Market Research and Consumer Segmentation

This assignment delves into the world of market research and consumer segmentation. It analyzes various methods used to understand customer behavior and preferences, including qualitative and quantitative approaches like surveys, interviews, and data analysis. The focus is on how businesses utilize these insights to develop effective marketing strategies and segment their target audience for optimal product development and promotional efforts.

Running head: WATER PURIFICATION SYSTEM
Marketing Management and Digital Communications
[Water Purification Station]
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

1WATER PURIFICATION SYSTEM
Executive summary
The study is aimed at understanding the importance of digital marketing before the launch of a
new product. The purpose is well being observed through a digital marketing plan for the “Water
Purification Station”. The study finds that the growth rate of the market for the healthy drinking
water is still not matured. The concept is still to drive a potential sale in the target market. The
paper is divided into four sections such as the background of the study, the research methods, the
current value analysis and the proposed digital marketing plan. The paper finds a very tough
competition in the drinking water industry. It also suggests a good future prospect for the
drinking water business, which may take time to flourish because people need to know the
importance of drinking medically safe water.

2WATER PURIFICATION SYSTEM
Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................4
1. Background:.................................................................................................................................4
1.1 Aim of the report:..................................................................................................................4
1.2 A brief explanation of the service or the product:.................................................................4
1.3 Target market:........................................................................................................................5
1.4 Current value brief:................................................................................................................5
2. Research methods:.......................................................................................................................6
2.1 Data collection methods:.......................................................................................................6
2.2 A Case study analysis:...........................................................................................................7
2.3 A Descriptive survey:............................................................................................................8
2.4 Interviews:.............................................................................................................................8
3. Current value analysis:................................................................................................................8
3.1 Explaining the current perceived values of customers for Water Purification Station:........8
3.2 The existing value position of the Water Purification Station:..............................................9
BCG matrix:...........................................................................................................................10
Product life cycle (PLC):.......................................................................................................11
3.3 Value positioning canvas:....................................................................................................12
4. Digital Marketing Plan:.............................................................................................................13
4.1 Marketing objectives:..........................................................................................................13

3WATER PURIFICATION SYSTEM
4.2 Approximate budget:...........................................................................................................14
4.3 Marketing mix:....................................................................................................................14
4.4 Brand value analysis:...........................................................................................................15
4.5 Competitor analysis:............................................................................................................16
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................17
References:....................................................................................................................................18

4WATER PURIFICATION SYSTEM
Introduction:
Water purification system can be seen as a mean to popularize the social related
consciousness of firms in the worldwide countries (Tai & Chuang, 2014). Social responsibilities
are one of the most happening things in contemporary business. Firms do such activities to
further its business by inspiring the perception of customers that are increasingly becoming
driven by social related awareness. Social works are like the marketing stunts that firms use to
have a competitive edge over its competitors (Tai & Chuang, 2014). The main highlights of this
report are the digital marketing communication and the promotional plan for the Water
Purification Station based in Melbourne Australia. The first part of the reports contains the
background information on the topic of concern. It is followed by the research method that
shows the usage of primary data collection method with the help of qualitative analysis. This is
further followed by the current value analysis and the marketing promotional plan for the chosen
Water Purification Station based in Melbourne.
1. Background:
1.1 Aim of the report:
The main aim of this report is to promote the significance of “Water Purification Station”
to the people of Melbourne by citing the betterment of such concept in regards to the
improvement of humanitarian and community welfare.
1.2 A brief explanation of the service or the product:
Water is collected from various resources that include but is not limited to by the Rain
Water. There are many other sources as well, which means that the generated or the collected

