Segmentation of the consumer market is a strategy in marketing where target markets are broken down into groups. These groups are divided on the basis of their needs (Lacobucci, 2001). Target markets with needs that are homogenous are put in the same groups. The groups must also have common priorities and interests. Marketers then design strategies and implement them in order to target the segments. The strategies enable marketing work to be easy and successful. It is the responsibility of a marketer to establish these groups and make appropriate strategies. That ensures that marketing becomes successful.
There are market segments that prefer to shop online rather than from retail shops. The interests and characteristics of these groups are different. A market segment that shops online is the group that has minimum time to physically visit outlets to shop (Lacobucci, 2001). The individuals in this group are busy at work and hardly get free time to shop from outlets. The online shoppers’ market segment also consists of individuals that love convenience. These are individuals who hardly want to break their routine to shop. They like shopping from online platforms in the comfort of their homes. They prefer goods and services that they purchase to be delivered at their request.
The segment with individuals that shop from outlets has different characteristics. The consumers in this group have time to visit shops. Research confirms that they have time to visit several outlets to compare prices and quality. They also do not feel inconvenienced by physical shopping. Most of the people in this group love shopping. Some use shopping to pass their free time. Therefore, there are market segments that are driven by their needs to shop online and others from shops. The decision to go online or offline depends on interests. However, it is marketers who must learn of these interests and move in to satisfy their consumers (Devashish, 2011).
There are common themes among market segments that determine outlet selection. These themes are important because they largely influence the decision of consumers to select an outlet (Lacobucci, 2001). Some of the themes are business layout and good quality music good. Retailers can build a strategy around these themes and increase the chances of their outlets being selected by consumers. Another theme around which retailers can build strategy is the color scheme. Outstanding color scheme influences consumer’s decision to enter into an outlet.
Post-purchase dissonance is a cognitive behavior after purchase where consumers feel they made a wrong decision by making a purchase. Consumers feel they would have made a better decision by buying another product. Post-purchase dissonance has an effect on the loyalty of a customer to a brand (Doole $Lowe, 2005). This is because customers start that there is a better product than the one they have been buying for a long time. This means that they could shift their loyalty and start buying a different product.
Companies need to keep track of their customers in order to evaluate the post-purchase consumer behavior. This helps in detecting any dissonance from customers. The first strategy is to form a customer feedback platform. This is where customers are requested to comment on goods or services after purchase. Companies can evaluate the level of dissonance from the strategy through feedback. The other strategy is the record-keeping of customer purchase behavior ((Devashish, 2011). This mostly consists of purchase frequency. A loyal customer has a regular frequency purchase record. A change in the purchase trend should be an indication that brand loyalty has reduced. Companies can observe the trend and use it to detect any dissonance.
References
Lacobucci, D. (2001). Kellogg on Marketing. New York, N. Y: John Wiley & Sons Publishers.
Doole, I & Lowe, R. (2005). Strategiv Marketing Decisions in Global Markets. Boston, M.A: Cengage Learning Publishers.
Devashish, D. (2011).Tourism Marketing. London, U.K: Pearson Education Publishers.