Targeted market segments

Develop the profiles of products and targeted market segments to see alignment between those profiles and the strategic choice. 

This section takes a closer look at the targeted market segments for small reactors without onsite refuelling. Four main categories of customers are identified ... 

In this mode of discovery, the path starts from the identification of a market that is not well served by the current products available, or the more ambitious path of the identification of a potential market that presently does not exist. The task for the investigator is to discover interesting technology leads, and to design a product that targets this market segment. Perhaps we can modify a current product to make it better, perhaps we can find a neglecfed material that is not currently used, or perhaps we can create a new synthetic material. 

Figure 13.2 Market segmentation. Product X, Y, Z etc. refer to the particular tailored products targeted at specific market segments A-F, which require individual applications, formulations etc., so as to optimise performance for each target product.

Given your product/service offering, your customer, and your services, what are the most promising markets or market segments for you to target How large are they and how fast are they growing ... 

Target markets should possess several characteristics to be attractive. One characteristic is that the segment is identifiable. That is, what is the extent to which the group can be profiled For example, the distribution of age, gender, or family size could be considered. A second characteristic of a target market is... 

In FY 2003, a study is planned to establish baseline performance and outyear targets for stationary PEM fuel cells for various market segments. 

A product family is a set of products that are derived from a common platform (Meyer and Lehnerd 1997). Each individual product within the family (i.e., a product family member) is called a product variant. While possessing specific features/functionality to meet a particular set of customer requirements, aU product variants are similar in the sense that they share some common customer-perceived value, common structures, and/or common product technologies that form the platform of the family. A product family targets a certain market segment, whereas each product variant is developed to address a specific set of customer needs of the market segment. 

How do you determine or target customers, customer groups, and/or market segments How do you consider customers of competitors and other potential customers and/or markets in this determination ... 

Trade publications sell advertising to supplier firms for that market segment and are thus able to send the publications free, or at minimal cost, to interested parties in the target market. Others sell by subscription only with no advertising. And some do both. In addition to being a primary source of information about an industry, trade publications serve the function of being a vehicle for promoting the industry s products and/or services. 

This is all about the economics of discriminating monopolies. A classic example of discriminating monopolies is where airlines regard it as optimal to offer different classes of plane travel to better target different market segments. The majority of airline passengers may not need the choice of first class travel, but that does not change the fact that it is optimal for an airline to make it available for those that want it. 

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