[Brielle Buckler]

The process of dividing a market into meaningful, relatively similar, and identifiable segments, or groups, is called market segmentation. The purpose of market segmentation is to enable the marketer to tailor marketing mixes to meet the needs of one or more specific segments.</span>

There are several reasons an organization may decide to target their product(s) and/or service(s) to one or more segments of the population. You can read more about each of the reasons listed in our Course Materials for this unit

For this assignment, work through this simulation which is part of this unit’s Course Materials. Imagine you are an entrepreneur working to building your house-made ice cream business. Based on what you’ve learned, choose a path to improve marketing efforts.

Explain how the path(s) you’ve chosen successfully (or unsuccessfully) gets your message to your target population, and what effect your marketing had on ice cream sales.. Then, speak to the segmenting variables that you considered for this product/service (ex: geographic, demographic, etc.). Why do you think your method was effective or not?

———-

In order to receive full credit for this assignment, you must first post your own response to the question(s) above by Friday, November 24 at 11:59pm ET. You then must comment meaningfully on at least two classmates’ posts by Sunday, November 26 at 11:59pm ET.

This assignment is worth a total of ten (10) points — 6 possible points for your original post, and up to 2 points for each of the two responses to your classmates’ posts. Please reference our Discussion Rubric for more information, and to this guide from MSSU to learn more about what it means to respond meaningfully to a classmates’ post.

• This topic was modified 1 year, 5 months ago by Brielle Buckler. Reason: Republish

[Liling Liu]

Liling Liu:

In the simulation, I was tasked with enhancing the marketing efforts of my homemade ice cream business. I utilized three types of market segmentation to enhance my marketing strategies: purchasing behavior, geographic, and demographic.

-Purchasing Behavior Segmentation:

I categorized customers based on their buying habits. This included identifying groups like die-hard fans who visit several times a week, weekenders who come in regularly on weekends, and pre-customers who could potentially become regulars.

-Geographic Segmentation:

I focused on where my customers were located. My research revealed that most of my frequent visitors lived or worked close to my shop, indicating the importance of targeting local customers.

-Demographic Segmentation:

I divided the market based on customer characteristics such as family size and income level. I discovered that families generally purchased more ice cream and that higher-income individuals tended to spend more.

By applying these segmentation techniques initially, I was able to discovered that families visiting my shop tended to purchase more ice cream compared to other groups, and that wealthier customers spent more. This led me to focus on families as a key demographic.

My approach involved sponsoring local school sports teams, social events, and summer sports like tennis and sailing, which were popular with families. The choice to engage in community activities effectively communicated that my ice cream shop was family-friendly. This strategy successfully increased family traffic to my shop, boosting my average monthly sales from $17,459 to $21,076, an increase of 20.72% in monthly revenue.

However, when a competitor targeting “food lovers” opened a store, my sales dropped by 17.7%. To counter this, I decided to focus on the quality of my ice cream, collaborating with local dairies. This strategy was only partially successful; It mitigated the decline in sales, reducing it to 11.6%. This indicated that targeting only food lovers was not sufficient, possibly because this segment was too narrow and already catered to by the competitor.

Realizing the need to broaden my market appeal, I then chose to target both food lovers and families. I developed new ice cream flavors catering to diverse tastes, which led to a 14.46% increase in sales over my pre-competition revenue. This success can be attributed to the combined appeal to both quality-conscious customers and families looking for variety and a family-friendly experience.

The reason for my initial failure to capture the market by targeting only food lovers likely stems from the competitor’s established presence and appeal within this segment. By broadening my focus to include both food lovers and families, I was able to leverage the strengths of my business – quality and family-friendliness – to appeal to a wider audience. This strategy effectively addressed the diverse needs and preferences of both segments, leading to a successful recovery and growth in sales. As a result, my competitor moved to another town.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by Liling Liu.

[Ephrem Davis]

Though we analyzed this simulation similarly, I admire had you Mae your decisions throughout. Ultimately, you acknowledge that the marketing tactics you implemented accompanied prospects to reach your target consumers and, most importantly, those patrolling your competition. Your conclusion is overtly different from how I concluded this simulation, with thoughts to uphold tunnel vision, only focusing on my target consumer and their experience.

[Keilyn Navarrete]

I also did the same steps as you in level one. I like how you organized the segmentations and explained why you chose families. Your analysis on the demographics give a good explanation as to why choosing families was a good option. I also like how you you found a better step to do in level 2 to succeed, it showed why changing it made the business better.

[Chantha]

My approach was a bit different as I used Behavior first then demographic however, I appreciate your organization and method for deciding on what’s best. It’s amazing to see you with trial and error learn and real time what’s the most effective for your homemade ice cream shop.

[jheylinna]

<p class=”p1″><span class=”s1″>I started off by figuring out the goal. As well as finding out what the demographics are of any potential customers. Once I understood the goal I then choose the option to research segmentation and targeting. After this, three options were given geographic, demographic, and behavioral. Next I reviewed each option and ended<span class=”Apple-converted-space”>  </span>up choosing the demographic option. This option is to segment the market by age, family status, and income. I choose to go with this option because the details that were given included the fact that families buy more ice cream then those who go alone. I think it was effective to choose demographics then target families due to what customers come in the shop most as well as what customers spend the most money. </span></p>

[Ephrem Davis]

Upon interacting with this online simulation that highlights the benefits understanding segments of your consumer demographics can entail. I went through a series of failed attempts to build my ice cream franchise and improve revenue by 20% in a certain amount of time, and ultimately, this led me to a vital conclusion needed in the mind of any business owner attempting to utilize this practice. This takeaway was the importance of consistency and commitment to your chosen demographic.

