In the case study article, what market segments were identified, and what segmentation strategies were implemented?
In 2013, Under Armour had amassed its sales revenue to $2.3 billion. A strikingly large amount that put them firmly in competition with industry leaders such as Nike and Adidas. Yet still, only $500 million of their sales were from women’s apparel.(Murray, 2017) It was then that owner Kevin Plank made it a goal to better capture the women market segment. Rival Adidas tried to do the same thing, without an increase in sales and was deemed a marketing failure.
The scenario: Although Adidas had previously failed to create a successful digital campaign to attract women, Plank took a risk by pursuing a viral promotion. Debuting in July 2014, the “I Will What I Want” campaign first featured American Ballet Theatre ballerina soloist Misty Copeland dancing as a voice-over reminisced about how she was rejected by a top ballet academy at age 13 for having the “wrong body for ballet.” (Murray, 2016)
Basically, Under Armour took a risk, and found a way to speak to their female segment in a fashion that they did with their male counterparts. They kept the ethos of Under Armour while finding a way to speak to their new market segment by setting marketing goals and implementing the following segmentation strategies.
What do you believe are four to five key points to remember when implementing segmentation strategies?
1&2 >Market segmentation and positioning are two of the most important key points in consumer behavior and within marketing as a whole. Especially now in modern times because consumers today have more product categories than ever before and even more choices within those categories and it is only growing. (Kardes, 2020) At Under Armour, they wanted to increase their sales to women. Identifying this segment was the first step.
3&4 Next they sought to better understand this market segment. This includes looking into their likes and dislikes, similar items they buy, and items they stay away from. Understanding where the customer is coming from, and how they think. Doing so allows you to develop your position in relation to how you wish to communicate and advertise to them. From here you can build out your positioning and how it relates to your marketing segmentation. From here you can build custom strategies that meet your specific segment group. With Under Armour, they selected a marketing mix of print, and various online social media to include Youtube.
When should a firm pursue a market segmentation strategy in lue of an aggregation strategy? It really depends on goals of the specific company, and where they are currently in specific markets and where they wish to grow. Our book outlines what it calls the best answer, and it looks to the following for main considerations: consumer preference heterogeneity, the majority fallacy, the sales-cost trade-off, and the potential for cannibalization (Kardes, 2020)
Another key segment is geographic location. It does no good to reach a large audience in a place where you don't sell your product. It also does not do much good to market in a place that may like your product, but it is not allowed or they can’t afford it. These are things to keep in mind especially when using social media that can be global in scope, it is best to be precise with your targeting.
Identify a new market segment that you have noticed recently (during your own shopping experience online, in a commercial ad, or in a secondary resource such as a magazine) that you believe would be a great market to explore. How might you create a segmentation strategy to reach this new market segment?
One potentially new market segment that I think is under-served is the users of the self-checkout line. Who will use these willingly, and who would not? Also, I have found in many stores, they do not offer impulse items near the self-checkout counters like they do in the traditional checkout lane. Could this market be better tapped? What types of items and products would work best here? I’m sure theft plays a small part in this, but I think a bigger reason is that the self-checkout is rather new, and wasn’t built with this type of marketing in mind. Perhaps if having products is too costly, what about TVs running promotions? Let them know what they forgot, or what to grab next time. This space is underutilized and I predict in the next few years this too will change.
Citations :
Murray, M., & Saghian, M. (2017). Under Armour’s Willful Digital Moves. Darden Business Publishing, 1-5. Retrieved January 11, 2021, from https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu
Kardes, F., Cronley, M., Cline, T. (2020). Consumer Behavior, 2nd Edition. [[VitalSource Bookshelf version]]. Retrieved from vbk://9781305161689
Murray, M (2016) Under Armour’s viral campaign for the female market proved a winning strategy. Retrieved January 11, 2021 from https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/under-armours-viral-campaign-for-the-female-market-proved-a-winning-strategy/2016/07/15/73c50602-42fd-11e6-88d0-6adee48be8bc_story.html