Segmentation and Target Market Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Segmentation and Target Market Paper - Essay Example It is the process of splitting customers in a market into different groups (McDonald and Dunbar, 2012). Industries can segment the target market according to either large or small consumer numbers, or their geographic location. A target market refers to a group of organizations or people, for which and industry develops and implements strategic plans so as to meet the group’s needs. The essay that follows discusses on segmentation and target market within the Nike Company. Nike Company is one of the largest athletic sport equipment companies in the world. It was founded by Phil Knight, a former Oregon University coach, and has its headquarter Oregon, Beaverton (Hill and Jones, 2010). It is one of the companies that have had a tremendous growth over the past years. It has segmented markets in different areas, which include Oregon, New Hampshire, Tennessee, Europe and Japan (Porter and Norton, 2013). Its inclusion of services in other areas results from the company’s grow th and increased service need in the areas. Market Segmentation in Nike Company Demographic Characteristics This is dividing a company’s service provision according to age, race, gender, and social class, among others (Gitman and McDaniel, 2009). ... Nike’s segmentation of business in the various locations aims at meeting the same need for sport wears both to the young and the aged. Income also contributes to Nike’s market segmentation to other areas. For example, Japan is a country whose income is high due to automobile and other industries. However, it might not have the ability to produce wears suitable for sporting as those Nike Company produces. The need for proper sport wears gives Nike to expand its services to Japan. The company also produces wears for all genders where different clothes exist for women and men players. The target market in this market segment is both male and female athletes who exist in the regions around Nike Headquarters, and those in other countries like Japan. Psychographic Characteristics This involves segregating market in terms of people’s common activities, interests, and opinions (Gitman and McDaniel, 2009). Nike Company’s headquarter is in a location where people ha ve a common interest in sporting. The founder aimed at providing state-of-the-art athletic shoes that convince customers that they are the best-suited and necessary for sporting and athletic interests in the region (Hill and Jones, 2010). The psychographic segmentation by Nike targets sales from athletes from the Oregon region who have an interest in sports and need comfortable shoes to support them in their sporting activities. As Hill and Jones (2010) point, in the past Nike concentrated on making shoes for basketball and track market segments more than other sports like golf and soccer among others, but later realized that engaging in the making shoes for other sporting activities can bring a lot of profits. This made the