Evaluate 'psychographic' segmentation as a basis for effective marketing in the UK car industry

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Rima Khabbaze

EVALUATE ‘PSYCHOGRAPHIC’ SEGMENTATION AS A BASIS FOR EFFECTIVE MARKETING IN THE UK CAR INDUSTRY

Introduction

The marketing process for any product begins with analyzing the market, segmenting the market, selecting the target market and finally developing a position for the product being marketed.

                                                                                                                           (Nowell, D)

Analyzing the market involves determining how strong the market is and in what ways it is changing. Segmentation involves breaking apart a large market into smaller groups which share certain characteristics and behaviours. The third stage is selecting target market(s) and matching the 4P’s of the marketing mix (price, product, place and promotion) to the need of the selected segment(s) and, finally, positioning the product being market, whether it is a car, food, or clothing, in the minds of the consumers. If the above marketing process is carried out successfully, then we have effective marketing.

This essay will focus on the second stage of the marketing process, segmentation. The essay will begin to discuss the importance of market segmentation and the bases used to segment target markets. Overall, the essay will evaluate Psychgraphic Segmentation as a basis for effective marketing in the UK car industry and the benefits and the limitations of psychographics will be viewed. In addition, use of other segmentation techniques will also be discussed to show where they are predominantly used or where they are used in conjunction with psychographics.

Main body

For marketing to be effective, a competitive advantage must be gained. This is accomplished through successful segmentation in order to enable markets to have a variety of product needs and preferences and to allow customer needs to be better defined. Psychographic segmentation is one type of segmentation technique which we will concentrate on. This type of segmentation divides the market into different groups based on social class, lifestyle and personality. This way of segmenting is an interesting way since it gets into how people think in terms of the activities, interests and opinions (AIO) of the people. Thus, by knowing the psychographics of one’s customers enables industries to create the correct advertising message. The following table shows some examples of AIO of the people.

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(Gunter & Furnham, 1992)

Psychographics are used in practice in the marketing of cars. One of the variables of psychographics mentioned above which marketers look at is social class. Cars for upper social classes and for lower social classes will be different. It is more likely for example for BMWs to be targeted at lawyers rather than electricians.

The Phaeton is the new Volkswagen luxury car which is being targeted at wealthy buyers. This type of car for example along with other such as Audi, Bentley, Bugatti and Lamborghini would only be targeted at those with a ...

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