Modern Market Segments for Global Markets

Modern Market Segments for Global Markets

Introduction

It has been widely assumed that the concept of market segmentation is not distinguished way for differentiating different markets. Therefore in few years back, considering this topic several advancements have taken place and further more concepts have been emerged out in the segmentation of markets. The main notion considering this concept was to introduce efficient and effective ways of attaining new customer base and at the same time satisfying their customized needs and preferences (Gielens & Dekimpe, 2001). Through this research paper, an attempt has been made to conceptualize the modern developments in market segmentation for global markets and understand the modern dimensions of merchandise, modernization, mechanism and media in the modern market segmentation in global context.

At the beginning of this century, the development of various industrial sectors led to production strategies and mass marketing, these strategies were oriented toward the product, focusing on reducing production costs rather than focusing on consumer satisfaction. However, for this approach, the starting point was usually the product or production process and the underlying assumption that all buyers have similar needs, motivations and preferences. But as production processes became more flexible, and the influx of consumers led to the diversification of demand, firms that identified the specific needs of certain groups of consumers were able to develop the offer "adequate" for one or more sub-market groups and thus managed to gain competitive advantage over their rivals in the market. The main emphasis was on how does the concept of market segmentation and targeting strategies more elaborated and sophisticated in order to reach in a more direct to consumers that increasingly became more discerning in their tastes and market requirements (Douglas, 2000). Today the situation has been changed now, the customers are not only offered multiple products in the markets but they can also get products they want or need through satellite channels choice, even without leaving home. This transition from mass marketing to a more personalized arises through a series of environmental changes in different industries.

The Historical Development of the Market Segmentation Concept

During the decades of 60's and 70's of the 20th Century, numerous significant changes took place in several countries in terms of provider-consumer relationship. In the concept of market segmentation development, several new entrants were involved into existing markets and enabled technologies which have now been used by everyone. Production grew primarily through the use of modern production methods sharply. Consequently, the offer outperformed more and more consumer demand. The effective purchasing power in the market could not keep up with the fast growing demand and has now become more and more limited to the disposable income of consumers. The bottlenecks in the company moved down from procurement and production to market and from the seller's market gradually became a buyer's market. Consumers won with this step in power against providers (Salminen & Puumalainen, 2001).

In a broader sense, the customer's were given the opportunity to pick out the products that ...