Identify Customer Segments Research Articles

The Role of Customer Innovativeness in the New Products Adoption Intentions：An Empirical Study on Mobile Phone Customers of the Egyptian Universities Students

This research aims to investigate the relationship between customers’ innovativeness and their intentions to adopt new mobile phones from the standpoint of Egyptian university students. The research studies the direct effects of the five dimensions of customers’ innovativeness on their intentions of new products adoption, which are measured through the mediating effect of two factors: the risks to mobile phones perceived by the customers and customer involvement. The research also aims to identify the so-called “initiators” segment; customers who have the highest probability for purchase the product early. A quantitative method with deductive approach is chosen in this research. Four hypotheses have been designed to determine: whether there is a significant difference in customers’ perception of risks to new mobile phones, innovativeness, involvement, and adoption intentions according to demographic variables (gender, place of residence, income); whether there is a significant positive effect of customers’ innovativeness on customers involvements with new mobile phones; whether there is a significant negative effect of customers’ innovativeness on the perceived risks to new mobile phones; and whether there is a significant positive effect of customers’ innovativeness on their intentions to adopt new mobile phones. A significant impact of the five dimensions of customers’ innovativeness is found on the adoption intentions of new mobile phones. Also a significant effect of the five dimensions of customers’ innovativeness is found on the perceived risks and customer involvement factors. The research develops a new model of the relationship between the customers’ innovativeness and their intentions to adopt new products. In practice, the research results contribute to help marketing managers for better market fragmentation and identify customer segments with high innovativeness; which helps organizations prepare appropriate marketing campaigns and thus leads to the success of new products deployment.

Retrospective: service failure and loyalty: an exploratory empirical study of airline customers

Purpose This paper aims to reflect on the paper “Service failure and loyalty: an exploratory empirical study of airline customers” published 18 years ago. It positions it in the evolving literature on relationship marketing and suggests directions for further research and developments in the area. Design/methodology/approach A review of key contributions of the paper to the study of relationship marketing and the effects of service failures on relationships identifies emerging strands of research. Findings The concept of a “relationship lifecycle” is now widely used in marketing for identifying customer segments. Different points in the lifecycle are associated with differing sets of relationship expectations and levels of tolerance to service failure. Customer relationship management has tended to morph into customer experience management where principles of relationship lifecycles have been applied to mapping customer “journeys” through a service process. Practical implications The original study informed practices of managing relationship expectations and handling failed expectations, depending on a customer’s length of relationship with a company. Although relationship marketing was originally conceived as an integrator of marketing cues, its emphasis on cognitive evaluations may have been too limiting and customer experience management has since introduced additional affective dimensions. Originality/value The original paper had been widely cited and generated discussion and important further research. It has value as part of the emerging landscape of services marketing research. This retrospective analysis locates this historical development with reference to currently popular issues of customer experience management.

Modeling and Promoting Organic Food Purchase

ABSTRACTThis study aims at enhancing organic food product (OFP) purchase by identifying customer segments based on their knowledge and attitude related to organic food along with their demographic profile. Two scales for measuring Knowledge and Attitude related to organic food were developed to measure their levels. The scales have covered six dimensions of organic food: Healthy, Eco-friendliness, Price, Availability, Certification, and Brand. After identifying the customer segments, each segment was further segmented based on their media consumption behavior. Hierarchical followed by K means cluster analysis resulted to six distinct segments with their corresponding subsegments. Cluster analysis was again performed for each customer segment, and a media selection method (MSM) was evolved to effectively communicate with OFP customers. These methods can guide marketers in devising an appropriate communication plan for enhancing OFP purchase.

Deal of the Day

Deal of the day is a form of e-commerce in which an intermediary allows merchants access to a subscriber list, to promote their offerings at a discount. This study performs a cluster analysis on the purchase history of a deal intermediary, to identify customer segments based on their purchase frequency, price sensitivity and the types of deal they buy. Five segments were identified, including a large group of customers who made one purchase and then stopped buying, a small group of extremely deal-prone subscribers, and a segment that limits their purchases to very few types of product (e.g. restaurant meals or spa treatments). The findings further show that targeting deals to specific customers may be desirable in the future to prevent information overload and ensure loyalty.

An Exploratory Study on Managing Fixed Customers: Cases of Australian B-to-B Business

This study explores whether three Australian companies enhance customer relationships using information provided by Fixed Revenue Accounting (FRA). Employed over a long period in Japan’s service culture, FRA uses accounting information to identify customer segments, assess the financial importance of fixed customers in particular, and set customer service strategies to maximize firm performance. A case study was conducted to explore whether FRA could be transferred to a non-Japanese business context. Data was collected through interviews guided by a structured questionnaire and analyzed by applying the KJ (Kawakita Jiro) method to categorize how interview respondents define fixed customers and assess their financial significance. For FRA to be successfully adopted, firms must share its underlying principles, follow its analytical procedures, and commit themselves to long-term customer relationships. We found this to be the case among the three Australian business-to-business enterprises. We conclude that FRA could be employed in Australia to establish favorable long-term customer relationships.

