Perfect and Dynamic Segmentation via the Internet

Abstract

The paper starts from the hypothesis that traditional approaches to segmentation are seriously flawed because the object of segmentation, the consumer, has dramatically changed over the past 30 years. The New Consumer actively defies segmentation attempts by marketing professionals and thus makes a new approach to marketing strategy necessary. The paper suggests to let the consumers segment themselves instead of doing market research. Thereby the filter between consumer and company is dropped. Self-segmentation is not as radical as it may sound and the paper shows in which industries it has been in use for over thirty years. Companies using self-segmentation let their customers choose/mix their own value proposition from the company’s offerings. This means that they open up the company to the consumers and that the consumers become involved in the value creation process. Thus, self-segmentation, building on Prahalad/Ramaswamy’s co-opting customer competence concept, is more than a marketing tool, it necessitates a re-structuring of organisational structures and a rethinking of the role of marketing as a value-creating activity.Marketing strategy, segmentation, market research, value proposition, new consumer, mass customisation