Cell phone product-market segments using product features as a cluster variate: a multi-country study

Abstract

Acknowledging the importance of hybrid bases for segmenting international markets and drawing upon means–ends chain theory, this study investigates the existence of inter-market product-market segments among adolescents and young adult cell phone consumers across five country markets. On the basis of exploratory research aiming to identify a comprehensive list of cell phone features we examine the existence of inter-market segments using these feature preferences as the cluster variate. Data were gathered from 403 high school and 892 undergraduate students in Finland, UAE, China, Canada and New Zealand. The results of a two-step cluster analysis approach suggest the inter-market segments do exist in these five countries, but their existence varies to some degree from country to country. These clusters were then profiled with gender, country of residence and frequency of usage of certain cell phone functions as background variables. The paper concludes with a discussion of managerial implications and directions for future research.

Keywords:

• mobile communication
• high school students
• undergraduate students
• cell phone features
• market segmentation
• cluster analysis