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Basics of Marketing - Kotler Philip

SEGMENTATION BY BEHAVIORAL PRINCIPLE

When segmenting on the basis of behavioral characteristics of buyers are divided into groups depending on their knowledge, relationships, the nature of use of the goods and the reaction to this product. Many market leaders consider behavioral variables to be the most suitable basis for the formation of market segments.

Reasons for making a purchase. Buyers can be distinguished among themselves by the reasons for the idea, purchase or use of the goods. For example, an occasion for air travel can be something related to business, vacation, family. The airline can specialize in servicing people who are dominated by some one of these reasons. Thus, charter airlines serve those who have a vacation including an air flight somewhere.

Segmentation based on occasions can help firms to increase the degree of use of the product. For example, orange juice is most often drunk for the first breakfast. The manufacturer can try to give its advertising as a drink, suitable for a second breakfast, and for lunch. Some holidays, such as Mother's Day and Father's Day, began to propagate at one time in part to increase the sale of chocolates and flowers. The confectionery firm "Curtis candy" introduced the custom of "cheerful treats" on the Day of All Saints, when each family is ready to give sweets as a gift to the little tomboy who knocked on the door.

The benefits sought. One of the effective forms of segmentation is the classification of buyers based on the benefits they are looking for in the product. D. Yankelovich applied segmentation on the basis of the desired benefits to the purchase of watches. He found that "approximately 23% of buyers bought watches at the lowest prices, another 46% were guided by buying factors of durability and general quality of the goods, and 31% bought watches as a symbolic reminder of some important reason" 9. In those years, the most famous watch companies almost entirely focused on the third segment, producing expensive watches that emphasize prestige, and selling them through jewelry stores. The firm "Yu. S. time "decided to concentrate its efforts on the first two segments, created the" Timex "brand watches and began selling them through active sales shops. The company's strategy of segmentation facilitated its transformation into the world's largest watch company.

Benefit-based segmentation requires the identification of the main benefits that people expect from products of a particular class, varieties of consumers seeking each of these major benefits, and the main brands to which these benefits are more or less inherent. R. Hayley, who studied the toothpaste market, described one of the most successful examples of segmentation based on benefits (see Table 12). As a result of his research, Haley identified four segments in terms of the types of benefits: saving, therapeutic effect, cosmetic action, taste. The audience of each segment had inherent only demographic, behavioral and psychographic characteristics. For example, consumers interested in preventing decay of the teeth turned out to be people with large families, active consumers of toothpaste, conservative by nature. In addition, representatives of each segment had their favorite pasta brands. The company that produces toothpaste can take advantage of these results to find out which segment of the benefits benefits from its products, to determine the main characteristics of representatives of this segment and identify the main competing brands. The firm can also look for some new benefit and launch a vintage paste that provides this benefit.

Table 12

Segmenting the toothpaste market based on expected benefits

User Status. Many markets can be broken down into segments not using the product, former users, potential users, novice users and regular users. Large firms seeking to gain a large market share are especially interested in attracting potential users, and smaller companies are trying to win their brand of regular users. Potential users and regular users require different marketing approaches.

Particular attention is paid to the status of users of the organization of public marketing. Narcological dispensaries are developing rehabilitation programs to help those who regularly use drugs to abandon this habit. In particular, conversations of former drug addicts are organized, designed to disgust young people (not using) from attempts to try drugs.

Intensity of consumption. Markets can also be broken down into groups of weak, moderate and active consumers of goods. Active users often make up a small part of the market, but they account for a large percentage of total consumption of goods. A number of data on the intensity of consumption of popular consumer goods is given in Fig. 45. The example of beer consumption shows that 68% of respondents do not drink it. The remaining 32% were divided into two groups of 16% each. One was weak consumers, accounting for 12% of total beer consumption, the other - active, consuming 88% of beer, i.e. Seven times as many as weak. Naturally, the brewer will prefer to attract one active consumer for his brand, rather than a few weak ones. Most breweries focus their efforts specifically on active consumers using arguments such as that enjoyed by the company "Shefer": "One beer that you need to drink when you offer more than one."

Fig. 45. Segmentation of the markets of a number of categories of goods according to the intensity of their consumption

At active consumers of the goods the general demographic and psychographic characteristics, and also the general adherence to means of advertising. In the case of active consumers of beer, it is known that there are more workers among them than among weak consumers, and that their age is from 25 to 50 years, and not to 25 and over 50 years, as is observed among weak consumers. They usually watch TV for more than three and a half hours a day (and not more than two hours, as weak consumers) and prefer sports programs10. Such data helps the marketer in setting prices, developing advertising appeals and using advertising media.

Organizations of public marketing often face in their work with the dilemma of an active consumer. Family planning agencies usually focus their efforts on large families, although it is in such families that they are most resistant to the perception of appeals with calls for limiting fertility. The National Security Council focuses its efforts on violating drivers, although these drivers are the least receptive to calls for safe driving. These organizations have to decide whether to focus efforts on a small number of the least susceptible hardened violators or on a large group of more susceptible petty offenders.

Degree of commitment. Segmentation of the market can be carried out and the degree of adherence of consumers to the product. Consumers can be adherents of trademarks (beer "Schlitz"), stores (shops "Sears") and other independent objects. In this chapter, we will focus only on the commitment to trademarks. Imagine five branded goods: A, B, C, D and D. By the degree of adherence to them, buyers can be divided into four groups11:

Unqualified supporters. These are consumers who buy goods of the same brand all the time. Thus, the scheme of purchasing behavior of type A, A, A, A, A, A represents a consumer with an undivided adherence to the brand A.

