A Market Segmentation is, in short, a group of people who have a similar need for a product. Marketers need to know who their market segment or target market is before they can successfully market a product. With my company, Coach, I feel like they have 2 separate market segments - they have one that targets women and one that targets men. Whether they are using the geographic segmentation, demographic, psychographic, or geodemographic segmentation I think the group of people they are marketing to is the same in terms of age, income, where they live or what their lifestyles are like. With Coach, marketers are making sure that the young, professional woman know about their handbags and other accessories. Same goes for their men's line - marketers are marketing their men's bags, belts, wallets and accessories to the young, professional man. These are the type of people who are going to buy their products.
Earlier this year I took a trip to Puerto Rico and while there I visited the Coach store in San Juan. This location is always super great to go to because its the biggest Coach store I've ever been to. The store has several rooms that showcase Coach bags, wallets, shoes, cloths and other accessories for both women and men and it's very busy. I'm sure that Coach marketers put a lot of thought into deciding whether or not they would be able to sell Coach products in this area. The area of San Juan is mostly a tourist area. On a daily basis cruise ships come into the San Juan bay and spend a day or two docked their. Passengers are always roaming the streets of San Juan...and one of the busiest stores is the Coach store. I say this because I think that a big part of marketing is also knowing where to place your product in order to have it sell. Coach is defiantly marketing their products to young professionals but they are also marketing their product when they decide to open a store in a particular neighborhood. This neighborhood in San Juan is a great location and a smart move for Coach because I'm sure the store is selling and making money. But I'm sure that Coach would not open a store in a low-income area because marketers know that their product wouldn't sell in that type of area.
Overall, I believe that Coach has already established their market segment and I don't think that will change unless they decide to offer different kinds of products. For example, if they decided to create a baby-bag that would change their market segment. Now they would be marketing to moms. If they decided to offer a coach bag designed for a little girl or a book bag designed for a little boy...now marketers would need to change their market segment to make sure that they are reaching out to parents who have small children. But it seems to me like Coach moves in a very slow pace when it comes to offering new products to its customers. For years they've had the same types of bags reinvented in new colors or changed slightly to sell for a new seasons.
I know that Coach is working on a women's clothing line but I don't believe they will have to change their target market too much - the women that buy their bags will most likely but their cloths too.
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