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Container shipping is a standardized business-to-business service market where carriers need to stay customer focused to survive. Market segmentation is an ideal solution to develop customized marketing programs for each segment, but container lines need personalized marketing programs for each customer. Hence, the purpose of this study is to develop a segmentation framework that can help container lines to profile each customer more efficiently considering their needs, strategic importance and demographics.

This study has adopted an exploratory approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers of container lines.

Segmentation bases are the type of customer, container volume, loyalty, seasonality, decision maker, the industry of shipper, cargo characteristics, container type, destination region and export/import. Market segmentation in container shipping can be helpful in developing effective customized marketing offering, including effective price discrimination and customized marketing communications.

A port-specific segmentation approach was adopted and a flexible segmentation framework was proposed for container lines to adapt in different hinterlands.

Unlike the literature, this study suggests market segmentation can be very helpful in customized marketing in business-to-business services like container shipping industry. This study also suggests port-specific market segmentation for container lines instead of route-specific.

The creation of a target market strategy is integral to developing an effective business strategy. The concept of market segmentation is often cited as pivotal to establishing a target market strategy, yet all too often business‐to‐business marketers utilise little more than trade sectors or product groups as the basis for their groupings of customers, rather than customers' characteristics and buying behaviour. The purpose of this paper is to offer a solution for managers, focusing on customer purchasing behaviour, which evolves from the organisation's existing criteria used for grouping its customers.

One of the underlying reasons managers fail to embrace best practice market segmentation is their inability to manage the transition from how target markets in an organisation are currently described to how they might look when based on customer characteristics, needs, purchasing behaviour and decision‐making. Any attempt to develop market segments should reflect the inability of organisations to ignore their existing customer group classification schemes and associated customer‐facing operational practices, such as distribution channels and sales force allocations.

A straightforward process has been derived and applied, enabling organisations to practice market segmentation in an evolutionary manner, facilitating the transition to customer‐led target market segments. This process also ensures commitment from the managers responsible for implementing the eventual segmentation scheme. This paper outlines the six stages of this process and presents an illustrative example from the agrichemicals sector, supported by other cases.

The process presented in this paper for embarking on market segmentation focuses on customer purchasing behaviour rather than business sectors or product group classifications ‐ which is true to the concept of market segmentation ‐ but in a manner that participating managers find non‐threatening. The resulting market segments have their basis in the organisation's existing customer classification schemes and are an iteration to which most managers readily buy‐in.

Despite the size of the market segmentation literature, very few papers offer step‐by‐step guidance for developing customer‐focused market segments in business‐to‐business marketing. The analytical tool for assessing customer purchasing deployed in this paper originally was created to assist in marketing planning programmes, but has since proved its worth as the foundation for creating segmentation schemes in business marketing, as described in this paper.

This paper aims to report a research methodology that is used to identify business buyer segments by relating demographic indicators to the needs of various market segments.

The research was based on a survey in the office systems industry. The respondents were asked to evaluate the importance of marketing services that are used by dealers to select, evaluate, and retain vendors.

Market segments were identified and categorized using demographic and need‐based data. Discriminant analysis was able to distinguish between demographic market segments and to identify these segments based on their market needs.

This paper demonstrates a methodology to identify customer needs based on demographic data, lowering the cost of identifying the product and service needs of different market segments.

Demographic and need‐based business segmentation methods are widely used, However, empirically based research that bridges the gap between these two segmentation processes has not been previously reported.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the possibility of identifying market segments in multistage markets and assessing whether their alignment could provide a useful managerial approach to find competitive advantage and better understand market opportunities.

Using data from a pilot project, need-based market segments from different market stages were identified and their potential alignment evaluated. The data were not designed to test hypotheses, nor were they originally intended to be used to align segments. Nevertheless, they provided a unique opportunity to explore multistage segmentation and segment alignment in a business-to-business (B2B) setting.

Overall, the findings of this exploratory study should encourage both academics and practitioners to continue to explore the possibility of studying and aligning multistage market segments. The possibility of aligning segments was demonstrated using visual alignment based on managerial judgment of data and alignment based on a combined cluster analysis of customers across the multistage markets.

First, the market research was not specifically designed to formulate and test hypotheses about the feasibility of aligning segments in multistage markets – it is an exploratory study. The research was based on a pilot project, and the survey-derived databases were conveniently available for analysis. While sample sizes were small, they are typical of many B2B markets. Second, to more effectively study complex relationships in multistage markets, it would have been desirable to include a more comprehensive set of needs. Each market stage has not only a set of their own perceived needs but also a set of perceptions of the needs of other stages. Third, as in many B2B studies, the data used in this pilot project were based on single informants.

A common complaint among firms is that B2B market segmentation does not really work that well for them. An unexplored reason for this may be that true market segmentation does not stop with one’s direct customer, but should also include the customer’s customer and so on, in a multistage market segmentation structure. One implication of the research presented here suggests that better understanding the segmentation structure in a multistage market can enlighten the opportunities and risks of implementing such a strategy. Multistage market segmentation alignment may lead to innovative positioning and message levers for the sales force to use as an argument to gain advantage according to common and unique aligned segment needs.

The process may be applied to social institutions in addition to commercial organizations.

