BSc Business Studies

Fundamentals of Marketing

The relevance of segmentation

to COLGATE (Palmolive)

Contents
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Introduction..................................................................3
1. Segmentation overview........................................3
a) Definition of segmentation...........................3
 Types of
segmentation.................................................3&4
 Segmenting consumers market ....................................5
 The reason why all business use segmentation..........5
 The way business use segmentation...........................6
 A simple Model of the Marketing Process ....................6

2. The history of Colgate ....................................................7

 The different products of Colgate...................................7
 Describing the different brands of Colgate.................8-10

3. The importance of segmentation to Colgate ...............10

b) Demographic segmentation………………………………10
c) Psychographic and behavioural segmentation…..11
4. Conclusion ………………………………………………………………..12
5. References ………………………………………………………………..13

Introduction

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For many organisations today to be successful they must
know what consumers needs are, so as to satisfy them
successfully and profitably to avoid wastages of resources.
For these organisations to be successful they have to
undertake segmentation, so as to know their target market
and also to know the available competitors in the market
producing the same goods. As a matter of fact, for Colgate to
be successful they must segment their market to better know
their target market and their competitors.
1. Segmentation overview
a. Definition of segmentation.
“Segmentation is a marketing strategy which consist of
dividing the market in smaller groups allowing the research
of categories of consumers presenting a set of homogeneous
needs. Or more simply it’s the practice of separating the total
market into a number of minor or similar submarkets
designated market segments.”(Daniels, 1995 Essencials of
Marketing, P.261,)
There are many ways or factors which organisations may use
to segment the market. Some of the factors widely used are;
Types of segmentation
 Demographic segmentation, which consider the
number of people living in a particular area at a

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 particular time, the climate and the size of the
population as well.
 Economic segmentation considers the income level
of the target market. As a matter of fact I won’t
describe the economic segmentation of Colgate
Palmolive products because the prices depend on
each country and their level of incomes.

 Psychographic and behavioural segmentation

focuses on groups of people who have similar
buying behaviours, believes, styles, attitudes,
personality, religion and the opportunity to
purchase or use and their fidelity to the brand rate
(Isaacson,2012)

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 Segmenting Consumer Markets:
variables or predictors of differences
Consumer segmentation

Behavioural Psychographic Profile

Benefits sought Lifestyle Demographic

Purchase occasion Personality Socio-economic

Purchase behaviour Geographic

Usage

Perceptions and beliefs

www.segmentationstudyguide.com. [Online]

The reason why all businesses use segmentation

Every single organisation which has newly established or has
been on the market for a long period of time exist to achieve
a set of goals and objectives. For them to achieve a set of
goals and objectives. For them to archive these goals and
objectives they most therefore use the market segmentation
techniques so as to know their target market, to efficiently
satisfy them and profitably as well. Companies should
segment their markets so as to clearly understand their
customers’ needs and wants.
Consequently, for the company to have a higher demand,
they should know who to sell to, and what to sell and where
to sell. As a matter of fact marketers therefore have to know

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the needs and wants of their customers, since the marketers
first aim is to satisfy the customers profitably and not only
production.(Martin,2011)
The way businesses use segmentation
Every business must adopt a marketing strategy of
segmentation, so as to know its market or its current position
so as to be succesfull.to clearly understand the market
segmentation process, a simple model of the marketing
process has been outlines by Kotler and Armstrong in 2005.
z A simple Model of the Marketing Process
 Understanding the marketplace, customers’ needs
and wants.
 Project a customer’s driven marketing strategy.
 Build a marketing programme that provides superior
significance.
 Extents profitable connections and create customers
delight.
 Finally apprehending the standards from customers
to create lucrative and purchaser fairness. By (Kotler
and Amstrong,2005)

2. THE HISTORY OF COLGATE (Palmolive). “A HISTORY OF

SUCCESS”
For more than 200 years now, COLGATE has been a history of
success. Colgate has powerful strategies and sharp focus
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which drives them for their success today. Thanks to all
Colgate consumers and business partners for their
contribution in helping to be globally known and be strong.
COLGATE was founded in 1806 by William Colgate. He
started his business as a starch, soap and candle business on
Dutch Street in New York City. By the year 1817 the Colgate
Company grew up and published their first advertisement in
the New York newspaper in 1817.After the dead of William
Colgate in 1857, his son known as Samuel Colgate took over
the factory. In 1866 they introduces perfumed soap and
perfume essentials, later on in 1873, they introduced the
Colgate toothpaste in jars. The Colgate toothpaste was later
on in 1896 produced in collapsible tubes. {Colgate.com}last
visit on 30/06/2014.
Now a days Colgate Palmolive products are widely known
across the globe thanks to their powerful advertisement and
market segmentation strategies. Colgate has a wide variety
of products which it produces, some of which I can’t even
know. At the best of my knowledge I would have to describe
Colgate’s basic products which are commonly and widely
known all over the globe.
As a matter of fact, COLGATE has the mission to provide
the wellbeing of its consumers and has a great range of
products such as;
 Colgate toothpaste
 Colgate toothbrush
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  Colgate mouthwash
 Colgate kids
The different toothpaste products include;
i. Colgate total which is known as a combination of
12hours proven germ fighting with an advanced
silica cleaning system, which helps to maintain a
clean dentist feeling.
ii. Colgate max fresh is basically conceived to wipe out
bad breath, providing a sensation of freshness.
iii. Colgate 2in1 it’s produced to provide a brighter and
fresher smile.
iv. Colgate cavity protection it contains active fluorides
which strengthens the teeth and leaves the mouth
with a fresh feeling.
v. Colgate tarter protection is conceived to fight
against tartar and to build-up a brighter smile.
vi. Colgate ultra-bright removes and cleans the stains
on the surface of the teeth.
vii. Colgate sensitive pro relief, as the name implies it’s
basically for those with weak teeth enamels who
always feel pains when eating. It penetrates the
nerves when brushing the mouth for a lasting relief
within a continues usage.
viii. Colgate triple action provides cavity protection,
whitens the teeth’s and gives a fresh breath to the
whole family.
Some tooth brush products which Colgate produces incles;
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 i. Colgate 360 it’s meant to clean the cheeks, tongue,
teeth and gums using a very flexible head for a healthier
mouth.
ii. Colgate wisp it has a freshening head which could be
taken anywhere for travel.
iii. Colgate Wave it has curved bristles which fits the
contours of the teeth, which was designed for
conformable brushing.
iv. Colgate slim soft are tooth brushes which have floss-tips
bristles, so as to easily clean the teeth and along the
gum lines, but slimmer than the original toothbrush.
Some of the Colgate mouth washes includes;
i. Colgate advanced pro-shield, which kills germs on
contact and keeps effectiveness for 12 hours even after
eating or drinking.
ii. The optic white mouth wash as the name implies gives a
whiter smile.
Colgate created a wide variety of products for adults and did
not forget about the kids and therefore they created the
Colgate kids brads which hade the kids most favourite
characters of which some of them includes;
I. Colgate Dora the explorer, which is an anti-cavity
toothpaste whish goes together with a powered
toothbrush. It gently cleans the gums specially made for
the kids with their loved characters.