Initially, I thought that to generate revenue better would be to focus on purchasing behaviors, such as the “die-hard fans” and potential customers we had who hadn’t yet known about our business. I did decently through this path, focusing on people who stated that they would spend their money at our business if they knew of it. By the end of the simulation, I couldn’t get to the final level, so I started again with a different approach.

Now, I examined every group allowed to segment, including the geographic aspects present. I saw that most of my customers were already relatively close to our store. Keeping this intel in the back of my mind, I moved forward.

The second time around, I focussed on segmenting customer demographics. Towards the beginning of the simulation, I learned that a relatively low portion of our customers are families, a strange figure for an ice cream shop. With this in mind, I decided to target families, which unlocked the second stage.

Now that we have achieved the figures we had aimed to blossom, a new franchise has opened up across the street and substantially lowered our prophet. Knowing that I had the family demographic in hand, I thought it would be wise to target the same crowd that this new place had, “food lovers.” Unsuccessfully, We saw little to no improvement and returned to the start.

I continued trying to beat this final stage, and through trial and error, I learned that I was going about this all wrong. During the final stage of the simulation, I knew I had to change my strategy and double down on my family-style image. Through this, I managed to generate enough revenue to scare off my competitor, and the shop adjacent to ours closed for good.

Now, this strategy seems like an obvious one. This week’s readings taught us about this dizzying number of ways to practice and measure segmentation. Through this simulation, I learned that once you have found your desired segment, stick to them and ensure you are providing the best overall experience to them to uphold a sustainable dynamic.

Though I had yet to attempt to jump into this simulation without utilizing segmentation, I could imagine the outcomes without even trying. Segmentation is a powerful tool for any business and is essential for a business owner aiming to tackle the safest market and grow their business, backed by extensive research to ensure that they are diving into the correct markets.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by Ephrem Davis.

[Raymond Fleming]

Ephrem, Your analysis and research led to the doubling down on the family style image. Therefore, placing your business the main place for customers to shop besides neighboring competitors. Great findings indeed, once you’ve learned your target market and customer base, one can build further business. Your customers live close to your store, so customer loyalty and repeated business should be a directive and focal point for your store.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by Raymond Fleming.

[Ouriel Blum]

My objective in this simulation was to increase the revenue from my ice cream shop by 20% or more.

In my first attempt at the simulation, I chose to do some market research and I focused on demographic segmentation, which is a profile of one’s customers based on demographic criteria, such as age, families or single people, income level, etc.  Results of that research showed that 30% of my customers were families and only 3% were kids looking for a place to hangout.  I also discovered that my customers had an average income of $64,500.  Therefore, to advertise to more families, my ice cream shop sponsored socials at the local school, local sports teams, sailing teams and tennis teams.  With this program, my sales increased by just over 20%.  However, once a competitor moved into town who focused on “food lovers”, my revenue declined by over 17%, so I had to adjust my target marketing.  I decided to focus on high income families, which helped me get to nearly 16% higher than before the competitor moved in, but I did not hit the 20% targeted increase once the competitor was introduced into the simulation.

I tried the simulation again, and this time I looked at geographic segmentation.  It turns out that the people who live and work near my store are the ones who come most often.  However, when only focusing on marketing to them, my sales only went up by 17.3%.

I then tried the same initial inputs into the simulation as in my first attempt, where I focused on families, to see if I could improve on my results after the competitor moved into town.  This time, I combined my focus on both families and those who lived close to the store.  With this combined focus, I was able to increase my sales both before and after the competition moved in (by 21.23% even after the competitor) and I was able to drive my competition out of business!

I think that my strategy of looking at both the demographic and geographic mix of my customers was helpful.  Only looking at one of those market segments did not get me to the results I was looking for, most likely because marketing is complex and requires a full understanding of the market and customers along more than just one type of segmentation.  A better profile of your customers allows you to better target the marketing.

[Jennifer Baker]

“most likely because marketing is complex and requires a full understanding of the market and customers along more than just one type of segmentation. ”

100% agree with this. Even for a small local business, there are multiple factors to consider when marketing (I was somewhat surprised – but should not have been – when marketing to higher-income consumers pushed the rest of the market away!).

[Ephrem Davis]

Focusing solely on upholding a family-style company image gave me the best results. Interestingly, ours were very different because mine touched on the importance of remaining focused on only the segment you attempt to address. Your result highlights the importance of keeping all aspects in mind. This dynamic furthers your point that “marketing is complex and requires a full understanding of the market and customers along more than just one type of segmentation.” There are unlimited ways to tackle a market you may be attempting to penetrate. Although one may only focus on one demographic, marketers can utilize many other vital strategies.

[Nebel Alsaidy]

Your approach in this simulation involved demographic and geographic segmentation. At first targeting families brought a 20% increase, but a competitor impacted sales. Your countermeasure approach to advertise to high-income families slowed the decline but fell short of the 20% goal. Geographic focus led to a 17.3% increase. The winning strategy that I as well utilized was combining family and local focus, achieving a 21.23% sales increase and outperforming the competitor.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by Nebel Alsaidy. Reason: Wierd formatting glitch makes the whole post unreadable

[Jennifer Baker]

In the simulation, I tried most of the variations, starting first with demographics and geographic research. I found that focusing on high-income customers brought an increase in revenues from those customers *but* caused other customers to stay away. Kids alone were a very small segment of the customer base, but families spent much more than single customers. On the geographic front, local customers were by far more critical to the business than those further away. With this knowledge, on my final attempt I opted to use the $1000 local newspaper advertising, which had a fairly strong impact, and then was able to follow on that by focusing my ads on families and local customers. This combination (LOCAL paper plus ads focused on my two target markets) brought me a 21.23% increase in revenues, a great win for my ice cream shop.

