The process of segmenting a product market. Encyclopedia of Marketing The concept of a segment

Market segmentation.

The basis of the entire planning system in market conditions is sales forecasting. Therefore, the first task of the company’s management is to determine the sales volume in accordance with demand, and only on the basis of an assessment of the sales market can one begin to plan the production and financial activities of the company.

Sales market assessment is a set of measures aimed at studying the trade and sales activities of an enterprise, and studying all the factors influencing the process of production and promotion of goods from manufacturer to consumer. Each enterprise realizes that its products cannot be liked by all customers at once, therefore, with the help of marketing, the management of the enterprise, based on information about potential consumers, regions in which there is demand, prices that consumers are willing to pay for the product, distribution channels, and competition, determines sales market segment.

A market segment is a part of it, defined in a special way, that can be effectively served by an enterprise.

The objects of sales market segmentation are:

Consumer groups;

Groups of products (goods, services);

Enterprises (competitors).

Market segmentation by consumer groups is a grouping of consumers according to some characteristics that, to one degree or another, determine the motives for their behavior in the market.

Market segmentation by product groups is a derivative of market segmentation by consumer groups and takes into account the needs and preferences of consumers regarding the quality characteristics of the product (goods, services).

Segmentation by enterprise (competitor) is a grouping of competitors according to competitiveness factors in moving to the market.

Segmentation criteria

Segmentation criteria are signs, based on the totality of whose values, consumers are classified into a particular group (segment). Market segments are formed by consumers who have the same value for all selected segmentation criteria.

The market segmentation procedure begins with the selection of segmentation criteria.

The most common segmentation criteria are:

Segment capacity, which will determine the number of potential consumers and, accordingly, the required production capacity;

Channels for distribution and sales of products, allowing to resolve issues regarding the formation of a sales network;

Market stability, allowing you to make a choice about the feasibility of loading the enterprise’s capacity;

Profitability, showing the level of profitability of an enterprise in a given market segment;

Compatibility of a market segment with the market of its main competitors, allowing one to assess the strength or weakness of competitors and make a decision on the feasibility and willingness to make additional costs when targeting such a segment;

Assessing the work experience of specific enterprise personnel (engineering, production or sales) in the selected market segment and taking appropriate measures;

Protection of the selected segment from competition.

Segmentation criteria can be divided into two groups: those that directly characterize the consumer himself and those that characterize the consumer’s attitude toward the product.

Criteria that directly characterize the consumer himself.

Geographic segmentation - dividing the market into various geographical units: countries, regions, regions, cities, etc.

Demographic segmentation is the division of the market into groups depending on consumer characteristics such as age, gender, marital status, family life cycle, religion, nationality and race.

Socio-economic segmentation involves dividing consumers by income level, occupation, and level of education.

Psychographic segmentation is the division of the market into different groups depending on social class, lifestyle or personal characteristics of consumers.

Behavioral segmentation involves dividing the market into groups depending on consumer characteristics such as: level of knowledge, attitudes, nature of use of the product or reaction to it.

Criteria characterizing the attitude of consumers towards the product.

Segmentation by circumstances of application - dividing the market into groups in accordance with the circumstances, reasons for the idea, making a purchase or using a product.

Benefit-based segmentation is the division of the market into groups depending on the benefits, benefits or values ​​that the consumer is looking for in a product.

Segmentation by user status 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.

Segmentation by consumption intensity is an indicator on the basis of which markets are segmented into groups of weak, moderate and active consumers of certain products. Obviously, it is more profitable to serve one market segment consisting of a significant number of active consumers than several small segments of weak consumers.

Segmentation by degree of loyalty characterizes the degree of consumer loyalty and commitment to a particular brand of product, usually measured by the number of repeat purchases of a product of this brand.

Segmentation by stage of buyer readiness for consumption is a characteristic according to which buyers are classified into those who are unaware and aware of the product, those who are interested in it, those who want to buy it, and those who intend to buy it.

Segmentation process, stages

Companies reviewing their segmentation strategies may conduct it as a separate study or as part of a business or marketing plan. Customer needs are constantly evolving and are influenced by general and specific market trends, the company's and its competitors' offers, and the opinions of other customers. Re-evaluating market segments provides better product orientation, a deeper and more accurate understanding of needs, and creates opportunities to develop sustainable competitive advantage. For successful segmentation, it is worth identifying potential obstacles in advance. Indeed, in addition to market segmentation, there is also a need to comply with business realities. Most companies have loyal customers, established distribution channels, strong sales teams and market initiatives. Long-term distributor relationships and marketing programs cannot be changed quickly. When companies re-evaluate their segmentation, they may be severely constrained in operational terms. Ultimately, it is only worth reconsidering strategies when the benefits of segmentation outweigh the practical and financial costs.

The essence of segmentation is revealed in the stages of its implementation: subgroups of buyers with similar needs are identified, some of these groups are selected for further work and they are offered carefully developed sales and marketing programs that emphasize the distinctive image of the product or position the brand. Thus, there are 3 stages of market segmentation:

1. Direct segmentation: Grouping consumers by segmentation variables. When choosing segmentation features, you should focus on those that allow you to clearly distinguish different requests regarding the product. Once market segments have been identified using one or more segmentation variables, every effort must be made to understand the buyer characteristics of those segments.

2. Selection of target segments, in which it is necessary to decide how many and what groups of customers will be served.

