MARKETING SEGMENTATION: YOUR ROLE FOR DIVERSITY IN DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS - Segmentação de Mercado: Seu Papel Para a Diversidade em Sistemas Dinâmicos

Resumo

The process of market segmentation is a frequent task in the routine of professionals in business organizations. One of the difficulties of the task is to identify groups of consumers that are internally homogenous and, in relation to other groups, heterogenous, in order to make accurate marketing decisions. The idyossincrasies of modern day consumer changes the dimensions, significance and meaning of consumer experiences and directly impacts the processes and methods of market segmentation. This study reassesses the methods of segmentation, simultaneously considering the development of the concepts and the current changes in consumers’ characteristics. In this paper, the singularities of the segmentation methods and their importance as foundation providers to the decision making process in marketing are synthetically reviewed. The paper also discusses contributions from marketing, economics, sociology, psychology and anthropology which could assist in the formulation of a research proposal that addresses the future of market segmentation.