[Jaydon Brizan]

This was also my outcome but after a couple of tries I figured it out and I also had an idea to target demographic and geographic segmentations.

[Aramis Ortiz]

Jennifer,

Good analysis of your results from the simulation. I also noticed that families were a large percentage of the customers in the ice cream shop, so it was important to keep targeting them, when marketing to a certain group of people.

[jheylinna]

<p class=”p1″><span class=”s1″>This was an interesting approach. And the impact was as well. To see a decrease in customer engagement with the store but still having an increase from the high income customers. Also local customers being more critical to the business makes a lot of sense since it’s in their own community. That was a good end!</span></p>

[Chantha]

Great approach, definitely smart in realizing it takes away from the broader demographic by turning your business more high-end. we see it all the time in NYC!

[Michael Rodriguez]

For this simulation my goal was to increase the monthly revenue by 20%. I chose to research into the customers behavior and identified three promising segments based of behavior which were Die-hard fans, Weekenders, and Pre-customers. I then chose to further observe the die hard fans and learned that most of them are professionals that come by themselves, in the late morning or early afternoon, for a break from work so I chose to peruse this segment and it resulted in a 26% increase of monthly revenues, at a little ongoing cost which was a success. But then a competitor opened a store nearby which reduced my revenue by more than 17.7% and to combat this I chose to then focus on people who are close to the shop. This helped my situation but my revenues were still down by 3.13 % instead of 17.7%. So I doubled down and did more advertising to people who lived close and it resulted in a 11.5% increase in revenue from when the competitor opened there shop.

I feel like my approach to reaching out to people who lived nearby after the new ice cream shop was open was the correct move. First Focusing marketing efforts on specific geographic areas where your target audience resides is an efficient use of resources and it resulted in an increased response from the customers both times. Also the customers you gain would be the loyal die hard fans and the close proximity allows for direct communication with customers, enabling you to gather feedback and make further improvements.

[Jaydon Brizan]

I believe also as well reaching out to people who lived nearby was a smart move and I should have definitely thought about that more considering it was a small business and maybe I would have got a better result the first simulation.

[Raymond Fleming]

Michael, I totally agree with this approach by targeting the customers who live close to your store. This creates a more personal connection between your store and the local community. You can focus your attention on winning, and retaining your local customers through outstanding customer service. Your precise targeting does in fact invite positive and constructive feedback directly from your local community. This information allows you to differentiate your store from competitors, and overall make your business the best option for your neighborhood to shop at.

[Adil Ahmed]

I appreciate your ideas. I think your advertising is key success of your business. The way you deal with your rival is really phenomenal and it has left ideas for others to get knowledge about how to deal with rivals. And I really like your last part.

 

[Nebel Alsaidy]

Your strategy to boost revenue by targeting Die-hard fans among professionals is one i did not consider when doing the simulation. We both took similar approaches when taking countermeasures against the competitor. Focusing on people close to the shop and doubling down on local advertising to increase revenue makes sense considering they are more likely to notice. I’m curious about the way of your advertising approach for locals. What types of advertising did you utilize to reach out to local customers?

• This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by Nebel Alsaidy.

[Jaydon Brizan]

In this simulation I decided to focus on the demographics and geographic segmentation of my ice cream business. I learned that 30% of my customers were families and only 3 % of kids use it as a place to hang out. I then learned the average median income was 64,500 and only slightly 16% was more than 90,000. After getting this information I got my goal which was trying to see if I can increase my sales by more than 20%. I felt the best way to tackle this goal is instead of investing money into advertising I wanted to conduct some more research.

I then decided to segment my market geographically and decided to spend money to market people who were far from the store to reel in more customers. This failed as I should have thought more about the local customers already and only improved my traffic by 8.64 %.

After trying again, I stick to advertising for my local community and after shifting my attention to the food section my monthly revenue goes up from 17,459 to 21,135 and a 21.5% improvement reaching my goal. As the simulation went on, I faced a challenge with a competitor but sticking true to my target audience of families and people close to the store I ran them out white being 21.23% up in revenue.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by Jaydon Brizan.

[Aramis Ortiz]

Jaydon,

I made the same mistake when segmenting my market geographically. I thought that focusing on people who live farther away in the town would be very effective. I agree that if we had focused more on our loyal customers who live nearby, it would have a greater positive impact on the ice cream shop sales. It is important to build a strong connection with people who live near your shop.

[Ouriel Blum]

Hi Jaydon,

What is interesting to me is that we both got to over 20% even after the competitor opened the store but with two different approaches. This shows me that there are many different combinations to succeed!

[Michael Rodriguez]

Hello,
I took the same approach that you took by advertising to my local community which i feel was the more effective way to increase the monthly revenue by more than 20%.

[jheylinna]

I started off the same way! And looking for information and knowledge about the company was a great plan to start off with. Also trying to reel in new consistent customer base was a good idea even if it didn’t follow though with this specific situation.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by jheylinna.

[Nebel Alsaidy]

I own and run an ice cream shop where I make my own delicious flavors for the customers to enjoy. Over the last year my ice cream shop made an average of $17,459 in revenue a month, which pays me, the owner, $4015. My goal is to increase my average monthly revenues by more than 20%, I will do this by defining my market so I have a better sense of who’s out there, who might want my ice cream, and has the means to buy it.