3. Positioning, when it is decided how and where the product will be positioned and what the marketing program will be within the target segment. Product positioning is the decisions and actions aimed at creating and maintaining the company's product concept in the eyes of consumers. Positioning will be successful when target customers begin to perceive the product as a means of satisfying their desires and expectations. To understand the opinions of customers, they resort to drawing up perception maps. The metrics on which this map is based should be determined through a customer survey. Confirmatory research is carried out to identify the location of products, brands or companies and then constructs a visual graph. An example of such a graph for the automotive industry is shown on the left.

Market segmentation- division (differentiation) of any market into separate parts (segments) taking into account many criteria and factors.

Market segment- identifying groups of consumers, products or enterprises that have general characteristics. Segment- a market group of buyers with similar needs, desires and capabilities.

On the mass market, with a huge number of buyers, manufacturers do not see the point in developing products to meet the needs of each specific consumer. To simplify, in order to optimize the production program and simplify communication, marketing and sales, the manufacturer identifies groups of buyers with similar needs, views, principles within the group. Consumer groups differ significantly in their requirements for goods, principles and views, methods of purchase and consumption.

In the market of exclusive, expensive goods everything is different. Companies are forced to treat each customer as a separate market. For example, the segment of the market for the production of intercontinental airliners, the market of heavy mining dump trucks involves working with each of the buyers personally. In this case, marketers talk about the extreme degree of market segmentation.

Market segmentation, market segmentation- a strategy of manufacturers and sellers of goods, which consists in dividing the market into separate parts (segments) based on the type of goods sold, territorial location, the type of buyers most represented in a given part of the market, and on social characteristics.

There is no single method of market segmentation. Dividing the market into buyer groups for the purpose of segmentation suggests that each segment may require separate products, and therefore marketing mixes.

Main objects of segmentation:

• consumers;
• goods and services;
• enterprises (competitors)

Segment consumers, depending on the task, it is possible, guided by various principles:

• geographic segmentation – segmenting the market into geographic units: states, regions, districts, cities, etc.;
• psychographic segmentation - market segmentation based on social class, lifestyle, personality characteristics, everything that shapes and defines our inner self;
• gender-age segmentation – market segmentation based on gender, age;
• demographic segmentation of the market - segmentation by income level, education, religious beliefs, etc.;
• behavioral segmentation - market segmentation depending on the nature of consumption of a product, reaction to this product, purchasing methods, sensitivity to advertising, habits;

Target (base) market- this is the most suitable and profitable group of market segments (or one segment) for the enterprise to which its activities are directed.

Market segment indicators:

• Segment capacity – quantitative parameters (boundaries) of the segment, i.e. how many goods and what value can be sold on it, how many actual and potential consumers will need to use what resources to work in this segment.
• Internal uniformity – intra-segment similarity of representatives and maximum distinctiveness from representatives from other segments.
• Segment availability – indicator necessary expenses time and resources to obtain the necessary market share to operate profitably in the selected market segment.
• Segment profitability - assessment of indicators: profit margins, return on invested capital, increase in the total profit of the enterprise when operating in the selected market segment.
• The prospects of a segment are the ability to implement the company’s plans in this segment in the long term and in the long term.
• The effectiveness of work in the segment is an assessment of the company’s capabilities, in terms of the availability of the necessary resources and technologies, their experience effective use in this market segment.
• Information accessibility of the segment - is it possible to obtain the necessary information on the segment, are there closed areas in the segment, representatives of the segment should be available for advertising and sales channels;
• Efficiency of demand - the segment must be large enough in size, have a sufficient level of solvency and desire to buy the product;

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– 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 firms 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. Implementation of a successful commercial activities in market conditions involves 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 by the most in different ways, according to a variety of principles and methods, taking into account many 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 at what total cost 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, and what the size of the sales network should be.


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 this or that group of consumers can be considered as a market segment, how stable it is according to 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 the 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 economic activity specific 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 after 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, otherwise 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 division 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 this method, the problem of typification 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 groups that are sufficiently homogeneous and stable 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.

Market segmentation by geographic characteristics involves breaking 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. At the same time, 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 before 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)	1 – 2; 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 his book “Life Cycle and financial possibilities consumers" John B. Lansing and James N. Morgan (see Table 2).

People change the products they buy over the course of their lives. Thus, at the first stage, a full family 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 in one way or another will 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 an individual and social groups we should expect a reorientation of demand in the market.

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 incomes. 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 niches in the market, 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 best elements internal aspirations and external, social (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, the 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 customers.

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 proposed product, but for some reason ( financial situation, seasonality of consumption, etc.) is not buying it yet; 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 location		(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 consistent 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 firm should ask three fundamental questions: “What business is the firm 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 at this market("What?");


consumer, determining 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 customers 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 a product or a variation of it for each of them. 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 targeted 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 advantageous side distinguish its products from those of competitors, i.e. differentiates its products, i.e. differentiates its products.

Moreover, for different products they can choose different directions differentiation.

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 and 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 - creating an image, an image of an organization or products that differ in their better side 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 on a certain 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 market position for new company, 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 set of development works, market testing and launching the production of the selected product. 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 retail sales individual species 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
Chocolates
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, the CEO research center“Comson –2” Elena Koneva identifies three top Russian buyers:

1) “romantic” buyers, “buyers of life” (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, purchasing 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. Segmentation of product markets industrial use can be produced according to the types of end consumers, according to the importance of customers, according to their geographical 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 Russian market is currently carried out according to the principle “ 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

Introduction

It is quite obvious that different consumers want to purchase different products. In order to satisfy these various needs, manufacturing and selling 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 groups.

