英文Marketing课本 Chapter8

Chapter8: Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioningp. 143Today, the Coca-Cola Company is one of the largest consumer packaged goods companies in the world, but when it first introduced Coca-Cola in 1886, sales averaged a modest nine drinks per day.1 Its growth, driven largely by a remarkably disciplined approach to marketing, has led to Coke products being sold in more than 200 countries at an astounding rate of 1 billion servings per day.2 Yet Coca-Cola continually faces the unique challenge of a mature cola market, which means growth rates overall are low, and to increase sales, it must either take customers away from other beverage companies or encourage existing customers todrink more cola—neither of which is an easy task. Part of the company's solution pertains to its approach to new product development.3For example, Coke creates unique products for various specific market segments. Because those unique products appeal to specific groups, Coke can increase its sales without cannibalizing the sales of its other products. Stopped drinking soda in an attempt to limit the amount of caffeine you drink? Coke wants you to know that it feels your pain and therefore offers Caffeine-Free Coca-Cola and Diet Coke. Still like your caffeine during the day but want to minimize the amount you drink right before bedtime? Why not purchase a case of each, saving your regular Coke for when you need a midday pick-me-up and your Caffeine-Free Coke for your after-dinner soda needs? By introducing decaffeinated versions of its traditional sodas, Coca-Cola could increase the number of sodas it sells each day without cannibalizing sales, because the consumers targeted by these products already had been avoiding drinking Coca-Cola to reduce their caffeine intake.p. 144Through its efforts to identify and target such specific market segments, Coca-Cola has grown its stable of consumer brands to more than 400 products.4 Consider the plight of Diet Coke. “Real men” didn't want to drink a diet soda, which they stigmatized as a “girly” drink that only women would consume. But Coca-Cola had a response for them too: the high-profile launch of Coke Zero, which av oided the dreaded word “diet”5 and specifically targeted men through its packaging, promotions, and image. By targeting men between the ages of 18 to 34 years who wanted to drink a low-calorie cola but would not purchase Diet Coke, Coca-Cola increased its sales of Coke-branded products by one-third.6A successful new product introduction needs to combine an innovative product with a marketing campaign that communicates the value of that new product to the targeted segment. Thus, for the Coke Zero launch, Coca-Cola designed a campaign supported by advertisements on television and radio, in print, on outdoor billboards, and online, as well as widespread sampling programs and opportunities.7 Little mention was made of the lack of calories or dietetic element of the new offering; instead, the advertising focused on the similarity of the taste between Coke and Coke Zero and used dark, bold colors. To appeal to those young men who proclaimed, “I'm not drinking any diet junk,” the media strategy also tried to expose as many of them as possible to the new product, spending a significant bulk of the media budget on outdoor advertising.8 The marketing campaign even included a fantasy football game, “Fantasy Football Fever,” available on the Coke Zero Web site (), that was regularly featured in ESPN fantasy sports podcasts.p. 145By using gender to segment the diet cola market, Coca-Cola was able to customize the advertising for Coca-Cola Zero to appeal to men, whereas Diet Coke ads could concentrate on women. In turn, Coke gained closer connections for its different products with each product's targeted market segment, and Coke Zero became one of the most successful launches in the company's long history.9 The company plans to continue to focus all of its flagship brands more tightly in the future by adapting the company's products and marketing mix to the changing market climate. Market segmentation, done properly, pays, enabling this company to have a Coke (or Diet Coke or Coke Zero or …) and a smile!Some people like fruit-based drinks, while others like highly caffeinated energy drinks. Some people want a diet product; others care primarily about how well the product hydrates after aworkout. Still other people demand affordable beverages, whereas some prefer it to be organic. More likely though, a group of people desires a drink that is dark in color, cola flavored, and contains caffeine; whereas another group demands drink that is low calorie, citrus flavored, and light in color. Each of these product attributes potentially appeals to a different group of people.