Can segmentation ever deliver the goods?

Kai Howaldt and Alan Mitchell

This article argues that most consumer segmentation research is of limited usefulness because it fails to provide a holistic picture of value to different users of the data, and proposes a more `joined-up' value-based approach.

Can segmentation ever deliver the goods?

Kai Howaldt & Alan MitchellRoland Berger Strategy Consultants

According to a 2004 Economist Intelligence Unit survey, 59% of senior executives in large companies said they had conducted a major segmentation exercise some time over the previous two years, but only 14% felt they had derived real value from their investment.

Segmentation on the basis of demographics (age, class, sex) and psychographics (attitudes, personalities, values) has been a major theme in marketing for decades now. VALS (Values, Attitudes and Life Styles) was launched in 1978. Yet somehow, despite all the work and...

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