New millennium, new segments: Moving towards the segment of one?

Market segmentation benefits are well documented in the academic literature and widely recognized by marketing practitioners. As technological advance alters the nature of marketing channels and consumers become increasingly sophisticated in their shopping behaviour, the time is right to consider the potential impact upon market segmentation practice. Improvements in data capture and management offer greater opportunities for more refined segmentation schemes and for better customer relationship management. Marketers are increasingly using these capabilities for pursuing ‘customer-centric’ marketing and the ‘segment of one’. This paper considers the future of market segmentation and questions whether the ‘segment of one’ is the new panacea for marketing. The findings suggest that one-to-one segmentation faces similar barriers to those encountered by ‘traditional’ segmentation researchers. This means that not all businesses will have the capability or desire to pursue a customer-centric approach. Similarly, not all consumers will choose to take advantage of the new one-to-one purchasing opportunities. As in the past, individuals will continue to exhibit a variety of buyer behaviours and preferences. The implication is that, while one-to-one marketing will play an important role in future marketing strategy, it will continue to co-exist with ‘traditional’ segmentation.