market segmentation - behavioural segmentation

Behavioural segmentation divides customers into groups based on the way they respond to, use or know of a product.

Behavioural segments can group consumers in terms of:

Occasions

When a product is consumed or purchased. For example, cereals have traditionally been marketed as a breakfast-related product. Kelloggs have always encouraged consumers to eat breakfast cereals on the "occasion" of getting up. More recently, they have tried to extend the consumption of cereals by promoting the product as an ideal, anytime snack food.

Usage

Some markets can be segmented into light, medium and heavy user groups

Loyalty

Loyal consumers - those who buy one brand all or most of the time - are valuable customers. Many companies try to segment their markets into those where loyal customers can be found and retained compared with segments where customers rarely display any product loyalty. The holiday market is an excellent example of this. The "mass-market" overseas tour operators such as Thomson, Airtours, JMC and First Choice have very low levels of customer loyalty - which means that customers need to be recruited again every year. Compare this with specialist, niche operators such as Laskarina which has customers who have traveled with the brand in each of the last 15-20 years.

Benefits Sought

An important form of behavioural segmentation. Benefit segmentation requires Marketers to understand and find the main benefits customers look for in a product. An excellent example is the toothpaste market where research has found four main "benefit segments" - economic; medicinal, cosmetic and taste.