Decision support system for promotion of Faculty of Business and Economics Mendel University

Decreasing number of secondary school graduates means that, for college, it becomes more difficult to fulfill guide number of newly admitted students. In order to maintain an optimum number of registered students, the Faculty of Business and Economics decided to support activities which increase the interest of its accredited programs.Potential students should be treated as customers to whom we want to offer a product – knowledge, skills and competencies. Promoting study programs PEF MENDELU is handled by PR department in collaboration with several students.Availability of resources for promotion is limited. It is crucial to deciding how to deal with these sources. By creating a system for monitoring and decision support, we provide all interested collaborators tool to improve decision-making processes.The system itself will be built on the tools of Business Intelligence (BI) that can observe consumer trends, identify customer segments and other important information. The BI emphasizes the use of OLAP technology for data processing. In the collected data about students is hidden a large amount of information that can be obtained using techniques such as knowledge discovery in databases.This article aims to describe the methodology for solving problems and show the application, which result in support of decision-making processes in the propagation PEF MENDELU, which should also lead to the efficiency of spending on this activity.

Cloud computing adoption: an empirical study of customer preferences among start-up companies

Cloud computing represents a paradigm shift to utmost scalable and flexible IT services. However, research related to preferences of certain customers concerning cloud services is scarce. Especially start-up companies with their limited capacities to implement and operate IT infrastructure and their great demand for scalable and affordable IT resources are predestined as customers of cloud based services. In this study, we apply a multi-method approach to investigate customer preferences among start-up companies. Based on a literature review and a market analysis of cloud service models, we propose a set of cloud provider characteristics. These properties were examined among 108 start-up companies and analyzed in three steps using factor analysis to define customer preferences, cluster analysis to identify customer segments and discriminant analysis to validate the identified clusters. The results show that start-ups can be basically divided in five clusters each with certain requirements on cloud provider characteristics.

Who are our clients: consumer segmentation through explorative data mining

The apparel industry aims to produce comfortable and aesthetically pleasing garments that fit populations well. However, repeated studies of apparel customers’ levels of satisfaction indicate that their needs are often not being met. In order to produce better fitting clothes, it is crucial to understand the body profiles of typical consumers. Exploring the demographic profiles of correctly identified customer segments holds obvious benefit for production, marketing and ensuring return on investments. To this end, we explore a database, containing anthropometric measurements, demographic profiles and 3-D body scans, of samples of the North American, Italian and Dutch populations. Through the use of objective interestingness measures-based feature selection and feature extraction, we accurately discover the relevant subsets of body measurements that require special care when designing clothes. Furthermore, we apply association analysis to the demographic data, in order to target customers and thus potentially defining new market opportunities.

Maria B. Designs (Pvt.) Lt

Maria B. was a leading player in the fashion clothing industry of Pakistan. Her designs comprised women’s casual, formal and bridal wear. A consumer study found that purchase of casuals was impulsive, triggered by the start of a new season. Formal wear was bought for special occasions and festivals. The purchase process involved considerable window shopping and obtaining information on the latest trends from fashion magazines. The purchase of bridal wear was by far the most intense. Every bride-to-be wanted her wedding dress to be exclusive. The designer was expected to provide personal advice regarding the selection of fabric and design. Based on the study results, the company had to identify customer segments and decide which of the three product lines to focus upon. Should bridal wear be placed in the same outlet with other lines, or should it be handled exclusively? Maria B. was concerned whether the lower quality image of casuals might negatively impact the premium image and stringent quality standards associated with bridal wear.

Enhancing the Value of Survey Data on Customer Satisfaction in the Framework of a Customer Loyality Programme: Case of a Slovenian Retailer

In retailing, one of the most important factors shaping overall satisfaction are customer perceptions of sales personnel characteristics (e.g. physical appearance, willingness to listen, assure and oblige, etc.). In our empirical project we aim to show that this effect is even larger in the framework of a loyalty programme aiming at creation of long-term relationships. Liberally made and often repeated promises which are not kept create room for development of negative feelings towards retailers (especially if customers feel trapped). Furthermore, long-term relationships might go stale due to predictability of the shopping experience (the so-called “negative loyalty programme effect”). A relevant combination of survey and transaction data enables a retailer to develop and implement measures to keep identified customer segments satisfied and consequently in the spending mood.

