Response to Kaley DeBoer

I think that each market segmentation has its own benefits when establishing a target market and it also depends on the product. I believe that each market segmentation has to be included into the factor when they are trying to target the market because of their different advantages and disadvantages. For example, the different brand names such as Abercrombie and Hollister tend to be very popular in today's society. But, in most cases most people can not afford to spend $60-$90 on a pair of Abercrombie or Hollister jeans. Or in another case scenario, Abercrombie and Hollister are targeted more towards teenagers and people who are in their 20s as opposed to children or older people. In these cases, they are experiencing with demographic segmentation because they are marketing by the age and income. It would be very beneficial to consider all of the segmentations when determining to target a market. That way each segmentation can have their own advantage and not be excluded when they are trying to target a certain market.

For example, I am one of the people who shop at Abercrombie and Hollister based on their different products that they have to offer. Most of my clothes that you find in my closet will most likely be from Abercrombie or Hollister. But in this sense, if the product is expensive or out of my budget then I would not purchase it. For example, $90 for a pair of jeans is just crucial and ridiculous. I can find somewhere else to buy a pair of jeans for much cheaper. It also depends on how much you are willing to spend on a certain product.

Have you ever found yourself to buy something that affected one market segmentation over the other? Which one was more beneficial to you that made you purchase the item?

Multi-Segment Targeting Strategy

In the article, "What Is Multi-Segment Marketing?" by Helen Akers, it states that marketing is a discipline that attempts to identify and serve the unique needs of separate segments. Throughout research, it is known that marketers divide potential customers into groups based on their own characteristics. Some of these traits include professions, income levels, geographic groups, lifestyles, aspirations, and even perceptions. It is stated that when companies target more than one segment, then they are experiencing with multi-segment marketing. Some of their segment needs include that when companies decide to bring a product or service to the market, then they will look for needs that are either not being met or that could be met in a different way.
To read more visit: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/multisegment-marketing-25419.html

As discussed in our textbook, multi-segment targeting strategy is a strategy that chooses two or more well-defined market segments and develops a distinct marketing mix for each (pg.141). Multi-segment targeting offers many potential benefits to firms, including greater sales volume, higher profits, larger market share, and economies of scale in manufacturing and marketing. Another potential cost of multi-segment targeting is cannibalization, which occurs when sales of a new product cut into sales of a firm's existing products.

I feel like cannibalization can be a huge advantage and disadvantage to the firm because in one way it is willing to help the firm out because there is a new product on sale and everyone would be so drawn into it and would research more about it. But, then it can also be a disadvantage because if the company is trying to sell their product and there is a new product that is on sale then, most likely that product would target the customers more. The company would be dealing with competition and that is not what they would want to do. Also, having a multi-segment target has its benefits because of what they have to offer: greater sales volume, higher profits, and larger market share. All these factor into what makes the company become more and more successful.

Do you think multi-segment targeting strategy can have disadvantages? What do you think they are?