MRKT discussion questions week04 - Research Paper Example

In low involvement product, differences in segmentation were not that evident and often ignored. The reason I can surmise why segmentation is more evident in high involvement product than low involvement product was that high involvement product takes so much resources and time from the consumer that segmentation becomes significant. For example, in the respondents whom I asked for their considerations before buying the car, the interviewees really made a careful thought before buying the car.

Considerations like fuel consumption, maintenance, up front cost, performance, comparison with other cars, etc. were considered before buying the car if indeed it was a real value for their money. Here, cars that were positioned in the lower to middle segment in the market caught their attention. High end cars with exorbitant price tags were automatically struck off from their list. Therefore, the segmentation of the market in terms of price worked for my respondents even if they belong to upper middle class income bracket who could afford more expensive cars.

To validate my initial assumption about segmentation, I asked a respondent why he is zeroing in on value cars and not the flashy cars which men typically like. He replied that he used to like but learned how to be frugal after the financial crisis because, as he said, “you never know, you might lose your job tomorrow.” He said that he has to be practical these days especially in high ticket items that will be purchased because of the uncertainty of the economy. Moreover, the money he saved from buying to value cars instead of the more expensive ones will go to his savings as a “buffer” during uncertainties.

Comparing the car purchase with low involvement product, most of the respondents did not give much thought about the purchase and just put the product in their grocery baskets everytime they shop (the item I asked for low involvment product was shampoo). I asked them why and they replied that they are used to their brands already and they will only consider other brands if it is not available. I asked if price or other factors influence their buying behavior and they responded that only if it is very significant.

But if it just within the price range of a regular shampoo, they do not mind slight difference. Perhaps this is more applicable to the segmentation of gender because the female respondents (two of them) were emphatic in having their particular brands due to reason that it “suits them” while the men were not that conscious about their shampoo and just pick up the same brand of shampoo out of familiarity but would not mind using another brand. 2. How would the marketing differ for the different segments you identify?

High involvement products are high stake purchase for the consumers and they really take the time before making the purchase. As such, high involvement products are very conscious to position themselves according to the considerations of their target market. For example, in the car industry manufacturers that target the low to middle market astutely emphasize values in their products such as fuel efficiency, mileage, reliability and price. The reason for this positioning is that their market is price sensitive and they have to communicate and package themselves as the best value for their money.

In the high end cars, they observably emphasize style, comfort and image to appeal to their market