Customer Service Strategy and Segmentation in Food Retailing using the Importance-Performance Paradigm

This paper will provide a framework on how to design a customer service strategy and apply it to the food industry in Greece. Building a customer service strategy requires the evaluation of marketing and logistics service elements, the identification of importance-performance gaps in relation to those elements, and the segmentation of the service offered. To evaluate service elements, retailers were asked to rate the elements′ importance and the food suppliers′ performance. To identify importance- performance gaps, a paired samples t-test was used. Statistical differences between importance and performance exist in various customer service elements. To reveal different retailer segments, a cluster analysis with K-means was applied. The cluster analysis indicates that the prior classification of multiple food retailers according to their annual purchases of food products (hypermarkets, supermarkets, and convenience stores) affect their ratings on the importance of customer service. This study provides insight into the customer service-based segmentation. In addition, it provides an approach to identify customer segments by using the importance-performance analysis.

Utilizing importance data to identify customer segments for English public sport facilities

This study attempts to identify customer segments for English public sport facilities by adopting a performance data-driven segmentation approach. In particular, the importance element of the importance–performance tool, common in performance measurement, is utilized to identify customer segments, which are then useful for marketing purposes. Based on 23,329 customers' perceived importance of service quality, the analysis identifies four distinct customer segments with different priorities on six service quality dimensions. The demographic and participation profiles of these segments are also examined. The results demonstrate that over 60% of customers are more concerned about the physical evidence. In addition, facilities that aim to increase the access of older, female or unemployed customers need to realize that they are more critical of the physical evidence. By contrast, those hoping to attract more adolescents or ethnic minorities should emphasize the non-physical evidence.

Performance measurement and leisure management

1. Performance measurement and leisure management Konstantinos Alexandris 2. A focused service quality, benefits, overall satisfaction and loyalty model for public aquatic centres Gary Howat, Gary Crilley and Richard McGrath 3. Can service quality predict spectators' behavioral intentions in professional soccer? Nicholas D. Theodorakis and Konstantinos Alexandris 4. An application of importance-performance analysis (IPA) to the management of sport centres Antonio Rial, Javial Rial, Jesus Varela and Eulogio Real 5. Utilizing importance data to identify customer segments for English public sport facilities Yi-De Liu, Peter Taylor and Simon Shibli 6. Testing the feasibility of performance indicators for play facilities in England Peter Taylor, Ashley Godfrey, Phil Back, Lynn Bennett, Pete Sinclair and Haki Kapasi 7. Work process knowledge and customer service excellence: lessons from the Scottish visitor attraction industry Shuna Marr 8. Theme park employee satisfaction and customer orientation Matt Wagenheim and Stephen Anderson 9. Employees' motivation in the luxury hotel industry: the perceived effectiveness of human-resource practices Leonidas Maroudas, Olivia Kyriakidou and Artemis Vacharis 10. A forecast of the performance of China in the Beijing Olympic Games 2008 and the underlying performance management issues Simon Shibli and Jerry Bingham

Mining changing customer segments in dynamic markets

Identifying customer segments and tracking their change over time is an important application for enterprises who need to understand what their customers expect from them – now and in the future. This in particular is important for businesses which operate in dynamic markets with customers who, driven by new innovations and competing products, have highly changing demands and attitudes. Customer segmentation is typically done by applying some form of cluster analysis to obtain a set of segments to which future customers are assigned to. In this paper, we present a system for customer segmentation which accounts for the dynamics of today’s markets. It employs an approach based on the discovery of frequent itemsets and the analysis of their change over time which, finally, results in a change-based notion of segment interestingness. Our approach allows us to detect arbitrary segments and analyse their temporal development. Thereby, our approach is assumption-free and pro-active and can be run continuously. Newly discovered segments or relevant changes will be reported automatically based on the application of several interestingness measures.

Market Segmentation by Motivations to Travel

Knowledge about tourist motivations would enable tourism destination planners to better satisfy consumer needs. Recent studies evidence the heterogeneous nature of tourist motivations, and highlight the importance of motivations (e.g., Bansal & Eiselt, 2004). The context-dependency of motivations to specific destinations and tourist market emphasizes the need of further research. The purpose of this study is two-fold. First, to explore the primary reasons influencing British tourists' decision making while taking a summer holiday in two resorts (Fethiye and Marmaris), located in Mugla (Turkey), and second, to identify customer segments, depending on their socio-demographic characteristics and holiday-taking patterns. On the basis of multi-step cluster analysis, five segments were found: fuzzy tourists, recreational-type, active, escape seekers and relax-quiet tourists. Managerial implications and further research are also discussed.

The impact of switching costs on the customer satisfaction‐loyalty link: mobile phone service in France

The main objective of customer satisfaction programs is to increase customer retention rates. In explaining the link between customer satisfaction and loyalty, switching costs play an important role and provide useful insight. For example, the presence of switching costs can mean that some seemingly loyal customers are actually dissatisfied but do not defect because of high switching costs. Thus, the level of switching costs moderates the link between satisfaction and loyalty. The purposes of this paper are: to examine the moderating role of switching costs in the customer satisfaction‐loyalty link; and to identify customer segments and then analyze the heterogeneity in the satisfaction‐loyalty link among the different segments. An empirical example based on the mobile phone service market in France indicates support for the moderating role of switching costs. Managerial implications of the results are discussed.