“It is not enough just to make the product.”In Chapter 1, we learned that marketing is about satisfying consumers' wants and needs. A company could make one type of beverage and hope that every consumer would buy it, but that's the kind of mistake that causes a company to go out of business. Or, as we described in Chapter 2, beverage manufacturers could analyze the market to determine the different types of drinks people want and then make several varieties that cater to the wants of specific groups. It is not enough just to make the product, however. Drink manufacturers such as Coca-Cola must position their drinks in the minds of their target market so those consumers understand why a particular drink meets their needs better than competitive products do.In Chapter 2, we described the steps involved in a marketing plan: The manager first defines the firm's mission and objectives and then performs a situation analysis. The third step of the marketing plan is to identify and evaluate opportunities by performing an STP (segmentation, targeting, and positioning) analysis—which makes up the topic of this chapter.In the opening vignette, Coca-Cola identified the various groups of cola drinkers that would respond similarly to the firm's marketing efforts. These are also known as market segments. Those who like caffeine-free regular cola are one market segment; people who prefer diet cola with caffeine are a different segment. After evaluating each market segment's attractiveness, Coca-Cola decided to concentrate its new product on one group of consumers—its target market—because it believed it could satisfy their needs better than its competitors could. As we noted in Chapter 2, the process of dividing the market into groups of customers who have different needs, wants, or characteristics and who therefore might appreciate products or services geared especially for them is called market segmentation. Once the target market was identified, Coca-Cola had to convince the targeted group that, when it comes to soft drinks, their choice should be Coca-Cola Zero. It is achieving this task by defining the marketing mix variables so that the target customers have a clear, distinctive, desirable understanding of what the product or services do or represent, relative to competing products—a process we described in Chapter 2 as market positioning. In particular, Coca-Cola has designed a gender-based advertising campaign that has positioned Coca-Cola Zero as the only diet drink with the taste of a regular Coca-Cola. It has also made sure that the drink is available almost anywhere its customers would want to buy it.Chapter8: Segmentation, Targeting, and PositioningIn this chapter, we discuss how a firm conducts a market segmentation or STP analysis (see Exhibit 8.1). We'll first discuss market segmentation, or how a segmentation strategy fits into a firm's overall strategy and objectives and which segments are worth pursuing. Then wediscuss how to choose a target market or markets by evaluating each segment's attractiveness and, on the basis of this evaluation, choosing which segment or segments to pursue. Finally, we describe how a firm develops its positioning strategy.p. 146Although the STP process in Exhibit 8.1 makes it appear that the decision making is linear, this need not be the case. For instance, although a firm starts with a strategy, it may be modified as information about the segments' attractiveness is determined.LO 1 How does a firm decide what type of segmentation strategy to use—undifferentiated, differentiated, concentrated, or micromarketing?Step 1: Establish Overall Strategy or ObjectivesThe first step in the segmentation process is to articulate the vision or the objectives of the company's marketing strategy clearly. The segmentation strategy must be consistent with and derived from the firm's mission and objectives, as well as its current situation—its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT). Coca-Cola's objective, for instance, is to increase sales in a mature industry. The company recognized its strengths were its brand name and its ability to place new products on retailers' shelves, but its primary weakness was that it didn't currently have a product line for the emerging market segments. Identifying this potentially large and profitable market segment before many of its mainstream competitors offered a great opportunity, though following through on that opportunity could lead to a significant threat: competitive retaliation. Coca-Cola's choice to pursue health-conscious men thus is clearly consistent with its overall strategy and objectives.Establishing a basic segmentation strategy is not always as straightforward as it was for Coca-Cola, however. Exhibit 8.2 illustrates several segmentation strategies. Sometimes it makes sense to not segment at all. In other situations, a firm should concentrate on one segment or go after multiple segments at once. Finally, some firms choose to specialize in their product or service line to meet the needs of very