of competition, market access), the overall attractiveness of each segment is determined

4. Assessment of segment profitability. The profitability of each segment is determined.

5. Positioning in segments. For each segment, based on its unique needs and characteristics, a “value proposition” and product positioning strategy (including approximate price levels) are developed.

6. “Litmus test” of your own capabilities. To assess the attractiveness of positioning strategies, individual “stories” are developed for each segment.

7. Drawing up a marketing mix. Expanding the positioning strategy to include all other elements of the marketing mix: product, price, promotion, distribution

Segmentation strategies:

1) Concentrating efforts on a single segment. Conducting concentrated marketing allows a company to more clearly assess customer needs and ensure a strong market position. Through specialization, the firm achieves cost reductions, which helps expand production and allows for increased spending on advertising and promotional activities. In addition, by occupying a leading position in the chosen segment, the company reduces the payback period for investments. Concentrated marketing involves an increased level of risk. Many firms prefer the tactic of simultaneously entering several market segments.

2) Selective specialization. A selectively specializing company selects several market segments that are attractive from the point of view of its goals and available resources. Target segments can be either similar or completely different, but each of them promises the company high profits. The strategy of simultaneously covering several Segments gives the company the opportunity to distribute risks between several areas.

3) Product specialization. Some companies concentrate their efforts on producing one product, but offering it to several market segments. However, with this approach there is a risk that its products will be forced out of the market by a new, more advanced product produced by a competitor using advanced technology.

4) Market specialization. In market specialization, companies focus on satisfying the various needs of a selected group of consumers. However, with this approach, there is a risk that if the budgets of consumers in this group are cut, they will refuse the services and goods of the supplier.

5) Full market coverage. With full market coverage, the company strives to provide all consumer groups with all the goods they need.

Only large companies are able to implement a strategy of full market coverage. The company aims to reach the market through undifferentiated or differentiated marketing.

A company pursuing an undifferentiated marketing strategy ignores segment differences and enters the entire market with a single offering. When developing products and marketing programs aimed at reaching as many consumers as possible, the emphasis is on mass sales and mass advertising. The supplier's goal is to form a positive image of the product in the minds of consumers. Undifferentiated marketing is “the cousin of standardization and mass production.” The development of a narrow assortment group of goods allows you to reduce production costs, reduce storage and transportation costs, as well as costs for marketing research and advertising.

The differentiated marketing strategy involves the company's development of several market segments, for each of which a separate program is being developed. Differentiated marketing allows you to achieve larger (compared to undifferentiated) sales volumes, but the costs of doing business also increase. Costs that may increase when using differentiated marketing:

Costs for modifying goods. The development of a modified product in order to more accurately meet the needs of various market segments entails additional costs for research, development and/or the purchase of special equipment,

Production costs. Producing ten units of ten different types of products is significantly more expensive than producing one hundred units of one product. The longer the process of organizing a new production, the smaller the “circulation” of each type of product produced, the more expensive the product itself becomes. However, if the sales volume of all types of goods produced by the company is large enough, the high costs associated with organizing production, in terms of per unit of product, are no longer so large.

Administrative costs. The company must develop different marketing plans for each market segment, which involves conducting additional marketing research, analyzing sales volumes, and increasing advertising costs.

Costs associated with storing inventory. Managing a large range of inventory is more expensive than ensuring the safety of several types of goods.

Costs associated with product promotion activities. Attacking different market segments will require the firm to develop various advertising campaigns and promotional activities. As a result, the costs associated with promotion and use of various media are increasing.

Because differentiated marketing increases both sales and costs, determining its effectiveness poses significant challenges. Manufacturers need to be careful to avoid dividing the market into too small segments. Otherwise, they might have to do the reverse operation of merging several tiny segments into one.

If a firm fails to segment the market, the market will segment the firm

P. Doyle, American marketing specialist

Market segmentation in modern market conditions is one of the most important marketing problems. Each company must understand that its products cannot appeal to all customers. There are too many of these buyers, they are widely scattered and differ from each other in their tastes and needs. In order to satisfy these various needs, manufacturing organizations seek to identify consumer groups that are most likely to respond positively to the products offered and target their marketing activities primarily at these consumer groups.

Therefore, many companies both abroad and in Russia currently adhere to a policy of market segmentation, developing new products specifically to satisfy the wishes of specific consumer groups.

This work aims to outline the basic principles of segmentation, highlight the views of both Western and domestic researchers on the problem of segmenting markets for individual goods, and trace the patterns of choice of goods for certain categories of consumers.

The work consists of four chapters. The first chapter discusses the essence of segmentation, its criteria, methods and principles. In the second chapter there are signs of segmentation of markets for individual goods. The signs of segmentation of consumer goods and the signs of segmentation of industrial goods are described in detail. The third chapter explains what target segmentation and product positioning are; how to choose a target segment and target market. And finally, the fourth chapter is devoted to a description of how the above described theoretical calculations are applied in Russia. What are the criteria for segmenting product markets and what are the forecasts for the future?

Familiarity with these issues will allow you to get a fairly complete picture of what segmentation is and what its role is in modern market conditions.

1 ESSENCE OF MARKET SEGMENTATION

Any market consists of buyers who differ from each other in their tastes, needs and desires. Therefore, any company must understand that with a variety of demand, and even in a competitive environment, each person will react differently to the goods offered. Any company needs to consider the market as a differentiated structure depending on consumer groups and consumer properties of the product. Carrying out successful commercial activities in market conditions requires taking into account the individual preferences of various categories of buyers. This is the basis of market segmentation.

Market segmentation is the choice of a strategy for dividing the market into separate segments that differ from each other in different opportunities for selling the manufacturer’s products, that is, this division of the market into clear groups of buyers, each of which may require separate products 1 (9, P. 55). By segmenting, an enterprise divides the market into separate segments that are likely to have the same response to marketing incentives.

A market segment is a specially selected part of the market, a group of consumers, products or enterprises that have certain common characteristics (9, p. 55).

Market segmentation is one of the most important marketing tools. The company's success in competition largely depends on how correctly the market segment is chosen.

The objects of segmentation are consumers, products and firms themselves. Despite the possibility of market segmentation by various objects, the main focus in marketing is on finding homogeneous groups of consumers who have similar preferences and respond similarly to marketing offers. Thus, the main goal of segmentation is to ensure that the product is targeted. Through it, the basic principle of marketing is implemented - consumer orientation.

Market segmentation makes it possible to increase the efficiency of means and methods of advertising, price regulation, and the forms and methods of sale used. Its meaning lies in the fact that the company does not scatter, but concentrates its efforts on the most promising segment for it.

Thus, market segmentation is, on the one hand, a method for finding parts of the market and identifying objects (primarily consumers) at which the company's marketing activities are directed. On the other hand, it is a managerial approach to the company’s decision-making process in the market, the basis for choosing the right combination of elements of the marketing mix.

Marketing practice shows that market segmentation:

allows you to satisfy the needs of customers for a variety of products to the maximum extent;


ensure rationalization. And optimization of the company’s costs for the development, production and sale of goods;


helps develop an effective marketing strategy based on analysis and understanding of the behavior of potential buyers;


contributes to the establishment of realistic and achievable company goals;


makes it possible to improve the level of decisions made, providing them with justification by information about the behavior of buyers in the market at the present time and forecasts of their behavior in the future;


ensures increased competitiveness of both the product and the company;


allows you to evade or reduce the degree of competition by moving to an untapped market segment;


involves linking the company's scientific and technical policy with the needs of clearly identified specific consumers.

But despite all these advantages, market segmentation also has its disadvantages. These are, first of all, high costs associated, for example, with additional market research, with drawing up options for marketing programs, providing appropriate packaging, and using various distribution methods.

Segmentation can have both advantages and disadvantages, but it is impossible to do without it, since in the modern economy each product can be successfully sold only to certain market segments, but not to the entire market.

Segmentation of any market can be carried out in a variety of ways, according to a variety of principles and methods, taking into account a variety of characteristics and criteria.

The first step in segmentation is the selection of segmentation criteria and signs of market segmentation. V.P. Khlusov in his book “Fundamentals of Marketing” emphasizes the difference between these two concepts. He defines a feature as a way of identifying a particular segment in the market. And the criterion is a way of assessing the validity of the choice of a given market segment for an enterprise (firm) (9, P. 62).

1.1. Segmentation Criteria

Market segmentation can be done using various criteria. Marketing researcher V.P. Khlusov identifies the following most common segmentation criteria:

Quantitative parameters of the segment. These include: segment capacity, that is, how many products and what total value can be sold, how many potential consumers are there, what area they live in, etc. Based on these parameters, the enterprise must determine which production capacities should be targeted at this segment, what should be the size of the sales network.


Availability of the segment for the enterprise, i.e. the ability of the enterprise to obtain distribution and sales channels for products, conditions for storing and transporting products to consumers in this market segment. The enterprise must determine whether it has a sufficient number of distribution channels for its products (in the form of resellers) or its own sales network, what is the capacity of these channels, whether they are able to ensure the sale of the entire volume of products produced taking into account the existing capacity of the market segment, whether the system is sufficient or reliable delivery of products to consumers (is there any cargo processing here, etc.). The answers to these questions provide the company's management with the information necessary to decide whether it has the opportunity to begin promoting its products in the selected market segment or whether it still needs to take care of forming a sales network, establishing relationships with resellers, or building its own warehouses and stores. .


Segment materiality, i.e. determining how realistically a particular group of consumers can be considered as a market segment, how stable it is based on the main unifying characteristics. In this case, the management of the company will have to find out whether this market segment is growing, stable or declining, whether it is worth focusing production capacities on it or, on the contrary, they need to be repurposed for another market.


Profitability. Based on this criterion, it is determined how profitable it will be for the company to operate in a selected market segment. Typically, a company, to assess the profitability of a particular market segment, uses standard methods for calculating relevant indicators: profit margins, return on invested capital, the amount of dividends per share, the amount of growth in the total profit of the enterprise, depending on the specifics of the economic activity of a particular enterprise.


Compatibility of the segment with the market of its main competitors. Using this criterion, the management of the enterprise must receive an answer to the question to what extent the main competitors are ready to sacrifice the chosen market segment, and to what extent the promotion of the products of this enterprise here affects their interests. And if the main competitors are seriously concerned about the promotion of the enterprise’s products in the selected market segment and take appropriate measures to protect it, then the enterprise must be prepared to incur additional costs when targeting such a segment or find a new one for itself, where there will be competition (at least initially) weaker.


Efficiency of work in the selected market segment. This criterion means, first of all, checking whether the company has the proper experience in the chosen market segment, how fig, production and sales personnel are ready to effectively promote products in this segment, how prepared they are for competition. The management of the company must decide whether the company has sufficient resources to work in the selected segment, determine what is missing here to work effectively.


