a potential market segment in the air travel market could be middle-aged
consumers with children who seek status benefits for business travel.
Innovative combinations of variables from across the range can uncover new
market segments, even in supposedly traditional markets.
There is no hierarchy to these variables. Marketers can use any variable
as a starting point (first order variables), and then add further variables
(second order variables) to give the grouping a clearer definition. Thus a
segment of consumers seeking physical fitness may initially be determined
using benefit segmentation. Profile variables may then be added such as
age, gender, geodemographics, etc., in order to more clearly identify the
consumer to allow the company to develop specific media communication
and distribution plans.■ Profile variables
There is a range of demographic, socio-economic and geographic segmen-
tation variables in this category.Demographic segmentation
The key demographic variables consist of age, gender and the family life
cycle:
● Age: Consumer’s purchasing decisions will change with age. Older
people are likely to be looking for different benefits from a holiday than
younger people. However, age by itself may not be a sophisticated
enough variable to help identify a consumer segment. Using the age
range of 25–35-year-old individuals to identify a consumer group results
in a rather unclear grouping; 25–35-year-old women will have different
needs from 25- to 35-year-old men in certain markets. A 30-year-old
women who is single and has a professional job, is likely to have differ-
ent needs to a 30-year-old women who is married with three children
and has chosen not to work outside the home. Both will have different
needs to a 30-year-old unemployed woman who is single with a child.
There is also the issue of psychological age to be considered when
using this variable. That is consumers may perceive themselves to be
in a different age group to their true chronological age. Therefore a
product or service aimed at 35-year-olds may attract older customers
who still see themselves in this age range.
Age alone, therefore, has limitations as a method of breaking a market
down into useful segments.
● Gender: Sex, as a variable, has similar limitations to age. Clearly there are
differences between consumer groups based on gender. However this
variable by itself only narrows the market down by 50 per cent. There
are still major differences within the gender category. Younger women
may have different needs to older woman. Cadbury’s, when designing58 Strategic Marketing: Planning and Control