Profession, lifestyle and age group

Market segments may also be divided according to professions, lifestyles or age groups. Some of these are shown below.

7.1  Delete the incorrect word combination in each line. Then use the correct word combinations to complete the sentences below.

a customer segment b customer household        с customer profile

a early adopters      b early majority              с early market

a market adopters   b silver market                  с market segment     

a married majority      b late majority                   с early majority

1 …… like to try out new trends and products.

2 The …… is getting bigger as people live longer.

3 The …… try products that are well established in the marketplace.

4 Companies can build up a …... using market research.

7.2 Complete the text describing market segmentation for children's art supplies.

Kids' arts and crafts market growing

Kids' arts and crafts is brighter than ever, say many retailers. 'This (1) ….. segment is growing without question. We're seeing a larger population of young kids entering school than in previous years and creating a great opportunity,' said Walgreens' spokesperson Yvette Anne Venable.

An increasing number of products are (2) ….. at parents and grandparents who want their kids to be smart and creative, not just television junkies. Grandparents are a customer segment with strong economic (3)….. .    

It is relatively easy to (4) ….. to them using positive images of their grandchildren.

Steven Jacober, SHOPA's president, agrees: 'Art supplies and crafts continue to grow. This ties into the baby (5) …. generation, the way they are raising their children and their tendency to make everything a learning experience. There are a lot of different factors, and the demographics support continuing growth of the marketplace.' Arts and crafts are targeted at households with (6) ….. , kids aged 12 years and under.

7.3 Complete the descriptions (1-5) using words from the box. Then match the products with the market segments (a-e).

Affluent      appeal        income         life cycle    lifestyle

1 health insurance that covers the needs of people late in the …..    

2 a hair care range for men with a modern ….. and a self-indulgent attitude

3 a new TV channel broadcasting programmes that ….. to homosexuals

4 a luxury range of executive stationery for an ….. market segment

5 cheap to produce but fashionable sports shoes for a low ….. segment

a gay and lesbian market   с teenagers  e C-level executives

b the silver market        d metrosexuals

7.4 Answer the following questions.

1) Planet Airlines has three types of seat on its planes: First Class, Business Class and Economy Class. The service you receive in each is different, as is the price you pay. Give one example, for each 'Class', of whom they hope to sell to, stating your reasons.

2) Think about yourself. Which market segment(s) are you in? Is it the same for your friends and colleagues? List some products or brands that are targeted at you.

Text 2   Consumer Life Cycle (CLC) and purchasing behaviour

Just as products have a life cycle, so do consumers - the Consumer Life Cycle,or CLC.Matt Robinson talks about this:

'Of course, the banking sector is highly attuned to consumer life cycles - we're able to understand how a customer's needs change over time. We exploit this by offering different services as our clients age, from their first savings account as a child, to a first current account, to mortgages, life insurance and retirement plans. Some people criticize us for creating needs, for making people believe they need products that they don't. But I really think we try to fulfil, or satisfy, customer needs as they change over the years. Younger customers do not have the same desires as retired people.'

Purchasing behaviouror purchasing patternsrefer to what a consumer buys, and when and how they make their final purchasing decision.The first step is usually awareness of the brand. The consumer forms purchase intentions- plans to buy things - which they may or may not act on. Routine purchasesof the same products on a repetitive basis (for example, coffee from the coffee machine at the office) have low levels of personal involvement.Major investments (such as buying a car) or impulse purchasing(such as buying some new shoes or a CD on the way home) have higher levels of personal involvement. Some consumers have very high levels of loyalty to a brand or product and they will always buy the same brand.

7.5  A marketing specialist is talking about purchasing behaviour. Replace the underlined expressions with alternative expressions from text 2. One question has two possible answers.

The (1) actual decision to buy a product depends on the type of product or service. With yoghurt, for example, many customers wait until they are in the supermarket, in front of the row of yoghurts, before they decide. On the other hand, for a more expensive product, with higher (2) thought and psychological investment from the consumer, it may take place a long time before the purchase. Our research shows that some customers spend three years thinking about the next type of car they will buy. Obviously, over these three years the (3) plans to buy may change a lot. Then there are those (4) purchases without any thought because they are a habit that we all make without thinking. I always get pasta, eggs and milk, at the supermarket so I never write them on the list and I always look out for special offers and promotions. This kind of (5) shopping habit is very difficult for a marketing team to change. However, (6) buying something you like when you see it is created by different customer needs, and here we can really make a difference.

Text 3 Types of research

Marketing researchis the process of gathering information about a market, analysing it and interpreting it to better understand what is happening in the market place. Although the term market researchis often used to mean the same thing, technically it only refers to research into a specific market. Consumer research- used to discover behaviour patterns(how people act) and customer needs - is an essential element of marketing research. Motivation researchinvestigates the psychological reasons why individuals buy specific types of merchandise, or why they respond to specific advertising appeals. A firm's marketing department needs to know about economic trends, as well as consumers' views. Based on this information, they can put together a marketing plan, which will meet their own needs as well as those of their consumers.                                                                                             There are two main methods of consumer research:

- desk (desktop) researchor secondary research:an analysis of the information you can find easily without leaving your desk. It can be anything from a company's own sales statistics to Department of Trade and Industry reports. Other secondary sources of information include journals, company reports, government statistics, and surveys published by research organisations. Traditionally, these have been paper-based, but more and more information is now available on CD-ROM or on-line through the Internet. Desk research has the advantages of being cheaper and quicker than field research. The disadvantages are not knowing if the findings are accurate, or how relevant they will be to your product.

