Critically analyse approaches to market segmentation that can be Essay

Critically analyse approaches to market segmentation that can be applied to the fashion retail sector - Essay Example Besides, clothing for every season is being produced to suit every market and every generation. This enhances the importance of market segmentation in the fashion retail sector. This essay will critically analyze the approaches that can be applied to the retail fashion sector. The fashion retail industry in UK is turbulent as the fashion conscious consumers expect and thrive for constant change. This requires proper market segmentation so that retailers are in a position to satisfy individual customer needs. The fashion retail market is split into number of segments – luxury, high street and supermarket/out-of-town discounter (Bruce & Daly, 2006). With the supermarkets having entered the clothing sector, the fashion retail has been redefined. It enables the time-starved consumers to purchase cheap clothing instead of visiting high street. Different retailers adopt a different segmentation strategy depending on the market and the products they have on offer. Segmentation according to Bond and Morris (2003) can either be attitudinal or latent class segmentation. Consumers have different attitudes and these lead to different behavior but this does not apply to the retail fashion sector where customer preferences change by the season. Results on the basis of attitudinal segmentation have been very flat. Latent class segmentation differentiates people on the basis of the degree of their perception of brand, price promotion, sales personnel and product line. Segmenting on this basis gives a better cluster solution which is more robust than based on attitudes. Market positioning strategies are developed by retailers based on product, price and service provision. Store images assist the retailers in determining the positioning strategies (Birtwistle, Clarke & Freathy, 1998). The retailers project an image which matches the targeted customers’ self-image world, which increases customer loyalty. The store image is linked to customer