eBay Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning
eBay segmentation, targeting and positioning relate to marketing decisions and efforts associated with the identification of specific group within the population that eBay aims to sell its services to.
Segmentation involves dividing population into groups according to certain characteristics, whereas targeting implies choosing specific groups identified as a result of segmentation to sell products. Positioning refers to the selection of the marketing mix the most suitable for the target customer segment.
eBay services can be divided into three categories and segmentation, targeting and positioning patterns vary according to the type of the service.
- Marketplace refers to an online marketplace available at ebay.com. The company uses multi-segment type of positioning for the marketplace and accordingly, exploits more than one segment with different service packages.
- StubHub represents a platform to purchase tickets to the games, concerts and theatre shows and to sell tickets. The positioning strategy used for StubHub can be described as adaptive and the company periodically repositions its services according to changes in the segment
- Classifieds platforms include a collection of brands such as Mobile.de, Kijiji, Gumtree, Marktplaats, eBay Classifieds and others. eBay uses multi-segment positioning to sell its classifieds services.
The following table illustrates eBay segmentation, targeting and positioning:
| Type of segmentation | Segmentation criteria | eBay target segment
|
||
| Marketplace | StubHub | Classifieds | ||
|
Geographic |
Region | International | International | USA |
| Density | Urban/rural | Urban/rural | Urban/rural | |
|
Demographic |
Age | 16 – 60 | 16 – 40 | 20 – 60 |
| Gender | Males & Females | Males & Females | Males & Females | |
| Life-cycle stage | Bachelor Stage
Newly Married Couples Full Nest I Full Nest II Full Nest III Empty Nest I Empty Nest II Solitary Survivor I Solitary Survivor II |
Bachelor Stage
Newly Married Couples Full Nest I Full Nest II
|
Bachelor Stage
Newly Married Couples Full Nest I Full Nest II Full Nest III Empty Nest I Empty Nest II Solitary Survivor I Solitary Survivor II |
|
| Occupation | Students, employees, professionals | Students, employees, professionals | Students, employees, professionals | |
| Behavioral | Degree of loyalty | ‘Hard core loyals’
‘Soft core loyals’ ‘Switchers’ |
‘Hard core loyals’
‘Switchers’ |
‘Hard core loyals’
|
| Benefits sought | Accessing great range of products and services
Saving time Earning money |
Saving time
Convenience |
Range,
Saving time Convenience |
|
| Personality | Easygoing, determined and ambitious | Easygoing, determined and ambitious | Easygoing, determined and ambitious | |
| User status | non-users, potential users, first-time users, regular users, or ex-users of services | non-users, potential users and regular users | first-time users and regular users | |
| Psychographic | Social class | Lower class, working class, middle class and upper class | Working class, middle class and upper class | Lower class, working class and middle class |
| Lifestyle[1] | Resigned, struggler, mainstreamer, aspirer, succeder, explorer and reformer. | Explorer and reformer | Resigned, struggler and mainstreamer | |
eBay segmentation, targeting and positioning
eBay Inc. Report constitutes a comprehensive analysis of marketing strategy and business strategy of eBay. The report illustrates the application of the major analytical strategic frameworks in business studies such as SWOT, PESTEL, Porter’s Five Forces, Value Chain analysis and McKinsey 7S Model on eBay. Moreover, the report contains analysis of eBay’s leadership and organizational structure and discusses the issues of corporate social responsibility.
[1]According to Cross Cultural Consumer Characterization by Young & Rubican