Using the Market Segmentation in our own business

高艺宁

In the contemporary market， customers’ needs are becoming increasingly diverse. Customers’ needs can no longer be satisfied by a mass marketing approach. Companies can deal with this diversity by grouping customers with similar needs and wants into segments （Wind， 1978）. Companies will make decisions about which segments are the most appropriate to serve with limited resources. In addition， based on selling the standard products， using the segmentation can increase companies’ competitive compare with competitors in the market （McBurnie & Clutterbuck， 1988）. In order to have a good segmentation， companies are able to analysis customers and competitors’ segmentation conditions， which can help businesses get more accurate and detail information with the target market （Robert， 2016）. So， for our own business， after the segmentation， the team is able to find the most appropriate segments to get more profit for three months after starting the business. So， in this essay， the author will review the segmentation market strategy， reflection about the use of segmentation in the team and how to adapt our service into new market segments.

There are three stages of segmenting a market： segmenting， targeting and positioning （Armstrong & Kotler， 2016）. As for a business， the segmentation aims to clarify and hold the main market needs， the targeting aims to confirm the business products’ basic feature， and the positioning aims to gain target audience’ conceptual identity （Blythe， 2015）. In order to stand firm in the market， the team decided to use the segmentation market strategy step by step.

For the first step segmenting， the team used main four variables including geographic， demographic， psychographic and behavioural （Armstrong & Kotler， 2016）. In addition， as the more groups are chosen， the more accuracy and effectiveness are needed for using the market segmentation （Blythe， 2005）， the team did the segmenting well to divide the four variables into smaller groups to analysis customers’ needs and wants， such as urban， the population density， age， gender， occupation， income， education， nationality， value orientation， purchase motivation， lifestyle， purchase occasion， benefits sought and usage. As the team lack of expert knowledge to combine the segmenting strategy and actual situation （Dibb， 1998）， there were not enough investigation after doing the segmentation. The team just listed the fourteen groups one by one using imagination， then the team did not explain how to use them detail. To be honest， the fourteen groups include so much information about relevant customers’ needs and wants （Blythe， 2005）， it is necessary to clarify all fourteen groups detail and find the needed customers information. In order to improve the segmenting， the team should think of the segmenting as a long period process， it is best to use segmenting based on knowing segments’ needs and behaviour through investigation （Dibb & Simkin， 1996）. Then it is easier to get stronger market competitive in a wider trading market environment. For example， Gucci had done its detail and small segments first， and then it had communicated with segments customers to learn about their needs and behaviour， so Gucci can have a good use of segmenting to concentrate on the correct customer group with more profit （Dibb， 1998）. So， as a start-up business， the team is able to reduce the segments into urban， age， occupation， nationality， purchase motivation， lifestyle， purchase occasion and benefits sought. In addition， the team is able to spend time and money to have primary research about those segments. At last， the team will get accurate and clean segment information to get more profit.

The next step is targeting， there are three basic strategic about targeting the market， including concentrated marketing， differentiated marketing and undifferentiated marketing （Armstrong & Kotler， 2016）. As the team’s target audience is students in the Chengdu University of Technology， and the financial support is not strong at the start-up stage. The team chose the concentrated marketing to use in the business， and the focus segment is students in the Chengdu University of Technology. It is a good idea to use the concentrated marketing with weak financial support （Syed Saad Andaleeb， 2016）， as the concentrated marketing is able to focus just one segment， the team is able to spend less energy and money to complete the targeting. Though the team analyzed fourteen segments， at last， the team just chose one of fourteen as the targeting aim used in the concentrated method. As the team spent energy and money to analysis the fourteen segments， it is really a waste that the team just use one of fourteen at last. In order to improve the business， the team is able to strengthen the relationship between the segmenting and targeting. At first， the team is able to make a plan about segmenting and targeting， after finding the targeting aim is just one segment， the team is able to decrease several segments in the original plan， and especially strengthen the investigation with the chosen segment. In addition， it is not the targeting strategy decides what the business provide to segments， but the segments’ needs and wants decides what the business provide to segments （Tom， 1990）. So， the team is able to investigate the whole students in the Chengdu University of Technology as a segment at first， and then analyse their needs and wants to provide suitable service.

The final step is positioning. After choosing the right segments and achieving the targeting aim， the team is able to leave a memorable message about the business in customers’ minds （Blythe， 2005）. The positioning aims to focus on taking actions in the potential customers’ mind but rather than the service itself， so the team chose to use the method of competitor positioning to create a perceptual positioning image with competitors to make sure the position in customers’ mind （Ries & Trout， 2000）. As the plan， the team chose the price and quality features to describe the perceptual positioning image， and the team is able to descript the business as a lower price and medium quantity compared with competitors. However， after researches about competitors， the team found that the description of all competitors’ price and quantity features are very similar. As the perceptual positioning image is to provide the most unique characteristics to customers （Stavros et al.， 2000）， the price and quantity are not suitable to descript the perceptual positioning image. In order to show the unique message of the service， the team is able to use the price and timeliness as the two features. Because the price feature is the most basic and important feature for all the business， in addition， as an activities information provider， the timeliness feature is an absolutely necessary feature， and the customers are very care about the timeliness of the information. Furthermore， after providing the perceptual positioning image， the team is going to explain that how important and unique the price and timeliness is for the team’s service， and how the price and timeliness features will leave an impression in customers’ mind.

In order to combine the segmenting and targeting together， the team is able to choose the urban， nationality， purchase motivation and benefits sought segments. Firstly， the team just needs to make a plan and descript each segment by knowledge and imagination for two weeks， and then divides into four groups to do the primary research about each segment to correct the original description for one month. After that， according to the chosen targeting segment’s needs and wants， the team is able to confirm the features to provide for customers for one month. At last， with the price and timeliness features， the team is able to analyse the service compare with other competitors in the market for two weeks， and then the team can find how to leave an impressive message in customers’ mind. So， after three months， the team will complete a better segmentation，and the team can make more profit from the correct segment efficiently.

In conclusion， the author analyzes the three market strategy in this essay， including segmenting， targeting and positioning. As for the segmenting， the team is able to reduce the original segments. As for the targeting， the team is able to keep the original method but add more research and analysis to the targeting segment’s features. As for the positioning， the team is able to change the one of two features to compare with competitors in the perceptual positioning image. So， the team will find the most suitable segment in the market， and provide the most unique and useful features to the target segment， at last， the team will occupy a location for the business in the market to get more profit.