Marketing Segmentation
...d to minimize inherent differences between respondents within each segment and maximize differences between each segment. Market segmentation expands sales and lets a business obtain the competitive advantage over the competition by reaching potential buyers with the most customized offering possible. The importance of market segmentation as a strategy to business success involves searching for unique clusters of customers that exhibit similar characteristics and purchasing behavior to improve your company’s sales, share and image and better serve the needs of your customers. Market segmentation is the foundation on which all other marketing actions can be based. It requires a major commitment by management to customer-oriented planning, research, implementation, and control. Marketers realize that the heart of any marketing campaign is the product and the position it holds in people's minds. A basic principle underlying this marketing strategy is that there are distinct market segments each of which has its own needs, wants, desires, and interests. Effectiveness of market segmentation depends on whether: the market segment presents measurable purchasing power and size, marketers find a way to effectively promote to and serve the market segment, marketers identify segments that are sufficiently large enough to give them good profit potential, and the firm targets segments that match its marketing capabilities. A marketer decides on which segmentation base to use by following a five-step decision process. First, the marketers determine the bases on which to identify markets. Next, marketers seek and develop further understand...