Market Segment, Market Targeting, Positioning, and Differentiation

In this short report on the Gourmet Food market, I will use a gourmet popcorn company as an example to demonstrate how we can use market segments and market targeting. I would advise that we implement various marketing processes such as segmenting, targeting, positioning, and differentiation. I have researched several consumer-focused companies, such as Home Depot, Jelly Belly, Ben & Jerry's, Starbucks and Amazon to show you how other companies are using these techniques.

Market Segment

Segmenting allows marketers to seek out a group of customers who share a similar set of wants. It's Popcorn Time will seek out men and women ages 25 to 45 who wish to purchase the popcorn for snack alternative. Since our brick and mortar stores are primary located in Philadelphia and we are expanding into the North East region of the United States, we are going to Geographic Segment by cities and run local campaigns to increase sales / foot traffic to our retail shops, targeting both men and women 25 to 45. As a company, we segment the market to be able to target specific consumers of our popcorn. We can then identify who our competitors are and what they are selling to that same segment.

Market Targeting

We have identified that our store fronts though out Philadelphia has done very well. We will focus on product specialization and sell it to geographical segments as we expand into the tri-state area. We utilize market targeting to ensure that the company's objectives are met and we make the best use of our resources.

Positioning

It's Popcorn Time is offering several different types of snack products, we are going to focus on product specialization of our patented popcorn products to our market segments. Although, we are going to continue to offer our other snack products in our retails shops, our mission is to create brand awareness of our patented popcorn.

Our positioning statement: To families who enjoy spending time together, Its Popcorn Time is popcorn with many different flavors that the whole family can enjoy. With it's Popcorn Time popcorn, is a snack that you and your family can enjoy, any time of the day.

Differentiation

We will differentiate It's Popcorn Time products through quality, style and image.
For example Jelly Belly, took an ordinary jelly bean, patented the process in which it produces jelly beans, and now creates numerous types of flavors. It charges premium prices for these treats. Its created its image to have any flavor jelly bean you can think of.
http://jellybelly.com/ . Ben and Jerry's achieved the same goal though ice cream. http://www.benjerry.com/ .

Examples:

Home Depot
Market Segment and targeting: Home Owners, professionals in the home improvement business.

"We cater to both do-it-yourselfers and professional customers who serve the home improvement construction and building maintenance market segments." (http://www.homedepot.com Retrieved May, 2005)

Positioning and Differentiation: They make themselves stand out from their competitors by carrying over 40,000 items in stock in each store and they offer free in store clinics to help you improve your home.

Amazon
Market Segment and targeting, Amazon's initial targeting was to create an online bookstore that offered over 1.1 million titles to choose from. They segment geographical by domestic (North America) and international sales.

Positioning and Differentiation: The Company prides itself on being the largest bookstore on the earth. It differentiates itself by saying "no matter how obscure you can find it here".

Starbucks
Market Segment and targeting, Starbucks approach to their coffee houses was to create a comfortable meeting place. Somewhere that anyone who loves coffee could sit down, listen to music and enjoy their coffee.

Positioning and Differentiation: They company pays premium prices for the finest coffee beans in the world. This ensures high quality coffee that the customers expect.