What Do You Understand Form Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning (Stp) Strategies?

Market segmentation - Market segmentation may be defined, as the division of a market into groups of segments having similar wants. But wants must be interpreted very broadly, in terms far broader than product characteristics only. Segments may differ also in their needs for information, reassurance, technical support, promotion, and a host of other 'non-product' benefits that are part of their purchase. They may also differ in their capacity to pay for these differences.

Economists view a product as differentiated if some buyers to similarly pieced rival brands prefer it on the ground of differences in the following:

• Physical aspects of product

• Services offered

• Convenience in using or buying the product

• Image projected

If you analyse the above view put forward by economists you will reach the conclusion that all segmentation except segmentation involving price alone entails differentiation. But it does not mean that the two are same. For segmentation involves more than that what is achieved through product differentiation. In market segmentation the aim is not merely to divide the market into sub-classes based on product differentiation but to distinguish want categories that correspond to the distinct demands of various groups in the market.

So we can say that in product differentiation the marketer produces two or more products that are different in terms of features, styles, quality, size and so on. The objective here is to offer variety to buyers rather than to appeal to different market segments.

Merits and Demerits for the Marketers First, we will highlight the benefits from segmentation and these are:

• Segmentation helps a company to exploit its market better by selecting market niches (suitable segments) that are compatible with its resources

• Segmentation helps in focusing strategies more sharply on target groups

• Segmentation is more likely to result in instilling customer 'loyalty' since the firm's offering is better matched to...