- field researchor primary research:involves talking to people and finding out what they think about a market, a product, a business    sector, etc. It is usually carried outby market research institutes. It has the advantage that the firm itself has control over the whole process. The disadvantages are that it takes longer and is more expensive.

Consumer research can be either qualitativeor quantitative.In qualitative research, small group discussionsor in-depth interviewswith consumers are used to understand a problem better. Quantitative research involves collecting, or gathering, large samples of data(for example, on how many people use different products), followed by statistical analysis - examining, or analysing,the data. Quantitative research is often used to investigate the findings from qualitative research.

Note:The singular noun is (an) analysis,and the plural is analyses. Data is used as both an uncountable noun and as a plural noun. The data is interesting. The data show interesting trends. The activity of analysing data can also be referred to as mining data.

Research methodologyincludes the following:

Focus groups: small groups from the target group plus one moderator to mediate or run the session. The moderator prepares questions for the session.

Package test: used to test ideas for new packaging, could be in a focus group.

Taste test: used to test what consumers think, about new flavours.

Home test: consumers try the products at home, in a real situation.

A self—administered questionnaire is completed (or filled in) by the respondent, and an interviewer-administered questionnaire is filled in on behalf of the respondent by an interviewer.

Telephone surveys are carried out by telephoning the respondent and asking questions. A mail survey is mailed to the respondent, who completes it and posts it back. Online surveys are administered on the internet.

Mystery shopping: a person poses as a consumer and checks the level of service and hygiene in a restaurant, hotel or shop.

Omnibus surveys: a market research institute carries out (or conducts) research for several companies at the same time. A long survey is given to respondents some institutes have a panel of existing respondents who are accustomed to answering the surveys.

7.6 Answer the question: In market research, what is the difference between desk research and field research? Give two examples of each.

7.7  Match the types of research in the box with the research problems below.

desktop + secondary                  motivation + primary

qualitative + field           quantitative + primary

1 The R&D department want to know why people buy mobile phones so that they can develop a new model that answers all the major needs.

2 The design team want to know how consumers feel about the new layout of the company website before they finalize and launch the new homepage.

3 A manager wants to have financial data on her company, her competitors and the economy in general.

4 The marketing team want to have a lot of data on their consumers: age, shopping habits,email address, etc.

7.8 Complete the sentences.

1 A lot of marketing research institutes carry out ….. surveys. They ring people at home and ask them questions.

2 A ….. is a small discussion group, led by a ….. who asks questions to get detailed and qualitative information.

3 A marketing research institute may prepare a lengthy ….. survey which it posts to consumers at their homes. These ….. surveys have questions from several different companies on them.
4 Some questionnaires are completed by the ….. (self-administered questionnaires) and some are completed by the interviewer (............................................................................ - ….. questionnaires).

5 ….. surveys are usually carried out in-store to assess the levels of

service quality and cleanliness.
6 A ….. test is designed to find out what consumers think about packaging, and a …..test is to find out what they think about the flavour of a product.

7.9 Read the extract from a survey and correct any mistakes in the sentences below.

Thanks to the 17,159 blog readers who responded to our survey!

This survey shows that blog readers are older and more affluent than most optimistic guesstimates: 61% of blog readers responding to the survey are over 30, and 75% earn more than $45,000 a year.

Moreover, blog readers are even more cyber-active than we'd hoped: 54% of their news consumption is online. 21% are themselves bloggers and 46% describe themselves as opinion makers. And, in the last six months, 50% have spent more than $50 online on books, and 47% have spent more than $500 online for plane tickets.

Blog readers are big media consumers: 21% subscribe to the New Yorker magazine, 15% to the Economist, 15% to Newsweek and 14% to the Atlantic Monthly. They are also far more male - 79%! - than we expected, versus 56% of NYTimes.com's readers.

1  Three quarters of the respondents earn more than $45,000 a year.

2 Almost half of their news consumption is online.

3 A mere 79% of respondents are male.

4 One out of two respondents has spent more than $50 online on books.
5 The survey suggests that all bloggers are over 30.

7.10 Cross out the incorrect sentence in each group.

1) aWe carried out the research last week. b We conducted the research last week. с We collected the research last week.

2) aThe respondents completed a questionnaire. b The respondents analysed a questionnaire. c The respondents filled in a questionnaire.

3) aWe must run the data quickly. b We must collect the data quickly. : c We must gather the data quickly.

4) a It can take a long time to mine data. bIt can take a long time to carry out data. с It can take a long time to analyse data.

5) a We are filling in three focus groups. b We are mediating three focus groups. с We are running three focus groups.

7.10 Linking ideas. Study the following examples:

1 Besides organised crime and corruption, terrorism is also a grave cause of concern among executives.

2 The company is losing direction. Furthermore, its core products are losing appeal.

3 Sophisticated fraud as well as corruption and organised crime are seen as
the driving factors behind the increase in risks.

4 Their financial situation is precarious. Moreover, there has been recent bad press about poor working conditions in their overseas factories.

5 There are financial risks involved in addition to legal and operational   

ones.
Cross out the two explanations which are not correct:

The words in italics are used to

a) reinforce an idea, add information

b) contrast ideas

c) express the cause of something, the reason for something

Note:'furthermore' and 'moreover' are formal words; they often occur at the beginning of a sentence.

Match the following sentence and phrase halves. Notice how the linkers are used.