The purpose of this research is to develop a consumer profile for Nordstrom, Inc. The firm is an up scale fashion department store, and is the fastest growing department store chain in the United States, in terms of annual sales.
The consumer profile for a firm is a reflection of the firm's market segmentation. Market segmentation is an out growth of product differentiation (Kotler, 1987). As products proliferated in terms of sizes, models, options, and other characteristics, marketers required new procedures for identi fying customer groups. Market segmentation was the solution to their problem.
As opposed to product differentiation, which distin guishes product possibilities, market segmentation distin guishes customer groups and customer needs. Market segmenta tion is
. . . the subdividing of a market into distinct subsets of customers, where any subset may conceivably be selec ted as a target market to be reached with a distinct mar keting mix (Kotler, 1987, 221).
Market segmentation was first applied in the contexts of distinguishing geographic and demographic characteristics.
These segmentation procedures were quickly followed by the introduction of behavioristic bases of segmentation, such as purchase occasion, benefits sought through purchase, user sta tus, and several others. The most recent market segmentation procedure is psychographics (Kotler, and Armstrong, 1989; "Pro per Application . . ., 1982). In psychographic segmentation, buyers are divided into different groups on the basis of life style or personality differences (Maher, 1983).
The customer profile for Nordstrom's is developed in two stages. First, preference and behavioristic factors are consi dered. This profiling is followed by a consideration of psy chographics.
Preference and Behavioristic Profiling
Marketing segmentation may be accomplished on the bases of dem...