For the 1st segment I will be doing some geographic research, I discovered that people who live and work close to my shop are the ones who visit the most. With this information in mind, I decided to spend $750 a month on some signs on the busier passages so they know where the shop is.

This has a significant effect, improving my shop’s traffic by 17.36%, well worth the effort, however not yet a 20% improvement.

The 2nd segment I did some demographic research and learned that people who come into my shop as a family buy more ice cream than people who come with friends or by themselves. With this information in mind, I decided to market it to families. To do this, I sponsored a few local school sports teams during the off-season. I provided the ice cream for a few school socials. And even sponsored the summer tennis matches and a few sailing teams.
As a result, I got a boost in family traffic. My shop’s average monthly sales go from $17,459 to $21,076, a boost of 20.72% percent.

A competitor opens an ice cream store in another part of town and markets to “food lovers” with better quality of their ice cream. This impacts my shop significantly, reducing the average monthly revenue by more than 17.7%.

Based on my experience, the segment I decided to focus on to combat this was families since they are usually looking for better deals not “quality”. By better serving families Now my revenues are up 6.58% instead of down 17.7%. Now for the second segment I want to focus on people who live nearby, since I want to retain my usual customers. The combination of focusing on people who are both close and people who come with their families resulted in revenues that are +21.23% over my revenues before the competitor came in.

Now I am hearing stories that the competitor will be leaving town soon.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by Nebel Alsaidy.

[Nebel Alsaidy]

Summary

In my pursuit to increase average monthly revenues for my house-made ice cream shop by over 20%, I  applied geographic and demographic segmentation. Initially, after reading that local residents and workers frequented my shop the most, I invested $750 monthly in signage in busy passages, resulting in a significant 17.36% increase in foot traffic, this was not enough.

I decided to delve into demographic research, I identified families as a crucial segment, as they tended to make larger purchases. To target this group, I sponsored local school sports teams, provided ice cream for socials, and supported summer sports events. This approach proved highly successful, driving a substantial 20.72% boost in average monthly sales.

These two segments showcased the effectiveness of understanding the local geography and demographics of my customer base. While the geographic strategy fell slightly short of the 20% target, the family-focused demographic approach exceeded expectations.

[Adil Ahmed]

I am an entrepreneur working to build my house made ice cream business. I have decided to target two segments of the population which is young adults and families with children.

Young adults-I’ll collaborate with neighborhood establishments that serve young adults, like coffee shops and college bookstores. Additionally, I’ll give young professionals and students discounts. My message reached the intended demographic through this method. Young adults are more likely to frequently bookstores on college campuses and coffee shops, and they are also more likely to be drawn to deals. As a result, Ice cream sales increased by 20% among young adults.

Families with children-I’m going to organize family-friendly activities like Story times and ice cream socials. Families will also receive discounts from me. My message was successfully delivered to my target audience via this route as well. Discounts are likely to draw in families with children, and they are also more likely to attend family-friendly events. Hence, among families with kids, ice cream sales went up by 15%.

I decided to take into account a number of segmentation factors for my ice cream company, such as:

Geographic: I concentrated my marketing efforts in regions with a large proportion of my target audience.

Demographic: Young adults and families with children were the target audience for my marketing promotions.

My marketing strategies were specifically designed to meet the needs and preferences of my target audience, I think they were successful. My target audience was likely to see my marketing messages because they were brief and simple to understand. My marketing offers were also attractive and relevant to my target demographic. I am happy with my marketing efforts’ overall outcomes. I was able to boost sales of ice cream by 15% for families with kids and 20% for young adults. This, I think, is mainly due to the fact that I used targeted marketing techniques and gave segmentation variables a lot of ideas. Also, I have invested in the advertising which has really help me to improve my sales.

[Chantha]

The market segmentation process involves dividing a market into distinct segments to customize marketing mixes for specific needs. In terms of working with a house-made ice cream business through a simulation, I was tasked with improving my homemade ice cream business by 20%. My base stats of the business were as follows:
My average monthly revenue was $17,459, bringing me a profit of around 4k as the owner.

I started off the simulation by asking about segmenting the ice cream market and learning about my demographic. I quickly learned that people who come into my shop as a family buy more ice cream and spend their money vs those who come individually. My first immediate reaction was, “okay obviously”. Then I decided to look at Behavior such as loyalty. That’s where I discovered 3 segments:
• Die-hard fans (several visits per week);
• Weekenders (come in regularly on weekends);
• Pre-customers (not a customer now but they might be soon).

As I analyzed this, I had an “AHA” moment. if I were to combine information gathered, I would go back to using demographics. If I advertise to families which naturally brings in more money, it also creates brand loyalty among a greater amount of people versus shooting at random. Families could also come here as a tradition which would create a form of consistency. With this in mind, I went back to demographic and targeted families. This was a success and I reached my goal of increasing revenue by more than 20%. My average monthly sales go from $17,459 to $21,076, a boost of 20.72% percent. With this, I unlocked the bonus section.

The bonus section included a competitor which made my sales drop more than 17%. I decided to double down on my original strategy which raised my revenue to 6% vs -17%. Then I TRIPLE downed and continued to advertise more on families where eventually, I had increased my revenue by 36.15%. Causing the competitor to shut down for good.

The chosen path of focusing on family demographics and maintaining consistency in messaging proved effective. The segmentation variables considered were essential in customizing marketing efforts, leading to increased ice cream sales and a competitive advantage.

