Published by:
Harvard Business Publishing
Length: 7 pages
Topics:
Market segmentation; Target markets
Abstract
The difficulty of segmenting industrial markets has dissuaded companies from trying, despite the benefits they lose in terms of market analysis and selection. The problem is to identify the most useful variables. One way to do this is to arrange the five general segmentation criteria of demographics, operating variables, customer purchasing approaches, situational factors, and personal buyer characteristics, into a nested hierarchy. The segmentation criteria of the largest, outermost nest are general characteristics about industries and companies. Innermost nests are specific, subtle, and hard-to-assess traits.
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Abstract
The difficulty of segmenting industrial markets has dissuaded companies from trying, despite the benefits they lose in terms of market analysis and selection. The problem is to identify the most useful variables. One way to do this is to arrange the five general segmentation criteria of demographics, operating variables, customer purchasing approaches, situational factors, and personal buyer characteristics, into a nested hierarchy. The segmentation criteria of the largest, outermost nest are general characteristics about industries and companies. Innermost nests are specific, subtle, and hard-to-assess traits.