Protection of the selected segment from competition. In accordance with this criterion, the company's management must assess its ability to withstand the competition with possible competitors in the selected market segment. It is important to determine who can become a competitor in the selected segment in the future, what are its strengths and weaknesses, what are the company’s own advantages in competition, in which areas of business activity it is necessary to concentrate the main efforts and resources in order to develop strengths and identify weaknesses and etc.

Only by receiving answers to all these questions, having assessed the potential of the enterprise according to all criteria, can decisions be made as to whether or not this market segment is suitable for the enterprise, whether it is worth continuing to study consumer demand in this segment, continue collecting and processing additional information and spending on it new resources. The listed criteria are also important when a company analyzes its positions in a previously selected market segment. Taking into account segmentation, in fact, the market capacity for the company can be determined.

1.2 Segmentation principles

Marketing researcher E.V. Popov, in his article “Market Segmentation,” identifies five principles for successful market segmentation” (10, P.77):

Differences between segments, similarities of consumers, measurability of consumer characteristics, large segment size, reachability of consumers.

The principle of distinction between segments means that as a result of segmentation, groups of consumers that differ from each other should be obtained. Otherwise, segmentation will be implicitly replaced by mass marketing. The principle of similarity of segment consumers provides for the homogeneity of potential buyers in terms of purchasing attitudes towards a specific product. Consumer similarity is necessary so that an appropriate marketing plan can be developed for the entire target segment.

The large segment size requirement means that target sales segments must be large enough to generate sales and cover the enterprise's costs. When assessing the size of a segment, one should take into account the nature of the product being sold and the capacity of the potential market. Thus, in the consumer market, the number of buyers in one segment can be measured in tens of thousands, while in a pan-industrial market a large segment may include less than a hundred potential consumers (for example, for cellular and satellite communication systems, for consumers of power engineering products, etc.).

Measurability of consumer characteristics is necessary for targeted field marketing research, as a result of which it is possible to identify the needs of potential buyers, as well as study the reaction of the target market to the marketing actions of the enterprise. This principle is extremely important, and since the distribution of goods “blindly”, without feedback from consumers, leads to the dispersal of funds, labor and intellectual resources of the selling company.

The principle of consumer reachability means the requirement for communication channels between the selling company and potential consumers. Such communication channels can be newspapers,

Magazines, radio, television, outdoor advertising, etc. Reachability of consumers is necessary for organizing promotional campaigns, or informing potential buyers about a specific product: its characteristics, cost, main advantages, possible sales, etc.

The basis of the market segmentation procedure, along with the application of segmentation principles, is the informed choice of the appropriate segmentation method.

1.3 Segmentation methods

The most common methods of market segmentation are the method of groupings according to one or more characteristics and methods of multivariate statistical analysis.

The grouping method consists of sequentially dividing a set of objects into groups according to the most significant characteristics. A certain characteristic is singled out as a system-forming characteristic (a consumer intending to purchase a product, the owner of a product), then subgroups are formed in which the significance of this criterion is much higher than for the entire set of potential consumers of this product. By successive splits into two parts, the sample is divided into a number of subgroups.

Figure 1 shows a diagram of sequential breakdowns according to the AID (automatic interaction detector) method, which is widely used in segmentation procedures at present. Similar methods of enumerating options are often used in market segmentation. Some marketing researchers consider such methods as a priority method for selecting a target market.

For segmentation purposes, multidimensional classification methods are also used, when separation occurs according to a complex of analyzed characteristics simultaneously.

Rice. 1 AID Classification Scheme

The most effective of them is methods of automatic classification, or otherwise cluster analysis. In this case, classification schemes are based on the following assumptions. Consumers who are similar to each other in a number of ways are grouped into one class. The degree of similarity among consumers belonging to the same class should be higher than the degree of similarity among people belonging to different classes.

Using a similar method, the typification problem is solved with the simultaneous use of demographic, socio-economic and psychographic characteristics, the essence of which will be discussed in the second chapter of this work.

As an example, we can consider solving the problem of market segmentation by constructing a consumer typology, which means dividing consumers into typical groups that have the same or similar consumer behavior. The construction of a typology is the process of dividing the studied set of objects into fairly homogeneous and stable groups in time and space.

2 SIGNS OF SEGMENTATION OF PRODUCT MARKETS

Signs of segmentation vary depending on the purpose of the goods (consumer and industrial purposes).

2.1 Signs of segmentation of consumer goods

Many both domestic and Western marketing researchers, including marketing professor F. Kotler, identify four main characteristics of segmentation of consumer goods: geographical, demographic, psychographic and behavioral.

But I am closer to the generally accepted division given by A.P. Durovich in his book “Marketing in Entrepreneurship”. To these four characteristics he adds one more: socio-economic.

Thus, for segmenting the consumer goods market, the main characteristics are: geographical, demographic, socio-economic, psychographic and behavioral characteristics.

Segmenting the market by geographic characteristics involves dividing the market into different geographical units: countries, states, republics, cities, regions, etc., taking into account the size and location of the region, population size and density, climatic conditions, administrative division. In this case, groups of buyers with the same or similar consumer preferences, determined by residence in a particular territory, are considered.

An entire country or group of countries that have any political, ethnic or religious community can be considered as a geographical segment. An example of such segments could be the countries of the Middle East, Central America, the Baltics, the CIS, etc. A geographic segment could be an entire continent (for example, Latin America).

In geographic segmentation, a firm may decide to operate in 1) one or more geographic areas or 2) all areas, but with differences in needs and preferences based on geography.

Geographic segmentation is the simplest. It was used in practice earlier than others, which was determined by the need to determine the spatial boundaries of the enterprise’s activities. Its use is especially necessary when there are climatic differences between regions in the market or characteristics of cultural, national, historical traditions, as well as consumer habits and preferences.

Demographic characteristics. Demographic segmentation involves dividing the market into groups based on demographic variables such as gender, age, family size, stage of the family life cycle, number of children, marital status, etc. (see Table 1).

Demographic variables are the most popular attributes that serve as the basis for distinguishing consumer groups. One of the reasons for this popularity is that needs and preferences, as well as the intensity of consumption of a product, are often closely related to demographic characteristics. Another reason is that demographic characteristics are easier to measure than most other types of variables. Even in cases where the market is not described from a demographic point of view (but, for example, based on personality types), it is still necessary to make connections with demographic parameters.

Table 1

Market segmentation by demographic characteristics

Signs of segmentation	Possible segments
Age	Up to 6 years; 6 – 12; 13 – 19; 20 – 29; 30 – 39; 40 – 49; 50 – 59; 60 and older
Floor	Male, female
Family size (persons)	12; 3–4; 5 or more
Life cycle stages	Stage of single life, newlyweds without children; young spouses with children under 6 years of age; young spouses with children over 6 years old; elderly spouses; lonely, etc.

An important demographic segmentation feature is the age of consumers. Needs and opportunities change with age. The number of people in each age group determines not only the existing demand for many types of goods, but also the prospects for its development. In addition, it should be borne in mind that the desires of young people are more inflexible and it is easier for this segment of consumers to form new needs, tastes and preferences.

In addition to age, in many cases the gender differences of consumers are fundamentally important. Gender segmentation has already been applied to clothing, hair care products, cosmetics and magazines. From time to time, other market players discover the possibility of segmentation based on gender. A good example of this is the cigarette market. Most brands of cigarettes are used by both men and women without distinction. However, “Women’s” cigarettes, such as “Virginia Slims” and “Vogue”, began to appear more and more often on the market, with the appropriate aroma, in appropriate packaging and accompanied by advertising that emphasized the image of the femininity of the product.

Throughout his life, the same person changes his tastes, desires and values. Naturally, these changes are reflected in purchasing behavior. Since a person is surrounded by a family, it is advisable for segmentation purposes to divide his entire life cycle into stages, taking into account changes in the family circle. The classic differentiation of consumers, taking into account the sequence of important stages in the life of an adult, is used in their book “The Life Cycle and Financial Capabilities of Consumers” by John B. Lansing and James N. Morgan (see Table 2).

People change the products they buy over the course of their lives. Thus, a full family at the first stage is the main buyer of washing machines, televisions, food for small children and toys. At the same time, a full family at the third stage is a consumer of expensive electronic equipment and luxury goods.

Most firms segment markets based on a combination of two or more demographic variables. An example of such a characteristic is the marital status and age of the head of the family (recipient of the main family income).

Socio-economic characteristics involve the identification of consumer groups based on common social and professional affiliation, level of education and income. Thus, the sociocultural sphere creates a certain range of interests and preferences in relation to consumer goods. Belonging to a certain social stratum obliges a person to play a decisive role in society, which will one way or another influence his purchasing behavior. Many companies, taking into account the segmentation of consumers based on belonging to a particular social group, use targeted advertising to create demand and stimulate sales of certain goods.

table 2

Segmentation of consumers by life cycle stages

Life cycle stage	Possible segments
Unmarried, bachelor period	Young people living alone
Newly created families	Newlyweds without children
Complete family, stage 1	Young married couples with small children under 6 years old
Complete family, stage 2	Young married couples with children 6 or more years old
Complete family, stage 3	Married couples living together with minor children
"Empty Nest", stage 1	Elderly couples with no children living with them, working
"Empty Nest", stage 2	Elderly couples with no children living with them, pensioners
Elderly singles	Widows with no children living with them

The type of activity (profession) is also a factor influencing the buyer’s demand and his behavior in the market. It will be different for a working engineer, a worker of different qualifications, an economist and a philologist, etc. Therefore, marketing specialists need to carefully examine the relationship between professional groups of people and their interests in purchasing a particular product. A company can target the production of its products to specific professional groups. Profession plays a special role in the process of segmenting the market for “intellectual” goods, for example. These are books, media.

Education is closely related to profession, but at the same time these are not identical concepts. Having the same education, people can have different professions. Experts have found that as the level of education of both individuals and social groups changes, a reorientation of demand in the market should be expected.

Income level. Another ancient division of the market in relation to such goods as cars, boats, clothing, cosmetics, etc., is segmentation based on income level. Income differentiation divides consumers into low, middle and high income groups. Each category has different resources to purchase goods. Thus, a consumer with a high income has more opportunities to choose and buy the goods offered. The amount of income affects the consumer in other ways. For example, it is not at all necessary that as income increases, consumption for all product groups increases accordingly. Thus, the relative share of funds used for food decreases, while income for recreation and entertainment increases. The distribution is also influenced by the number of family members. Provided that their income is the same, the consumption of each person in a small family can be higher than in a large one.

Consequently, marketing specialists should pay a lot of attention to forecasting trends in changes in the level of income, savings, and taxes. This is especially true for the current situation in our country. At the same time, it is necessary to have fairly flexible pricing, change the assortment and quality structure of goods offered to the market, because practically none of them can be created for the entire population. Thus, the range of products offered must be designed for the “wallet” of the buyer of each segment.

