Demographic segmentation
- Age - some products are not of interest to certain age groups, e.g. school materials
- Marital status - Married couples often have distinctly different purchasing behaviours to single consumers. This can relate to the car purchases such as holidays entertainment, financial products.
- Social class - this is a difficult term to define accurately, but is linked to education, tradition, income and parenting. Several countries have socio-economic groupings which are a useful 'shorthand' for marketers when drawing up marketing mixes.
- Education - the level of education will influence lifestyles, buying patterns and behaviours.
- Race and ethnicity - different races have different cultures, which influence their needs and wants. This is particularly noticeable in food and fashion products. Globalisation has dissipated these differences somewhat, with cultural exports such as American music creating a fusion of demand patterns in other parts of the world.
- Religion - this may be linked to race and ethnicity, but not always. Religious beliefs will influence buying behaviour such as foods, e.g Kosher and Halal foods
- Sexual orientation - as societies become more liberal in their attitudes to sexual preferences, so whole industries have developed to cater for groups such as 'gay' and 'lesbian' consumers. People in these group may have certain spending habits and a lifestyle that a business can identify and target.
- Gender - it is clear that males and females have distinctly different buying behaviours, especially in the areas of fashion and cosmetics. However, remember that males and females are not homogenous groups and will also be segmented by other features such as age, ethnicity, education, income etc.
- Language - this clearly affects the nature of products or services purchased. The IB, for example, offers papers in three languages: English, French and Spanish and is soon likely to be offering examinations in Chinese.
- Family lifecycle - marketers categorise households in terms of their stage in the family lifecycle, because purchasing behaviour is likely to be relatively homogeneous within each category, but different between categories:
- Single: young, no social ties
- Newly married: Young with no children
- Full nest (1): youngest child under six
- Full nest (2): youngest child over six
- Full nest (3): children still at home, but working
- Empty nest (1): Children have left home and one partner still working
- Empty nest (2): both partner retired
- Solitary survivor (1)- still at work
- Solitary survivor (2) - retired
One important way that is used by marketing firms is segmenting the market according to Socio-Economic Groups. Use Google, or another search engine to see if you can find out what these are. Once you have had a go, follow the previous link to see how your answer compares.