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For a nice green example of segmentation and targeting, see “Electric Car Strategy: Follow the Fleet,” (The New York Times, March 1, 2010).  Definitely shows how to tie characteristics of the market (technology, customers, company, and competition) to the target market.

This story “In Search Of The Elusive Male Shopper” was on NPR’s Weekend Edition this morning (February 13, 2010).  If you go to the site, you can read the text of the story or listen to it.  While there is an obvious Valentine’s Day tie-in, the story describes differences in how men and women shop.  A number of great examples that can be used to talk about segmentation or consumer behavior.

In our text books we discuss the external market environment, including the economic and social and cultural environments in chapter 2.   This Wall Street Journal article (subscription required — or search the web using the article title and you will get “back door” access), “As Sales Drop, Burger King Draws Critics for Courting ‘Super Fans,’” (February 1, 2010) describes how two external trends are having a negative impact on sales for the fast food giant.

Thanks to high unemployment and healthier eating habits, those super fans haven’t been so super lately. Burger King has felt the impact more acutely than its main rival, McDonald’s Corp., whose sales are growing.

This might provide a good example to use when discussing chapter 2.  The article also questions Burger King’s targeting strategy.  The chain has focused on its “super fans,” those 18-34 year old, mostly male customers who account for half of all visits to Burger King.

Here is an article bound to generate some classroom interest.  “Why it costs more to be a woman,” appeared on the MSN Money site (December 15, 2009).  You could assign the reading or simply read it for ideas you could inject into a class discussion of pricing.  I can see providing images of some of the examples with actual prices — perhaps finding images and prices at a site like Amazon.com or Drugstore.com.  Then the class could be asked why these companies have chosen this pricing strategy?  Is it legal?  Ethical?

This is a neat little article that reports on some research on the shopping behavior of millenial (age 20-30) women.  This short article (”Why ‘Millenials’ Are Impulse Shoppers” Brandweek, November 12, 2009) describes how this market segment differs from others. If it were assigned reading, students could be asked how it would effect the marketing strategy for a packaged goods firm or retailer.  Moving beyond some of the examples in the article, this could lead to an interesting in-class discussion.

ESPN has begun to develop locally focused websites. This WSJ.com video,”ESPN is taking over Sports Journalism Everywhere,” (0:37, The Wall Street Journal, September 29, 2009) describes a new ESPN product. So for example, ESPN Chicago has news about Chicago sports teams. This brand extension provides new competition for local newspapers and television stations. This is a nice example of market segmentation with a nontraditional product. You might ask students if they think this will be successful? How should a local newspaper respond?

My last post talked about one article and interview from this issue of BusinessWeek. But the whole issue has a number of great marketing articles that deal with consumer behavior and how we may be witnessing a permanent shift. I encourage you to link through to the table of contents for the special section “How We Buy,” (BusinessWeek.com, October 26, 2009)

“PC Makers Cultivate Buyers in Rural China,” The Wall Street Journal, September 24, 2009 [subscription required or google the article title].  This short article describes how PC makers have adapted their marketing mixes to better meet the needs of relatively low income rural Chinese.

This video “Exotic Car Rentals Rev Up,” (3:05 at CNN.com, September 9, 2009) describes a new business, Gotham Dream Cars, which rents high-end and exotic sports cars in New York and Miami.  It hopes to eventually go national.  The short video could prompt a discussion of targeting, product, and price.  Will the company will be successful?  What cities should Gotham Dream Cars target?