Demographic characteristics are very closely related to socio-economic characteristics and can be combined with each other in a certain way, forming combined parameters of segments. For example, a boarding house takes care of blind people, takes care of maintaining their psychological state, and provides vocational training. However, due to limited capabilities, the boarding house is not able to provide assistance to all blind people of different social status. In Fig. Figure 2 shows an example of multifactor segmentation of these individuals based on gender, age and income level (4, p. 260).

And the boarding house chose to serve blind working-age men with low incomes, because its management believes that it can best meet the needs of this particular group of potential clients.

Rice. 2 Segmentation of blind people by demographic and socio-economic characteristics

Geographical and demographic characteristics represent general objective signs of segmentation; represent general objective signs of segmentation. However, segments that are homogeneous in terms of these characteristics often turn out to be significantly differentiated in terms of buyer behavior in the market. Thus, census data provides useful information about population groups, but does not explain the reasons why certain products find their own market niches, attracting some portion of buyers. It is obvious that the use of only objective features does not allow for effective segmentation.

Subjective specific signs of segmentation are psychographic and behavioral.

Psychographic segmentation combines a whole range of buyer characteristics. It is generally expressed by the concept of “lifestyle” and is a model of an individual’s life, which is expressed in hobbies, actions, interests, opinions, hierarchy of needs, dominant type of relationships with other people, etc.

An American analysis made it possible to identify the following groups of people according to a certain lifestyle:

“desperate” – people living without meaning in life, with a tendency to withdraw from society (4%);

“supporters” – people who are still losers in life, but maintain connections with society in order to escape poverty (7%);

“belonging” – people are very conservative, respect customs, do not like to experiment, prefer to adapt rather than stand out (33%).

“competitive” – people with ambitions, striving “to the top”, always wanting to achieve more (10%);

“prosperous” - people who consider themselves happy, have “grown into” the social system, are satisfied with life (23%);

“I am for myself” – people, most often young, self-absorbed, capricious (5%);

“worried” – people with a rich inner life who accept it as it is (7%);

“socially creative” – people with a high degree of responsibility who want to improve social relations (9%);

“integrated” – people with a completely mature psychology, combining the best elements of internal aspirations and external, social ones (2%).

The above classification is valuable for marketing because it is based on the idea that each person goes through different stages of their lifestyle. We have not yet conducted such studies in Russia, although the need for them is obvious.

Research into market segments, taking into account personality types and lifestyles, has long been practiced abroad. For example, American marketer R. Ekoff and J. Emshoff managed to identify four personality types of beer consumers (see Table 3) and helped the Ankhozer-Bush company develop a competitive advertising campaign to reach each of these groups (4, p. 262).

Table 3

Segmentation of beer consumers by personality type

Consumer type	Personality type	Consumer habits
Drinking in company	We are driven by our own needs and especially the needs to achieve success and the desire to manipulate others to get something we want	A person who knows how to control himself, who can sometimes get drunk, but is most likely a non-alcoholic. He drinks on weekends and holidays, usually in the company of friends. He considers drinking beer one of the ways to achieve social recognition.
Drinking to restore tone	Sensitive and responsive. Adapts to the needs of others. Usually a middle-aged man.	A self-controlled person who rarely gets drunk. Drinks after work with close friends.
Heavy drinker	Sensitive to the needs of others. Often a loser who blames himself.	Drinks a lot. At times he loses control of himself and can get very drunk. Drinking beer for him is an escape from reality.
Drinking out of control	As a rule, he does not feel empathy for others, blaming his failures on the lack of himself on the part of others	He drinks a lot, often gets drunk, and often becomes an alcoholic. For him, drinking beer is a form of escapism.

E.P. Golubkov in his work “Marketing Research: Theory, Methodology and Practice” identifies the following behavioral signs of segmentation: according to the circumstances of application; benefit-based; based on user status; based on consumption intensity; based on the stage of consumer readiness to make a purchase (2, p. 43).

Behavioral signs of segmentation (see Table 4) are the most imaginative and, according to many experts, are the most logical basis for the formation of a market segment. Behavioral segmentation involves dividing the market into groups depending on consumer characteristics such as level of knowledge, attitudes, patterns of use or reaction to the product, etc.

Table 4

Segmentation of consumers by their behavior in the market

Segmentation by circumstances of application - dividing the market into groups in accordance with the circumstances, reasons for the idea, purchase or use of the product. For example, abroad, orange juice is usually consumed at breakfast. However, orange producers are trying to expand the demand for oranges by promoting the consumption of orange juice at other times of the day.

Segmentation based on benefits - dividing the market into groups depending on the benefits, the benefits that the consumer is looking for in a product is one of the main life needs, for the other - only an element of a certain image.

User status also characterizes the degree of regularity of use of a product by its users, who are divided into non-users, former users, potential users, new users and regular users. For example, you can focus your marketing efforts on converting first-time users into regular users.

Consumption intensity is an indicator on the basis of which markets are segmented into groups of weak, moderate and active consumers of certain goods. Obviously, it is more profitable to serve one market segment than several small segments of weak consumers.

Degree of loyalty, i.e. consumer commitment to a particular brand of product. Typically measured by the number of repeat purchases of a given brand.

According to the degree of customer commitment to the product, F. Kotler and A.P. Durovich distinguishes the following segments: 1) unconditional adherents; 2) tolerant adherents; 3) fickle adherents; 4) “wanderers”.

The stage of buyer readiness to make a purchase is a characteristic according to which buyers are classified into those who are unaware of the product, those who are well informed about it, those who are interested in it, those who want to buy it, and those who do not intend to buy it.

A.P. Durovich. Depending on the buyer’s attitude towards the product, he suggests dividing into the following segments: 1) ignorant, who knows nothing about the product; 2) informed - knows only that the product exists; understanding - has an idea of ​​the merits of the product, its functions and the needs it satisfies, but is not sure that it is superior to competing products; 4) convinced - realized the advantages of the product offered, but for some reason (financial situation, seasonality of consumption, etc.) does not yet buy it; 5) active – acquires and uses the product (3, P. 135).

Choosing the right segmentation feature has a significant impact on the final results of business activities. For example, when developing a market strategy and sales tactics for the Mustang car model, Ford Motors (USA) chose the age of customers as the basic segmentation criterion. The model was intended for young people who wanted to buy an inexpensive sports car. However, having launched the car on the market, the company's management discovered to their surprise that the model was in demand among buyers of all ages. The conclusion suggests itself that it was not young people who should have been chosen as the basic segment group, but “psychologically young” people. This example shows us how important it is to make the right choice of segment, taking into account the various signs of segmentation, because the successful activity of the company depends on it.

2.2 Signs of product segmentation

industrial purposes

As a basis for segmenting markets for capital goods, you can use most of the same features that are used to segment markets for consumer goods. Buyers of capital goods can be segmented geographically and along a number of behavioral variables, based on the benefits they seek, user status, consumption intensity, degree of commitment, readiness to perceive the product and attitude towards it.

When segmenting the market for industrial goods, E.P. Golubkov identifies such features as: geographical location; type of organization purchasing the goods; size of purchases; direction of use of purchased goods (2, p. 44).

In the textbook "Marketing" edited by A.N. Romanov said that for segmenting the market for industrial goods, economic and technological criteria are of paramount importance, which include:

industry	(industry, transport, agriculture, construction, culture, science, healthcare, trade);
forms of ownership	(state, private, collective, foreign states, mixed);
field of activity	(R&D, main production, production infrastructure, social infrastructure);
enterprise size	(small, medium, large);
Geographical position		(tropics, Far North)

Important features of segmentation are also the frequency of orders for these goods, the specifics of the procurement organization (delivery times, payment terms, payment methods), and forms of relationships (6, p. 57).

A.P. Durovich believes that in the market for industrial goods, where consumers are enterprises, where consumers are enterprises, geographic segmentation is to some extent combined with production and economic segmentation. He refers to specific signs of production and economic segmentation (3, p. 134)

the industry to which the enterprise belongs: agriculture, oil production and refining, metallurgy, etc.;

technological processes used at the consumer enterprise.

The second group of features characterizes the specifics of the procurement organization, the characteristics of consumer requests: the presence of specific problems in the field of procurement of capital goods (for example, productivity, power, speed, completeness, etc.); terms of payment and forms of relationship with suppliers (one-time purchases, long-term relationships, etc.).

Technical and applied characteristics are closely related to this group of segmentation characteristics.

When segmenting the market for industrial goods, brand-demographic characteristics can be widely and effectively used. Thus, information about the main production assets, the capital of the enterprise, the dynamics of the volume of product production and its assortment give an idea of ​​​​both the current production and commercial program and the prospects, and, consequently, about the existing and potential needs of the enterprise for certain goods.

As for the consumer goods market, segmentation of industrial goods is carried out based on a combination of several characteristics. It is important that the segments are not too small. In Fig. Figure 3 shows a fragment of the results of a sequential three-stage segmentation of the aluminum consumer market.

Rice. 3 Three-stage market segmentation

3 TARGET MARKET SEGMENTATION AND PRODUCT POSITIONING

Market segmentation in the segmentation process is usually carried out in two stages. At the macro-segmentation stage, the product market is identified; at the subsequent micro-segmentation stage, the goal is to identify individual customer segments in the previously identified product market.

3. 1 Selecting the target market

One of the most important stages of market segmentation, after determining the criteria, methods and characteristics of segmentation, is the selection of the target market. The choice of the target market must be given serious attention, since the effectiveness of all subsequent activities of the enterprise largely depends on the choice made. In Lambern's monograph, this stage of market segmentation was called macro-segmentation, as opposed to micro-segmentation, dedicated to the selection of the target segment.

The main points of macro-segmentation in accordance with the results of Lambern's work are as follows: the implementation of a market segmentation strategy should begin with a definition of the firm's mission, which describes its role and main function from a consumer-oriented perspective. The head of a company should ask three fundamental questions: “What business is the company in?”, “What business should it be in?”, “What business should it not be in?”

This gives rise to the concept of a firm's target or base market, which is a significant group of consumers with similar needs and motivational characteristics that create favorable marketing opportunities for the firm.

According to Abell's work, a firm's target market can be defined along three dimensions (10, p. 79):

technological, describing technologies that can satisfy market needs (“how?”);


functional, certain functions of which must be satisfied in a given market (“what?”);


consumer, which determines groups of consumers who can be satisfied in a given market (“who?”).

Graphically, this can be represented by a three-dimensional diagram (see Fig. 4).

Using this approach, it is possible to distinguish between three different structures: the market for one technology (industry), the market for one function (technology market) and the product market.

An industry is defined by technology, regardless of its associated functions or consumer groups. The concept of industry is itself traditional. At the same time, it is the least satisfactory, since it is focused on supply rather than demand. Thus, such a category is appropriate provided that the functions and consumer groups under consideration are highly homogeneous.

A product market is at the intersection of a group of consumers and a set of functions based on a specific technology. It is consistent with the concept of a strategic business unit and responds to the realities of supply and demand.

The choice of market coverage strategy is made on the basis of an analysis of competitiveness in relation to each segment. An enterprise can choose the following different strategies to reach its target market:

Concentration strategy - an enterprise narrowly defines its area of ​​activity in relation to a product market, function or consumer group.


Functional specialist strategy - enterprises prefer to specialize in one function, but serve all groups of customers interested in that function of warehousing goods.


Customer specialization strategy - an enterprise specializes in a certain category of customers (hospitals, hotels, etc.), offering its clients a wide range of products or complex equipment systems that perform additional or interrelated functions.


The strategy of selective specialization is the release of many goods in different markets that are not related to each other (a manifestation of production diversification).


Full coverage strategy - offering a complete range that satisfies all consumer groups.

In most real-world cases, strategies to reach a target market can be formulated along two dimensions: functions and customer groups, since firms most often own only one specific technology surrounding their industry.

If the company owns various technologies, then the choice of the target market and the strategy for reaching it will also be determined by the technological dimension of the market.

After choosing a target market, it is advisable to move on to more detailed segmentation.

3.2 Selecting a target segment

After selecting the target market, the company must decide how many segments the enterprise should target, in other words, select target market segments and develop a marketing strategy.

Target market segment – ​​one or more segments for the marketing activities of an enterprise.

At the same time, the form should, taking into account the chosen goals, determine the strengths of competition, the size of markets, relationships with sales channels, profits and its own image of the company.

The goals of an enterprise can be set both quantitatively and qualitatively. They may concern the introduction of new products or the penetration of established products into new market segments. In this case, the segment must have sufficient demand potential to be selected as a target segment. In addition, target segments must be stable, allowing sufficient time to implement the chosen marketing strategy.

The choice of the target segment can be decided by one of the following differences between segments and one type of product can be released to the entire market, ensuring its attractiveness in the eyes of consumers of all groups through marketing means. In this case, a mass marketing strategy is used. This strategy is referred to as a big sales strategy. The main goal of mass marketing is maximum sales. Penetration into a large number of segments is associated with a wide capture of the entire market and requires significant expenditure of resources, so this strategy is usually used by large enterprises. For successful mass marketing, it is necessary that the majority of buyers feel the need for the same product properties. Methods of mass distribution and mass advertising, one price range, and a single marketing program aimed at various consumer groups are used. However, as the market becomes saturated, this approach becomes less productive.

Secondly, it is possible to concentrate the efforts and resources of the manufacturer on one market segment (a specific group of consumers). In this case, a concentrated marketing strategy is used. This strategy is attractive for limited resources, for small businesses. The enterprise concentrates its efforts and resources where it can exploit its advantages, ensuring economies of production specialization and a strong market position due to a strong degree of uniqueness and individuality in meeting needs.

A concentrated marketing strategy allows a company to maximize profits per unit of output while competing with large firms in specialized market segments with few resources.

The marketing strategy of an enterprise is based on the exceptional nature of its products, but here too the influence of competitors is dangerous, but here too the influence of competitors is dangerous and the risk of large losses is significant.

It is safer to work on several segments that form the target market of a given enterprise.

The third way to select a target market segment is to cover several segments and release for each of them its own product or its variety. Here, a differentiated marketing strategy is used with a different marketing plan for each segment. Covering multiple market segments requires significant market segments requires significant resources and enterprise capabilities to produce and market different brands and products. At the same time, the release of several types of goods aimed at several segments allows us to maximize sales.

So, the choice of any of these three market coverage strategies is determined by:

the number of identified and potentially profitable segments;


enterprise resources.

If the enterprise's resources are limited, then the concentrated marketing strategy is apparently the only possible one.

In some cases, an enterprise starting with a mass or concentrated marketing strategy is able to enter undeveloped consumer segments (for example, switching from the production of universal shampoo (mass marketing) to the production of special shampoos for various hair types for children). Or vice versa, having firmly established itself in one segment, the company expands its activities by mastering a new segment. Thus, along with producing products for children, the Johnson & Johnson company sells shampoos for women over 40 years old. In some cases, firms use both mass and concentrated marketing in their strategy.

Often, during the segmentation process, certain parts of the market are discovered that manufacturers, for one reason or another, neglect. The consumers who make up these segments do not fully satisfy their desires and preferences. An example would be products for certain categories of consumers: pensioners, teenagers, etc. This situation is called a market window. A manufacturer that strives to close this window can have great success.

Market segments in which an enterprise has secured a dominant and stable position are usually called market niches.

The creation and strengthening of a market niche, including by finding market windows, is ensured only through the use of market segmentation methods. Market segmentation establishes differences in demand and the product is tailored to the needs of buyers.

3.3 Product positioning

After determining the target market segment, the enterprise must study the properties and image of competitors and assess the position of its product in the market. Having studied the positions of competitors, the enterprise decides on the positioning of its product, i.e. ensuring the competitive position of your product in the market. Positioning a product in a selected market is a logical continuation of finding target segments, since the position of a product in one market segment may differ from how it is perceived by buyers in another segment.

In some works of Western marketers who consider positioning within the framework of sales logistics, it is defined as the optimal placement of a product in the market space, which is based on the desire to bring the product as close as possible to the consumer. Specialists in the field of advertising use the term “positioning” in relation to the selection of the most advantageous position of a product in a product display, for example, in a window.

If segmentation gives the characteristics that a product should have in terms of desires and preferences, then positioning convinces consumers that they are being offered exactly the product that they would like to purchase.

Positioning includes a set of marketing elements with the help of which people need to convince that this is a product created specifically for them, so that they identify the proposed product with their ideal.

Here we can note the main strategies for positioning a product in the target segment:

positioning based on excellent product quality;


positioning based on a particular way of using the product;


positioning based on the benefits of purchasing a product or solutions to a specific problem;


positioning aimed at a specific category of consumers;


positioning in relation to a competing product;


positioning based on a break with a specific product category.

To gain a strong position in the competition, based on the results of the positioning of its products, the company identifies characteristics of the product and marketing activities that can favorably distinguish its products from those of competitors, i.e. differentiates its products, i.e. differentiates its products.

Moreover, different directions of differentiation can be chosen for different products.

So, marketer E.P. Golubkov identifies productive differentiation, service differentiation, personnel differentiation, image differentiation (2, p. 50).

Productive differentiation is offering products with features and designs that are better than those of competitors. For standardized products (chickens, petroleum products, metal) it is almost impossible to carry out product differentiation. For products such as cars, household appliances, following this market policy is common.

Service differentiation - offering services (speed, reliability of supply, installation, after-sales service, customer training, consulting, etc.) that accompany the product and are at a level higher than the services of competitors.

Personnel differentiation is the hiring and training of personnel who perform their functions more effectively than the personnel of competitors. Well-trained personnel must meet the following requirements: competence, friendliness, reliability, responsibility, communication skills. He must inspire confidence.

Image differentiation is the creation of an image, an image of an organization or a product that differentiates them for the better from competitors. For example, most well-known brands of cigarettes have similar tastes and are sold in the same way. However, Marlboro cigarettes, due to the extraordinary nature of their image, according to which they are smoked only by strong, “cowboy-like” men, have about 30% of the world cigarette market.

Depending on the characteristics of specific products and the capabilities of the company, it can simultaneously implement from one to several areas of differentiation.

When determining the position of a product on the market, the method of constructing positioning maps in the form of a two-dimensional matrix is ​​often used, on the field of which the products of competing companies are presented.

In Fig. Figure 5 shows a map of the positioning of competing products in a specific target market according to two parameters: price (horizontal axis) and quality (vertical axis).

In the circles, the radii of which are proportional to the volume, sales indicate the names of competing companies. The question mark characterizes the possible choice of a market position for a new firm, based on an analysis of the position of other firms in this market. The choice made is justified by the desire to occupy a place in the target market where there is less intensity of competition. In this case, these are products of relatively high quality, sold at average prices.

Rice. 5 Map of product positioning according to quality-price parameters

Based on the decision made, this company must carry out a complex of work on the development, market testing and launch of the selected product into production. There is no 100% guarantee of successful implementation of the decision made. We must also evaluate the chances of success.

Thus, the positioning of a product in the target segment is associated with highlighting the distinctive advantages of the product, satisfying specific needs or a certain category of customers, with the belief in the excellent quality of the product, as well as with the formation of a characteristic image of the product or company.

4 features of SEGMENTATION of the goods market in Russia

Above we examined the basics of both Western and domestic theories of product market segmentation. Which of these approaches is applicable today in Russian marketing practice?

Let's start with segmentation based on traditional socio-demographic and geographic characteristics.

Any advertising and marketing campaign plan in the United States or any other industrialized country necessarily includes a “geographical cross-section”, which provides accurate data on the number of households with a certain income level in a particular city and state. To compare the marketing potential of regions, multifactor indices are widely used - population size, total monetary income of the population and the region and the distribution of this income, total volume and index of retail sales of certain types of goods. The main thing here is the retail sales volume index, since it is on its basis that one can predict the potential capacity of the regional market (see Table 5) (5, p. 72).

The multifactor index, which most accurately characterizes the marketing potential of a region, in the USA is calculated based on the weighted average of three factors: 1) the percentage of actual consumer income; 2) percentage of retail sales volume and percentage of population.

For Russian conditions, geographic segmentation is of particular importance - the growing trends towards regionalization in recent years lead to the creation of closed and dissimilar markets and closed “consumer worlds”. In relation to Russia, the method of calculating the multifactor consumer index of the region was proposed by the method of Leonid Laptev and Oleg Mitichkin (ORFI company) (5, p. 73).

Table 5

An example of determining the potential capacity of regional markets for the USA

Region	Total retail sales (millions of dollars)	Retail sales volume index	Sales potential (millions of dollars).
Great Lakes Illinois	129657 37691	19,6	9800 2850

According to their methodology, the following indicators are used to calculate the multifactor consumer index of the region: the number of families in the region, the average family expenditure on the purchase of food (non-food) goods, the average salary in the region, the ratio of the average salary to the cost of living as a percentage.

An example of calculating a multifactor consumer index for those regions in Russia is given in the table (see Table 6).

Leonid Laptev and Oleg Mitichkin note that in addition to assessing the sales potential of consumer goods, their multifactor index can also be used to calculate the capacity of industrial goods markets. For example, in relation to the paper and paper products market, the multifactor index of the region will represent the weighted average of several indicators: the percentage of printing enterprises in the region to their total number in Russia, the ratio of the volume of production of printing products in the region to all-Russian indicators.

Table 6

An example of calculating a multifactor consumer index for three regions of Russia

Region	Number of families	Average monthly costs	Average salary (thousand rubles)	Living wage (thousand rubles)	Ratio of average salary to cost of living	Consumer Index
Nizhny Novgorod	1060000					2,317
KOMI	325000					1,517
Murmansk	316000					1,457

As for calculating consumer demand, the greatest difficulties will arise in practice in obtaining reliable data on the average salary and cost of living in the region. There is nothing surprising in this - segmentation by income level is basic and more complex in the conditions and more complex in the conditions of the sharp wealth stratification that has occurred in our society. The situation is paradoxical in that for conducting advertising and marketing campaigns for a huge variety of products, segmentation by income level can be practically self-sufficient. Indicators such as gender, age and family income make other socio-demographic characteristics (education, social status, type of occupation, etc.) redundant. That is, the target audience obtained based on income level turns out to be so narrow that it no longer requires further division using additional socio-demographic characteristics.

So, for example, the potential market for foreign tourism, air travel or financial services from commercial banks today is within just 10% of the highest-income part of the Moscow population. Studying the communicative behavior of the high-income part of the population of Moscow, the research center “V raoloi” limited itself to 17% of the capital’s residents. The remaining 83% of the Moscow population can serve as the target audience for advertising campaigns for washing powder, Coca-Cola, chocolates, coffee, chewing gum, and shampoo, which is what we actually see on our TV screens. This is the striking difference between marketing practice in Russia and the West. In Russia, developments in the field of the theory of consumer behavior are lagging far behind. When it is possible to characterize the target audience of an advertising company in just three indicators - income level, gender and age - the question of segmentation by benefits, purchasing behavior or lifestyle no longer arises. The reason is the absence of the middle class - a potential buyer of most quality goods and the main object of advertising influence. The middle class exists in Russia as a kind of “phantom” in the mass consciousness. In surveys about class affiliation, the following data were obtained (5, C, P. 76). 1% of respondents considered themselves to be in the “highest” class, 37% in the “middle” class, 44% in the “lower” class, and 18% found it difficult to answer.

Thus, the conclusion about the emerging potential price unaffordability of many ordinary food products by low-income buyers, the share of which reaches half of the population, is confirmed by research data. Thus, according to VTsIOM data (see Table 7), regular consumption of the most popular goods is as follows.

Table 7

Share of consumption of various goods

Russian buyers

Product	Share of consumers as a percentage of population
Chocolate candies
Chocolate bars
Chewing gum
Mineral water
Soft drinks such as "Cola"
Other soft drinks
Fruit juices
Tea
Coffee
Vodka
Beer
Cigarettes
Soap
Toothpaste
Shampoo
Washing powder

From this table it can be seen that half of the residents of Russia never or almost never buy fruit juices, mineral water, soft drinks, beer, a quarter of our country never buy coffee and chocolates. All this indicates the very low consumer potential of the overwhelming majority of the population.

Thus, it is clear that marketers may need models for segmenting by benefits, lifestyle and purchasing behavior only when developing advertising and marketing strategies for selling goods to the highly profitable (8 - 10%) part of our society. For others, the determining factor for a long time will be the price of the product. So far there are only attempts to build such models.

Segmentation of buyers by lifestyle and motives in Russia was carried out in two research products: “R-TGI” by the “Comson –2” center and its adapted Finnish version “Media&Marketing Index”, made by the “Romir / G11up Media” center (5, p. 78 ).

Summarizing the obtained segmentation data based on purchase motives and lifestyle in Russia, Elena Koneva, General Director of the Comson-2 research center, identifies three top Russian buyers:

1) “romantic” buyers, “playmakers” (young people with modest financial resources, but a huge willingness to spend them. They consider the prestige of a product as a means of socialization, a way to express belonging to their group. Characteristic: low level of consumption, prudence in spending , purchase motives - prestige, attention to advertising combined with a cautious attitude towards it).

2) “rich pragmatists” (persons employed in the private sector). They are characterized by a willingness and ability to spend significant amounts of money, which is combined with prudence in purchases. They know the value of money, know how to earn it, and want for their money to have what suits them most. Characteristic: high level of consumption, prudence in spending, purchase motives - prestige, attention to advertising combined with a cautious attitude towards it);

3) “socialist-conservative” type of consumer (mainly a socially unprotected group of elderly people over 55 years old). “Affordable prices” is the main motive for consumption. This group is focused only on survival and has poor ability to adapt to new economic conditions. Characteristic features are a low level of consumption, reluctance to spend money, the purchase motive is an affordable price, irritation with advertising and distrust of it.

Elena Koneva notes that belonging to a particular age group does not at all mean the inevitable adoption of the corresponding type of behavior. In her opinion, the most severe factor determining the type of consumption is employment in the private sector of the economy. “Technological shifts” in this area, in her estimation, will occur in the direction from the “socialist conservative” “or romantic consumer” to the wealthy pragmatist, and not vice versa.

Thus, the peculiarities of market segmentation in Russia boil down to the fact that in conditions of colossal property stratification of society, segmentation by income level acquires key importance. The absence of the middle class, the main object of advertising influence, has led to the fact that the vast majority of advertised goods by income level today are available to no more than 8–10% of the Russian population. Geographic segmentation is also of particular importance, during which (given the widening gap in living standards between individual regions of Russia) a multifactor consumer index reflecting the purchasing potential of the region should be taken into account.

Other types of segmentation (by lifestyle, purchasing motives, benefits, etc.) are just beginning to be developed in Russia today and are applicable, first of all, when developing marketing strategies aimed at high-income segments of the population.)

CONCLUSION

So, we have determined that product market segmentation is a breakdown into clear groups of buyers,

Each of which may require separate products and marketing mixes. To find the best segmentation opportunities from the firm's point of view, the marketer will try a variety of methods. It carries out segmentation according to many principles, taking into account many criteria and characteristics.

Having assessed the potential of the company according to all criteria, the manufacturer (entrepreneur) makes a decision as to whether this market segment is suitable for the enterprise, whether it is worth continuing to study consumer demand in this segment, continue collecting and processing information and spending time and new resources on this.

Choosing the right segmentation feature has a significant impact on the final results of business activities. In consumer marketing, segmentation is based on geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral characteristics. Markets for industrial goods can be segmented by types of end consumers, by the importance of customers, and by their geographic location. The effectiveness of analytical work on segmentation depends on the extent to which the resulting segments are measurable, accessible, solid and suitable for carrying out targeted actions in them.

Then the company must select one or more of the most profitable market segments for itself. She decides exactly how many segments to cover. A firm may ignore differences in segments (undifferentiated marketing) and develop different market offerings for different segments (differentiated marketing). In this case, much depends on the company's resources, the degree of product and market homogeneity, the stage of the product life cycle and marketing competitors.

The choice of a specific market segment determines the circle of competitors of the company and the possibilities of its positioning. Having studied the positions of competitors, the company decides whether to take a position close to that of one of its competitors, or try to find and fill its own niche in the market. If a firm occupies a position next to one of its competitors, it must differentiate its offering through product, price, and quality differences. Deciding on precise positioning will allow the firm to proceed to the next step, namely detailed planning of the marketing mix.

Segmentation of the Russian market is currently carried out according to the principle of “affordable prices”. Therefore, segmentation by income level is of key importance in Russia.

Unfortunately, in conditions of economic instability and the colossal wealth stratification of Russian society, segmentation based on psychological and psychographic characteristics is practically not carried out, although the need for them is obvious.
Expertise of goods: definition, types of expertise, their goals and objectives. The importance of examination of goods in modern commercial activities CLASSIFICATION OF EXCHANGE DEPENDING ON THE RANGE OF PRODUCTS Analysis of the sales planning system for products (goods), works and services World market of agricultural goods: trends and characteristics

2015-02-09

After the company has conducted a comprehensive and thorough analysis of the market, the desires and characteristics of consumers, it must select the most profitable market segment for it.

Market segment- this is the part of the market that the company can effectively serve.

Market segmentation is the process of dividing a single consumer market into a number of segments according to some factor (attribute).

Market segmentation- This is one of the main elements of the company's market strategy.

Target– the most complete satisfaction of the needs and requirements of customers, and as a result, the successful functioning and prosperity of the company.

Well-known marketer S. Majaro noted that a marketing specialist who is able to offer a new way of market segmentation for his product can enable the company to avoid intense competition. Consequently, the company's success in competition will largely depend on how well the market segment is chosen.

The main segmentation of the market is the position of the company in a competitive environment when it is not able to satisfy all the needs for a certain product, and therefore must focus only on those segments that are most preferable from the point of view of the production and commercial capabilities of the company. Objects of sales market segmentation– these are groups of consumers, goods (services), as well as enterprises (competitors).

2. Segmentation stages

Exist (highlight) main stages of segmentation:

1) identification of the requirements and main characteristics presented by the consumer to the product (service) offered by the company: at this stage, using various marketing methods, the requirements and wishes of consumers are determined and systematized;

2) analysis of the similarities and differences of consumers: the collected information is analyzed; identifying similarities or differences should influence the marketing plan being developed;

3) development of profiles of consumer groups: consumers with similar characteristics and needs are separated into separate profiles that define market segments;

4) selection of consumer segment(s): follows from the previous stage;

5) determining the company’s place of operation in the market relative to competition: at this stage, the company needs to answer two questions - which market segments will not create great opportunities for the company and how many consumer segments it needs to target; Moreover, the company must realistically represent its goals, strengths, level of competition, market sizes, relationships with sales channels, profits and its image in the eyes of others;

6) creating a marketing plan: after the company has collected and analyzed information about consumers and identified its market segment (or segments), it must study in detail the properties and images of its competitors’ products, and subsequently determine the position of its product in the market; As a result, the company develops a marketing plan that includes: product, distribution, price, promotion.

3. Types of segmentation

Market segmentation requires a detailed study of the consumer's requirements for the product, as well as knowledge of the characteristics of the purchasing motivations of the consumers themselves.

Segmentation is divided into the following types depending on its nature and the type of consumer of the product (service).

1. Depending on the nature of segmentation:

1) macro-segmentation - dividing markets by region, country, degree of industrialization;

2) micro-segmentation - the formation of consumer groups of one country (region) according to more detailed characteristics (criteria);

3) segmentation in depth - the segmentation process begins with a wide group of consumers, and then it is gradually deepened (narrowed) depending on the classification of end consumers of any group of goods (services); for example, cars, cars, luxury cars;

4) segmentation in breadth - the segmentation process begins with a narrow group of consumers and gradually expands depending on the scope and use of the product (service); for example, skates for professional athletes, skates for amateurs, skates for youth;

5) preliminary segmentation – study of the maximum possible market segments;

6) final segmentation – the final stage of market research; here the most optimal market segments for the company are determined, in which it will further develop its market strategy.

2. Depending on the type of consumers:

1) the process of segmenting consumers of consumer goods (services);

2) segmentation of consumers of goods for industrial and technical purposes;

3) segmentation of consumers of two types of goods.

However, in practice, each type of market segmentation is not used separately. As a rule, market marketers use a combination of these types when analyzing.

4. Market segmentation criteria

Market segmentation is carried out according to criteria and characteristics.

Criterion is a way of assessing a firm's choice of a particular segment.

Market segmentation criteria:

1. Segment capacity, i.e. how many goods (services), at what cost, can be sold in a given segment, and therefore, how many potential consumers can be served; Based on this, the company determines the required production capacity.

2. Segment availability, i.e. e. obtaining distribution and sales channels for the company, as well as conditions for transporting products in this segment.

3. The importance of the segment, i.e. how resistant the market is to the utilization of the enterprise’s capacity.

4.Profitability.

5. Protection from competition , i.e., how compatible the market segment is with the market of its main competitors; the opportunity to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of “rivals”.

6. Experience of the company's personnel.

7. Media accessibility.

8. Impact of business structure.

9. Legal aspects.

10. Demographic characteristics.

11. Lifestyle.

12. Consumer attitude towards this brand.

13. Expected risk.

14. Importance of purchase.

15. Geographic, i.e. urbanization, relief, climate.

16. Demographic.

17. Economic (property).

18. Social.

19. Cultural.

20. Psychological, etc.

5. Market segmentation strategy and capabilities

After market segmentation, the company needs to decide how many and what segments it will operate in. It is also important to choose a strategy.

There are three types of strategies:

1) undifferentiated;

2) differentiated;

3) concentrated.

Strategy undifferentiated marketing- This is a company strategy focused on the common interests and preferences of customers, and not on differences in needs and relationships. Target– development of such products and marketing programs that can satisfy the maximum possible number of customers. In other words, the company's goal is achieved by finding a compromise line. The company adheres to standardization and mass production of goods. This strategy is significantly economical. However, it is not recommended for use by enterprises in the same industry, since fierce competition may arise in large segments.

Strategy differentiated marketing is a company strategy aimed simultaneously at several market segments with the development of separate offers. This strategy more fully reflects the market situation, and therefore provides large sales volumes and a low level of risk. On the other hand, large investments, production and management costs are required, therefore the differentiated marketing strategy is feasible mainly for large companies.

Strategy concentrated marketing is a strategy for focusing a firm's efforts on one or more profitable market segments. It is especially attractive in cases where the enterprise’s resources are quite limited. This strategy is preferable for small and medium-sized companies. It consists in offering one or more products to the market, which are accompanied by targeted marketing programs. At the same time, it is necessary to pay great attention to the reputation of your company, the prestige of your product, carry out constant analysis of selected segments, monitor the dynamics of market share, and also take measures to prevent the emergence of new competitors.

The main arguments in favor of market segmentation are:

1) the ability to provide a better understanding of not only the needs and requirements of customers, but also knowledge of your potential or actual consumer “in person” (personal characteristics, motives for behavior in the market, etc.); result - the product better meets market requirements;

2) the possibility of better understanding the nature of competition;

3) the emergence of the possibility of concentrating limited resources and organizational capabilities in more profitable areas of their use;

4) studying the most promising buyers;

5) the ability to take into account the characteristics of various market segments.

6. The concept of market segment and niche

Segment- this is a certain group of consumers that has one or more stable characteristics that determine their behavior in the market.

Consumer needs are constantly evolving and changing under the influence of changing market trends, new offers from companies, and outside opinions. Therefore, market segments are not constant.

The success of firms in the market depends not only on finding their segment, but also on finding an unoccupied place in the market - a market niche. For a company to find its market niche means to find “its home,” i.e. a niche is a part of the market where the company has secured a dominant position. It is believed that an enterprise operating in niches is so knowledgeable and able to satisfy the needs and requirements of buyers of its niche that the latter are willing to pay even a higher price for the goods (services) of this enterprise.

Occupying your niche is a chance to withstand competition by focusing your resources on serving narrower market niches that do not arouse interest or that larger competing companies do not pay attention to.

7. Multiple segmentation

Multiple segmentation- This is one of the methods for determining the target market, characterized by the scale of activity.

Scale of activity consists of involving several market segments in the purchase and sale process, which indicates certain production and sales capabilities of the company.

This method takes into account the various specific needs of buyers (for example, automobile manufacturing plants, electronics industries, banks, etc.)

Benefits of Multiple Segmentation consist in an expanded assortment, which allows the company to significantly increase its turnover volumes by involving several market segments in the production and sale of goods, which allows for potentially higher profits, and also conducting parallel work with several segments can really reduce the threat of deterioration in the company’s performance , due to the emergence of a powerful competitor or a change in consumer preferences. The loss of one market segment will not be so painful for the entire company. At this time, you can successfully work in other market segments and carry out technical re-equipment or reconstruction of production, update the range or improve quality. This method is used mainly by large companies that have the necessary material, financial and labor resources.

The multiple segmentation method involves researching potential market segments where the company intends to operate. A thorough study of consumer needs in different segments is quite an expensive pleasure. However, in case of successful research and making the right decision, the company receives significant advantages over competitors, and, consequently, impressive results.

8. Selecting target segments

Conducting marketing segmentation allows a company to identify the different market segments in which it will participate.

1) decide how many market segments it should occupy;

2) it is necessary to determine the most profitable segments for it.

To do this, a company can use the following strategies:

1) undifferentiated marketing;

2) differentiated marketing;

3) concentrated marketing.

Managers of small firms usually choose the third option for a market coverage strategy, taking into account several factors:

1) the company was created recently and (or) its resources are very limited;

2) provision of various services.

When choosing a target segment, it is advisable to use the following segment analysis methods:

1. AID – automatic determination of relationships by sequential comparison according to specified parameters (criteria).

2. Cluster analysis – sequential grouping of consumers (over 200) into groups with subsequent study.

3. Factor analysis.

4. Joint analysis – analysis of the consumer’s choice of preferred goods (services).

The assessment of a market segment is based on the attractiveness of the segment: analysis of current sales volumes and expected profits for each segment; size and growth opportunities in the long term; knowledge of your competitors; availability of substitute goods;

It is also necessary to identify the company's strengths.

So, the end result of a firm's selection of target segments is that it identifies the segment or segments on which it will concentrate its efforts.

9. Classification of consumers

One of the main goals of marketing is to carry out a competent strategy for promoting a product on the market, where it is very important to identify the most significant, large target groups of consumers that differ from each other, but have common intra-group interests (needs, demands).

Five types of consumers are defined:

1. Individual – these are consumers who purchase goods only for their personal needs. For example, single people or citizens living independently.

Personal items include clothing, shoes, personal items (except for gift purchases). First of all, these consumers are interested in the consumer qualities of the product: usefulness, price, appearance, packaging, service, guarantees. However, at the moment the market of individual consumers in Russia is relatively narrow.

2. Families or households are a group of buyers of food and non-food products, excluding personal items. Decisions are made jointly by the spouses or the head of the family.

3. Intermediaries are a type of consumer who purchases goods for subsequent resale. Intermediaries are not interested in the consumer qualities of a product, they are concerned with exchange characteristics - price, demand, profitability, speed of circulation, shelf life, etc. Intermediaries are more professional buyers, unlike families and individual consumers. The demand they present can be both quite broad and quite narrow.

4. Suppliers or representatives of companies, i.e. buyers of industrial goods. They buy goods for their further use in production, so everything is taken into account: price, quantity, speed of delivery, transportation costs, completeness of the assortment, the company’s reputation in the market, level of service and much more.

5. Officials or government workers. The peculiarity is that when purchasing a particular product, an official does not manage his own money, but government money, and, therefore, this procedure is bureaucratic and formalized. Important criteria when choosing a supplier or manufacturer are reliability, loyalty, honesty, personal connections, etc.

The international market also distinguishes such types of consumers as foreign legal entities and individuals.

There is also traditional classification consumers according to the following criteria.

1. Gender: there are products with a clear gender identity - bras, dresses, electric shavers, smoking pipes, shaving foam, etc. There are male and female models: cigarettes, deodorants, trousers, shirts, etc.

2. Age.

4. Education.

5. Social and professional criterion.

6. Quick response to new information or the appearance of a new product on the market. It is customary to divide consumers into the following groups:

1) “innovators” – consumers who dared to try a new product;

2) “adepts” - followers who make the product fashionable and famous;

3) “progressives” - consumers who ensure mass sales at the stage of product growth;

4) “skeptics” – they connect to demand at the saturation stage;

5) “conservatives” - they show demand when the product becomes “traditional”.

7. Personality type: there are four main psychological types - sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric, melancholic. The practical application of this classification in marketing is quite difficult, since it is difficult to determine a personality type using 10–12 test questions.

8. Lifestyle: analysis of values, relationships, rhythm of life, personal behavior.

10. Buyer characteristics that influence their purchasing behavior

One of the main tasks of a marketing specialist is to identify those who make purchasing decisions.

The decision to purchase a particular product is made by a person (or group of persons) who has a common goal and shares the risk associated with making this decision.

For certain types of goods (services), identifying such persons is relatively simple. For example, a man usually decides for himself which brand of cigarettes to buy, and a woman decides which company to give preference to when choosing lipstick. Decisions related to determining where a family will vacation or purchasing an apartment will most likely be made by a group of people consisting of a husband, wife, and adult children. Therefore, the marketing specialist must determine as precisely as possible the role of each family member in making a decision, which will help him in developing product characteristics.

There are several roles that a person plays in the process of making a decision to purchase a product:

1) initiator of the proposal;

2) the decision maker;

3) person exerting influence;

4) buyer;

5) user.

Thus, in the process of deciding to purchase a computer, an offer may come from a child (teenager). Each family member can have a certain influence on the decision or any of its components. The husband and wife make the final decision and, in fact, become the buyers. Users can be all family members.

To determine the roles of buyers, marketing specialists conduct research on the various participants in the decision-making process. Mostly a survey is used. It is important to determine the relative influence of different family members on the purchasing process. For example, J. Herbst identifies four types of families.

1. Each family member makes an equal number of independent decisions.

2. Families where the husband makes most of the decisions.

3. Dominance of wife's decisions.

4. Joint decision making (syncretistic).

All four types of families exist on the market, but their ratio changes over time. In modern society, due to rising incomes and education, there are more and more syncretic families and less and less with the dominance of the “masculine principle”. This circumstance must be taken into account when choosing and developing a marketing strategy.

Another important characteristic of the buyer is the period of the family’s life cycle. Seven periods are identified:

1) bachelor period, unmarried;

2) young families;

3) young families with a child under 6 years of age;

4) young families with children under 6 years of age;

5) married couples living with minor children;

6) elderly couples living separately from their children;

7) elderly singles.

Every family has certain needs at some point in its life cycle. For example, a young family with a minor child under 10 years of age is the main buyer of washing machines, televisions, kitchen appliances, and toys, while a family with adult children purchases expensive video and audio equipment. Depending on the life cycle of the family, the roles of individual family members may change, and accordingly, their influence on decisions made also changes.

11. Personal and psychological factors

There are four groups of factors that have a direct impact on purchasing behavior: personal, psychological, social and cultural.

Let's take a closer look at the first two.