5WATER PURIFICATION SYSTEM
water may be contaminated with few elements that can effectively harm the health of common
people. Such contaminations are needed to be removed from the collected water of different
resources to make it a safe drinking water to a maximum possible level (Awad et al., 2014).
Suspended solids, undesirable chemicals, biological and gases contamination are the few such
harmful contaminations that are needed to be removed from the drinking water (Awad et al.,
2014).
According to Baltes (2015), digital marketing promotion of a business may produce a
much better impact of it on the target community. Noting the importance of digital marketing
from the quoted fact, it can be said that “Water Purification Station” need such promotional
strategy to make a large number of customer aware of it. A concept is an innovative approach
towards a better placement of the business related to water purification.
1.3 Target market:
The target market with the digital promotion of the “Water Purification Station” will be
the people those who are residing in the Melbourne cist and in its suburbs areas, traders that do
supply the purified drinking water to the market and the online customers who may wish to avail
the product of “Water Purification Station”. A very large population of Melbourne prefer
drinking the safest and the healthiest water. In that regard, the target market will be designed
based on the geographic and the psychographic segmentation (Kim & Lee, 2015). The
geographical segmentation will help to cover the people who reside in the city and the suburb
areas. On the other hand, the psychographic segmentation will help to influence the people based
on their lifestyles, attitudes, personality and the class.
1.4 Current value brief:

6WATER PURIFICATION SYSTEM
The “Water Purification Station” maintains a high integrity and the quality while
providing the safest and the innovative drinking water to the people. As opined by Espejo &
Dominici (2017), the production cost, the value of the product for the customers and its market
values collectively form the value of a product. In the light of the quoted fact, the current value
of the “Water Purification Station” is high as it offers innovative products to customers that also
justify the price tagging.
Water treatments technologies are now growing rapidly and have hit an estimated $7
billion in 2016 (Tong & Elimelech, 2016). It is further expected to touch the figure of $11 billion
at the global level by the end of 2020 (Tong & Elimelech, 2016). The “Water Purification
Station" has its competitors as well that includes but are not limited to Water Treatment Service,
Water Treatment Australia Pty and Chemtex Speciality Ltd (Radcliffe, 2015).
The future prospects for water cleaning services are good. The “Water Purification
Station” just requires being innovative, which will provide a much-needed flexibility with the
changing perception of customers and the uncertain legal policies of the local government (Liu et
al., 2015). The use of innovation will help it to understand the factors that drive customers while
they intend to purchase the drinking water. Moreover, they will also be able to identify the
appropriate market segments where it can actually create values with the product line or the
service (Liu et al., 2015). Innovation is also required in reducing the water wastage from the
water cleaning sites. These are some ways that can help the concept to prove its values to the
target customers (Naranjo-Valencia, Jiménez-Jiménez & Sanz-Valle, 2016).
2. Research methods:
2.1 Data collection methods:

7WATER PURIFICATION SYSTEM
Data are collected through two methods that are commonly known as primary data
collection method and the secondary data collection method. Primary data can be defined as such
data that are not yet published to make it accessible. Secondary data are basically the information
that is gathered from the different secondary resources like the books, the journals or the
government and the company reports (Palinkas et al., 2015).
In order to understand the market more appropriately, the researcher has used both the
methods. The researcher has used the interview and a descriptive survey to collect the
information. The researcher has also considered the various secondary resources to have a good
understanding of the market values of the water purification business. Such resources include the
books, the journal articles, government & the company reports and the case studies related to
water purification. Focus group has also been set to collect primary data. The selected focus
groups share common ideas while collecting the primary data.
2.2 A Case study analysis:
Case study analysis can be a very effective mode of collecting the data as such case
studies are related to different other organizations that have used the digital marketing to
promote the concept of water purification. Such case studies do also help to understand the
importance of brand values of organizations, values of the customers and the value proposition
(Yazan, 2015). It is one of the methodological approaches that are constructed with the help of
qualitative manner. The research team has researched the few case studies to have an in-depth
analysis of the subject topic. The researchers have rather focussed on a single event and have
conducted a complex analysis in context to the organization. The information has been gathered
from various sources.