small groups—perhaps even one person at a time. We discuss each of these basic segmentation types next.undifferentiated segmentation strategy, or mass marketing When everyone might beExhibit 8.2.) If the product or service is perceived to provide the same benefits to everyone, there simply is no need to develop separate strategies for different groups. Although not a common strategy in today's complex marketplace, an undifferentiated strategy can be effective for very basic commodities, such as salt or sugar. However, even those firms that offer salt and sugar now are trying to differentiate their products.An undifferentiated strategy also is common among smaller firms that offer products or services that consumers perceive to be indistinguishable, such as a neighborhood bakery. But again, more marketing-savvy entrepreneurs typically try to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. The corner bakery thus becomes “Le Croissant” or “Bagel Delight.” By making their commodity-like products appear special, they add value for the customer and differentiate themselves from their competition.p. 147What about gasoline? Everyone with a car needs it. Yet gasoline companies have vigorously moved from an undifferentiated strategy to a differentiated one by segmenting their market into low-, medium-, and high-octane gasoline users.target several market segments with a different offering for each (see Exhibit 8.2,—Banana Republic, The Gap, and Old Navy—to appeal to fashion-forward, traditional, and more price-sensitive segments, respectively—and Piperlime (), The Gap's online-only shoe store. Beyond these four segments, The Gap has further differentiated the market into GapKids, babyGap, GapMaternity, and GapBody. In a similar fashion, adidas Group appeals to various segments through its various companies, including adidas, Reebok, Reebok-CCM Hockey, Rockport, and the TaylorMade-adidas Golf lines of clothing and footwear.Firms embrace differentiated segmentation because it helps them obtain a bigger share of the market and increase the market for their products overall. The more retail formats The Gap develops to reach different market segments, the more apparel and accessories it can and will sell. Offering several different shoe lines enables adidas to appeal to more potential customers than if it had just one line. Furthermore, providing products or services that appeal to multiple segments helps diversify the business and therefore lowers the company's overall risk. For example, if a line directed toward one segment is performing poorly, the impact on the firm's profitability can be offset by revenue from another line that continues to do well.But a differentiated strategy can be expensive. Consider The Gap's investment in chinos alone. The firm must develop, manufacture, transport, store, and promote chinos separately for each of its store concepts.concentrated segmentation strategy When an organization selects a single, primary(see Exhibit 8.2, right). Entrepreneurial start-up ventures often benefit from using a concentrated strategy, which allows them to employ their limited resources more efficiently.Firms embrace differentiated segmentation because it helps them obtain a bigger share of the market and increase the market for their products overall.For example, if you've never shopped at Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F), the chances are that you're older than 30 years of age. If you have, we bet you're younger than 30, right? Since its inception, A&F has pursued a calculated concentrated segmentation strategy by deliberately targeting the young and good looking with a hip, edgy image. Thus, if older or “unhip” consumers don't find it appealing, that doesn't bother A&F one bit. Its whole brand experience is designed to create an impression of exclusivity for its 18- to 22-year-old customers.10 For instance, rather than display items in brightly lit windows, as most clothing retailers do, it carefully shutters off the outside of its stores so that customers have to enter to see the merchandise. Once inside, they confront not a brightly lit interior that helps customers find what they're looking for but rather a dark, loud environment with an almost overwhelming scent of heavy cologne. The stores are carefully designed to make shopping an emotional experience for core customers, but for the parents of these customers, that experience is just plain too unpleasant. Of course, if you don't like it, that's fine—because you're not part of the target market anyway.11Chapter8: Segmentation, Targeting, and PositioningWhen developing a positioning strategy, firms go through five important steps. Before youdimensions for illustrative purposes: strong versus light taste (vertical) and fun versus healthy (horizontal). Also, though this industry is quite complex, we have simplified thelarger the market.p. 162“ATTEMPTING TO MAINTAIN THE