LABORATORY EQUIPMENT

Segmentation, Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty

Segmentation, Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty

Introduction

J. Labs are the largest privately owned British manufacturer and distributor of Laboratory equipment. My briefing note will discuss who our customer are, our products, give a brief definition of market segmentation and targeting and how we use marketing research and segmentation to ensure high levels of customer satisfaction (Soderlund, 1998).

Our Customers

All our customers are external to the organisation. We manufacture and sell our product for the domestic and global markets. The majority of our customers are B2B organisations, purchasers and consumers. In most instances, our customers are not the direct users of our products and services but merely the buyers. Therefore, for many markets we only deal with distributors (Soderlund, 1998).

UK Customers

Mainly serviced by our network of selected distributors:

Public sector: NHS hospitals, universities, medical research centres, Army & RAF health centres

Private sector: International clinics, “Aesthetic clinics, IVF fertility clinics”, BUPA, AXA

Industry markets: Pharmaceutical, Petrochemical, other industries.

Charitable organisations: Research centres funded by charitable donations

International Customers

We deal directly with distributors, government agencies and privately owned businesses worldwide. We conduct business in the following international markets: Europe, Middle East, Asia, Far East and Africa. United States and Canada are serviced by our subsidiary company based in Chicago, and we have very little interaction with them.

Our products

Our product range from hand held small instrument and disposables to high tech capital laboratory equipment. High purchase capital equipment's either purchased directly by end users / scientist or by a distributor on behalf of an end user. Medical and laboratory hand held equipments and consumables these are typically purchased by our network of distributors.

Our products fall into mainly 3 distinct categories:

Our own manufactured products: hand held instrumentation.

Sourced Products: High tech capital equipment.

Services: Project management, technical training for a range of equipments, disposal of hazardous Laboratory waste.

Services

J. Labs provide high quality services in the following areas:

Service and Maintenance of Laboratory Equipment

Industrial Automation Equipment in General

Monitoring Software and Data Acquisition

Advice on Biosafety Laboratories

Biosafety Facility Audits

Personal Training in the field of biosafety

What is market segmentation?

The market segmentation is a process that involves the division of the total market in several smaller internally homogeneous groups that are to be targeted by the organization. The essence of segmentation is to attract the consumers that are aware about the product or service. One of the key elements of a successful company is its ability to target properly in the potential market. Segmentation is also an effort to improve the accuracy of marketing in a business. It is a process of aggregation pertaining to the group in a niche market and related to people with similar needs (Sivadas, 2000).

The market segment is a group of relatively large and homogeneous consumers that can be identified within a market; these are the individuals that have desires to purchase. The target markets are selected according to the geographic location, consumer attitudes, purchase behavior or similar buying habits. This procedure is somewhat similar to the marketing mix (Sivadas, 2000). The market of laboratory equipment can also be segmented into ...