After this, I tried alternatives such as geographic but that didn’t make that much sense to me nor did it render any results.

[Liling Liu]

Chantha, your strategy in the ice cream business simulation is really impressive. I admire how you honed in on a single target demographic, families, and directed all your marketing efforts towards them. Your insight to focus on behavioral aspects like loyalty among families, and the idea of creating a tradition for them, was a brilliant move. It’s fascinating to see how this singular focus led to a substantial increase in your revenue, achieving and even surpassing your set goals.

What’s particularly striking is your decision to stick with this strategy even when facing competition, demonstrating confidence in your understanding of your customer base. This resulted in an incredible 36.15% increase in revenue, a testament to the power of focused and consistent marketing.

Your experience has given me a valuable perspective on market segmentation. While I chose to target a combination of two segments – food lovers and families – your success shows that concentrating on just one major group and fully catering to their needs can also lead to great success. It’s an important reminder that sometimes, depth of engagement with a specific segment can be more effective than broadening the target.

Thank you for sharing your approach; it’s been enlightening and has offered a new angle on how to approach market segmentation and target marketing.

[Ekessie209]

The explanation of your strategy gave me insight on your thought process during this stimulation for example where you said ” If I advertise to families which naturally brings in more money, it also creates brand loyalty among a greater amount of people versus shooting at random.”  it tells me the reader that you have considered a variety of possible outcomes some of which would work but you doubled down to which would work best and went along with it all wee making sure you did research on the variables.

[Keilyn Navarrete]

<span data-contrast=”auto”>My objective in this stimulation was to increase an ice cream store I own that already had a monthly revenue of $17,459 where I get $4,015 per month. The goal was to increase the revenue by 20%; after trying the stimulation, I succeeded in the first level on the first try. I focused first on the demographics of potential customers, after viewing all demographics I paid attention to the ones that I considered most important which are listed below. </span><span data-ccp-props=”{“201341983″:0,”335559739″:160,”335559740″:259}”> </span>

<b><span data-contrast=”auto”>Demographics</span></b><span data-ccp-props=”{“201341983″:0,”335559739″:160,”335559740″:259}”> </span>

<li style=”list-style-type: none;”>

<li data-leveltext=”” data-font=”Symbol” data-listid=”1″ data-list-defn-props=”{“335552541″:1,”335559683″:0,”335559684″:-2,”335559685″:720,”335559991″:360,”469769226″:”Symbol”,”469769242″:[8226],”469777803″:”left”,”469777804″:””,”469777815″:”hybridMultilevel”}” aria-setsize=”-1″ data-aria-posinset=”1″ data-aria-level=”1″><span data-contrast=”auto”>30% of costumers come with a family to the shop</span><span data-ccp-props=”{“201341983″:0,”335559739″:160,”335559740″:259}”> </span>

<li data-leveltext=”” data-font=”Symbol” data-listid=”1″ data-list-defn-props=”{“335552541″:1,”335559683″:0,”335559684″:-2,”335559685″:720,”335559991″:360,”469769226″:”Symbol”,”469769242″:[8226],”469777803″:”left”,”469777804″:””,”469777815″:”hybridMultilevel”}” aria-setsize=”-1″ data-aria-posinset=”2″ data-aria-level=”1″><span data-contrast=”auto”>35% of costumers are seasonal summer people </span><span data-ccp-props=”{“201341983″:0,”335559739″:160,”335559740″:259}”> </span>

<li data-leveltext=”” data-font=”Symbol” data-listid=”1″ data-list-defn-props=”{“335552541″:1,”335559683″:0,”335559684″:-2,”335559685″:720,”335559991″:360,”469769226″:”Symbol”,”469769242″:[8226],”469777803″:”left”,”469777804″:””,”469777815″:”hybridMultilevel”}” aria-setsize=”-1″ data-aria-posinset=”3″ data-aria-level=”1″><span data-contrast=”auto”>Average household income is $64,500</span><span data-ccp-props=”{“201341983″:0,”335559739″:160,”335559740″:259}”> </span>

<li data-leveltext=”” data-font=”Symbol” data-listid=”1″ data-list-defn-props=”{“335552541″:1,”335559683″:0,”335559684″:-2,”335559685″:720,”335559991″:360,”469769226″:”Symbol”,”469769242″:[8226],”469777803″:”left”,”469777804″:””,”469777815″:”hybridMultilevel”}” aria-setsize=”-1″ data-aria-posinset=”4″ data-aria-level=”1″><span data-contrast=”auto”>16% of the population has a $90,000 income </span><span data-ccp-props=”{“201341983″:0,”335559739″:160,”335559740″:259}”> </span>

<span data-contrast=”auto”>After focusing on what I considered the most important demographics, 2 factors were noticed. One factor was that more people who came in as a family bought more ice cream. The second factor was that people with more money spent more money. With this information I made the decision to focus on marketing families. After choosing to market families my shop targeted some local sports teams during off season, provide ice cream for a couple school socials, and sponsor summer tennis matches and sailing teams. This eventually created a big result which is listed below. </span><span data-ccp-props=”{“201341983″:0,”335559739″:160,”335559740″:259}”> </span>

<b><span data-contrast=”auto”>The Result </span></b><span data-ccp-props=”{“201341983″:0,”335559739″:160,”335559740″:259}”> </span>

<span data-contrast=”auto”>The results were successful with a family boost that created a success increase in the shop. The average monthly sales in revenue went from $17,459 to $21,076 creating a 20.72% goal. </span><span data-ccp-props=”{“201341983″:0,”335559739″:160,”335559740″:259}”> </span>

