Shopping Orientation — Defined Segments Based on Store-Choice Criteria: Case of Supermarkets in Ho Chi Minh City

Although the application of segmentation is a topic of central importance in marketing literature and practice, managers tend to rely on intuition and traditional segmentation techniques based on socio-demographic variables. It is regarded as common sense to separate young and old, rich or poor customers in the retail industry. However, the simplicity of this segmentation logic no longer matches the ever more complex and heterogeneous choices made by customers. Thus, there is a need to reevaluate the traditional market segmentation criterion. The chapter aims to determine the factors that affect customers’ selection decisions in Ho Chi Minh City’s supermarkets and then segment shoppers according to these factors. The K-means technique will be used to cluster and ANOVA to test whether there are differences between groups. Ultimately, the segmentation stages will be discussed.This study revealed five supermarket attractiveness factors from the shoppers’ perspective: comfort, location, space, staff, and service. Each segment was profiled in terms of supermarket attractiveness attributes, demographics, and shopping behavior. By analyzing the stated preference data of more than 400 customers, we segmented supermarket customers into four groups: apathetic customers, relaxed customers, convenience-seekers pragmatic customers, and demanding customers.