Page 238 - Marketing Management

IDENTIFYING MARKET SEGMENTS AND TARGETS | CHAPTER 8 215

TABLE 8.1 Major Segmentation Variables for Consumer Markets

Geographic region Pacific Mountain, West North Central, West South Central, East North Central, East South Central,
South Atlantic, Middle Atlantic, New England
City or metro size Under 5,000; 5,000–20,000; 20,000–50,000; 50,000–100,000; 100,000–250,000; 250,000–500,000;
500,000–1,000,000; 1,000,000–4,000,000; 4,000,000+
Density Urban, suburban, rural
Climate Northern, southern
Demographic age Under 6, 6–11, 12–17, 18–34, 35–49, 50–64, 64+
Family size 1–2, 3–4, 5+
Family life cycle Young, single; young, married, no children; young, married, youngest child under 6; young; married, youngest
child 6 or older; older, married, with children; older, married, no children under 18; older, single; other
Gender Male, female
Income Under $10,000; $10,000–$15,000; $15,000–$20,000; $20,000–$30,000; $30,000–$50,000;
$50,000–$100,000; $100,000+
Occupation Professional and technical; managers, officials, and proprietors; clerical sales; craftspeople; forepersons;
operatives; farmers; retired; students; homemakers; unemployed
Education Grade school or less; some high school; high school graduate; some college; college graduate
Religion Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, other
Race White, Black, Asian, Hispanic
Generation Silent Generation, Baby boomers, Gen X, Gen Y
Nationality North American, Latin American, British, French, German, Italian, Chinese, Indian, Japanese
Social class Lower lowers, upper lowers, working class, middle class, upper middles, lower uppers, upper uppers
Psychographic lifestyle Culture-oriented, sports-oriented, outdoor-oriented
Personality Compulsive, gregarious, authoritarian, ambitious
Behavioral occasions Regular occasion, special occasion
Benefits Quality, service, economy, speed
User status Nonuser, ex-user, potential user, first-time user, regular user
Usage rate Light user, medium user, heavy user
Loyalty status None, medium, strong, absolute
Readiness stage Unaware, aware, informed interested, desirous, intending to buy
Attitude toward product Enthusiastic, positive, indifferent, negative, hostile

Some approaches combine geographic data with demographic data to yield even richer descrip-
tions of consumers and neighborhoods. Nielsen Claritas has developed a geoclustering approach
called PRIZM (Potential Rating Index by Zip Markets) NE that classifies over half a million U.S. res-
idential neighborhoods into 14 distinct groups and 66 distinct lifestyle segments called PRIZM
5
Clusters. The groupings take into consideration 39 factors in five broad categories: (1) education
and affluence, (2) family life cycle, (3) urbanization, (4) race and ethnicity, and (5) mobility. The
neighborhoods are broken down by zip code, zip+4, or census tract and block group. The clusters
have descriptive titles such as Blue Blood Estates, Winner’s Circle, Hometown Retired, Shotguns and
Pickups, and Back Country Folks. The inhabitants in a cluster tend to lead similar lives, drive similar
cars, have similar jobs, and read similar magazines. Table 8.2 has examples of four PRIZM clusters.
Marketers can use PRIZM to answer questions such as: Which geographic areas (neighborhoods
or zip codes) contain our most valuable customers? How deeply have we already penetrated these
segments? Which distribution channels and promotional media work best in reaching our target
clusters in each area? Geoclustering captures the increasing diversity of the U.S. population.