Vals is a model of psychographic segmentation of consumers, developed in the 1980s in the United States. This type of segmentation determines what is essential for the consumers based on their values and lifestyle (Bhasin, 2020). Marketing segmentation began with the fact that economist Smith proposed a product separation strategy to increase the competitiveness of organizations (Liu et al., 2019). There are eight consumer segments, each of which is characterized by its attitude to life and aspirations. Segmentation is based on 8 psycho types of people, which include: achievers, thinkers, believers, strivers, experiencers, makers, innovators, and survivors.
As for me, I am one of the achievers and innovators. As an achiever, I am characterized as a person focused on achieving goals, professional, hardworking, and also a person who is focused on the family. As an innovator, I am focused on the future, skeptical about advertising, and have a positive attitude to innovation. I agree with the results of VALS, as I belong to a group of hardworking people who care about their future and appreciate innovations.
The world-famous Apple company that creates equipment is quite popular. This company should slightly expand the circle of people on whom the production of products will be aimed. For example, for me, as an innovator, changes are essential, and products must be explicitly aimed at my daily activity. In this case, the fundamental innovations of the company come out quite rarely, and the prices of Apple products are growing all the time. That is, the company is recommended to create truly innovative products at an affordable price.
As for the group of consumers-achievers, the company is quite successful in creating products, but some changes can be corrected. For example, the family is essential for achievers. In this regard, the equipment must connect the devices in the family with each other. Apple products are quite expensive to buy for children. In this case, the company is recommended to create a budget line of phones for children.
The VALS segmentation model helps companies identify the values and lifestyles of customers. McGuire (2020) claims that marketing segmentation allows you to determine what a specific segment of customers needs and create a product for them. Consumers make choices based on their ideals, achievements, and means of self-expression (Serrano, 2017). That is, buyers make purchase decisions, often consciously and with certain reasons and needs. To realize their motivation, it is necessary to study such character traits as energy, vanity, self-confidence, desire for innovation, intelligence, and leadership traits.
In conclusion, the marketing segmentation model is quite effective for companies that are aimed at meeting the needs of customers of different groups. The more consumer segments are included in the basis for the production and sale of products, the greater the success and profit of the company will be. From this, it can be concluded that some companies should evaluate the segments that have already been affected and add the products necessary for those segments that have been ignored.
References
Bhasin, H. (2020). Vals – Values attitude lifestyle. Marketing 91. Web.
Liu, H., Huang, Y., Wang, Z., Liu, K., Hu, X., and Wang, W. Personality or value: A comparative study of psychographic segmentation based on an online review enhanced recommender system. Applied Sciences, 9, 2019, 1-28.
McGuire, R. (2020). Know your market. Clear Purpose. Web.
Serrano, S. (2017). Psychographic segmentation. Barilliance. Web.