BUILDING MARKET STRUCTURES FROM CONSUMER PREFERENCES

The authors present a model that maps competitive market structures by identifying the preference structure of each consumer segment. By mar rying two different data types - switching probabilities and attribute ratings - their model divides a market into several homogeneous subma rkets in which consumers consider a distinctive subset of brands (cons ideration set or competitive group) with a segment-specific rule for a ttribute evaluations and a segment-specific ideal point. using data pu blished in Harshman and colleagues' (1982) work, the authors examine t he U.S. car market and find brand-loyal segments for all car types exc ept those favored by first-time buyers, a universal market, and five s witching segments that consider car groups differing in the nation of origin, size, and luxury level. Breaking the switching segment into fi ner partitions gives a better account of the data than the Colombo-Mor rison model or an asymmetric generalization of that model. The authors advocate the development of marketing goals with respect to each of t he segment maps in the hope that it will lead to more synergistic mark eting strategies for brands encountering multifaceted competition.