Market Analysis Assignment: Applying Customer Segmentation and Segment Attractiveness in Internation

Successful companies operating in international markets must have a clear understanding of who their customers are and the factors that make that market unique. It is key for an entrepreneur and/or international marketer to understand customer segmentation and target marketing.
 
This individual assignment provides each learner with the opportunity to practice applying two frameworks that are instrumental in this process. These are:
 
1. The Customer Segmentation Framework, for Consumer Market, a customer segmentation tool that helps to identify and profile viable segments of customers in the given market, and
2. The Segment Attractiveness Assessment Framework, a decision matrix used to compare the relative attractiveness of potential customer segments. 
 
Supported by your research, you will be using these frameworks to complete your overall analysis of a specific geographic market. First you will identify three potential customer segments in that geographic market, and then you will comparatively assess the attractiveness of each of these segments so you can make a recommendation of a primary target segment to pursue in that geographic market. You will be making the recommendation to the marketing manager of a Fortune 500 company. 

Your instructor will assign you one Fortune 500 company for your analysis. It will be important to first identify a specific product/service your assigned company sells that is a good fit for this assignment, as different products/services are marketed differently. For help finding relevant information on your assigned company, see: Fortune.com. Once you have identified the specific product/service you would like to consider, you will need to complete the following steps:

1. Identify a specific geographic location in which your assigned company could potentially market the product/service you have chosen. As you see fit, you may choose a country, region, or city. Make your choice based on your ability to reasonably identify and find information on three distinct potential customer segments in that geographic market. In your actual paper, you do not need to explain your choice of geographic location.

2. Identify and develop a profile for each of three distinct potential customer segments within that geographic market. You will describe the different segments using the four customer segmentation variables. (The geographic variable will be the same for all your segments, but the other three customer segmentation variables will differ by segment.) You will provide a concise but comprehensive summary of these segments and their attributes in the body of your paper, and you will provide a “Customer Segmentation Framework, for Consumer Market” in the appendix of your paper that provides more detail on each segment.

To learn enough about your chosen market such that you can identify appropriate customer segments and find uniquely relevant information to help you profile them, you will need to do secondary research.