Victoria’s Secret is a retail company specializing in women’s lingerie, loungewear, and beauty products. The company’s target market is fashion-conscious women interested in high-quality lingerie and beauty products. Victoria’s Secret uses various forms of market segmentation to target its consumers. One form of segmentation is demographic segmentation, which involves targeting specific age groups and people with certain incomes. Victoria’s Secret primarily targets young women in their 20s and 30s and people with higher incomes who are willing to pay for premium products.
When marketing a product, it is safe to imagine that one is making a sales pitch to each potential customer. Therefore, a marketer has to seek ways of getting through to individuals. This consideration makes marketing segmentation very important. Segmentation acts as a breakdown of potential customers. Through segmentation, customers can be classified in terms of age, race, lifestyle, level of income among other factors (Kurtz, 2010). Therefore, marketers can engineer marketing strategies that are specific to each category. This essay investigates the criteria of segmentation that affects market selection. The Victoria’s secret United States business model will be used as an example in this case.
Victoria’s Secret enjoys a huge customer base across the United States. These customers are mostly women but men are also targeted. Victoria’s Secret mostly targets women of between age eighteen and thirty five. The targeted women are mostly the ones living in major cities across the United States. The main marketing strategy for Victoria’s Secret is to appeal to the women’s sex appeal. This means most of their products are meant to showcase a woman’s sexuality. The targeted clientele is mostly from the middle income group. The potential customers include women of all races and ethnicities. In addition, women who are in touch with their sexuality make up the biggest client base. Men who purchase Victoria’s Secret merchandise for their partners also form a significant customer block.
The above customer base can be segmented even further. The first segment includes single women who are of between eighteen to thirty five years. This segment consists of women who are mostly seeking to enter the dating scene. The segment also consists of women in short term relationships. These young women have not yet indentified stable partners and their image means a lot to them. Therefore, they are very conscious of how they present themselves. The other segment consists of women of ages eighteen to thirty five who are in relationships. This group is made up of women who are either married or in long term committed relationships. This group enjoys a healthy sex life and is characterized by its choice of specifics. This is because those in this group already know what they want. However, they may still be interested in experimental products every once in a while.
The other segment includes women who are over thirty five years but may still be interested in Victoria Secret’s Products. This group is characterized by new age ideologies and views. The other two segments include those women who are comfortable with their body image irrespective of their physical attributes and those women who are insecure about their body image. The fist group consists of women who often feel desirable and who will find it worthwhile to own Victoria’s Secret products. The other segment consists of women struggling with body image issues and their purchasing patterns are mostly erratic.
All the above segments have the potential to generate revenue for the franchise. However, the segment with the most potential is the one that consists of those women with body image issues. This segment is easy to understand and appeal to. The marketing campaign would focus on self esteem and promote products that are suitable for all types of body images. For instance, the campaign can include products for women of all body sizes and shapes. If successful, this marketing strategy has the potential to bring in a new market share thereby boosting the sales revenue (Aaker, Brumbaugh & Grier, 2000). In addition, if these new customers are retained, they can lead to the expansion of the franchise.
References
Aaker, J., Brumbaugh, A. & Grier, S. (2000). Non-target markets and viewer distinctiveness: the impact of target marketing on advertising. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 9(3), 127-132.
Kurtz, D. (2010). Contemporary Marketing. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.