Tolerant adherents. These are consumers who are committed to two or three brands. A shopping pattern of types A, A, B, B, A, B represents a consumer with a commitment shared between branded goods A and B.
Unstable devotees. These are consumers who transfer their preferences from one brand to another. The scheme of purchasing behavior of type A, A, A, B, B, B suggests that the consumer has shifted his preferences from A to B.

"Wanderers." They are consumers who do not show commitment to any of the branded goods. A shopping pattern of types A, B, D, B, D, B suggests that we have a devotion to the consumer who either buys any brand from the available at the moment or wants to acquire something different from the existing product range.

Any market consists of different numerical combinations of buyers of these four types. The market of vintage adherence is a market in which a large percentage of buyers demonstrate an unconditional commitment to one of the brands on it. In this sense markets of a rather high brand loyalty can perhaps be called the markets of toothpaste and field. Firms trading in the market of brand loyalty will find it very difficult to increase the size of their share on it, and it is very difficult for firms seeking to enter it.

The firm can learn a lot by conducting an analysis of the distribution of adherences in its market. She should definitely study the characteristics of unconditional adherents of her own branded goods. Colgate established that its unqualified supporters are mostly middle-class people with large families and increased concern for their own health. These characteristics clearly determine the boundaries of the target market for the company's toothpaste.

Studying tolerant adherents, the firm can identify brands that are most acutely competing with its own. If many customers of Colgate paste buy Cross paste, the firm may try to improve the positioning of its brand in relation to Cross pasta, perhaps by advertising for this purpose based on direct comparison.

Studying consumers who refuse from its brand in favor of others, will help the firm learn about its marketing weaknesses. As for consumers who do not have adherence, the firm will be able to attract them to itself by offering its brand.

At the same time, the firm must remember that the nature of the buying behavior, which is explained by seemingly loyalty to the brand, can in fact be a manifestation of habit or indifference, a response to a low price or the absence of other brands of products. The concept of "adherence to the brand" is not always interpreted unequivocally, and therefore it is necessary to handle it carefully.

Degree of readiness of the buyer to perceive the goods. At any given time, people are at varying degrees of readiness to purchase goods. Some of them are not aware of the goods at all, others are aware of the goods, others are informed, the fourth ones are interested in it, the fifth ones want it, the sixth - they intend to buy. The numerical ratio of consumers of different groups greatly affects the nature of the marketing program being developed. Suppose a health organization wants to encourage women to undergo an annual screening for the diagnosis of cervical cancer, the so-called "Pap test". In the initial period, most women may simply be unaware of the existence of the "Papa test", and marketing efforts should be directed towards creating a high level of awareness through advertising with simple, intelligible treatment. If successful, subsequent advertising should effectively present the benefits of the "Pap test" and focus on the health risks that evasion can lead to in order to bring as many women as possible to the awareness, desirability of the survey. At the same time, it is necessary to prepare in advance a material base capable of coping with the influx of women, whose advertising may have created the appropriate motivation. In general, the marketing program should be built in such a way that it reflects the redistribution in the numerical composition of groups of people who are at different levels of readiness to make a purchase.

Attitude to the goods. The market audience can refer to the product enthusiastically, positively, indifferently, negatively or hostilely. Agitators of political parties who conduct election pre-election rounds are guided by the attitude of the voter, deciding how much time should be spent working with him. They thank the enthusiastic party of voters and remind them of the need to vote; Do not waste time trying to change the attitude of the negative or hostile voters; But they are trying to strengthen their positive opinion in their opinion and induce indifferent people to their side. The more clearly it is possible to identify the relationship of relations with the variables of the demographic order, the more effective the organization's work can be in reaching the most promising potential customers12.

The profile of one segment of the consumer market is described in Box 14.

Box 14. Market segment profile - college students

A recent study examined the nature of spending and other characteristics of a particular market segment - college students .

Among other types of costs, the study examined the costs of purchasing food and beverages. The consumption of beverages by this audience is particularly high. Among the preferred soft drinks - orange juice, milk and various soft drinks. In another group of drinks, beer and wine were the most popular, and those who liked stronger spirits preferred rum. In addition to basic food products, students often buy light snacks. On average, a college student commits seven shopping trips monthly, with 76% of the students in the survey group shopping at supermarkets.

In this segment, toilet accessories are very popular. So, 81% of students buy hair care products and 80% - cosmetics. Shaving creams and toilet soap for the face are also popular.

The best way to communicate with this group of buyers is the institute newspapers, which they regularly read, according to them, 87% of the respondents. Radio and television in this sense are less effective. Many students willingly use coupons, offers discounts from the price of purchased goods or free samples distributed.

Currently, the level of college students' costs is the highest in the history of surveys of this group of consumers. In addition to paying for housing, food and training, the average student spends an additional $ 224 per month. Basically, students earn this money by their own labor. Most of the money goes to pay for entertainment, food, drinks and toiletries. In addition, 59% of college students have their own cars, and 91% of the remaining students expect to acquire a car in the near future.

Finally, 89% of college students have current bank accounts (64% - urgent accounts), and 19% - credit cards "Visa".