An important and neglected question for marketing managers is whether identified market segments remain similar over time in terms of distinguishing characteristics and size. Benefit segments based on the relative importance of product attributes were shown to be internally consistent between split halves for a given time period. Two years later, a comparison of the same households segmented in terms of sought benefits revealed a high degree of similarity in product attributes considered important and segment size. However, analysis on an individual household basis showed that a household was very likely to be classified in a segment other than its previous group designation. Managerial implications of the research are discussed.
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