Segmenting Consumers on Their Lifestyle Characteristics

Abstract

Market segmentation has been considered as one of the most fundamental concept of modern marketing. In order to sharpen the marketing mix, companies have been moving from marketing at aggregate level, called mass marketing to mass customization, to the level of one-to-one marketing where each customer is treated as a separate segment. Lifestyle is an important concept used in segmenting markets and understanding target customers, which is not provided by the study of demographics alone. This paper endeavors to identify the major lifestyle characteristics of the consumers in Chennai and attempts to segment the same on the basis of their lifestyle patterns. Survey method has been adopted to carry out the research. Profiling the segment in terms of the dominant lifestyle and demographic characteristics can help to relate the consumers to their purchasing interests and selection of brand choices.