Cross-national segments for a food product: Defining them and a strategy for finding them in the absence of ‘Mineable’ databases

Abstract

is president of Moskowitz Jacobs Inc., founded in 1981. He is an experimental psychologist in the fi eld of psychophysics (the study of perception and its relation to physical stimuli), and inventor of world-class market research technology. Moskowitz graduated from Harvard University and he has written / edited 16 books, published over 300 refereed and conference articles, lectures widely, serves on the editorial board of major journals, and mentors numerous students. Jacqueline H . Beckleyis Founder and President of The Understanding & Insight Group. She has developed exacting methods for measuring consumer response better, faster and more clearly. She has directed the creation of some of the earliest database systems for retrieval and storage of consumer information. She combines extensive scientifi c training with broad exposure to social sciences and fi ne arts to craft a strategic approach to product and business development. Its results are pragmatic, fl exible, creative and authentic. Along with traditional methods and web-based resources, this integrated approach has fostered leading products that have defi ned their business categories. Tracy Luckowis Manager of Strategy and Insights, Pepsi Cola North America, in Purchase, New York, USA, the refreshment beverage unit of PepsiCo Beverages and Foods North America, a division of PepsiCo, Inc. Klaus O . Paulusis founder and principal of Paulus Food Consulting, specialising in sensory analysis of product properties and affective evaluation of consumer acceptance and preferences. Its research and evaluation programmes also include chemical, microbiological and molecular-biological tests. Keywords conjoint analysis , consumer interest , database mining , drivers , segmentationAbstract Three parallel and linked conjoint analysis studies were conducted in Germany, France, and the UK to identify how features and communications about yogurt products drive consumer interest. The studies had three objectives: (1) discover features and styles of communication likely to drive consumer interest; (2) segment the population across countries to identify trans-national groups of consumers with similar needs and preferences in dairy products; (3) provide a database that marketing professionals and product developers could use in order to aid the formulation and promotion of new dairy products. In each study consumers responded to 60 unique concepts comprising 2 -4 elements from a base set of 36 relevant elements. The elements were combined into short, easy-to-read concepts, evaluated during an internet-based experiment. Concept elements comprised different types of communications, including information about the ' health benefi ts ' , ' sensory properties ' , ' emotional benefi ts ' , and ' promotional endorsements ' involved with dairy food. Consumers rated each test concept on a 1 -9 interest scale. At the individual respondent level a model was created to show the partworth contribution of each concept element to interest. Segmentation suggested two general groups of co...

What happened to strategic segmentation?

“…In other cases, a more powerful variation can be found that cuts across markets, which can be particularly useful for international marketing. 12 In a research project for a software company targeting industry-specifi c software plug-ins, it was found that industry variation was much less important than end-user attitude and behaviour. Differences between bankers, lawyers and other professionals were less important than differentiation cutting across all professional groups.…”

“…Insuffi cient involvement of top management from across the business functions; 18. Not fi nding simple and effective ways of tagging customers to segments; this typically leads to insights without the capability to act on them; Moskowitz et al indicate one of many approaches to overcome this problem, 12 while Tesco and Harley-Davidson indicate other approaches. 19.…”