Development of a posteriori market segments over time - a tracking procedure

Segmentation has become a standard procedure in strategic marketing. A posteriori approaches are popular among practitioners and researchers and gaining importance over a priori consumer groupings. Despite the wide variety of methodological developments in the field, little attention has been given to tracking changes of a posteriori market segments over time. This article proposes a simple tracking procedure that allows testing of a posteriori segment developments over time on the basis of identical consecutive consumer surveys. It is flexible with regard to techniques chosen at each step and – through validation findings through repetition – allows thorough insight into market structure.