Here it is appropriate to recall Pareto’s law (80-20) based on statistical data, according to which 20% of consumers buy 80% of the goods of a certain brand, representing a generalized group of target consumers, for certain reasons focused on this product, the remaining 80% of consumers buy 20% of the goods of this brand and have no clear choice. Manufacturers strive to target their products and marketing activities at these 20% of consumers, and not at the entire market as a whole; this market strategy turns out to be more effective.

An in-depth study of the market presupposes the need to consider it as a differentiated structure depending on consumer groups and consumer properties of the product, which broadly defines the concept of market segmentation.

Market segmentation is, on the one hand, a method for finding parts of the market and determining the objects to which the marketing activities of enterprises are directed. On the other hand, it is a management approach to the enterprise’s decision-making process in the market, the basis for choosing the right combination of marketing elements. Segmentation is carried out with the aim of maximizing consumer satisfaction in various products, as well as rationalizing the costs of the manufacturer for developing a production program, releasing and selling goods.

The objects of segmentation are, first of all, consumers. Selected in a special way and possessing certain common characteristics, they constitute a market segment. Segmentation refers to the division of the market into segments that differ in their parameters or reactions to certain types of activities in the market (advertising, sales methods).

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.

A necessary condition for segmentation is the heterogeneity of customer expectations and purchasing states. The following conditions are sufficient for the successful implementation of segmentation principles:

* the ability of an enterprise (organization) to differentiate the marketing structure (prices, methods of sales promotion, place of sale, products);

* the selected segment must be sufficiently stable, capacious and have growth prospects;

* the enterprise must have data about the selected segment, measure its characteristics and requirements;

* the selected segment must be accessible to the enterprise, i.e. have appropriate sales and distribution channels for products, a system for delivering products to consumers;

* the enterprise must have contact with the segment (for example, through personal and mass communication channels);

* assess the security of the selected segment from competition, determine the strengths and weaknesses competitors and their own competitive advantages.

Only after receiving answers to the above questions and assessing the potential of the enterprise, can a decision be made on market segmentation and the choice of this segment for a particular enterprise.

A market segment is a group of consumers characterized by a similar reaction to the product offered and to a set of marketing incentives.

The main arguments in favor of segmentation are the following:

1. A better understanding is provided not only of the needs of consumers, but also of what they are (their personal characteristics, behavior in the market, etc.).

2. Provides a better understanding of the nature of competition in specific markets. Based on knowledge of these circumstances, it is easier to select market segments for their development and determine what characteristics products should have to gain competitive advantages.

3. It becomes possible to concentrate limited resources on the most advantageous directions their use.

4. When developing plans for marketing activities, the characteristics of individual market segments are taken into account, resulting in a high degree of orientation of marketing activity tools to the requirements of specific market segments.

Segmentation criteria

The first step in conducting segmentation is to select segmentation criteria. In this case, it is necessary to distinguish between the criteria for segmenting markets for consumer goods, industrial products, services, etc. Although when segmenting markets for different goods, the same criteria can be partially used, for example, consumption volume.

Thus, when segmenting the consumer goods market, criteria such as geographical, demographic, socio-economic, psychographic, behavioral, etc. are used.

TO geographical characteristics include: the size of the region, population density and size, climatic conditions, administrative division (city, village), distance from the manufacturing enterprise. This criterion was used in practice earlier than others, which was due to the need to determine the space of activity of the enterprise. Its use is especially necessary when there are climatic differences between regions or peculiarities of cultural, national, historical traditions in the market.

Segmentation based on demographics. It is possible to segment the market into groups based on demographic variables such as gender, age, family size, stage of the family life cycle, income level, occupation, education, religious belief and nationality. Demographic variables are the most popular factors that serve as the basis for identifying 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.

What demographic variables are used for segmentation?

1. Age and stage of the family life cycle. The needs and capabilities of buyers change with age. Even a 6-month-old child is already different in its consumer potential from, say, a 3-month-old. Recognizing this, toy companies are developing different toys for sequential use by their children during each of the months of the first year of life. The focus on a certain age and stage of the family life cycle is not always correct. For example, Ford Motor Company used age characteristics of buyers when creating a target market for its Mustang model. The car was designed for young people who prefer an inexpensive sports car. But it soon became clear that the Mustang was being bought by representatives of all age groups. The Mustang's target market was everyone who was young at heart.

2. Floor. Segmentation based on gender has long been applied to clothing, hair care products, cosmetics and magazines. From time to time, the possibility of gender segmentation is discovered in other markets. Most brands of cigarettes are used by both men and women without distinction. However, “female” cigarettes with the appropriate aroma and in appropriate packaging began to appear on the market more and more often, the advertising of which focuses on the image of the femininity of the product.

The potential for gender segmentation also exists in the automotive industry. With the increasing number of women owning their own cars, some car companies are increasing the production of all-female cars.

3. Income level. An old technique for dividing the market for goods and services such as cars, clothing, cosmetics, education and travel is segmentation based on income level. Sometimes the possibilities of such segmentation are realized in other industries, for example, in the production of alcoholic beverages.

