earticle

영어

Market segmentation is defined to classify one heterogeneous market as a number of small-scale homogeneous markets to be able to respond to different product preferences between key segmented markets or to suit products to customer needs so as to more accurately satisfy the diverse consumer and user needs. There are many of previous research which focused on market segmentation based on lifestyles in the fields of tourism, sports, culture entertainment areas. However, there are few research of domestic private vehicle users. In this exploratory study, the authors introduce previous research streams about lifestyles and market segmentation, and segment 685 domestic private vehicle users based on their lifestyles. The factor analysis delineates twelve underlying dimensions of lifestyles: pursuit of health and beauty, brand pursuit, diversity pursuit, epicurism, emphasis on the relationship, internet use, savings, individualism, leisure activities, buying behaviors, planned purchase, consumption-oriented. Then, second-stage clustering analysis, which consists of the hierarchical clustering and non-hierarchical clustering optimization methods, is conducted because hierarchical clustering makes it easy to calculate, and is widely used, but its reliability is being argued, so the authors conduct both hierarchical and non-hierarchical clustering analysis. Generally, non-hierarchical clustering lengthens the calculation process or makes calculation impossible as the number of individuals increases, and may make an objective function, which is supposed to reflect the accuracy of clustering, inappropriate. As regards the procedure of second-stage clustering, while the first stage determines whether new individuals are incorporated into the existing cluster by the distance criteria, or whether they are formed into a new cluster, the second stage transforms such preparatory clusters into cluster solutions through the hierarchical clustering process and the similar clustering cohesion stage, and automatically determines the number of clusters using the statistical criteria. On the basis of second-stage cluster analysis, the authors identify the response differences about demographic and car-related characteristics among lifestyle groups. And then, after analyzing each market segments, the authors label 4 different user groups as follows-(1) young LOHAS pursuit segment, (2) showing off consumers, (3) self-fulfillment segment, and (4) encourging thrift and economy segment. The characteristics of each group are as follows. Consumers of Group 1, “young LOHAS pursuit segment,” tends to pursuit beauty and health and highly uses internet. Almost 80% of consumers are 30’s to 40’s married male. They show the highest individual behavior tendency among 4 groups. Compared to other groups, this group has low income, but consumption-oriented due to fewer number of family members and high disposal income. Most of the members of this group own Hyundai Sonata or Grandeur and show the highest satisfaction rate but lowest re-purchase intention. The second segment, “showing off consumers,” tends to pursue brand and diversity. Related to car life, driving experience of this segment is about 15 years and they prefer imported car and are concerned with auto performance. Group 3 is not involved in brand issues in choosing car, has lower income, and is not worried about savings. They concerns with leisure and epicurism in their life. This segment is labeled “self-fulfillment segment” and accounts for 19% of the population. Finally, the fourth segment accounts for 34% of the population and labels “encouring thrift and economy segment.” Compared to other segments, the percentage of women is quite high. People within this group are sensitive to the price of car when they choose the car, and prefer Renault Samsung brand. The results of this study indicate that there are significant differences in lifestyle, demographic, behavioral variables between these four segment. The findings imply that car manufacturing firms can segment domestic customers as 4 different markets and should diversify their marketing strategy based on the market segment. The research implications, limitation and further research of this study are discussed.

한국어

시장세분화는 이질적인 전체시장을 동질적인 하위차원의 세부시장으로 나누어 각각의 세분시장에서 소비자의 니즈에 맞는 제품이나 서비스를 제공하는 활동을 말한다. 그동안 라이프스타일을 기반으로 한 시장 세분화 연구는 호텔관광, 스포츠, 문화엔터테인먼트를 비롯한 다양한 분야에서 연구되어져 왔으나 국내 자동차 시장의 고객을 라이프스타일에 따라 유형화한 연구는 없었다. 본 연구에서는 라이프스타일과 시장 세분화의 의미와 선행연구들을 소개하고 685명의 국내 중․대형차 소유자를 대상으로 한 라이프스타일 및 자동차 생활관련 설문을 시행하였다. 고객의 라이프스타일 분류를 위해 총 52문항의 12가지 라이프스타일 척도를 사용하였으며, 요인분석 및 2단계 군집분석 결과 고객유형을 총 4가지 집단으로 분류하였다. 그리고 분류된 집단 내 소비자의 실제 자동차 생활과 라이프스타일을 가장 잘 설명할 수 있는 군집명으로 젊은 로하스형, 자기과시형, 자기실현형, 근검절약형을 제시하였다. 마지막으로 집단별 라이프스타일과 인구통계적 분포, 경제 력과 소유차량 등의 구분을 통해 각각의 집단에 대한 설명을 하고 본 연구의 시사점과 한계점 그리고 향후 연구방향에 대해 기술하였다.