Editing Market segmentation (section)

=== Other types of consumer segmentation ===

In addition to geographics, demographics, psychographics, and behavioural bases, marketers occasionally turn to other means of segmenting the market or developing segment profiles.

==== Generational segments ====

A generation is defined as "a cohort of people born within a similar period (15 years at the upper end) who share a comparable age and life stage and who were shaped by a particular period (events, trends, and developments)."<ref>McCrindle, M., ''Generations Defined'' [Booklet] n.d. circa 2010 Online: http://mccrindle.com.au/BlogRetrieve.aspx?PostID=146968&A=SearchResult&SearchID=9599835&ObjectID=146968&ObjectType=55</ref> Generational segmentation refers to the process of dividing and analyzing a population into cohorts based on their birth date. Generational segmentation assumes that people's values and attitudes are shaped by the key events that occurred during their lives and that these attitudes translate into product and brand preferences.

Demographers, studying population change, disagree about precise dates for each generation.<ref>Cran, C., ''The Art of Change Leadership: Driving Transformation In a Fast-Paced World,'' Wiley, Hoboken, N.J. 2016, pp. 174–75</ref> Dating is normally achieved by identifying population peaks or troughs, which can occur at different times in each country. For example, in Australia the post-war population boom peaked in 1960,<ref>Salt, B., '' The Big Shift'', South Yarra, Vic.: Hardie Grant Books, 2004 {{ISBN|978-1-74066-188-1}}</ref> while the peak occurred somewhat later in the US and Europe,<ref>U.S. Census Bureau, ''American Fact Finder: Age Groups and Sex'', 2010</ref> with most estimates converging on 1964. Accordingly, Australian Boomers are normally defined as those born between 1945 and 1960; while American and European Boomers are normally defined as those born between 1946 and 1964. Thus, the generational segments and their dates discussed here must be taken as approximations only.

The primary generational segments identified by marketers are:<ref>McCrindle Research, ''Seriously Cool – Marketing & Communicating with Diverse Generations'', Norwest Business Park, Australia, n.d. c. 2010</ref>

* Builders: born 1920 to 1945
* [[Baby boomers]]: born about 1946–1964
* [[Generation X]]: born about 1965–1980
* Generation Y, also known as [[Millennials]]; born about 1981–1996
* [[Generation Z]], also known as Zoomers; born 1997–2012

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Unique characteristics of selected generations<ref>{{cite web |last1=Taylor |first1=Paul |last2=Gao |first2=George |title=Generation X: America's neglected 'middle child' |url= http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/06/05/generation-x-americas-neglected-middle-child/ |website=Pew Research Center |access-date=24 July 2018 |date=5 June 2014}}</ref>
|-
! Colspan="2" | Millennials
! colspan="2" | Generation X
! colspan="2" | Baby Boomers
|-
| Technology use || 24%
| Technology use || 12%
| Work ethic || 17%
|-
| Music/ popular culture || 11%
| Work ethic || 11%
| Respectful || 14%
|-
| Liberal/ tolerant || 7%
| Conservative/ traditional || 7%
| Values/ morals || 8%
|-
| Smarter || 6%
| Smarter || 6%
| Smarter || 5%
|-
| Clothes || 5%
| Respectful || 5%
| {{N/A}} || {{sdash}}
|}

==== Cultural segmentation ====

Cultural segmentation is used to classify markets according to their cultural origin. Culture is a major dimension of [[consumer behaviour]] and can be used to enhance customer insight and as a component of predictive models. Cultural segmentation enables appropriate communications to be crafted for particular cultural communities. Cultural segmentation can be applied to existing customer data to measure market penetration in key cultural segments by product, brand, and channel as well as traditional measures of recency, frequency, and monetary value. These benchmarks form an important evidence base to guide strategic direction and tactical campaign activity, allowing engagement trends to be monitored over time.<ref>Ellson, T., ''Culture and Positioning as Determinants of Strategy: Personality and the Business Organization'', Springer, 2004</ref>

Cultural segmentation can be combined with other bases, especially geographics so that segments are mapped according to state, region, suburb, and neighborhood. This provides a geographical market view of population proportions and may be of benefit in selecting appropriately located premises, determining territory boundaries, and local marketing activities.

Census data is a valuable source of cultural data but cannot meaningfully be applied to individuals. Name analysis ([[onomastics]]) is the most reliable and efficient means of describing the cultural origin of individuals. The accuracy of using name analysis as a surrogate for cultural background in Australia is between 80 and 85%, after allowing for female name changes due to marriage, social or political reasons, or colonial influence. The extent of name data coverage means a user will code a minimum of 99% of individuals with their most likely ancestral origin.

==== Online customer segmentation ====

Online market segmentation is similar to the traditional approaches in that the segments should be identifiable, substantial, accessible, stable, differentiable, and actionable.<ref>Gretchen Gavett, July 09/2014, What You Need to Know About Segmentation, Harvard Business Review, accessed online 3/04/2017: [https://hbr.org/2014/07/what-you-need-to-know-about-segmentation]</ref> Customer data stored in online data management systems such as a [[Customer relationship management|CRM]] or [[Data management platform|DMP]] enables the analysis and segmentation of consumers across a diverse set of attributes.<ref>{{cite web|title = Management Tools - Customer Relationship Management |url= http://www.bain.com/publications/articles/management-tools-customer-relationship-management.aspx |website=bain.com |access-date=23 November 2015}}</ref> Forsyth et al., in an article 'Internet research' grouped current active online consumers into six groups: Simplifiers, Surfers, Bargainers, Connectors, Routiners, and Sportsters. The segments differ regarding four customers' behaviours, namely:<ref>Forsyth, John E.; Lavoie, Johanne; McGuire, Tim. Segmenting the e-market. McKinsey Quarterly. 2000, Issue 4, p14-18. 5p.</ref>

* The amount of time they actively spend online,
* The number of pages and sites they access,
* The time they spend actively viewing each page,
* And the kinds of sites they visit.

For example, ''Simplifiers'' make up over 50% of all online transactions. Their main characteristic is that they need easy (one-click) access to information and products as well as easy and quickly available service regarding products. [[Amazon (company)|Amazon]] is an example of a company that created an online environment for Simplifiers. They also 'dislike unsolicited e-mail, uninviting chat rooms, pop-up windows intended to encourage impulse buys, and other features that complicate their on- and off-line experience'. Surfers like to spend a lot of time online, thus companies must have a variety of products to offer and constant updates, ''Bargainers'' are looking for the best price, Connectors like to relate to others, ''Routiners'' want content, and ''Sportsters'' like sport and entertainment sites.