8WATER PURIFICATION SYSTEM
2.3 A Descriptive survey:
The researcher has used the standard questionnaires to conduct the descriptive survey.
The survey has been conducted on those buyers who are very conscious at the time of purchasing
the drinking water. Customers are now getting aware of the several health-related benefits, which
is why many of them have their concerns about safe drinking water. They also do some research
to find the best possible product according to their needs and to select their choice of brand
(Thewes et al., 2014). The survey has helped to understand the customer behavior, brand
preferences, and the competitor proposition. The survey has been conducted with the 45
randomly selected customers. They were being asked to answer the 12 questions during the
survey. The method for selecting the respondents was the simple random sampling. The survey
has been analyzed with the help of qualitative research analysis technique.
2.4 Interviews:
Interviews are another very good way to grab a very good in-depth analysis of the subject
matter. This is so because it helps to interact with the higher officials like the middle
management or the project-in-charge. Moreover, their views have added the list of information,
which helps to analyze and compare the collected data from the different resources (Janghorban,
Roudsari & Taghipour, 2014). The researcher has selected the three of the project representatives
of the “Water Purification Station”. They were interviewed on the 6 open-ended questions to get
enhanced information on each of the question.
3. Current value analysis:
3.1 Explaining the current perceived values of customers for Water Purification Station:

9WATER PURIFICATION SYSTEM
The value in the market for a product or a service can only define the perceived value of
customers in relation to the particular product or the service (Carlson, O’Cass & Ahrholdt,
2015). This can be evaluated based on various factors like finding the difference between the
cost of production and the customer’s perception. Companies with a lesser difference in regards
to the product cost and the customer perception will have the better advantage (Carlson, O’Cass
& Ahrholdt, 2015). Perceived value can be further understood with the help of two terms the
total customer benefit and the total customer cost. Total customer benefit is associated with the
economic, functional and the psychographic benefits that customers expect from a product or a
service (Carlson, O’Cass & Ahrholdt, 2015). The total customer cost is related to the
expectations that they develop in regards to a product or a service (Carlson, O’Cass & Ahrholdt,
2015).
The “Water Purification Station” has shown its utmost effort in satisfying the total
customer benefit and the total customer cost. They have tried to attain the total customer benefit
by offering the most innovative product or service to present to them the safest drinking water.
The proposed digital plan for marketing is one of such examples that have helped to maintain the
total customer benefit. On the other hand, they have tried to offer the most affordable and the
justifiable pricing to its different products or the services. This means that a high in quality
products or services have been offered at the justifiable rates. This clearly proves that the “Water
Purification Station” has so far been successfully maintaining the total customer benefit and the
total customer cost. The use of innovative technology to produce the purest & the safest of water
and the use of online marketing strategies to reach to a wider customer base just show the
strategic capability of the “Water Purification Station”.
3.2 The existing value position of the Water Purification Station:

10WATER PURIFICATION SYSTEM
BCG matrix:
Cash cows: The healthy drinking water has a large market share but may still be termed as a no-
growth industry. This is due to a fact that very few customers are serious about healthy drinking
water. Most customers may not have the same feeling regarding the importance of having the
safest water as they might not be aware of the differences between the unhygienic water and the
healthy drinking water (Gito & Kumar, 2014). The concept of the “Water Purification Station” is
in an immature stage; however, the organization is making good revenues by distributing water
through bottling in the different parts of the city.
Stars: It covers the product that belongs to a growing industry and with high market shares (Gito
& Kumar, 2014). The proposed product or the service may have a better prospect in the nearing
future as customers are now getting aware of the harmfulness of unhealthy drinking water from
the different media resources like the newspaper articles. Moreover, more such customers will
grow in future, which means that the different water purification related products will evolve in
the nearing future.
Question mark: It defines a low market share in a high growth market (Gito & Kumar, 2014).
The “Water Purification Station” needs to invest significantly to enhance its marketing capability
as this may help to provide an increased customer base in the future ahead. An increased
customer base will also improve its market shares, which is very necessary for a sustainable
business.
Dogs: It is termed as the marketing sectors that are flat and have products with low market shares
(Gito & Kumar, 2014). It further means in the in the context of the company that it is important

11WATER PURIFICATION SYSTEM
for it to avoid targeting those customers who have less or probably no ideas on the importance of
having a healthy drinking water.
Figure 1: BCG matrix for the “Water Purification Station”
(Source: created by author)
Product life cycle (PLC):
This defines the stages, which a product or a service experience after being launched in
the market (Guo, 2014). The first stage of it is the introduction where the product has been
planned for a digital marketing promotion by the “Water Purification Station”. The product is
new because of the innovation, which has been planned by the company to present a high in
quality drinking water to customers.
In the Growth stage, the sales of the products will become faster. The product will
probably be able to satisfy its target customers by fulfilling the total customer benefit and the
total customer cost.

