Discuss the Major Reasons Why International Marketers Implement International Market Segmentation

Topic: Discuss the major reasons why international marketers implement international market segmentation. List and discuss the properties that these segments should ideally possess. Comment on when marketers should pursue univeral/global segments, regional segments, and unique/diverse segments.
Like domestic marketers, international marketers conduct segmentation in order to decide on their positioning strategy. However, the benefits and process for international segmentation are significantly different to domestic positioning. There are also several different methods of segmenting the global market, depending on demand patterns and consumer behaviour related to the company’s product.
Segmentation of the international market derives several main benefits: allowing the company to generalise their marketing research conclusions, entry strategy and marketing mix across a few segments instead of every market, helping to allocate scarce resources and determining the company’s positioning strategy. This is in contrast to domestic segmentation, which also determines positioning and allows the company to address the market in sections, but is more specific as it groups together people with similar behaviours instead of countries.
In order to gain the benefits listed above, segments need to be as homogenous as possible internally but discrete from each other. Segmentation will usually occur according to behaviour in relation to the marketing mix and the market conditions. There are six key requirements for segments. They must be:
  * identifiable – they can be defined and measured
  * sizeable – large enough to be worth targeting
  * accessible – can be separated from other groups
  * responsive – will respond differently to different marketing mixes
  * stable – will not change membership
  * actionable – divided according to company values
International marketing research is a costly exercise, and companies with a global presence find it difficult and...