At the same time, it is not always possible to determine consumers of a particular product based on income level. In the United States, for a long time it was believed that workers buy Chevrolet cars, and managers buy Cadillacs. But in practice, many managers bought Chevrolets, and some workers bought Cadillacs.

4. Segmentation by multiple demographic parameters Most firms segment their markets by combining different demographic variables. For example, multifactor segmentation can be done based on age, gender and income level.

Segmentation by socio-economic The criterion is to identify groups of consumers based on common social and professional affiliations, levels of education and income. It is recommended to consider all these variables in relation to each other or with variables of other criteria, for example, demographic ones. It is worthy of attention to combine the identified income groups with age groups, including the head of the family.

The three groups of criteria discussed above represent general objective market segmentation criteria. However, segments that are often homogeneous by general objective criteria turn out to be significantly differentiated in terms of their behavior in the market.

Segmentation based on psychographic principles. In psychographic segmentation, buyers are divided into groups based on social class, lifestyle, or personality characteristics. Members of the same demographic group can have completely different psychographic profiles.

1. Social class. Belonging to a social class greatly affects a person’s preferences for cars, clothing, household utensils, leisure activities, reading habits, and choice of retail outlets. Many firms design their products and services with members of a specific social class providing properties and characteristics that appeal specifically to this class. Unfortunately, studies of the formation of the class structure of Russian society during the transition period are few.

2. Lifestyle. The interest in certain products and the lifestyle of consumers influences this. Sellers are increasingly resorting to segmenting markets on this basis. For example, the plan is to create jeans for the following groups of men: pleasure seekers, "traditional" homebodies, fidgety workers, "business leaders" or successful "traditionalists". Each group needs jeans of a specific cut, at a different price, offered through different advertising texts, through different trading enterprises. If a company doesn't announce the lifestyle the product is intended for, its jeans may not generate interest.

3. Personality type. Personality characteristics are also used by sellers as a basis for market segmentation. Manufacturers give their products characteristics that match the personal characteristics of consumers. For example, it has been observed that the personality types of American convertible and hardtop car owners are different. The former are more active, impulsive and sociable.

There are known techniques for successfully segmenting a market based on personality traits for products and services such as women's cosmetics, cigarettes, insurance, and alcoholic beverages.

Segmentation based on behavioral principles. In behavioral market segmentation, buyers can be divided into groups based on their knowledge, attitudes, usage patterns, and reactions to the product. Behavioral variables are considered the most appropriate basis for the formation of market segments.

1. Reasons for making a purchase. Buyers can be differentiated depending on the reason for the idea of ​​purchasing or using a product. For example, the reason for air travel may be business, vacation or family problems. An airline may specialize in serving people who have one of these predominant reasons.

Segmentation on this basis can help a firm increase product utilization. For example, people drink orange juice for breakfast. The manufacturer may try to advertise it as a drink suitable for lunch. Some holidays can be promoted in a timely manner to increase sales of sweets and flowers.

2. Benefits sought. One powerful form of segmentation is to classify buyers based on the benefits they seek. It was found that in the United States, approximately 23% of buyers purchased watches at the lowest prices, 46% were guided when purchasing by factors of durability and quality of the product, and 31% bought watches as a symbolic reminder of some important event. In those years, the most famous watch companies almost completely switched their attention to the third segment, producing expensive watches that emphasized prestige and selling them through jewelry stores. The small company decided to focus on the first two segments, created and began selling Timex watches. Thanks to the adopted segmentation strategy, the company has become the largest watch company in the world.

To segment on this basis, it is necessary to identify the benefits that people expect from a particular class of product, the types of consumers seeking each of these main benefits, and the main brands that have some degree of these benefits. The company may also search for some new benefit and launch a product that provides this benefit.

3. User status Markets can be divided into the following segments: non-users, former users, potential users, new users and regular users. Large firms that are looking to gain a larger market share are particularly interested in attracting potential users, while smaller companies are looking to win regular users. Potential and regular users require different marketing approaches.

4. Consumption intensity. Markets can also be divided into groups of weak, moderate and active consumers of the product. Heavy users typically make up a small portion of the market, but they account for a large percentage of total product consumption. Using the example of beer consumption in the USA, we can see that 68% of respondents do not drink it. The remaining 32% consists of two groups of 16% each: weak consumers (12% of total beer consumption) and active (88%). Most brewing companies focus on active consumers.

Active consumers of a product share common demographic and psychographic characteristics, as well as common advertising preferences. It is known that among active beer consumers there are more workers than among weak consumers, and that they will grow from 25 to 50 years old, and not to 25 and over 50, as is observed among weak consumers. They usually watch TV more than three and a half hours a day, and at least two hours, like weak consumers, and at the same time prefer sports programs.

Nonprofit organizations often face the problem of the “active consumer” in their work when they are trying to improve society or fight against violations of the established order. These organizations often have to decide whether to focus their efforts on a small number of less susceptible persistent offenders or a large group of more susceptible minor offenders.

5. Degree of commitment. Market segmentation can also be carried out according to the degree of consumer commitment to the product. Consumers may be loyal to brands, stores, and other distinct entities. Based on the degree of commitment, buyers can be divided into four groups: unconditional adherents, tolerant and fickle adherents, and “wanderers.”