12WATER PURIFICATION SYSTEM
In the maturity stage, the sales of the product will reach its maximum heights. The
product will then witness no significant jump in the sales with the consecutive passes of times.
Market saturation is bound to happen and will occur for various obvious reasons that also include
the demand for a more advanced product in regards to the safety level in drinking water.
The decline stage is the last stage where the sale will begin to fall, which means the
"Water Purification Station" will have to decide whether to extend with the same product with a
fewer of modification or launch a completely new concept.
Figure 2: PLC of the “Water Purification Station”
(Source: created by author)
3.3 Value positioning canvas:

13WATER PURIFICATION SYSTEM
The “Water Purification Station” can use the value positioning canvas to position the
proposed products or the services in a more convincing way to enhance its appeal to the target
customer. The positioning can be targeted to the customers based on their geographic and
psychographic group of people. The proposed value positioning can be displayed on the official
website of the company where the online customers will be able to understand the importance of
the product or the service for them. The value positioning can be divided into two segments such
as the products or the customers. The products will contain the benefits, features and the
experiences. The customer segment will include the needs, wants and the fears.
Figure 3: Value Proposition Canvas for the “Water Purification Station”
(Source: created by author)
4. Digital Marketing Plan:
4.1 Marketing objectives:
 To provide innovative products that support improvement of community welfare

14WATER PURIFICATION SYSTEM
 To attain a 3% market shares with the healthy drinking water
 To gain at least a 5% of customer base from the target communities
 To promote the service by with the help of implementing a digital marketing plan
4.2 Approximate budget:
Advertisement resources Expected expenses
Website advertisement
Domain name $190
Software $250
Testing of the software $290
Advanced customization of the website $148
Social media advertising
Twitter $24 (for every month)
Instagram $29
Facebook $ 27 (per month)
YouTube $46
Online advertising
SEO $145
Content writing $180
PPC advertising $134
Total AU$1463
Table 1: Expected budget for digital marketing
(Source: created by author)
4.3 Marketing mix:

15WATER PURIFICATION SYSTEM
Product: The proposed product of the digital marketing plan is healthy drinking water in the
various forms that are available in the market. The purification station has used innovative
technologies to improve the safety level of the drinking water to prove its competency in the
market and to have a sustainable business practice.
Place: The product will primarily be offered to the people living in Melbourne and its suburb
areas. The product will be distributed in different ways that also include approaching the traders
that are already in the market through different ways of selling the drinking water to customers.
Price: Price range will be kept at the justifiable level to remain competitive as the competitor
companies may find this difficult to bring such innovation at the offered price of the “Water
Purification Station”.
Promotion: This is very important and will be done in numerous ways like the customization of
its official website, online and the social media advertising. The social media advertising will be
done on the different platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Online
advertising, on the other hand, will be done with the help of Content writing, SEO and PPC
advertising.
4.4 Brand value analysis:
This can be done in four phases. In the first phase, a research will be required on the
customer responses (Hanssens & Pauwels, 2016). This will help to find whether the different
promotional messages used in the digital marketing plan, have received the expected response or
else. In the second phase, brand relevancy will be analyzed. This means whether the launched
product is relevant to the customer needs (Hanssens & Pauwels, 2016). The market performance
will help to get an idea of the product's relevance level. In the third phase, the evaluation will be

16WATER PURIFICATION SYSTEM
done on the total customer benefit and the total customer cost (Hanssens & Pauwels, 2016). This
will shed light on the influence that the product has created in the market. The last phase will
include a contribution from the management, which will decide on whether to continue with the
same product or to bring a slight change to enhance its appeal to the target customer (Hanssens
& Pauwels, 2016).
4.5 Competitor analysis:
Competitor Products Unique Selling Point
(USP)
Marketing
Chemtex Speciality
Ltd
Mineral water for
drinking packed in
bottles
 Have rich
water solution
system
 Provide water
in different
sizes
 Distribution
channel
management
Not very active in
marketing activities
Water Treatment
Australia Pty
Healthy waters for
drinking, packed in
bottles as well as in
containers
 Have the
largest market
share
It uses the newspaper
marketing strategy
Water Treatment
service
Mineral water for
drinking purpose and
 Packaging
style
Use mainly the online
marketing tool

