Bases for Segmenting Business Markets
We can segment business markets with some of the same variables we use in consumer markets, such as geography, benefits sought, and usage rate, but business marketers also use other variables (see Table 6.2).
The demographic variables are the most important, followed by the operating variables—down to the personal characteristics of the buyer.
Within a chosen target industry, a business market can further segment by company size and set up separate operations for selling to large and small customers.
A company can segment further by purchase criteria.
Business marketers generally identify segments through a sequential process. Consider an aluminum company: The company first undertook macro-segmentation. It looked at which end-use market to serve: automobile, residential, or beverage containers.
It chose the residential market, and it needed to determine the most attractive product application: semifinished material, building components, or aluminum mobile homes. Deciding to focus on building components, it considered the best customer size and chose large. The second stage consisted of microsegmentation. The company distinguished among customers buying on price, service, and quality. Because it had a high-service profile, the firm decided to concentrate on the service-motivated segment of the market.
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