Title: Comparison of demographic, geographic, psychographic and behavioural approach to customer segmentation

Authors: Peter Madzík; Karol Čarnogurský; Miroslav Hrnčiar; Dominik Zimon

Addresses: Department of Management, Catholic University in Ruzomberok, Nabrezie Jana Pavla II. c. 15, 058 01, Poprad, Slovakia ' Department of Management, Catholic University in Ruzomberok, Nabrezie Jana Pavla II. c. 15, 058 01, Poprad, Slovakia ' Department of Software Technologies, University of Žilina, Univerzitna 1, 8215/1, 010 26, Žilina, Slovakia ' Department of Management Systems and Logistics, Rzeszów University of Technology, Rzeszów, Poland

Abstract: A combination of four types of segmentation criteria - demographic, geographic, psychographic, and behavioural - is often used for customer segmentation. However, less attention is being paid to how these particular criteria influence the segments structure. The study aims to investigate the influence of criteria types on customer segments, investigate differences between segments and investigate the influence of segmentation criteria in case of combination. Two-step cluster analysis revealed that: a) from the demographic criteria education has the biggest influence on cluster structure; b) using only geographic criteria leads to low quality clusters; c) the influence of psychographic criteria gradually diminishes; and d) from the behavioural criteria frequency and monetary show the biggest influence. In combination, behavioural and psychographic criteria showed the biggest influence on the segments.

Keywords: customer segmentation; demographic criterion; geographic criterion; psychographic criterion; behavioural criterion; two-step clustering.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOM.2021.119802

International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 2021 Vol.40 No.3, pp.346 - 371

Received: 02 Dec 2018
Accepted: 05 Jun 2019
Published online: 21 Dec 2021 *

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