Market segmentation is an integral part of a company’s marketing strategy. It is the process of breaking down a larger market into smaller and more homogeneous groups of customers to define their needs and wants more precisely. Characteristics of individuals, groups, or organizations are the variables used to divide total market into segments. Consumer markets can be segmented based on the following customer characteristics: geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral.
Vitamins, like other complex consumer products with expansive varieties, need to be segmented using multiple variables. There are many different consumers in this market buying vitamins to fill many various needs. Since consumers often possess largely diverse demographic and psychographic profiles, no single product can effectively target and serve the entire vitamin market. Using demographic segmentation, mostly age, gender, and family life cycle, enables marketers to identify groups of customer with similar needs. Vitamin manufacturers offer their products to different age groups from infants to seniors. Multivitamins for children are packaged in colorful plastic bottles and feature famous characters, such as the Flintstones from Bayer or NatureSmart’s Disney Cars for boys and Princess for girls. Store brands like Walgreens’ own Children’s Multivitamin follows this trend but is priced more affordably. As we grow our vitamin intake alters. Individuals in their twenties need different vitamins than they do after turning fifty. Manufacturers target those age groups with various combinations of vitamins. They also segment them by gender offering different vitamins for males and females. Centrum’s Under 50 and Silver Men’s and Women’s are good examples of using multisegment targeting strategy. One-a-Day Women’s Petite (Bayer) is unique among competitors in which the manufacturer reduced the size of the pills to make it easier to swallow. Family life cycle is another demographic