Personal factors include: age, gender, income of the person, stage of the family life cycle, nationality, profession, lifestyle, personality type, etc.

Lifestyle refers to a person’s life stereotypes (his interests, beliefs, his own opinions). Sometimes it is quite difficult for marketers to study this factor. For this purpose, special marketing programs are specially developed, within the framework of which research is carried out.

Human is a personality, therefore, over a relatively long period of time, his reactions to the influence of the external environment are practically constant. Personality type is characterized by such traits as self-confidence, independence, sociality, active (or passive) behavior, adaptability, etc. For example, when conducting research, coffee producers discovered that active coffee consumers are quite highly social individuals.

Psychological factors include: motivation of human behavior, perception of the surrounding world.

Studying motivations (or drives) is necessary because this is what motivates a person to make a purchase.

Marketers are looking for answers to questions such as: “Why is this purchase being made?”, “What basic need does the buyer want to satisfy with this product?” and so on. Motive- This is the need that prompts a person to satisfy it. When studying the motives of human behavior, motivational analysis is used, based on the theory of S. Freud and A. Maslow.

Z. Freud studied the consumer purchasing decision-making process. He believed that important consumer motives are embedded in the subconscious and that the buyer cannot always justify one or another of his choices.

According to Z. Freud, a person from birth is under the pressure of many desires that he is not able to understand and control, that is, the individual is never fully aware of the motives of his behavior.

A. Maslow, in his theory of motivation, developed a hierarchical system of needs and explained why people have different needs at a certain point in time.

He built a system of needs based on the principle of importance:

1) physiological (need for food, clothing, housing);

2) self-preservation (protection, safety);

3) social (belonging to a certain social group, in love);

4) in respect;

5) in self-affirmation (the need for self-development, self-realization).

A person satisfies needs according to their importance. For example, a hungry person first of all tries to satisfy his need for food, rather than the need for his respect and love from others. And only having satisfied his important need, he moves on to satisfy the next less important need. This knowledge is used in assessing the possible behavior of different groups of consumers, as well as in motivating the work of employees.

Perception– this is how a person interprets information received from the outside. It is necessary to take into account the internal motivations of buyers, tips from other consumers in the process of stimulating demand.

Beliefs is a person’s idea of ​​something. It is based on knowledge, faith, experience, opinion. This is one of the important knowledge that marketers need to have.

Relationship– these are different assessments, feelings in relation to specific objects and ideas. They have a strong impact on human behavior, they are difficult to change, but they must be taken into account when forming the company’s marketing policy, trying to bring them as close as possible to certain relationships.

12. Buying behavior model

The purchasing behavior model includes the following categories:

1. Marketing incentives (product, its price, distribution methods and sales promotion).

2. Other stimuli (economic, political, cultural, social, scientific and technical).

3. Consciousness of the buyer (his characteristics and the process of making a purchase decision).

4. Buyer responses (choice of product, brand, supplier, time of purchase).

The process of purchasing a particular product includes the following steps:

1. A need arises:need arises under the influence of external and internal factors. For a person to undertake specific actions, his need must reach a certain level of intensity, that is, crowd out or suppress other desires. The marketing specialist must find out what needs the buyer satisfies by purchasing this product, as well as through what measures the intensity of the need can be increased.

2. Search for information: To satisfy a need, a person needs relevant information about a specific product. Depending on the intensity of the need, two states of a person are distinguished: a state of increased attention (increased attention to the information that is related to the satisfaction of his need) and a state of active search for information (when the intensity of the need increases, a person deliberately begins to look for information about the product that interests him).

Information sources:

a) personal (friends, family, acquaintances, neighbors);

c) public (media);

d) empirical (product use, experiment, test).

3. Evaluation of information: a person correlates the information received with his capabilities and forms an appropriate attitude towards this product.

4. Making a purchasing decision: assessment of the information received about the product, as well as taking into account the influence of various factors on the buyer’s purchasing behavior. A marketing specialist must provide the consumer with the necessary information and draw his attention to those factors that will help motivate him to purchase, that is, help him buy a specific product.

5. Impressions after the purchase. The impression from purchasing a product can be different: from complete satisfaction to complete negativity towards this purchase. The marketer must do everything to ensure that the buyer is not disappointed in his choice.

The main areas of consumer research are identified:

1) the consumer’s attitude towards a specific company;

2) attitude towards various aspects of its activities;

3) level of satisfaction of needs;

4) buyers' intentions;

5) making a purchase decision (see in the previous section);

6) buyer behavior during the purchase process and after;

7) motives of consumer behavior.

The consumer's assessment of the information received about the product is formed either on the basis of existing knowledge or on the basis of evoked emotions.

Using various marketing methods, marketers study attitudes towards their product. This is necessary in order to timely adjust the company’s actions in the market.

Two main approaches are used to determine the type of customer relationship with a product:

1) identification of preferences;

2) identifying propensities to purchase a particular product.

For example, there are two product models on the market: A and B. Using the question “Which model is more preferable to you?” buyer preferences can be identified. You can identify purchasing propensity by asking the question “Which model are you most likely to purchase?” A consumer may prefer Model A, but due to lack of the required amount of money (or other factors), buy Model B.

Also, an important area in the study of consumers is the value system they focus on when choosing a product.

It is necessary to conduct an in-depth analysis of the degree of customer satisfaction using a satisfaction map. To do this, calculate the average value of the level of satisfaction for the given indicators and the standard deviation for each of them. And they carry out the analysis by comparing the data obtained. Using this technique, you can get a fairly complete picture of the market’s perception of the quality of the product, its price, level of service, etc.

It is also important to regularly measure customer satisfaction (and dissatisfaction) and find out the reasons for dissatisfaction.

One of the main areas of marketing activity is market segmentation, which allows an enterprise to accumulate funds in a certain area of ​​its business. To date, the economic literature has quite clearly defined the concepts of target market and target segment, the identification of which is the main goal of market segmentation.

A target market is a firm's potential market, which is defined by a population of people with similar needs for a particular product or service, sufficient resources, and the willingness and ability to buy.

A target segment is a homogeneous group of consumers in a company's target market that has similar needs and purchasing habits in relation to the company's product.

Thus, market segmentation is the division of the market into distinct groups of buyers, each of which may require separate products and/or marketing mixes.

Segmentation goals.

Any activity of people pursues certain goals, including market segmentation. Three goals of segmentation can be formulated. The first arises from the fact that the company is not able to master the entire market, and is forced to be content with only part of it. By highlighting this part through segmentation, it is able to purposefully concentrate its efforts on those groups of buyers that will be more attractive to it.

The second goal is due to the fact that the identified group of buyers (target market) may be partially inaccessible to the company due to the actions of competitors. Analysis of the capabilities of competitors in the structure of selected segments allows us to identify those in which competitors are either less active or buyers are skeptical about their products. These segments, if the company does not want to fight with competitors, will be the most preferable for it.

The third goal of segmentation is reasonable in cases where the market does not have a complex multidimensional structure of segments. Its essence lies in the fact that if there are few segments, the company should strive to ensure its presence in each of them, i.e. To offer each segment a special product model that is most suitable for it.

In other words, the purpose of segmentation is to identify one or more target groups of consumers, for which the entire range of marketing activities is “tailored” - from product development and branding to the choice of tone and media for marketing communications. The purpose of segmentation is to increase the company's profit by increasing competitiveness in a specific segment.

From this we can draw several important conclusions:

• 1. To assess the feasibility of segmentation, it is necessary to be able to assess demand in the selected segments.
• 2. The segment must be large enough and have existed long enough for investments in increasing competitiveness in this segment to lead to a corresponding increase in sales.
• 3. The profitability of working with the segment should be sufficient. That is, the costs of logistics and communications with the segment should lead to the desired profit.

In fact, it is these conclusions that form the basis of the principles of effective segmentation formulated by the classics.

Market segmentation is the activity of identifying potential groups of consumers of a particular product of an enterprise.

Rice. 1.

This market segmentation scheme is of a general nature and can be applied when planning various areas of marketing activities.

Note that the above market segmentation scheme corresponds to the approach proposed by Lambin and takes into account macro-segmentation to identify the base (otherwise, target) market and micro-segmentation to determine the target segment of the enterprise. This scheme, in turn, is a development of segmentation schemes proposed in other studies.

Principles of segmentation.

The principle of differentiation between segments - the main goal of segmentation is to obtain groups of consumers that differ from each other. Accordingly, each resulting segment must have a set of unique characteristics.

The principle of similarity of consumers in a segment is the homogeneity of potential buyers within a segment from the point of view of the goals of segmentation tasks. The resulting segments should be fairly homogeneous - the differences between consumers within a segment should be less significant than the differences between segments.

The principle of large segment size - target segments must have sufficient potential capacity to be of commercial interest to the company. It is necessary to find a balance between taking into account all significant factors, on the one hand, and the size and number of segments obtained, on the other.

To conduct successful market segmentation, it is advisable to apply five principles tested in practice:

• 1. differences between segments
• 2. consumer similarities
• 3. large segment size
• 4. measurability of consumer characteristics
• 5. reachability of consumers.

The principle of distinction between segments means that as a result of segmentation, groups of consumers that differ from each other should be obtained. Otherwise, segmentation will be implicitly replaced by mass marketing.

The principle of similarity of consumers in a segment provides for the homogeneity of potential buyers in terms of purchasing attitudes towards a specific product. Consumer similarity is necessary so that an appropriate marketing plan can be developed for the entire target segment.

The large segment size requirement means that the target segments must be large enough to generate sales and cover the enterprise's costs. When assessing the size of a segment, one should take into account the nature of the product being sold and the capacity of the potential market. Thus, in the consumer market, the number of buyers in one segment can be measured in tens of thousands, while in the industrial market a large segment may include less than a hundred potential consumers (for example, for cellular or satellite communication systems, for consumers of power engineering products, etc.).

The measurability of consumer characteristics is necessary for targeted field marketing research, as a result of which it is possible to identify the needs of potential buyers, as well as study the reaction of the target market to the marketing actions of the enterprise. This principle is extremely important, since the distribution of goods “blindly”, without feedback from consumers, leads to the dispersal of funds, labor and intellectual resources of the selling company.

The principle of consumer reachability means the requirement for communication channels between the selling company and potential consumers. Such communication channels can be newspapers, magazines, radio, television, outdoor advertising, etc. Reachability of consumers is necessary for organizing promotional campaigns, or informing potential buyers about a specific product: its characteristics, cost, main advantages, possible sales, etc.

The basis of the market segmentation procedure, along with the application of segmentation principles, is the informed choice of the appropriate segmentation method.

Approaches to market segmentation.

There are two approaches to market segmentation. In the classical approach, the entire market is segmented. That is, the market is divided into segments in accordance with the maximum number of selected criteria. This method allows you to cover the entire market and cover all segments with one analysis. A consistent deepening of segmentation with analysis at each stage is necessary. Thus, the analysis is carried out to the required depth without losing the accuracy of the analysis.

