The market segmentation for the Italian Sausage Business is primarily a demographic segmentation based on the gender (women), work status(working and less time to cook pleasing meals) and number of kids (kids love Italian sausages) in the household. This can be thought as segmentation based on observable characteristics of customers.
The “Target Markets” for the “Italian Sausage” Business:
Based on the research conducted by Saxonville, the target group should be the “female head of household”. This is because, Italian sausages are generally eaten during dinner time and female head of household has to be able to make a dinner which pleases everyone in the house, makes sure everyone wants to have the dinner and also wants to make a good job of the recipe. A similar survey for breakfast sausages suggested that it is cooked 75% by women and 25% by men.
The “Positioning” concept options for this Business:
The initial positioning concept options for this business were:
• Family Connection
• Clever Cooking
• Confidence
• Appreciation
• Quick and Easy
• Tradition
Out of these 6, additional research made it possible for them to reduce the potential positioning concepts to “Family Connection” and “Clever Cooking”.
One “Positioning” concept which should be chosen for the “Italian Sausage” Business by Saxonville Sausage: According to me, they should opt for “Family Connection” as their positioning concept. The idea behind the “Family
References: [1]. Case study of Saxonville Sausage Company by Harvard Business School. [2]. Ries, A. and Trout,J. (1981) Positioning, The battle for your mind, Warner Books - McGraw-Hill Inc., New York, 1981, ISBN 0-446-34794-9 [3]. www29.homepage.villanova.edu/john.kozup/Segmentation%20Ch.%209.ppt [4]. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positioning_(marketing)