Marketing Segmenting

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both of their parent working, they often find themselves coming home to an empty house after school. Perhaps because of this, they possess personal characteristics of self reliance, independence, and being mistrustful to institutions (Thielfoldt and Scheef, 2005 as cited by Brosdahl and Carpenter, 2011). People in this generation were the first true users of the internet which were available for public use in 1992. Because of the exposure to more information and technology than previous generation, consumers from this cohort are more sophisticated in their buying habits and they appear to be turned of by generalized promotions. Although small when compared to baby boomers, this group still accounts for $125 billion in US annual spending (Dunne and Lusch, 2008 as cited in Brosdahl and Carpenter, 2011).

With regard to marketing to generation X, because they have many needs and greater financial restraints, they often shop at value-oriented retailers. Sometimes, they can be unsure in their buying decision and need reassurance that their choices are sound. Marketers can help them to balance family, work, and personal life for the future. They need to be followed through because they demand trust to the extend that if you do not follow through one, you are most likely to lose them. Generation X cohort needs to buy product and services to set up households and provide for their young children. They account for the largest proportion of America’s parents and many of them were new home buyers that caught in the housing buble (Rosenberg, 2008 as cited in Williams and Page, 2011). They are also accounts for major consumers in cars, appliances, and children’s product market. This group is the most price-conscious and has low price sensitivity. In terms of communicating to this group, they are not always easy to reach. Women from this generation are the highest viewers of home improvement media and most likely they will engage in home improvement. But, traditional network TV is not always able to capture this demographic, particularly to men. Many men in this cohort group are sports viewer. Placing advertisements in television during sports air time is a great way to attract this market segment. They respond to irreverence in advertising but not always as well as to traditional approaches. Marketers should give them plenty of access to information and educate them into purchasing the products, keep them in the loop by asking for feedbacks and sharing information with them regularly. It is more effective to approach them as a consultant rather than a seller.

3. Generation Y

Generation Y, born between 1965 and 1976 are individuals that came to age during economic growth period, a strong emergence of social media and reality television, rapid technology advancement, supported by internationalization and strong influences from popular culture (Parment, 2011). They grew up in a fast-paced change including full employment opportunities for women, dual-income households as standard, heightened social awareness, and computers in the home and schools. (Williams and Page, 2011). As an emerging market, Generation Y has been of major interest for marketers. Having a general liking for purchasing, this group has a significant spending power and likes to spend impulsively given the amount of free time they have for shopping (Niehm, 2006 as cited in Pentecost and Andrews, 2010). They are easily influenced by the trends in the society compared to Boomers and generation X. They are brand consciousness, and more likely to buy well known and expensive brands and assume that the more expensive the products, the more quality they will be. They enjoy shopping and are up to date with fashion trends, unlike Boomers and generation X. Intense internationalization of trade during Generation Y’s coming of age has dissolved their belief in national solutions to social and economic problems. Consequently, this group is deeply engaged in globalization. ‘Generation Y does not want to take over perspectives provided by authorities without adding some of its own reflections, which explains the loss of power of churches, unions, and political parties (Parment, 2011). During recent federal election in Australia, there was a significant proportion of this cohort group that didn’t cast a vote.

This group is raised in the era of fast growing technology advancement compared to the previous generations. They are multi-taskers who use their mobile phones for just almost anything: social networking, to find a job, and to get information about products, services, employers, leisure activities, and travel destinations. Clearly there are substantial opportunities for marketing to this group through the Internet and through other technologies as they become available. However, they want to decide when, where and how companies communicate with them, also because they are used to information overload, they are not as easily stressed by the information flow as older generations.

Marketing to the Generation Y can be improved by gaining their attention early and earn its loyalty. Appeal to their belief that they can make their future better. Give them constructive and systematic feedback because they value positive reinforcement at accelerated rates compared to previous generations. Many of them are in college or have entered the work force and plan for a lifelong learning experience. They are brand-conscious and often their purchase is influenced by their peers. They are also image driven group, respond well with advertisements that use graphic and colours. The key words for Generation Y are connect, control, collaborate, co-create, and mostly with their peers (Williams and Page, 2011). In terms of products and services, important areas for Generation Y are fashion products (accessories, apparel, footwear), sports equipments, entertainment, travel, technology (mobile phone, computers). They liked products customized to their unique needs, pay little attention to quality, and brand names are important to them. They expect competitive pricing and might want to negotiate prices based on search results from the internet (Himmel, 2008). They enjoy their shopping experiences; an effective marketing strategy is to constantly introduce new product and services.

In terms of communication, marketers need to be more creative with media and promotional themes. Advertisements targeting this generation must be appropriately place in TV, internet sites, magazines, and video games; using appropriate language, music, and images. Word of mouth advertising (referral) is also very important to reach Generation Y. They don’t really read newspaper and even television. If they do watch, they watch on their schedule, not the networks. The best way to reach this segment is through internet, especially through social media;