Unconditional supporters - These are consumers who always buy the same brand of product. Tolerant Followers - These are consumers who are committed to two or three brands. Fickle followers - these are consumers who transfer their preferences from one product brand to another: The pattern of their purchasing behavior shows that consumers gradually shift their preferences from one brand to another. " Wanderers" - These are consumers who are not loyal to any branded product. The non-committed consumer either buys any brand currently available or wants to purchase something different from the existing range.

Any market is represented by a different combination of buyers of these four types. A brand loyalty market is a market in which a large percentage of buyers demonstrate unconditional loyalty to one of the brands of goods available in it.

A firm can learn a lot by analyzing the distribution of commitment in its market. It is necessary to study the characteristics of unconditional adherents of one's own branded product. Colgate has found that its unconditional supporters in the United States are mainly middle class with large families and increased concern for their own health.

Buying behavior that appears to be explained by brand loyalty may in fact be a consequence of habit or indifference, or a response to low prices or unavailability of other brands. The concept of “commitment” is not always interpreted clearly.

6. The degree of buyer readiness to perceive the product. At any given point in time, people are in varying degrees of readiness to purchase a product. Some are not aware of the product at all, others are aware, others are informed about it, others are interested in it, others want it, and others intend to buy it. The ratio of consumers of different groups must be taken into account in the marketing program.

Suppose a health care organization's goal is to encourage women to undergo annual cancer screenings. It is likely that many women may not initially be aware that the necessary techniques exist, so marketing efforts should be directed towards achieving a high level of awareness through advertising. The advertising message should be simple and intelligible. If successful in repeated advertising, it is necessary to present the benefits of the methods and focus attention on the health risks that evasion from examination can result in. At the same time, a material base must be prepared in advance that can cope with the influx of women for whom advertising may have created appropriate motivation.

In general, the marketing program should be structured so that it reflects the redistribution in the numerical composition of groups of people who are at different degrees of readiness to make a purchase.

7. Attitude to the product. The market audience may be enthusiastic, positive, indifferent, negative or hostile towards the product. Experienced campaigners for political parties, making door-to-door pre-election campaigns, are guided by the voter's attitude when deciding how much time to spend working with him. They thank voters who are enthusiastic about the party and remind them of the need to vote; they waste no time trying to change the attitude of negative or hostile voters, but strive to strengthen the opinion of those who are positive and win over indifferent ones.

The more clearly the connection between attitudes towards a product and demographic variables is revealed, the more work more efficiently organizations to reach the most promising potential clients

Unlike segmentation of the consumer goods market, where much attention is paid psychographic criteria, characterizing buyer behavior for product market segmentation industrial purposes Economic and technological criteria are of paramount importance, which include:

* industries (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);

* size of the enterprise (small, medium, large);

* geographical location (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. As for the consumer goods market, segmentation of consumers of industrial goods is carried out based on a combination of several criteria.

The criteria underlying market segmentation must satisfy the following requirements: be measurable under normal market research conditions; reflect the differentiation of consumers (buyers); identify differences in market structures; promote increased understanding of the market.

* be measurable under normal market research conditions;

* reflect the differentiation of consumers (buyers);

* identify differences in market structures;

* contribute to increased understanding of the market.

During the use of segmentation in marketing research, the following changes have occurred in the definition of segmentation criteria.

1. The identification of segmentation criteria has become increasingly based on the results of special surveys (including population surveys).

2. Along with common steel variables. use situation-specific features (related to a specific product).

3. Great value began to focus on psychographic criteria that explain consumer behavior.

4. The understanding that consumer behavior is explained by not one but many factors has led to the use of multiple segmentation criteria.

Market segmentation methods

Segmentation is the basis for developing a marketing program (including choosing the type of product, price, advertising policy, sales channels) aimed at specific consumer groups. The segmentation process consists of several stages:

* Formation of segmentation criteria

* Choosing a method and implementing market segmentation

* Interpretation of received segments

* Selection of target market segments

* Product positioning

Development of a marketing plan is usually carried out using an individual, if the product is considered as an item for individual use, or a family, when a product for general family use is being studied. The choice of observation unit depends on the product and the phase of development of the market in which segmentation is carried out. If at the initial stages of development of a specific product market an enterprise concentrates its attention on the product, then with an increase in the number of competitors it is forced to differentiate its offer. A search begins for segments to determine differences in preferences among consumers of the same product. Segments can be formed based on customer preferences for various product properties. Consequently, with the development of the product market, the need to identify individual segments increases, and the requirements for the validity of the choice of segmentation criteria also increase. At the stage formation of segmentation criteria market, it is necessary first of all to answer the question: who are the main consumers of the product? What are their similarities and differences? The contingent of main buyers is determined based on an analysis of demographic and socio-economic characteristics; an attempt is made to link the intensity of purchase of a given product with certain indicators.

It is not difficult to identify a market segment depending, for example, on age and gender. Thus, young women expecting a child are loyal buyers of clothes for pregnant women. The situation with clothing and goods for newborns is not so clear, because they are often purchased as gifts. In the market for men's shirts (it would seem a typical "men's market") 60 - 70% of purchases are made by women. The study showed that success can only be counted on if the fashion for men's shirts finds approval among women.

Socio-economic factors are of great importance in market segmentation. Income, by itself, does not provide sufficiently fine-grained segmentation. However, together with social status, living conditions, and cultural factors, they play a decisive role. To segment the durable goods market and search for a segment of potential consumers, the degree to which families are equipped (provided) with various durable goods (cars, radio and television equipment, household machines) is important.