SAME POSITION YEAR AFTER YEAR CAN SPELL DISASTER FOR ANY COMPANY.”To derive a perceptual map such as this, marketers follow five steps.1. Determine consumers' perceptions and evaluations of the product or service inrelation to competitors'. Marketers determine their brand's position by askingconsumers a series of questions about their and competitors' products. For instance, they might ask how the consumer uses the existing product or services, what itemsthe consumer regards as alternative sources to satisfy his or her needs, what theperson likes or dislikes about the brand in relation to competitors, and what mightmake that person choose one brand over another.2. Identify competitors' positions. When the firm understands how its customers viewits brand relative to competitors', it must study how those same competitors position themselves. For instance, POWERade (“Liquid Hydration + Energy Drink”) positions itself closely to Gatorade (“Is It In You?”), whi ch means they appear next to eachother on the perceptual map and appeal to target market 3. They are also oftenfound next to each other on store shelves, are similarly priced, and are viewed bycustomers as sports drinks. Gatorade also knows that its sports drink is perceived to be more like POWERade than like its own Propel Fitness Water (located near target market 4), Coke (target market 1), or Sunkist orange soda (target market 2).3. Determine consumer preferences. The firm knows what the consumer thinks of theproducts or services in the marketplace and their positions relative to one another.Now it must find out what the consumer really wants, that is, determine the “ideal”product or service that appeals to each market. For example, a huge market existsfor traditional Gatorade, and that market is shared by POWERade. Gatorade alsorecognizes a market, depicted as the ideal product for segment 5 on the perceptualmap, of consumers who would prefer a less sweet, less calorie-laden drink that offers the same rejuvenating properties as Gatorade. Currently, no product is adequatelyserving market 5.4. Select the position. Continuing with the Gatorade example, the company has threechoices to appeal to the “less sweet sports drink” target market 5. It could dev elop a new product to meet the needs of market 5. Alternatively, it could adjust or reposition its marketing approach—its product and promotion—to sell original Gatorade tomarket 5 (arrow pointing down from Gatorade to the ideal point for segment 5).Finally, it could ignore what target market 5 really wants and hope that consumerswill be attracted to the original Gatorade because it is closer to their ideal productthan anything else on the market (arrow pointing up from the ideal point for segment5 to Gatorade).5. Monitor the positioning strategy. Markets are not stagnant. Consumers' tastesshift, and competitors react to those shifts. Attempting to maintain the same position year after year can spell disaster for any company. Thus, firms must always view the first three steps of the positioning process as ongoing, with adjustments made in step four as necessary.Gatorade with football player Jason Taylor (left) and POWERade with soccer player David Beckham (right) are positioned to compete for target market 3 in Exhibit 8.9.Chapter8: Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioningp. 163Sometimes firms try to change their positioning. Tiffany & Co. has long been known for luxury jewelry, which it markets to wealthy segments of the population and delivers in its signature blue boxes.50 However, in the 1990s, the company decided to reposition its image by expanding its product assortment to appeal more to the middle class, following the widespread trend of “affordable luxury.”Tiffany introduced a silver charm bracelet, priced at $110, and a “Return to Tiffany” line that became very popular among teenagers and resulted in explosive sales growth for the company. The company hoped it would gain lifetime customers from this strategy—adults who had bought the jewelry when they were teenagers would continue to buy the brand throughout their lives.Instead, the short-term success of the less expensive silver jewelry alienated older, more affluent clientele who now viewed Tiffany as an inexpensive, common brand. In response, the company has again attempted to reposition its image by increasing prices on its silver products by 30 percent. Its continued attempts to reclaim its position as a luxury jeweler include store renovations, with chilled water and champagne available to shoppers, private viewing rooms to create an intimate feel, and featured high-end products like $2.5 million pink diamond rings.Repositioning is difficult, and in the case of Tiffany, a particularly challenging undertaking. Despite its efforts to regain its original image, many consumers in this target segment remain convinced that pretty much anyone can wear Tiffany jewelry.。