Customer Segments And Revenue Streams
Customer Segments:
In the App Market, customers could be very diverse as the market aim to a “massification” of the service. To overcome this difficulty, the business management needs to find a definition of who are the customers, so the company can identify and address them more accurately (Graves and Campbell, 1968).
In practice, a customer is an individual or group of individuals to whom the company supplies with a product and/or service. In return, the company gets compensated by a payment made directly to it or through a third party who may also be a customer (Smith, 2003).
Practical Solutions Inc. conducted a market segmentation analysis in order to identify the profitable target costumers and to develop a business model that can better satisfy their needs. As markets can be segmented according to common needs into physical attributes or behavioral characteristics (Band, 1991), the company divided the target into the following groups:
1. Geographic Location: Group of individuals who coincide in the same Academic Institution or Organization.
2. Socioeconomic Characteristics: Group of individuals interrelated by current social, academic or professional conditions, i.e. students, staff or employees.
3. Psychographic: Based on life-style, this group of individuals have an urgent need to have access to an integral platform, which can smooth and speed the interaction among them as well as with the organization where they coincide.
4. Product Usage: Customers who want to differentiate themselves from other groups by acquiring state-of-the-art customized tools.
Summing up the aforementioned approaches, the following chart pictures the Customer Segments to which is the App Business Model offered:
1. Heriot-Watt University: It is the main customer. The app is customized according to its requirements. This is the customer paying for the licensing.
2. Advertisers: This segment has a strong relationship and partnership with
In the App Market, customers could be very diverse as the market aim to a “massification” of the service. To overcome this difficulty, the business management needs to find a definition of who are the customers, so the company can identify and address them more accurately (Graves and Campbell, 1968).
In practice, a customer is an individual or group of individuals to whom the company supplies with a product and/or service. In return, the company gets compensated by a payment made directly to it or through a third party who may also be a customer (Smith, 2003).
Practical Solutions Inc. conducted a market segmentation analysis in order to identify the profitable target costumers and to develop a business model that can better satisfy their needs. As markets can be segmented according to common needs into physical attributes or behavioral characteristics (Band, 1991), the company divided the target into the following groups:
1. Geographic Location: Group of individuals who coincide in the same Academic Institution or Organization.
2. Socioeconomic Characteristics: Group of individuals interrelated by current social, academic or professional conditions, i.e. students, staff or employees.
3. Psychographic: Based on life-style, this group of individuals have an urgent need to have access to an integral platform, which can smooth and speed the interaction among them as well as with the organization where they coincide.
4. Product Usage: Customers who want to differentiate themselves from other groups by acquiring state-of-the-art customized tools.
Summing up the aforementioned approaches, the following chart pictures the Customer Segments to which is the App Business Model offered:
1. Heriot-Watt University: It is the main customer. The app is customized according to its requirements. This is the customer paying for the licensing.
2. Advertisers: This segment has a strong relationship and partnership with
References: Band, W. (1991) Creating value for customers: Designing and implementing a total corporate strategy. Graves, R. and Campbell, A, (1968) Creating customers. Heriot-Watt University (2013) Global thinking, worldwide influence: Strategic Plan 2013-18. Osterwalder, A., Pigneur, Y. and Clark, T. (2010) Business model generation: a handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers. Smith, I. (2003) Meeting customer needs. The Accounting Standards Board (2001) Revenue Recognition: Discussion Paper. Tilman, P. (2010) ‘Working with universities’ in The Innovation handbook: How to profit from your ideas and market knowledge. Intellectual Propert Office, 85-89.