<b><span data-contrast=”auto”>The Next Level </span></b><span data-ccp-props=”{“201341983″:0,”335559739″:160,”335559740″:259}”> </span>

<span data-contrast=”auto”>The first level of the simulation was a success, the second level was also successful. The goal in the second level was to overcome a competitor who opened an ice cream shop in another part of town and focused on marketing “food lovers”. This created a conflict in the revenue monthly sales in my shop, decreasing by 17.7%. </span><span data-ccp-props=”{“201341983″:0,”335559739″:160,”335559740″:259}”> </span>

<b><span data-contrast=”auto”>The Decision and Results</span></b><span data-ccp-props=”{“201341983″:0,”335559739″:160,”335559740″:259}”> </span>

<span data-contrast=”auto”>After viewing what I should focus my target marketing on and using my knowledge I had on my ice cream shop and the competitors ice cream shop I first chose to target and serve a high-income community. This had a small positive impact and revenues are down now by 8.85% instead of 17.7%. After seeing those results, I decided to also focus on targeting families. The combination of focusing on both high income and families caused a result in revenues that were +15.97% over the revenues before the competitor came in. </span><span data-ccp-props=”{“201341983″:0,”335559739″:160,”335559740″:259}”> </span>

<b><span data-contrast=”auto”>Conclusion</span></b><span data-ccp-props=”{“201341983″:0,”335559739″:160,”335559740″:259}”> </span>

<span data-contrast=”auto”>After succeeding in the first level, the main factor in this success was that I focused on the percentage of people that my shop attracted the most. Although I could have had a better success in the second level, it still had a positive outcome by focusing on two combinations at once.</span><span data-ccp-props=”{“201341983″:0,”335559739″:160,”335559740″:259}”> </span>

<span data-ccp-props=”{“201341983″:0,”335559739″:160,”335559740″:259}”> </span>

• This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by Keilyn Navarrete.

[Keilyn Navarrete]

<span data-contrast=”auto”>My objective in this stimulation was to increase an ice cream store I own that already had a monthly revenue of $17,459 where I get $4,015 per month. The goal was to increase the revenue by 20%; after trying the stimulation, I succeeded in the first level on the first try. I focused first on the demographics of potential customers, after viewing all demographics I paid attention to the ones that I considered most important which are listed below. </span><span data-ccp-props=”{"201341983":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}”> </span>

<b><span data-contrast=”auto”>Demographics</span></b><span data-ccp-props=”{"201341983":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}”> </span>

<li data-leveltext=”” data-font=”Symbol” data-listid=”1″ data-list-defn-props=”{"335552541":1,"335559683":0,"335559684":-2,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}” aria-setsize=”-1″ data-aria-posinset=”1″ data-aria-level=”1″><span data-contrast=”auto”>30% of costumers come with a family to the shop</span><span data-ccp-props=”{"201341983":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}”> </span>
<li data-leveltext=”” data-font=”Symbol” data-listid=”1″ data-list-defn-props=”{"335552541":1,"335559683":0,"335559684":-2,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}” aria-setsize=”-1″ data-aria-posinset=”2″ data-aria-level=”1″><span data-contrast=”auto”>35% of costumers are seasonal summer people </span><span data-ccp-props=”{"201341983":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}”> </span>
<li data-leveltext=”” data-font=”Symbol” data-listid=”1″ data-list-defn-props=”{"335552541":1,"335559683":0,"335559684":-2,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}” aria-setsize=”-1″ data-aria-posinset=”3″ data-aria-level=”1″><span data-contrast=”auto”>Average household income is $64,500</span><span data-ccp-props=”{"201341983":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}”> </span>
<li data-leveltext=”” data-font=”Symbol” data-listid=”1″ data-list-defn-props=”{"335552541":1,"335559683":0,"335559684":-2,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}” aria-setsize=”-1″ data-aria-posinset=”4″ data-aria-level=”1″><span data-contrast=”auto”>16% of the population has a $90,000 income </span><span data-ccp-props=”{"201341983":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}”> </span>

<span data-contrast=”auto”>After focusing on what I considered the most important demographics, 2 factors were noticed. One factor was that more people who came in as a family bought more ice cream. The second factor was that people with more money spent more money. With this information I made the decision to focus on marketing families. After choosing to market families my shop targeted some local sports teams during off season, provide ice cream for a couple school socials, and sponsor summer tennis matches and sailing teams. This eventually created a big result which is listed below. </span><span data-ccp-props=”{"201341983":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}”> </span>

<b><span data-contrast=”auto”>The Result </span></b><span data-ccp-props=”{"201341983":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}”> </span>

<span data-contrast=”auto”>The results were successful with a family boost that created a success increase in the shop. The average monthly sales in revenue went from $17,459 to $21,076 creating a 20.72% goal. </span><span data-ccp-props=”{"201341983":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}”> </span>

<b><span data-contrast=”auto”>The Next Level </span></b><span data-ccp-props=”{"201341983":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}”> </span>

<span data-contrast=”auto”>The first level of the simulation was a success, the second level was also successful. The goal in the second level was to overcome a competitor who opened an ice cream shop in another part of town and focused on marketing “food lovers”. This created a conflict in the revenue monthly sales in my shop, decreasing by 17.7%. </span><span data-ccp-props=”{"201341983":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}”> </span>

<b><span data-contrast=”auto”>The Decision and Results</span></b><span data-ccp-props=”{"201341983":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}”> </span>

