KFC Marketing story - Part 8

Hi guys!

I have come back in the second blog of the continued series about KFC. For this time, what I and you guys will discover together is the way KFC segment its markets. No more words! Let’s begin!

4.    Describe the market segment(s) your product aims for. What segmentation targeting strategy does the manufacturer follow? Which market segmentation criteria are used? Also describe the positioning strategy used for the product.

·         Personally, I believe that KFC chooses segmentation variables from three categories for the consumer market, those are demographic variables, geographic variables and psychographic variables.

Demographic criterion that marketers commonly apply in segmenting marketing are age, gender, race, ethnicity, income, education, family size, family life cycle, religion and social class. (Dibb, Simkin, Pride, & Ferrell, 2012, p. 219) To be more precise, KFC aims specifically at the age group of 6 to 65, in other words, the target group of client of the firm include children and people who are in working age. Gender does not influence the marketing strategy of KFC significantly as the firm focus on both males and females. On the contrary, income can be an important factor when segmenting the market; KFC focuses on customers who have average and high income. This also means that customers of KFC are mostly in the middle and upper class. The reason for this is that KFC provides good quality products but with a popular price, and only people who have certain financial ability can afford. Family size and family lifestyle also play a remarkable role in KFC plan. The targeting family size of KFC is 1-2, 3-4, 5+; the firm have numerous specific combos and sets of product that are suitable to different groups of customer.  

In geographic segmentation, the demands of consumers in different geographic locations may be influenced by the local climate, terrain, natural resources and population density. (Dibb, Simkin, Pride, & Ferrell, 2012, p. 222) In the case of KFC, the firm focuses more on urban and semi-urban areas, as the target customers mostly concentrate in big cities and the surrounding areas. KFC has outlets internationally and provides its products in relation with the geographic needs of customers.

Motives in psychographic variables also have a certain impact on marketing segmentation of KFC. Motives can include product durability, value of money, concern for the environment and convenience. (Dibb, Simkin, Pride, & Ferrell, 2012, p. 224) For KFC, convenience can be a competitive advantage; however, this is now not the bonus point of only KFC as the competitors such as McDonald also can provide its service simply and widely.

·         The segmentation targeting strategy that KFC is following is differentiated strategy. With multivariable segmentation, KFC can focus its efforts on two or more targets that are tightly defined. To achieve this, more than one characteristic is applied to divide a total market. The market will be segmented in three variables; those are annual income, population density and volume usage.

·         As written in the book “Marketing: Concepts & Strategies”, companies need to determine precisely how where are the target segments in order to have the suitable products and services. The needs and wants of targeted must be translated into a clear mix of product / service, personnel, price, promotion and place / distribution. (Dibb, Simkin, Pride, & Ferrell, 2012, p. 216)

KFC has diversity menus with different kinds of food. Its main products are fried chicken, burger and some drinks with different other dishes in different countries. The firm uses the similar recipe to maintain the food quality in every outlet. The statement of KFC in brand positioning is “its finger lickin’ good!” which is also KFC’s slogan. This means that KFC focuses on the flavour of its food and leave the impression of being very tasty in the customers’ mind. KFC, as a consequence, tries to offer customers freshly and delicious foods that are at the same quality everywhere. Price, however, can be different between areas and countries.

KFC sets its brand position as its products can be enjoyed as a family, a group of friends or any social gathering. The firm highlights on the impressive memory and positive feelings when trying its foods. To be more precise, eating KFC chicken can remind one to remember his family, friends, lover or any close people that he wants to share the excitement of eating and the taste.

KFC’s positioning is effective but can be developed. It can adapt to new changes of the current market. For example, as the customers are concerning more about health issue, KFC can also position it as “Healthy Fast food” by introducing a vegetarian menu besides the traditional dishes.

5.    Describe the basic conditions for effective segmentation and evaluate whether these conditions are met for the segments you described before.

KFC is strategy that focuses on the customer and makes development in the diversity of menus according to the demand of customers. There are five criterion are used to effectively reach the purpose of the firm. Those are measurability, substantiation, accessibility, stability and usefulness.  (Dibb, Simkin, Pride, & Ferrell, 2012, p. 230)

Precisely, measurability is the level that reflects the size and purchasing power of market segments, in other words, is how easy it is to identify and measure market segments.

Substantiation is the knowledge of whether the target segment is big enough and is profitable or not.

Accessible can be understood as the ability to reach consumers through suitable marketing communications.

 Stability is the certainty of whether revealed segments will be around long enough for action to be taken.

Finally, usefulness shows the meaningfulness of selected segments to the managers so that they can operationalize them and be likely to satisfy the target market.

Bibliography

Dibb, S., Simkin, L., Pride, W. M., & Ferrell, O. (2012). Marketing: Concepts & Strategies. Cengage Learning EMEA.