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II. Colgate sponge bob square pants and Colgate
transformers are produced to win the battle against
cavity infections, which are used together with their
tooth brushes.
III. My first Colgate is meant for infant or toddlers who do
not yet know how to use a tooth paste and a tiny tooth
brush has been provided for them as well.
These are basically a few products from the COLGATE
Company which are widely known in different continents.
As a matter of fact COLGATE does not only produces tooth
paste and tooth brushes, but they also produce soaps,
perfumes and a variety of other products.
In this essay i would basically explain how Colgate segments
its oral products, because its oral products are widely known
in the world.
THE IMPORTANCE OF SEGMENTATION TO COLGATE
For every company to be successful and to achieve their
goals and objectives they must use a marketing strategy.
While explaining the importance of segmentation to Colgate I
will take some basic examples from the different Colgate
products earlier listed above.
Colgate uses the following factors to segment its market.
These factors include;

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 A. Demographic segmentation
Demographic segmentation is the splitting up of the market
in to smaller portions or groups according to age, income,
gender, occupation, education, religion and social class.
Colgate has a variety of products which they do their possible
best to segment their market on both the adult age group
and for the kids. For adults they have a wide range of
products that consumers can purchase depending on desires.
As a matter of fact they sell whitening toothpastes, as well as
toothpaste for those who have sensitive teeth, and
toothpaste for people with gum sensitivity.
As for the kids they have four market age groups which they
target which are; 0-2, 2-5, 5-8, and 8-12years. As for the
babies and toddlers which are in the 0-2 year’s age group,
they sell fluoride-free toothpaste since they are new to the
oral health care.as for the 8-12, they sell transitional
toothpaste which makes they get use to the transition from
the children to the adult age group, which provides them
with a great cavity protection. Apart from this they also
market products for both young girls and buys. For the girls
they sell the girls favourite character Dora the explorer
toothpaste and toothbrushes. And for the boys they sell the
boys favourite characters which is SpongeBob Square pants
with the toothpaste and toothbrush as well.

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 B. Psychographic and Behavioural Segmentation
Colgate uses this method of segmentation to segment their
market according to their customer’s life style, values, or
personality. Therefore COLGATE markets its product to
different people based on their oral health care needs. For
customers who want whiter teeth, they sell whitening
toothpaste and toothbrushes. For the customers who have
teeth sensitivity, they sell the Sensitive Pro-Relief toothpaste
and toothbrushes which are made to decrease tooth
sensitivity. For people who are not always at the same place
such as travellers and office workers they created Wisp
toothbrush, which contains mini toothbrushes, which have
toothpaste already on them which can be used at any
moment and at any time.
Conclusion
Basically it’s important for a company to choose this type of
market segmentation strategy so as to better understand
their customers while identifying their needs and wants.
As a matter of fact for a company to know the different age
groups available, it’s very important for the company to
segment its market so ask to know the total number of adults
and children which they are to target.
Segmentations also enables Colgate Palmolive to develop
new products and positioning around its market so as to be
well known by its consumers. However this also develops

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loyalty between Colgate Palmolive and its customers since it
has several branches around the world.
Finally segmentation also leads to greater sales of the
company’s products since segmentation boosts the
reputation of Colgate Palmolive products.

Reference list
Martin, G., 2011. The importance of market segmentation.
American journal of business education, 4(6), pp. 15-18.
Isaacson, B., 2012. Mmrstategy.com. [online]
Wind, Y. (1978) issues and advances in segmentation
Research, journal of marketing research, august, 317-37
Wieners, B. (2011 Lego is for girls bloomers business week,
19 December, 68-73
http://www.colgate.com/app/Colgate/US/Corp/History/1901
.cvsp (LAST VISIT ON 30/06/2014)
http://www.colgate.com/app/CP/US/EN/OC/Products/Mout
hwashes.cvsp (last visit on 30/06/2014)
http://www.colgate.com/app/CP/US/EN/OC/Products/Tooth
brushes.cvsp (last visit on 30/06/2014)
http://www.colgate.com/app/CP/US/EN/OC/Products/Tooth
pastes.cvsp (last seen on 30/06/2014)

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http://www.colgate.com/app/CP/US/EN/OC/Products/Kids-
Products.cvsp (last seen on 30/06/2014)
Anon, 2012. www.segmentationstudyguide.com. [Online]

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