Cross‐national segmentation: An application to the NAFTA airline passenger market

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to propose an approach to international market segmentation that identifies meaningful cross‐national consumer segments, which focuses on airline passengers in the NAFTA market.

Design/methodology/approach

A conjoint analysis is used to evaluate consumers' preferences for six flight attributes: price, in‐flight service, number of stops before destination, on‐time performance, frequent flyer programme, and country of airline. A cluster analysis based on the relative importance scores of each of the six flights attributes then identifies five segments that prioritize similar product attributes within each country.

Findings

A representative sample of 4,787 airline passengers from the three countries reveal that price is the most important attribute for consumers from the USA and Canada, while on‐time performance is the most important attribute for Mexican consumers. A cluster analysis identifies five segments that prioritize similar product attributes within each country. It is also found that there are five cross‐national consumer segments in the NAFTA market that are homogeneous in terms of consumer preferences but heterogeneous in terms of relative group size and demographic variables.

Research limitations/implications

The study is based on a purposive sample, which limits the ability to generalize to the whole population with any known degree of precision.

Practical implications

The research produces practical operational information on each segment that is translatable into strategy, specifically in terms of positioning, promotion, and targeting of the airline service.

Originality/value

The paper sheds light on the nature of cross‐national segmentation in the NAFTA air passengers market and the resulting cross‐national segmentation will be highly relevant for international marketing management.

Citation

Bruning, E.R., Hu, M.Y. and Hao, W.(A). (2009), "Cross‐national segmentation: An application to the NAFTA airline passenger market", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 43 No. 11/12, pp. 1498-1522. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090560910990009