<span data-contrast=”auto”>After viewing what I should focus my target marketing on and using my knowledge I had on my ice cream shop and the competitors ice cream shop I first chose to target and serve a high-income community. This had a small positive impact and revenues are down now by 8.85% instead of 17.7%. After seeing those results, I decided to also focus on targeting families. The combination of focusing on both high income and families caused a result in revenues that were +15.97% over the revenues before the competitor came in. </span><span data-ccp-props=”{"201341983":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}”> </span>

<b><span data-contrast=”auto”>Conclusion</span></b><span data-ccp-props=”{"201341983":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}”> </span>

<span data-contrast=”auto”>After succeeding in the first level, the main factor in this success was that I focused on the percentage of people that my shop attracted the most. Although I could have had a better success in the second level, it still had a positive outcome by focusing on two combinations at once.</span><span data-ccp-props=”{"201341983":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}”> </span>

<span data-ccp-props=”{"201341983":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}”> </span>

[Keilyn Navarrete]

My objective in this stimulation was to increase an ice cream store I own that already had a monthly revenue of $17,459 where I get $4,015 per month. The goal was to increase the revenue by 20%; after trying the stimulation, I succeeded in the first level on the first try. I focused first on the demographics of potential customers, after viewing all demographics I paid attention to the ones that I considered most important which are listed below.

Demographics

30% of costumers come with a family to the shop

35% of costumers are seasonal summer people

Average household income is $64,500

16% of the population has a $90,000 income

After focusing on what I considered the most important demographics, 2 factors were noticed. One factor was that more people who came in as a family bought more ice cream. The second factor was that people with more money spent more money. With this information I made the decision to focus on marketing families. After choosing to market families my shop targeted some local sports teams during off season, provide ice cream for a couple school socials, and sponsor summer tennis matches and sailing teams. This eventually created a big result which is listed below.

The Result

The results were successful with a family boost that created a success increase in the shop. The average monthly sales in revenue went from $17,459 to $21,076 creating a 20.72% goal.

The Next Level

The first level of the simulation was a success, the second level was also successful. The goal in the second level was to overcome a competitor who opened an ice cream shop in another part of town and focused on marketing “food lovers”. This created a conflict in the revenue monthly sales in my shop, decreasing by 17.7%.

The Decision and Results

After viewing what I should focus my target marketing on and using my knowledge I had on my ice cream shop and the competitors ice cream shop I first chose to target and serve a high-income community. This had a small positive impact and revenues are down now by 8.85% instead of 17.7%. After seeing those results, I decided to also focus on targeting families. The combination of focusing on both high income and families caused a result in revenues that were +15.97% over the revenues before the competitor came in.

Conclusion

After succeeding in the first level, the main factor in this success was that I focused on the percentage of people that my shop attracted the most. Although I could have had a better success in the second level, it still had a positive outcome by focusing on two combinations at once.

[Liling Liu]

Keilyn, I’m really impressed with your strategic approach in the ice cream store simulation. Your focus on demographics to identify key customer segments was smart and clearly effective, as shown by the significant increase in your shop’s revenue. Your decision to target families was spot-on, especially considering the demographic data you analyzed.

What particularly stands out to me is your adaptive strategy in the second level. Targeting the high-income community as a response to the new competitor was a clever move. It’s interesting to see how this approach, combined with continuing to focus on families, resulted in a substantial rebound in your revenue. This has been enlightening for me as it underscores the effectiveness of combining different but complementary target segments – in your case, high-income groups and families, and in my strategy, food lovers with families.

Your success in both levels of the simulation demonstrates a nuanced understanding of market segmentation and how to leverage it in the face of competition. It’s a great example of how flexibility and a deep understanding of customer profiles can lead to significant business growth. Your strategy has given me new perspectives on targeting and has been a great learning experience. Well done!

[Raymond Fleming]

I wanted to get more sales and foot traffic into the ice cream shop. I began with some compiled data to assist in my research. 30% percent of the customers shop with their families. 3% of the total population are kids that just need a place to hang out. 35% of my total customers each year are seasonal summer people. I wanted to increase my average monthly revenue by more than 20%. I did some research around segmentation and targeting the market. The goal was to get a better sense of my client base, and the customers who can afford to buy the ice cream. I targeted demographics to identify consumers by family status, age, and household income. While doing so I also observed behaviors such as repeat customers, customers who shop alone, and those who shop multiple times per day/week. These die-hard fans I chose to generate a mailing list to increase future engagement, and loyalty. My monthly revenue increased by 18% after targeting these specific customers. I believe this method of target marketing was very effective. I can further build on the information from my research to drive sales, and keep my customers informed of any promotional sales we may be having at the ice cream shop.

[Ouriel Blum]

Hi Raymond,

Your idea of ​​focusing on loyal customers is a good one. Perhaps you could also offer a loyalty card to customers to receive a free ice cream after purchasing a certain amount and in this way you could increase your sales to get to the 20%.

[Michael Rodriguez]

Hello,
Your approach of targeting demographics and behavior and utilizing both segmentations by enhancing customer engagement and customer loyalty is commendable because you got close to your goal of a 20% increase in monthly revenue.

[Aramis Ortiz]

In this simulation, I was asked to get more people into my ice cream shop. My goal was to increase average monthly revenues by more than 20%. I used the three different types of market segmentation, which include purchasing behavior, geographic, and demographic segmentation.

