eBay Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning

By John Dudovskiy
September 24, 2016

ebay-segmentation-targeting-positioningeBay 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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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
  3. 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.

ebay-inc-report

[1]According to Cross Cultural Consumer Characterization by Young & Rubican



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