The second approach is necessary if it is not possible to segment the entire market or it is impractical due to insufficient resources to process all possible segments. Take, for example, the ice cream market. No one bothers you to identify the differences in the behavior of representatives of any particular segment. If the volume of demand in it can be determined thanks to the available (or possible to obtain) data. Let it be at least 10-15 year old children who prefer to play pirates. If it is possible to determine the potential demand that they can provide, and estimate what part of them will prefer the new variety of ice cream “young pirate”. Why not put it on sale. This is a creative approach that can be used for some markets and complements the full segmentation method.

To implement segmentation, a company needs to test segmentation options based on different variables, one or more at a time, in an attempt to find the most useful approach to looking at market structure. For this purpose, factor analysis is used, which studies the influence of various factors on the result and allows you to select exactly those factors that have the maximum impact on the final result. All approaches to market segmentation can be divided into two types:

Unordered selection of segmentation criteria. The selection of segmentation criteria is carried out arbitrarily. It is used in situations where constructing a hierarchy of segmentation criteria is difficult or there is not enough data to construct it.

Multi-step approaches. Construction of a hierarchical system of criteria based on assessment of importance for segmentation. There are two or more levels of criteria through which segmentation is carried out. An example is the micro-macro model proposed by Wind and Cardoza (1974). At the first, macro stage, general factors are used - demographic characteristics of the population, geographic location, consumption activity, etc. The micro stage consists of defining segments within macro groups based on the characteristics of the decision makers. Another example is Bonhomme and Shapiro's (1983) nested model.

Market segmentation is necessary for market-oriented companies for the following main reasons: different groups of people have different needs and therefore the company needs to tailor the product for each group; the company must position its products in a specific way for each group; the company must select the appropriate price for each of the groups; Some groups may require dedicated sales channels.

One product cannot please absolutely all people - this is an axiom. Children have no use for decorative cosmetics, women, as a rule, are indifferent to spinning rods, and men do not understand the types of heels on shoes. But even within these large groups there are smaller ones whose needs may vary greatly. This is precisely why there is such a thing as a market segment. What does it mean? And what are the main ones?

Market segments

Essential goods, luxury goods, more expensive or cheaper analogues - all this is available in almost any market. Certain groups of the population always find something suitable for themselves. But how does this happen? The thing is that manufacturers, with the help of marketers, conditionally divide the entire mass of consumers and products into different groups. The criteria can be very different: income, age, place of residence, marital status, interests and hobbies, etc. for buyers, as well as a huge number of parameters when it comes to goods.

The needs of people belonging to certain segments will be different. It is unlikely that residents of northern latitudes will need a car with only air conditioning, but UAE citizens do not need heated seats. As a rule, a market segment is a group of people with similar indicators according to some distinguished criterion. But why do you need to know this? Of course, to identify and satisfy their needs, while receiving maximum income. That is why it is traditional to talk about division in the context of commodity industries. But, of course, it’s worth saying a few words about other sectors of the economy, for example, segments of the financial market are of interest. But more on that later.

Real market

The easiest way to consider segmentation is using the example of the simplest and most familiar area of ​​buying and selling goods and services. Here it allows not only to find out the composition of participants on the buyer’s side, but also to evaluate future competitors. Identifying what products are on the market and what consumer qualities they have, including price category, type of packaging, packaging, etc., helps in finding your own niche. Of course, either one criterion or a whole complex of them can be applied. This allows you to see the main sectors and their relationship. As a rule, it is impossible to take in the whole picture, but focusing only on large and medium-sized players, whose market segment share is more or less significant, gives a very real picture.

Why do you need segmentation?

Dividing consumers into groups is necessary for more efficient functioning of the market and meeting consumer demand. In addition, identifying target segments allows the company to reduce production costs in the long term. In the process of studying the most suitable strategy, market participants go through 3 main stages. However, sometimes a manufacturer acts based on one principle all the time:

• Mass marketing. Here, as a rule, the manufacturer focuses on the general features and needs of its customers. Standardization of goods and the absence of the possibility of customization for a specific client allows you to reduce costs and keep prices at an acceptable level.
• Product-differentiated marketing. Here it is already possible to control the characteristics of the proposed product so that it attracts different categories of consumers. This ensures a low level of risk and a fairly high level of sales.
• Targeted marketing. Concentrating on one or a few segments can be either extremely profitable or completely disastrous. At the same time, the consumer expects that the product will fully meet his needs, which imposes a certain risk on the manufacturer.

Each of these approaches has its own advantages and disadvantages, but the third at the moment seems to be the most effective, although the most costly in terms of human and financial resources. However, an individual approach pays off - a variety of choices allows consumers to purchase products that suit them.

A correctly defined target market segment is half the success of a marketing campaign, so you should be very careful in choosing it or entrust this process to professionals. Indeed, the process may require a large-scale survey, study of opinions, etc., especially if we are talking about innovative goods or services. But more on that later. Essentially, the process of segmentation is the structuring of the market according to the degree of priority of capturing a particular suitable audience and with the aim of finding a possible niche. How does this happen?

Stages

Selection and analysis of market segments is a complex process that requires a systematic approach. That is why it is usually divided into several stages:

1. Identifying customer needs and requirements for the product offered. Suggestions and criticism are systematized and analyzed.
2. Identify consumer similarities and differences to develop a marketing plan.
3. Profiling buyer groups. Separating them into a separate market segment. Selection of target groups. Characteristics of the market segment.
4. Determining the most profitable option in terms of targeting customers, sales channels, etc.
5. Creating a business plan.

This may not seem like a big deal, but in reality, making the wrong decision for a small company can lead to bankruptcy, so it's worth taking the analysis process seriously.

Segmentation Criteria

The principles of market division can be completely different depending on the industry. These can be quantitative or qualitative parameters, as well as completely special factors.

And yet, certain general segmentation criteria exist, and they can be used in a variety of combinations:

• Geographical. The location of consumers is taken into account.
• Demographic. Age, gender, belonging to a certain generation, level of income and spending are considered.
• Behavioral. The frequency of purchases, ranking according to the importance of consumer qualities of a product, attitude towards brands, driving forces inducing purchases, etc. are studied.
• Psychological. We are talking about tastes, preferences, interests.
• Consumption style. Identification of patterns, willingness to buy related and complementary products.

But in what form is this implemented in practice? What are the service market segments or how to choose a suitable niche for an innovative product? All this is worth talking about in more detail.

Consumer classification

Any market segment is not numbers on paper, in real life it is just people making purchases. Therefore, in order to understand how to sell them your product, you need to know how they behave and why. The traditional classification identifies five types:

• individual, that is, single people making purchases exclusively for personal use;
• households, in this case the wishes and tastes of several people are already taken into account, the volume of consumption is higher;
• intermediaries, that is, entrepreneurs who buy goods for the purpose of subsequent resale;
• suppliers, company representatives;
• civil servants and officials.

It also makes sense to list consumer groups according to the model of their reaction to a new product on the market; it makes it very clear how different each segment of the market for goods or services is:

• innovators strive to be among the first to try a new product;
• adherents popularize the product;
• progressives provide mass sales;
• skeptics join in at the stage of market saturation;
• conservatives show demand only when the product moves into the “traditional” category.

Perhaps it comes down to natural curiosity and a desire to try new things, although sometimes certain consumers find themselves in one of the groups completely unexpectedly. It is always worthwhile to assess the realities very soberly. For example, some segments of the Russian market have not yet been completely formed, while others are in their infancy. Of course, when analyzing the business environment, such things need to be taken into account.

Choice

There are no uniform principles that allow you to accurately answer the question of which market segment to choose - you have to act by trial and error, changing variable values ​​and collecting information on the effectiveness of promoting goods and services. At the same time, various market factors that influence demand come into play: competitors' strategies, market conditions, the degree of homogeneity of the market and the product being produced, company resources, as well as stages of the product life cycle. So the smartest thing to do is to monitor consumers’ reactions to certain changes and vary the promotion method. For all this, such powerful marketing tools as factor, joint, and cluster types of analysis are used.

Multiple segmentation

If the size and financial position of the company allows, it is possible to implement a special method of work. It lies in the fact that the company selects the main market segments for itself, diversifying its activities, and thereby maximizing turnover. There is a certain risk of not being able to cope with the requests of counterparties from different industries, at the same time, the loss of one or two areas will not be critical. As a rule, only large companies can afford this style of work, since each segment of the enterprise’s market requires special attention, which, given the overall scale, is quite costly in terms of financial and labor resources.

Product positioning

Selecting target market segments and promoting goods involves not only careful study and segmentation, but also the creation of a certain image for the good or service offered to customers. Positioning is a subtle tool that must be used quite carefully, because without taking into account the needs of the target audience, you can only alienate them. Ways to promote your product can be different: you can rely on excellent characteristics or environmental friendliness, you can characterize what is being offered as an elite and exclusive item, accessible to a few, or vice versa - create an aura of democracy and friendliness towards the buyer around the brand - in a word, there are methods and directions a bunch of.

Labor market

In addition to factors common to all areas, there are also special ones at work here. For example, a distinction is made between the primary and secondary market segments. These are two separate parts, characterized in completely different ways.

Thus, the primary market covers relatively higher-paid professions that are in stable demand. At the same time, the secondary part is characterized by high staff turnover, less prestige, unstable employment and low qualifications of participants.

Analysis of labor market segments is the job of recruiting companies and organizations that are just starting out and are about to recruit staff. The assessment will allow you to calculate the most attractive conditions for job seekers and generally understand what helps people choose a particular company in their job search.

Services sector

If a product is something material, then the next market offers something that is quite difficult to evaluate in terms of qualitative parameters. We are, of course, talking about various services: medical, educational, consulting, etc. At the same time, it is divided into two large parts that are very different in operating principles. The first is the so-called B2B, which covers market segments of services provided to companies. The second one works directly with end consumers. If you do not focus on the intangibility of goods, this market is not fundamentally different from the commodity market.

Financial market

The monetary and banking sectors are the most popular service sectors, so it is not surprising that they are so well developed. The following segments of the financial market are distinguished: credit, foreign exchange, insurance, investment. Sometimes the securities sector is also distinguished separately. Many companies do not limit their work to one segment, while others, on the contrary, prefer to focus on a specific area. In general, what is now observed is rather the consolidation of companies and the diversification of their activities within the industry.

Innovation

There are also completely special situations. Innovative solutions launched on the market is a separate topic that requires much more detailed consideration. Firstly, the absence of competitors provides special conditions. Secondly, the marketing strategy should be built very wisely so that buyers do not treat the product with caution.

New market segments are always a difficult and unpredictable road. History knows examples when even the most successful companies released frankly unsuccessful products. However, any consumer can say that almost any equipment manufacturer has real legendary products in its arsenal; otherwise, there is simply no chance of success. Perhaps, as is the case if the choice of target market segments is made incorrectly.