that the heavy users of this product were professional household painters
and decorators. In fact the reason this group were heavy users of the prod-
uct was because it could be used to clean surfaces that needed to be
painted and because it was a non-silica-based cleaner they could paint
straight onto the surface. Once managers had identified this group of
heavy users they re-launched the product to the ‘Do It Yourself’ market
for individuals wishing to decorate their own houses.
Airlines use frequent flyers programmes to retain the heavy user of
their services. Many other companies in other sectors use incentives to
retain this important customer grouping.
Banks and building societies may wish to have charging scales on their
accounts that give incentives for heavy users while at the same time
increasing relative charges for light users as they are relatively more
expansive to manage.
● Purchase occasion: Consumer groups can be identified on the basis of
the type of occasion they buy a particular product or service. Some
products may be bought as gifts, or for specific formal social occasions
such as weddings or New Year celebrations. The convenience store
concept is an example of occasion segmentation, where individuals
can make purchases at a time and place that it is agreeable to them.
■ Psychographic variables
The techniques that have been discussed so far have used either consumer
characteristics or behavioural variables as the basis for identifying consumer
Segmentation 6980%Percentage of total sales20%
Percentage of total customers Figure 4.12
The Pareto effect
also known as the
80/20 rule