Every Financial Services Organisation must constantly monitor and review their range of products in order to ensure that it provides the desired extent of the market coverage. Customers need change rapidly so products should be monitored and implement modifications to be in line with the customer’s needs and organisations’ objectives. However in order to know the customers’ needs and what the customer is looking for, a lot of research has to be done which is very costly to the organisation. At the very beginning of the New Product Development, the organisation should consider which segment the product will be targeted to. Our organisations’ main aim is to finance a number of new products, which are seen as key to differentiate the FSO from its rival.
Segmentation, Targeting and positioning together compromise a three stage process. First the organisation must determine which kind of customer exists, then select which type of customer are best off trying to serve and finally implement our segmentation by enhancing our products for that particular segment and communicate the choice that have been made to be distinguished that way.
Segmentation
Segmentation is the process of breaking down the total market for a product or service into distinct groups. The essence of the marketing concept when taking decisions is to place customer needs at the centre of the organisation. This approach stems from a number of different factors, such as competition increasing; customers well educated; patterns of demands which is relatively changing and many others. For example when the banking system was developed, Banks were mostly known to put the customers’ excess money into a safe place while earning some interest on the capital and to borrow money in order to finance personal requirements. Nowadays, customers are looking for much
References: Doyle, Peter; Saunders, John, (1985). Market Segmentation and Positioning in Specialised Industrial Markets. Marketing [e-journal] p 24-32, Available through: EBSCO Database [Accessed 11 August 2011] -------------------------------------------- [ 1 ]. Geometric comparison of how competing products are perceived.