Purchasing Behavior Segmentation:
To begin, I identified three segments based on purchasing behavior. These three segments are die-hard fans that visit several times a week, weekenders, and pre-customers. After doing research on purchasing behavior, I learned that most of the die-hard fans are professionals that come by themselves, either in the late morning or early afternoon, for a break from work. Along with this, I learned that many of the weekend crowd use my shop to meet before or after going out to a movie or getting something to eat. Lastly, I see that many of the people eating desserts out, buy pre-packaged ice cream at local convenience stores. I had to act based on the information I received, so my first idea was to offer ready to eat, pre-packaged pints of ice cream, however, results concluded that it ends up not being worth the trouble. My second idea was to put up advertising around local movie theaters, create more flexible seating with the ability to move tables and chairs to create larger tables in the middle of the shop, and to add some food items that can be shared with a group. This increased my average monthly revenues by 22.5% to $21,399. I was able to successfully accomplish my goal using purchasing behavior segmentation.

Geographic Segmentation:
I did some research by geography, and I discovered that people who live and work close to my shop are the ones who most visit my shop. This made me want to target people who live in different parts of the town. By doing this, I spent $1000 a month on signs and flyers to let people who are in different parts of the town know where my shop is. This only had some effect, improving my shop’s traffic by 8.64%, therefore it was not worth the effort. That group of people is hard and relatively expensive to market to.

Demographic Segmentation:
When doing demographic research, I learned that people who come in my shop as a family buy more ice cream than either those with friends or by themselves. It was also learned that people with more money, tend to spend more. After this was brought to my attention, I knew the right move was to market families. I decided to sponsor a few local school sports teams during the off-season and sponsor the summer tennis matches and some sailing teams. On top of that, we provided the ice cream for a few school socials. This resulted in a boost in family traffic at my ice cream shop, as average monthly sales went from $17,459 to $ 21,076. That is a boost of 20.72%, so I successfully reached my goal using demographic segmentation.

After completing the simulation multiple times, trying different approaches using all three of the segmentation methods, the ones that were most helpful to me were purchasing behavior and demographic segmentation. Both methods led to a boost of over 20% in monthly revenue. This proves the importance of learning and being knowledgeable of the market you are trying to sell to. Without looking at all three segmentation methods, I wouldn’t have been able to learn from mistakes and be as successful as I was at the end.

[Ekessie209]

It seems that your study of your consumers behavior help analyze what you may need to add or take away from your menu. also shows the importance of how much your consumers happiness with your business and the creative thinking process you obtain to keep them satisfied. I wouldn’t have thought to invest in advertising, fearing that I would lose even more money. But you took that brave step and increased your average monthly revenue by 225%!

 

[Ekessie209]

In this stimulation my goal is to get more people into the ice cream shop and try to increase my average monthly revenue by more than 20%. Before I decided to spend hounders of dollars on marketing, I decided that I first need to have a plan and conducting some research around segmentation and targeting, was a way to have a better understanding of who would be willing to buy the product.

This stimulation was a trail and error. Giving me three options, geographic, demographic,  and behavioral, I had to choose how I wanted to market the segment. Geographic; I would be looking at where people live and work, however great business may receive purchases and reviews from all around the world. As that may be a useful option it may not be the best. Whereas demographic segments by age, family status, and income, giving me more information about potential consumers around the shop this option may have more of a positive influence. The information received was consumers who came into the shop as a family purchase more ice cream then either those with friends or by themselves. Additionally people with more money spend more. Deciding to market to families, as a result the average monthly sales go from $17,459 to $21.076 a total boost of 20.72%.

Now, like any other business, My business is threatened by a competitor. This specific competitor markets to food lovers with the quality of their ice cream which impacted the business significantly reducing my average monthly revenue by more than 17.7%. Now left with a decision on which segment I want to focus on, I proceeded to primarily focus on food lovers since they can reduce the business average monthly revenue by such a percent, they may be able to increase it as well. However this only worked to a certain extent now that the revenues where down only 11.65%. Going back to review that people who came into the shop as families consume more of my product, I decided to put my next focus on families . That decision resulted in an increase of over 14.46% of my pre-competition revenue.

Although the path chosen was successful, the stimulation allows me to try different methods to adapt a better outcome. Still tasked with increasing the average monthly revenues by more than 20%, I went straight towards my goal of getting more people into the ice cream shop. Conducting the same research around segmentation and targeting. I’ve selected behavioral on how to market. This segment highlighted the consumers loyalty that identified three promising segments based on the purchase behavior, die-hard fans. weekenders, and free- customers. Being that the company has die-hard fans , I would be able to use that to my advantage. Going a different approach by surveying the die-hard fans, it gave inside on what the fans where looking for. Die-hard fans where often high income, weekenders, have huge discrepancies in income levels, and pre- customers often own dogs. Choosing to target diehard fans and gaining the attention of some online sites, I’ve greatly expanded an average monthly revenue of 67%

Having the same competitor in the last stimulation, the segment chooses was food lovers in which the revenue stayed the same amount of 11.6% instead of 17.7%. The next focus was on families, developing new interesting flavors aimed at different family members. This increased over 14.46% over the previous completion revenue.

Given the option on which strategy I would choose for the business I would have to go with the second strategy. Knowing more about geographic and demographic variables, I’ve made better decisions that benefited the grown of the business and also prepared or any competitions all while catering to consumer needs.

[Keilyn Navarrete]

I agree, this simulation was a process of trial and error. I had made the same steps as you in level 1. What stood out to me the most was how you explained why choosing to advertise more around families was more important. I agree, as a business it is smart to focus on the type of people that are already attracted to your business, because it will attract more people related to that certain group.

[Author]

Posts