In the formation of segmentation criteria, a certain place is occupied by the choice of characteristics and requirements for the product. This takes into account data on: consumer preferences and intentions when choosing goods in comparison with similar products from competing enterprises; characterization of the likely demand for new products (at the pilot batch stage); preferences of the population regarding certain consumer properties of products (color, technical characteristics, dimensions, quality, price).

Information on consumer assessments can be obtained as a result of special surveys of the population (questionnaire survey, testing, observation).

Consumer preferences can be determined on the basis of assessments: alternative, direct scores and relative. The structure of consumer preferences regarding analogue products produced by various enterprises is formed using alternative assessments. They are based on counting the positive and negative reactions of the population to each product being evaluated (such as “like - don’t like”, “yes - no”, etc.). The determination of the same structure using scoring is carried out using an appropriate scale, for example, five-point, ten-point.

Relative assessments make it possible to identify the degree of compliance of the studied products with consumer needs according to the following scale of possible answers: fully compliant, mostly compliant, partially compliant, not compliant (the product can be rated as very good, good, average, bad). Along with assessing the conformity of each product, an assessment of the most important parameters of the product can be carried out, since the set of specified product parameters is perceived differently by different consumers.

The next stage of market segmentation is selection of the Segmentation method and its application. This work is carried out using special classification methods according to selected criteria (features). This stage essentially represents the selection and implementation of a classification algorithm.

There are many classification methods generated by the differences in goals and objectives facing researchers. 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 essence 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 criterion (the owner of a product, a consumer intending to purchase a new product), then subgroups are formed in which the significance of this criterion is much higher than in the entire population of potential consumers of this product. By successive splits (into two parts), the sample is divided into a number of subgroups.

For market segmentation purposes, they are also used methods, multidimensional classification, when classification is carried out according to a complex of analyzed characteristics simultaneously. The most effective of them are methods of automatic classification, or cluster analysis, taxonomy. Classification schemes are based on the following assumptions. People who are similar to each other in a number of ways are grouped into one class (type). The degree of similarity among people belonging to the same class should be higher than the degree of similarity among people belonging to different classes. Using these methods, the typification problem is solved with the simultaneous use of demographic, socio-economic, and psychographic indicators.

As an example, consider solving the problem of segmenting the clothing market by constructing typologies of consumers, which refers to the division of 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. In reality, objectively, there are fairly homogeneous groups (classes) of consumers with a characteristic type of consumer behavior for each of them. This is especially noticeable in the clothing market, where segmentation is inevitable, since the differences in the needs of consumer groups are more significant than in durable goods markets. Using multivariate statistics methods, such groups can be identified and analyzed.

The process of forming the needs and demands of the population is considered as the interaction of two multidimensional phenomena. The first refers to the behavior of people in the market, the second - factor characteristics (demographic, socio-economic) that determine this behavior. The typologization procedure consists of multidimensional classification according to one set of characteristics - a multidimensional sign of consumer behavior. Then the homogeneity of the resulting groups is assessed according to a set of factor characteristics characterizing the conditions for the formation of needs and demand. If in the resulting groups the objects are homogeneous in terms of factor characteristics, and the differences between the groups are significant, then the typology can be considered constructed. The initial information for segmenting the clothing market is data from a consumer panel survey.

As the main criteria when constructing a typology of consumer clothing, we took signs characterizing a behavioral reaction to fashion: the tendency to purchase things depending on people’s attitude to fashion (6 gradations from “purchasing fashionable items while no one is wearing them” to “fashion has no values"); willingness to pay high prices for fashionable items; share of especially fashionable products in the desired wardrobe. As a result of the typology, five types of clothing consumers were identified depending on their behavioral response to the appearance of fashionable new items. Of the five consumer types, two are female (I and II) and two are male (III and IV). Type V turned out to be mixed by gender: here both men and women are united by indifference to fashion in clothing - male and female types were respectively combined according to consumer reaction to fashion.

The next step in the market segmentation process is interpretation, or description of profiles of consumer groups (resulting segments).

On the one hand, these groups are characterized by certain consumer demands and preferences, and on the other hand, they are quite homogeneous in terms of socio-economic and demographic characteristics. In the example under consideration, the following generalized types of consumers are obtained: A - “selective”, B - “independent”, C - “indifferent”. When describing the types of clothing consumers, we will use the summary types A and B, which unite men and women due to the identity of their consumer behavior.

Type A - " selective." Its representatives conduct a careful selection of emerging fashionable items, purchase products selectively, depending on their taste, developed in accordance with the presentation of the image of their "I". Type A is the most numerous, 50.2% of the objects of the population under study are included here.

This is the most “female” type - women make up 80.1%, the most “urban” - about 85% live in the city, and, finally, the youngest - the average age of women is 32 years, men - 33.3 years. The majority of type A are employees, engineers, and students.

It has the highest levels of education and per capita income. When buying clothes, consumers of this type are not deterred by the price. The most important things for them are such properties of clothing as quality, comfort, compliance with fashion, originality, which correlates with their general attitude towards observing the principle of fashion in clothing in conjunction with their own taste.

