The process of development and production of a new product, completion of large investment programs require a sufficiently long period of time, and the correctness of the results of market analysis and capacity assessment is particularly important here. In the conditions of work on the traditional market of standard products the calculation of its capacity can be carried out by using the method of summing up the markets.
In modern conditions, in order to increase its competitiveness and correct determination of the market capacity, it is not enough for the enterprise to carry out market segmentation only in one direction - determination of consumer groups by some attributes. Within the framework of integrated marketing it is also necessary to segregate the product itself according to the most important parameters for its promotion in the market. To this end, the method of making functional maps is used - a kind of double segmentation, by product and consumer. Functional maps can be single-factor (segmentation is carried out on the basis of one factor and for a homogeneous group of products) and multi-factor (analysis of what groups of consumers a particular model of products is intended for and what parameters are most important for the promotion of products in the market). By means of drawing up functional maps it is possible to define on what segment of the market the given product is calculated, what its functional parametres correspond to this or that inquiries of consumers. In the development of new products, this method assumes that all factors reflecting the system of consumer preferences and, at the same time, the technical parameters of the new product should be taken into account, with the help of which it is possible to meet the needs of the consumer; groups of consumers are determined, each with its own set of requests and preferences; all the selected factors are ranked by the degree of importance for each of the groups of consumers. Such approach allows already at a development stage to see, what parameters of a product need design completion, or to define, whether there is enough capacious market for the given model.
In world practice 2 basic approaches to marketing segmentation are used. Within the framework of the first method, called "a prairior", the signs of segmentation, the number of segments, their number, characteristics, map of interests are known beforehand. That is, it is assumed that segment groups in this method have already been formed. The method "a prairior" is used in cases where segmentation is not part of the current study, but serves as an auxiliary basis for solving other marketing problems. Sometimes this method is used when the market segments are very clear, when the variability of the market segments is not high. "A priory" is also possible in the formation of a new product focused on a known market segment.
The second method, called "post hoc (cluster based)", implies uncertainty about the nature of the segments themselves. The researcher preliminarily chooses a number of variables that are interactive in relation to the respondent (the method implies conducting a survey) and then, depending on the attitude towards a certain group of variables, the respondents belong to the respective segment. In this case, the map of interests identified in the subsequent analysis is considered as secondary. This method is used to segment consumer markets, the segment structure of which is not defined for the product sold.
Segmentation by a priory method. In selecting the number of segments on which the market should be divided, the target function is usually to determine the most promising segment. Obviously, it is superfluous at formation of sample is inclusion in it of segments which buyer potential is small enough in relation to a researched product. The quantity of segments, as researches show, should not exceed 10, excess usually is connected with excessive detailing of attributes of segmentation and conducts to unnecessary washing away of attributes. The convenience of working with such segment groups is obvious, especially in terms of tracking their capacity. Segmentation of industrial market consumers using the a priory method is done according to two possible situations with regard to the type of consumers:
(A) All possible market consumers are known and can be listed (the number of consumers does not exceed 50 firms)
B) the number of consumers is quite large, their composition often changes and it is impossible to make a certain list of them.
In case of A, if there are large consumers, they are described in a list, i.e. a complete list of all consumers is considered. This method is called the "complete top-level census of consumers" for industrial market consumers. The application of this method makes it possible to determine the capacity of the consumer market, which is considered as the sum of the needs of enterprises from the formed census.
The continuation follows.