Okuzeka
Marketing vocabulary · Segmentation & Targeting

Market segmentation

Meaning in marketing, with examples

nounCore term

In marketing, market segmentation means: Dividing a large market into smaller groups of customers who share similar needs, characteristics or behaviour, so that each group can be served in a suitable way.

In Turkish: pazar bölümlendirme, pazar segmentasyonu

How it is used

The first step of the STP model (segmentation, targeting, positioning). Markets are segmented by demographics, geography, psychographics or behaviour. In meetings people often just say “segmentation” and call each group a “segment”.

Example sentences

  1. Our market segmentation showed that price-sensitive students and busy professionals want very different things.

  2. We need a clearer market segmentation before we decide where to spend the budget.

Common collocations

  • market segmentation strategy
  • demographic segmentation
  • behavioural segmentation
  • segmentation criteria
  • target marketThe particular group of customers that a company decides to focus on and sell its products or services to.
  • demographicsFacts about a group of people, such as age, gender, income, education, family status and location, used to describe customers or audiences.
  • psychographicsInformation about people's attitudes, values, interests, lifestyles and personality, used to understand why they buy and not just who they are.
  • positioningDeciding what clear place a brand or product should hold in customers' minds compared with its competitors, and shaping its message around that idea.
  • nicheA small, specialised part of a market with particular needs that larger companies often do not serve well.

More terms: Segmentation & Targeting

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: