MARKET SEGMENTATION
MARKET
SEGMENTATION
Concept
of Market : Unless you know the
exact market(s) to which your organization wants to cater, your focusing will
be wrong and your planning will be faulty and you will fail to develop an
appropriate marketing strategy or effort to meet the needs of your target
market. To identify the target market let us first define the term `market'.
The term market has more than one meaning:
-
It can be used in
respect of the network of institutions like wholesalers and brokers dealing in
a product;
-
It can also be used to
refer to the nature of demand for the product, as when we speak of the market
for soap;
-
The two meanings are
related but are physically distinct. Related because without the wholesalers
and other institutions, it will be difficult to serve customers (demand).
We
are concerned with a `market for' a product. The market for a product relates to
the function(s) served by the product.
THE CONCEPT OF A SEGMENT
Different
buyers have different evaluative criteria about what constitutes the right choice
for performing the function of a product. As a consequence different offerings
will attract different buyers.
