A segment is made up of consumers with more or less similar needs ad expectations . Can you tell me factors that bind them together like demographics and more? I need to have clear understanding on these and some specific examples for the same

shweta wrote:

QUOTE:
A segment is made up of consumers with more or less similar needs ad expectations . Can you tell me factors that bind them together like demographics and more? I need to have clear understanding on these and some specific examples for the same :dry:

The factors which bind such consumers together into a segment are:

1. Demographic: Age, income, Gender, Occupation, education and sometimes geographic locations.
2. Behavioral: for instance in terms of usage volume: heavy, medium, light users.
3. Benefits or Satisfactions desired: We have already studied this factor, viz. segmentation by benefits sought.
4.Psychographic: Personality, life style, social class.

Its really important to filter these segments and chose the best suiting your product and brand. The segment is a combination of these above aspects.

cheers,

There are various aspects like demographic fit, behavioral fit, satisfaction fit,psychographic fit are ultimate factors that bind customers and brands/products together though this is true that "A segment is made up of consumers with more or less similar needs ad expectations "

Demographic Fit is a very important aspect of having proper positioning done for any product or brand. It plays wonder if the Demographics - "fit properly".

Example: for Demographic Fit.

Farex , the easy-to-digest cereal food was initially positioned for infants and also geriatrics and this was reflected in the pack designed at that time. Later in 1967-68, the brand was very specifically repositioned as the weaning food for infants from the age of three months to one year..

This was reflected in the new pack designed.

The ad said:

3 months onwards, milk alone is not enough. For all-round growth, your baby needs Farex, the first step to solid food.





The clear cut concentration on the age of the user, accompanied with the strong idea of milk being not enough at that age, gave the brand very distinct identity and led to a dramatic sales increase. After this repositioning decision, the sales volume doubled within the first three years alone. Later the brand was overtaken by cerelac ( Nestle) because the product features and benefits of cerelac were considered by mothers to be superior.

Psychographic Fit is another great way to psychoogicaly positioning products and brands in end users mind. Positioning a brand to match the psychographical characteristics of a segment takes us into a more esoteric area. Nevertheless such matching of brand and segment is often the key to differentiate productssuch as cigarettes, textile fabrics, beauty and fashion like cosmetics and apparel and even footwear.

Cigarettes: Gold Flake Filter Kings and Classic are so close to one another in price and physical characteristics that it would be virtually impossible to differentiate them in terms of demographic segments or benefits. Both are ITC brands. The only effective strategy of differentiation is to position them for segments which are demarcated one from the other by psychographic characteristics.

Behavioral fit : The behaviors of individual user differs. There are heavy users, medium users, and light users. There is that phrase about the "Heavy half", meaning that a small fraction of consumers (of a product type or brand) account for a proportionately much higher percentage of its sales. (with beer, for example: about 30 % drinkers would account for about 80% of sales). Hence it makes good sense to study heavily-user segment and position for them brands that best satisfy their high volume consumption.

In USA , Jonson & Jonson did use behavioral fit with a great success. Leme explain -

They found that the heavy user of shampoo, one who shampoos often, prefers a mild product. THe company saw market share move up from 3 to 14 % when they broadened the positioning of their shampoo for one used for babies to one that is also best suited for those who wash their hair frequently and therefore need the kind of mildness in their shampoo which they can be sure of.