Examples of Target Market

EXAMPLES OF TARGET MARKET

Target Market

According to Adventure Travel in Canada in 1993, 45% of adventure travelers in Manitoba were couples, while the second largest segment was friends with 29.3%. Solo travelers, families, and businesses made up 15.1%, 11.4%, and 4.7% respectively. The typical adventure traveler was predominantly male (54.4%) between 19-34 years of age, with 30.2% of customers traveling with friends or leisure groups.

Climb Kenora Co. feels that the industry will continue to grow because rock climbing has entered the mainstream of activity. It is no longer looked at as an activity for the elite. With the opening of indoor climbing facilities, anyone can climb. Climb Kenora Co. feels that business can be gained from the people that have climbed indoors and want to try climbing on real rock.

People would choose to climb, so that they can experience something new. In 1993, rock climbing operations accounted for over 12,988 traveler days. Roughly 22% of travelers had previously chosen the same firm. The customer wants to have a good time, at a good price.

The main target market for Climb Kenora Co. is male and female persons who are between the age of 18 and 50, traveling with spouse, family and/or friends. In the Winnipeg area alone, there are 139,487 males and 141,265 females in the target market age group. The second group of people that Climb Kenora Co. will target is overworked executives and people in managerial positions who need to get away from their jobs. Large companies that want to build up team spirit through a weekend of fun will also be targeted. In Manitoba, there are about 23,307 males and 13,320 females in executive or managerial positions according to FP Markets Canadian Demographics.

There are two levels of ability that make up the target market for Climb Kenora Co. these fall under the categories of novice and intermediate. Novice climbers would consist of people who have not climbed before or have very little experience. This group of people are looking to try something new and have a good time. Intermediate climbers would consist of people who have climbed before but do not have the proper knowledge, skill, or gear to go out on their own. This group is looking to do more climbing than those in the novice category.

Geographically Climb Kenora Co. will focus on Manitoba, which is generally flat, and offers little in the way of outdoor climbing options.

Target Market

Your Mix plans to service the consumer market of music fans in North Kildonan, East Kildonan, Transcona, and East St. Paul. According to The Herald, this area has 39,222 residents. Your Mix’s possible market is not limited to a certain nationality, sex, or marital status. The ideal customers are not music fanatics, but are busy individuals with a part time interest in music. Anyone who owns a personal CD player (eg. Sony Discman) or car CD player is also a target for Your Mix. This group is in great need of a service that combines only well liked songs onto one CD because of its convenience. Anyone driving home from work shouldn’t be bothered with searching through piles of CD’s to find their favorite songs. Not only is it a nuisance, but it is dangerous by diverting attention from the road. Theft is also a problem with CD’s. An automobile with one Your Mix CD is less likely to get broken into than one with five or ten CD’s scattered around its interior. By using Your Mix, the amount of CD’s to search through, the large number of CD’s lying around the car, and the hassle of many CD’s with only a few good songs is reduced. At seasonal times of the year, such as Valentines Day and Christmas, couples will also be targeted. A personalized CD of special and meaningful songs a couple has shared is a unique and original gift for spouses, girlfriends, and boyfriends.

There are different music interest levels for the possible customers of Your Mix. Music listeners can be classified into three categories: Novice, Average, and Extreme.

Novice listeners are primarily song oriented rather than artist dependent. This means that who and what they listen to is dictated by radio and television air play. This group makes up the majority of music listeners because of the easy accessibility and popularity of the radio, and they tend to fall between the ages of 12 – 35. Since the radio promotes songs that are released as “singles”, which are usually the best or only good songs on an album, radio listeners are more likely to buy CD’s on an impulse and desire to sell that CD when they realize the rest of it isn’t as good. In an effort to gain listeners, radio stations push popular songs into heavy rotation until they become unpopular which ensures that favorites and #1 songs become old faster. This decreases the time it will take for this group to tire of the music. Therefore, the novice listeners who are most susceptible to radio fluctuations in airplay and buy many CD’s impulsively without hearing the entire CD first, are most likely to desire a service that puts only the songs they choose onto one CD.

Average listeners have distinct favorite artists, which they follow religiously. They are also interested in other music but are only partially influenced by current trends while remaining faithful and spending the majority of their money on their favorite artist(s). This includes owning all available CD’s and merchandise from that artist. The majority of these listeners tend to be slightly older from age 28 – 70, with the age group being dictated by older bands who have put out more albums. Average listeners are interested in bands that have proved themselves over a number of years, and don’t have just one album or hit song. They would benefit from a service like Your Mix, because it allows them to customize the songs they love by their favorite artist, in as many combinations as they desire. This could include combining songs from their favorite live album, the new album, as well as the first album, to make the perfect mix by they favorite artist.

Extreme listeners are major collectors who concentrate their money on rare CD’s, collectables and merchandise and are generally between the ages of 25 – 45. They are sound quality oriented and most likely out of the three groups to have their own CD duplicating equipment. This group constitutes the smallest percentage of the market and will not be as heavily targeted by Your Mix.

The group most distinctly targeted by Your Mix will be Novice listeners between the ages of 30 – 45. This ideal age group has the money to spend, knows what kind of music they like, and are less susceptible to media influence than younger groups of Novice listener. They are more likely to keep 2 songs by an artist that they like, rather than being concerned with the image that comes with owning that artists work. They also are part of the “9 – 5” working sector who are concerned with the time it may take to cycle through a pile of CD’s for only a few good songs. Of the people surveyed by Your Mix, 62% of people noted only 1 or 2 goods songs per CD as the biggest problem with CD’s today and 77% said they would use this service (see Appendix D – Survey Summary).