Market Segmentation: The Importance Of The Organic Market

Over the past decades, the popularity of the organic movement has surged due to the heightened level of consumer awareness on the quality of the food, health and environment care (Jones, Clarke‐Hill, Shears, & Hillier, 2001). Moreover, with the rise of health-related problems such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and coronary heart diseases (WHO, 2014), people are becoming more aware of the effects of their eating habits and lifestyle, which has resulted in an increasing number of people opting for organic food, especially the case in many developed countries.

Since 1990s, the organic industry has become one of the world’s fastest growing food categories. In 2014, The United States is the leading market for organic food with 27.1 billion euros, followed by Europe and Asia.

Market segmentation can be put into three terms of the STP acronym, meaning Segment, Target and Position. This is particularly essential because the segmentation analysis able to reduce risk in deciding where, when, how, and to whom a product, service, or brand will be marketed as well as to increase marketing efficiency by directing effort specifically toward the designated segment in a manner consistent with that segment's characteristics.

However, there is no single way to segment a market. A marketer has to try different segmentation variables, alone and in combination (Kotler & Armstrong, 2013). In order to be successful in today’s global market, organizations will have the think innovatively, be willing to change and quickly adapt to the new ways of conducting business in this twenty-first century. Hence, marketing segmentation strategies can be cultivated through an extensive choice of attributes found among purchasers, for instance gender, age, and locality especially where income and culture are concerned (Martin,