17WATER PURIFICATION SYSTEM
water purifiers  Use five
different
packaging
styles
Table 2: Competitor analysis
(Source: created by author)
Conclusion:
To conclude, the business prospect with the launch of the product may take a little
longer to generate the expected results for the “Water Purification Station”. This may be for a
low rate of awareness regarding the healthy drinking water. However, the future can be expected
to be better as the rate of awareness is increasing largely being driven by advertisements
covering the harmfulness of unhealthy water on the different platforms such as the newspaper
articles.

18WATER PURIFICATION SYSTEM
References:
Awad, Y. M., Kim, S. C., El-Azeem, S. A. A., Kim, K. H., Kim, K. R., Kim, K., ... & Ok, Y. S.
(2014). Veterinary antibiotics contamination in water, sediment, and soil near a swine
manure composting facility. Environmental earth sciences, 71(3), 1433-1440.
Baltes, L. P. (2015). Content marketing-the fundamental tool of digital marketing. Bulletin of the
Transilvania University of Brasov. Economic Sciences. Series V, 8(2), 111.
Carlson, J., O’Cass, A., & Ahrholdt, D. (2015). Assessing customers’ perceived value of the
online channel of multichannel retailers: A two country examination. Journal of Retailing
and Consumer Services, 27, 90-102.
Espejo, R., & Dominici, G. (2017). Cybernetics of value cocreation for product
development. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 34(1), 24-40.
Gito, P., & Kumar, C. (2014). Export market‟ s segmentation performance and marketing of
Indian carpet industry: A BCG matrix approach. Pacific Business Review
International, 6(11), 1-3.
Guo, X. (2014). A novel Bass-type model for product life cycle quantification using aggregate
market data. International Journal of Production Economics, 158, 208-216.
Hanssens, D. M., & Pauwels, K. H. (2016). Demonstrating the value of marketing. Journal of
marketing, 80(6), 173-190.
Janghorban, R., Roudsari, R. L., & Taghipour, A. (2014). Skype interviewing: The new
generation of online synchronous interview in qualitative research. International journal
of qualitative studies on health and well-being, 9(1), 24152.

19WATER PURIFICATION SYSTEM
Kim, K. Y., & Lee, B. G. (2015). Marketing insights for mobile advertising and consumer
segmentation in the cloud era: AQ–R hybrid methodology and practices. Technological
Forecasting and Social Change, 91, 78-92.
Liu, Y., Li, H., Peng, G., Lv, B., & Zhang, C. (2015). Online purchaser segmentation and
promotion strategy selection: evidence from Chinese E-commerce market. Annals of
Operations Research, 233(1), 263-279.
Naranjo-Valencia, J. C., Jiménez-Jiménez, D., & Sanz-Valle, R. (2016). Studying the links
between organizational culture, innovation, and performance in Spanish
companies. Revista Latinoamericana de Psicología, 48(1), 30-41.
Palinkas, L. A., Horwitz, S. M., Green, C. A., Wisdom, J. P., Duan, N., & Hoagwood, K. (2015).
Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in mixed method
implementation research. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health
Services Research, 42(5), 533-544.
Radcliffe, J. C. (2015). Water recycling in Australia–during and after the drought. Environmental
Science: Water Research & Technology, 1(5), 554-562.
Tai, F. M., & Chuang, S. H. (2014). Corporate social responsibility. Ibusiness, 6(03), 117.
Thewes, B., Brebach, R., Dzidowska, M., Rhodes, P., Sharpe, L., & Butow, P. (2014). Current
approaches to managing fear of cancer recurrence; a descriptive survey of psychosocial
and clinical health professionals. Psycho
‐Oncology, 23(4), 390-396.