Type B - " independent." Its representatives dress independently of fashion, react with restraint to the appearance of fashionable new items, purchasing both fashionable and unfashionable things. For them, the main thing is loyalty to their style, which at the moment may not be modern. These consumers are conservative in their behavior compared with consumers included in type A. In terms of number, type B ranks second; 41.7% of the objects in the study population are included in this group. By age, this type is older than the “selective” type. Most of them are middle-aged people from 30 to 55 (men). up to 60) years old. There are more rural residents and fewer city residents - mainly blue-collar workers. agriculture. In terms of education level and per capita income, they are inferior to Type A consumers. There are more families here, consisting of 4-5 people.

Representatives of type B are less likely to update their wardrobe than consumers of type A, and often refuse to purchase because of the high price. When choosing a purchase, they more often listen to the advice of relatives and recommendations of sellers, and pay more attention to such properties of clothing as durability, ease of cleaning and washing. At the same time, they believe that attractiveness, quality, and comfort are important properties of clothing.

Type B - " indifferent." This is the most homogeneous type in composition. For all its representatives, the fashion factor does not matter at all, the main thing is that the products are inexpensive, practical and well-made. The type is the smallest in number; according to the classification, only 8.1% of the objects in the population under study are classified here. In terms of age, this type is the oldest; it is made up of people over 45 years of age - workers, agricultural workers, office workers and pensioners. This type is characterized by the lowest educational level and average per capita income.

When choosing a purchase, consumers of group B are not independent; for them, the advice of relatives and sellers plays a paramount role. As a rule, representatives of this type refuse to purchase if the price is high. Product properties such as heat protection, water resistance, convenience, durability and quality, as well as price, are important to them.

This example shows the possibility of segmenting the domestic clothing market by demographic factors, socio-economic and behavioral characteristics. Consumer groups can be formed in more detail, with smaller subgroups identified.

Target market segment

After identifying market segments, the next step is to determine their attractiveness and select target markets and marketing strategies towards them. The attractiveness of each market segment is assessed and one or more segments are selected for development. When assessing the degree of attractiveness of various market segments that meet the requirements for their successful segmentation, the following three main factors are taken into account: the size of the segment and the rate of its change (growth, decrease); structural attractiveness of the segment; goals and resources of the organization developing the segment. The structural attractiveness of a market segment is determined by the level of competition, the ability to replace the product with a fundamentally new product that satisfies the same needs (for example, in many cases, plastic is a substitute for metals), the strength of the position of buyers and the strength of the position of suppliers of components and resources in relation to the organization in question, the competitiveness of the companies in question. products in these segments.

Even if a market segment is of the right size and growth rate and has sufficient structural attractiveness, the organization's goals and resources must be taken into account. There may be a discrepancy between the goals of the organization's long-term development and the current goals of its activities in a specific market segment. There may be a lack of resources to provide competitive advantages.

1. Concentrate efforts aimed at selling one product in one market segment.

2. Offer one product to all market segments (product specialization).

3. Offer all products to one market (market specialization).

4. Offer different products for some selected market segments (selective specialization).

5. Ignore the results of segmentation and supply all manufactured products to the entire market. This strategy is primarily used if it has not been possible to identify market segments with different consumer response profiles, and/or the segments considered individually are small in number and are not of interest for commercial development. Large firms usually follow this policy. For example, Coca-Cola strives to supply its beverages to all non-alcoholic beverage market segments.

The following types of strategies can be used in the selected target markets: undifferentiated marketing, differentiated marketing and concentrated marketing.

Undifferentiated marketing - A market strategy in which an organization ignores the differences between different market segments and enters the entire market with a single product.

The organization focuses on what is common in customer needs rather than on how they differ from each other. Mass distribution systems and mass advertising campaigns are used. This results in cost savings.

An example is the marketing of the Coca-Cola company at the initial stage of its development, when all consumers were offered only one drink in a bottle of one size.

Differentiated Marketing - A market strategy in which an organization decides to target multiple segments with products specifically designed for them. By offering a variety of products and marketing mix, the organization expects to achieve more sales and gain a stronger position in each market segment than its competitors. For example, General Motors proclaimed: “We make cars for every wallet, every purpose and every personality.” Although differentiated marketing typically generates higher sales volumes than undifferentiated marketing, its implementation costs are higher.

Concentrated Marketing - A market strategy in which an organization has a large market share in one or more submarkets (market niches) as opposed to focusing on a small share of a larger market. Attractive for organizations with limited resources and small businesses. This requires deep knowledge of narrow market segments and a high reputation of the organization's product in these segments.

When assessing and selecting market segments in the case where it is planned to develop several segments in parallel, it is necessary to try to reduce total costs through a possible increase in product output, combining operations for storing and transporting products, and conducting coordinated advertising campaigns etc.

Product positioning

The next step in determining the directions of market orientation in the organization's activities is to determine the position of the product in individual market segments - this is called market positioning. Product position is the opinion of a certain group of consumers, target market segments, regarding the most important characteristics of the product. It characterizes the place occupied by a particular product in the minds of consumers in relation to the product of competitors. The product must be perceived by a specific group of target consumers as having a clear image that distinguishes it from competitors' products.

Of course, we must also take into account the fact that the position of the product is influenced by the reputation and image of the company as a whole.

Market positioning, therefore, consists of, based on consumer assessments of the market position of a particular product, selecting such product parameters and elements of the marketing mix that, from the point of view of target consumers, will provide the product with competitive advantages.

Competitive advantage is an advantage over competitors obtained by providing consumers with greater benefits, or by selling cheaper products, or by offering high-quality products with a set of necessary services, but at justifiably higher prices.

