Abstract:

Segmented marketing is likely to replace traditional mass marketing techniques in many product fields in the future. This development will involve market researchers more frequently in what are usually described as market segmentation studies. Yet the literature available is of only limited value to the researcher embarking upon such a study because it deals largely with the development of multivariant analysis techniques of increasing power and elegance. The authors feel that insufficient attention has been paid to the problems of deciding what data should be collected to make this type of research valid and relevant to the marketing problem, or choosing which analysis technique is most appropriate, and equally important in practice, how to communicate the unusually sophisticated findings to those who have to integrate them with other information and take marketing action. They illustrate some of the difficulties and solutions which have been found in practice by reference to studies which they have carried out in various product fields. They describe the steps they carry out in the course of a "consumer attitude factor" study, and some of the analytic and graphic techniques that have been helpful in making the results comprehensible. These studies are used to show how market segmentation research helped in the improvement of the marketing and advertising strategy of some existing products, and how "holes in the market" were located so that guidance could be given in the formulation, testing and promotion of new products and brands.