Chapter 6
Slicing and Dicing Markets
IN THIS CHAPTER
Grouping customers together through market segmentation
Understanding who buys, what they buy, and why they buy
Creating market segments that make sense
Shaping your business around the key customers you serve
As you put together your business plan, it may seem good to view each of your customers — the Alexes, Aniyahs, and D’Andres who regularly walk through your doors — as individuals with unique personalities and distinct likes and dislikes. You may also be tempted to make things simple and lump everyone together and view all your customers in exactly the same way — after all, the whole world should want your products and services, right?
Unfortunately, neither of these tactics is very helpful when it comes to creating a business plan you can use. In an ideal world, you could address each customer individually. Walmart sees more than 200 million customers a week. Southwest Airlines averages more than 350,000 passengers per day. Starbucks’s baristas serve well over a million worldwide caffeine addicts per hour. But is this one-by-one ...
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