When positioning products, they use those characteristics that are important to consumers and which they focus on when making their choice. Thus, price is a determining factor when purchasing many types of food products, the level of services when choosing a bank, quality and reliability when choosing a computer.

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.

Figure 2.3 shows a map of the positioning of hypothetical 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 of sales, the letters indicate the names of competing companies. The question mark characterizes the possible choice of a position in the market for a new competing company, based on an analysis of the position of other companies 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 (products of relatively high quality, sold at average prices).

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. There is no 100% guarantee of successful implementation of the decision made. In principle, one must also evaluate the chances of success. But this is part of the work on preparing organizational development plans, and in particular marketing planning.

As parameters when constructing positioning maps, you can select various lares of characteristics that describe the products under study. For example, for washing machines: washing modes - control of washing temperature, requirement for detergent - load volume. Cookies can be positioned, for example, according to the following pair of characteristics: level of sweetness and quality of packaging.

To gain a strong position in the competition, based on the results of the positioning of its products, the organization identifies characteristics of the product and marketing activities that can favorably distinguish its products from those of competitors, i.e. differentiates its products. Moreover, different directions of differentiation can be chosen for different products. For example, at a grocery store key factor differentiation may be price, in a bank - the level of services, quality and reliability determine the choice of computer, etc.

There are product differentiation, service differentiation, personnel differentiation, and image differentiation.

Product differentiation is the offering of products with features and/or design that are better than those of competitors. For standardized products (petroleum products, metals) it is almost impossible to carry out product differentiation. For highly differentiated products (automobiles, household appliances), adherence to this market policy is common.

Service differentiation is the offer of services (speed and reliability of deliveries, installation, after-sales service, customer training, consulting) that accompany the product and are higher in level than the services of competitors.

Image differentiation is the creation of an image, an image of an organization and/or its products, that distinguishes them for the better from competitors and/or their products.

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

Solving positioning problems allows you to solve problems on individual elements of the marketing mix, bringing them to the level of tactical details. For example, a company that has positioned its product as a high-quality product must actually produce high-quality products, sell them at high prices, use high-quality dealers, and advertise the product in prestigious magazines.

After determining the target market segment, the enterprise must study the properties and image of competitors' products and assess the position of its product in the market. Having studied the positions of competitors, the enterprise makes a decision on positioning of your product, those. on ensuring the competitive position of the product on 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.

The factors that determine the position of a product on the market are not only prices and quality, but also the manufacturer, design, discounts, service, image of the product and the relationship between these factors. An enterprise’s assessment of its products on the market may differ from the opinion of buyers on this issue. For example, an enterprise enters the market and sells a product that, in its opinion, is of high quality at relatively low prices.

The problem arises if the buyer classifies this product as of average quality with a relatively high price. The task of marketing is to convince customers to purchase this product at a price that corresponds to high quality.

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. In this case, various approaches and methods are possible, for example, positioning based on certain product advantages, based on meeting specific needs or special uses; positioning through a certain category of consumers who have already purchased the product, or through comparisons; positioning using stable representations, etc. Naturally, positioning cannot be associated with consumer deception and misinformation; it may work once, after which the manufacturer will face failures and losses.

Literature

1. E.P. Golubkov "Marketing research theory, practice, methodology" "Finpress" M-1998

2. L.E. Basovsky "Marketing" Moscow Infra-M 1999

3. "Marketing" Edited by A.N. Romanova Banks and exchanges M - 1996

Market segmentation is the process of dividing the market (consumers) into groups according to certain characteristics. The main purpose of this action is to study the reaction of a particular group to a certain product, and the choice of the target (main) occupies a dominant position in any marketing research of the company.

Why is market segmentation needed?

Any company works for its clients. Naturally, they all differ in one way or another from each other. Market segmentation is the process of identifying certain parameters that distinguish one group from another. One buyer can be distinguished from another by his place of residence, habits, religious views and even attitude to life. Taking into account all these differences, a company can produce different products for each segment. Each group is naturally different from each other. One of the differences is their numbers. Many firms focus their attention only on the largest group. Although there are many companies that focus on one narrow focus, it allows them to avoid a lot of competition and have regular customers. Segmentation makes it possible to study your customers better, as well as identify which groups do not use the services of a particular company. Thus, market segmentation is in the activities of any company. This phenomenon is based on certain principles.

Principles of market segmentation

Segments may differ according to several criteria:

1. Geographically. Consumers can be divided into urban and rural population, as well as by place of residence - by region, city and even country.
2. Based on demographics. The most common is to divide potential clients by age, income level and marital status. Among the additional ones: religion and
3. According to psychographic characteristics. The division of consumers is carried out on the basis of the characteristics of a certain individual. There are various methods for determining the psychographic type of a person, according to which market segmentation occurs. Example: a person can be classified into one of two groups - psychocentrics or allocentrics.

Among other characteristics, consumers can be distinguished by their attitude towards products, by their consumption style and by personal characteristics.

How to select segments

The choice of a particular product can be influenced not only by the age of consumers, but also, for example, by income level or geographic location. Therefore, the more criteria are highlighted when studying consumers, the more clearly the entire situation on the market will be visible. At the same time, a large number of signs significantly complicates the situation. Simply put, the more segments, the fewer consumers in each group. How many segments to allocate and according to what parameters depends on the individual characteristics of the enterprise.

Thus, market segmentation is a process that must follow a certain pattern, depending on the goals of the enterprise.