While it is obvious that market segmentation can be applied to any single market of customers, the question of applying it to complex multistage markets needs additional exploration. The original idea in this paper is that the potential for strategically aligning multistage markets and segments can have both conceptual and managerial implications for establishing competitive advantage and more efficient and effective resource allocation. The paper shows that that such alignment is possible; however, research and research methods in this area are nascent and will require continued step-by-step learning about these complex market structures to build up to a more definitive understanding of the processes involved to guide future research and managerial thinking.

In tourism, the adoption of Information and Communication Technologies (hereinafter ICT) and variables concerning firms’ links with suppliers have been recognized as key determinants to improve companies’ competitiveness. From the perspective of efficient management of company resources, segmentation has become a key tool and is particularly significant and current in the business-to-business context. The purpose of this paper is to study the segmentation of firms in the tourist industry according to perceived ICT use and relationship value and benefits. In addition, from the management approach, the authors seek to describe the segments that enable the development of differentiated strategies aimed at consolidating relationship benefits in the long term.

Using a sample of 310 travel agencies who evaluated the relationship with their main supplier, the authors attempt to examine the utility of these variables as segmentation criteria for identifying heterogeneous groups.

The estimation of a finite mixture model suggests that these bases are able to discriminate firms into four latent segments with different levels of ICT use and relationship variables.

This research contributes to the understanding of the role that ICT and relationship variables have in the segmentation processes of tourism companies. Literature on segmentation in the business-to-business (B2B) context is limited and it is hard to find studies which apply latent methodology using behavioral criteria related to the use of ICT and relationship variables.

Segmentation of the tourism organizational market based on valuations of supplier relations and ICT use can help suppliers to design or adapt differentiation marketing strategies. Since agencies place the most value on confidence and value, tourism service suppliers should focus their efforts on improving the elements of service provision that increase perceived trust/confidence and value (i.e. growing the number of contacts, proximity to customers or sincerity, etc.). If agencies feel they can rely more on their providers, they will value their relationship more positively thereby favoring its long-term continuity.

The novelty in this work lies in the application of latent segmentation methodology and the simultaneous use of bases associated with ICT and relationship variables in B2B tourism.

The main purpose of this paper is to review the related literature and propose a new decision‐support‐system (DSS) framework for marketing in the business‐to‐business (B2B) arena based on customer‐relationship management (CRM) and knowledge‐driven marketing to help related‐field graduate students and marketing managers.

Reviews a range of the most important works published between 1966 and 2004 in order to demonstrate both practical and theoretical aspects. The main method of this research is analytical and conceptual and the approach to this subject was to investigate the gap between marketing DSSs and analytical CRM.

Provides information about a customized marketing DSS in a B2B context, indicates related literature and frameworks and, finally, tests the ideas with a case study.

Outcomes and applications are identified for developing new activities in improving marketing decision making and marketing planning based on customer orientation and customer satisfaction.

Despite such interdependencies, the research in the fields of DSSs and CRM solutions has not adequately considered the integration of such systems. The novel contribution of this paper lies in integrating marketing DSSs and CRM with regard to knowledge‐driven marketing in B2B marketing, in both theoretical and practical aspects.

Identifies market segments for a category of business services, namely building maintenance services. Hitherto there has been little research on business service segmentation. Data has been collected through written surveys and analysed by factor analysis and cluster analysis. Although only one type of business service is analysed, the method is applicable to other types. Four market segments were identified, with respective emphasis on customer focus, relationship seeking, price sensitivity and high expectations. The study indicates the value of segmentation analysis as a planning tool for business services, which is the newest and fastest growing sector in business‐to‐business marketing.

Successful segmentation and implementation are crucial for firms. This paper aims to focus on what areas small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) consider when implementing new target segments in the organization. If firms do not understand the potential complexity and plan for implementation, they risk overlooking important areas that cause organizational resistance and failure in the market.

This paper builds on a literature study and five SME case studies based on 44 interviews and 10 intervention workshops.

The authors identify key areas of change that SMEs consider when planning to implement segments in the organization, including marketing strategy and plans, organizational aspects and implementation processes. Organization changes and sales plays are key considerations among SME managers. The authors further identify four categories characterized by different degrees of marketing and organizational changes that SMEs face when implementing new target segments, reflecting SMEs former choices.

This research is based on interviews and workshops that bring managers into a situation where they can evaluate needed changes to implement segments. The managers can express the complexity and the effect of the implementation.

This paper presents considerations and insights derived from SMEs and discusses how firms can be better equipped to implement new segments.

This paper offers new insights and directions for segmentation literature, focusing on implementation and proposing how to advance the segmentation literature.

Segmenting a marketplace is one of the most important strategic moves that can be made by high‐tech companies, industrial firms, and firms that sell services to other businesses. Yet technical‐based businesses often miss out on opportunities by failing to divide their markets adequately and develop cohesive strategies to conquer and protect a market position.

The current availability of online direct marketing databases provides numerous opportunities for marketing professionals to improve their marketing strategies and tactics. This paper illustrates how online “mailing file” data, formerly known simply as “mailing lists”, can be used to develop high‐quality sales leads. A set of procedures is presented that provides a way for sales managers to guide the company’s salesforce in seeking new customers. A case study is included that demonstrates how a company that competes in a high‐tech business‐to‐business market has developed and used sales leads that are highly targeted. In particular, the paper provides the results of an empirical study that uses a mailing file database as the starting point for developing a market segmentation approach to lead generation. Issues encountered in this type of research are identified, and suggestions are made for handing these issues.