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This paper reports findings from a study into how marketing academics and MBA students view segmentation. The research indicates that both respondent groups view segmentation as being more valuable in helping to understand customers than improving business performance. For MBA students there appears to be no relationship between their reported marketing knowledge and the value attributed to using market segmentation. The findings for academics suggest inconsistencies in how they interpret the value of segmentation and appraise the usefulness of analytical and evaluation approaches.

The purpose of the study is to propose a normative approach for market segmentation, profile and monitoring using computing and information technology to analyze User-Generated Content (UGC).

The specific steps include performing a structural analysis of the UGC and extracting the base variables and values from it, generating a consumer characteristics matrix for segmenting process, and finally describing the segments' preferences, regional and dynamic characteristics. The authors verify the feasibility of the method with publicly available data. The external validity of the method is also tested through questionnaires and product regional sales data.

The authors apply the proposed methodology to analyze 53,526 UGCs in the New Energy Vehicle (NEV) market and classify consumers into four segments: Brand-Value Suitors (32%), Rational Consumers (21%), High-Quality Fanciers (26%) and Utility-driven Consumers (21%). The authors describe four segments' preferences, dynamic changes over the past six years and regional characteristics among China's top five sales cities. Then, the authors verify the external validity of the methodology through a questionnaire survey and actual NEV sales in China.

The proposed method enables companies to utilize computing and information technology to understand the market structure and grasp the dynamic trends of market segments, which assists them in developing R&D and marketing plans.

This study contributes to the research on UGC-based universal market segmentation methods. In addition, the proposed UGC structural analysis algorithm implements a more fine-grained data analysis.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

This study aims to analyze the tradeoff between two potential marketing strategies for service providers, namely, market segmentation on the basis of reservation lead time and cooperation with third parties.

This paper proposes an optimization model to describe market segmentation strategy after cooperating with third parties by taking hotels for example.

The results show that the profitability of adopting two strategies simultaneously is lower than that with market segmentation alone under some cases, which is relevant with attributes of travel agencies, such as switch rate and market share.

This study indicates that cooperation with third parties has a negative impact on profitability of hotels using market segmentation in some cases. However, randomness of demand, customer loyalty and existence of cancellation should be considered in further research.

In an e-commerce era, hotels with market segmentation based on reservation lead time, are not required to cooperate with third parties under a number of situations (e.g. high switch rates and small market sizes of travel agencies). In addition, hotels should revise the segmentation strategy based on the change rate of potential demand of individual customers. Furthermore, hotels should enhance customer loyalty, strengthen cooperation with travel agencies that possess large market shares or small switch rates.

The study preliminarily formulates the optimal market segmentation strategy on the basis of reservation lead time after cooperating with third parties, which contributes to the revenue management.

Despite the differences among Arab markets (e.g. market size, per capita income, etc.), the existence of numerous important commonalities among the region’s consumers may encourage marketers to adopt across the region’s countries a more integrated marketing strategy based on the principle of market segmentation. For that purpose, the present article proposes a conceptual framework of international market segmentation. The conceptual framework is then tested and supported by empirical research. The results show the existence of a number of thriving consumer segments that transcend national boundaries and which share similar needs and preferences. The findings indicate that in order to approach Arab markets with more efficient marketing strategies, multinationals are requested to standardize their marketing plans to each segment while differentiating their strategies among the different segments. By applying such an approach, the decision maker will be able to identify the relevant marketing variables that may affect consumer decisions and hence know what he must do in order to cater to selected market segments.

We re‐evaluate modern segmentation assumptions and methods by referencing several postmodern characteristics of consumers in global markets. Drawing on contributions from sociology, political sociology, social theory, anthropology, philosophy, psychology, consumer behavior, and international marketing, we posit three research questions, discussion of which leads to the formulation of research propositions. Real‐life consumer and marketing examples are quoted as evidence of the need to go beyond reliance on modern segmentation to incorporate postmodern thinking into consumer analysis as a necessary ‘second step.’ This paper invites reflection on how marketers should adapt to new, complex, and changing consumer realities, which are summarized as multi‐dimensionality, unpredictability, inconsistency, search for meaning, and peak experiences by means of consumption.

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 show how researchers can develop learning exercises for training analysts and executives in market segmentation techniques.

The empirical example of a tour operator specializing in adventure tourism is used as an illustration. Segments are constructed on the basis of tourists' stated willingness to pay a price premium for certain aspects of the tour. Stability analysis is conducted to choose the number of clusters, topology representing networks are used to construct segments and Bonferroni‐corrected χ² tests provide insight into the external validity of segments.

Four market segments are constructed which differ significantly with respect to external variables.

Market segmentation can be used by any entity in the tourism industry to select a suitable part of the entire market, customize the tourism service to suit such a segment, and spend marketing budget more efficiently by using communication channels and advertising messages most effective for the selected segment.

Market segmentation provides managers with insight into market structure. Knowledge about the market structure, in turn, is the basis of successful strategic planning. While the concept of segmentation is not new, each application is unique to its context. The present paper focuses on price premium segments in the adventure tourism context.

Market segmentation has always had a very important place in the marketing literature. Besides being one of the ways of operationalizing the marketing concept, market segmentation provides effective guidelines for firms’ marketing strategy development and resource allocation among their diverse product markets. As market segmentation simultaneously addresses the roles of both marketers and customers, the segmentation concept has captured the attention of many scholars and practitioners alike in the field. Accordingly, within the last few years, a number of new developments have emerged in market segmentation. Although different terms or concepts may have been used by different researchers, the basic idea behind these developments has been to create more effective and efficient ways of reaching individual consumers in order to satisfy their unique needs and wants. Examines and conceptualizes the recent advancements in market segmentation and development studies and globally explores their managerial implications for marketing practitioners and researchers alike for orderly decision‐making purposes.