Mosaic Segmentation

1. What type of segmentation is Mosaic? Why?

Mosaic is a completely new consumer segmentation system that classifies each one of Romania’s 22 million inhabitants into one of the 45 different consumer types. The system has been developed by Geo Strategies in partnership with Experian, a global leading provider of consumer classifications. This system has already analysed more than 25 countries and one billion consumers from all over the world.

Mosaic Romania is a geo-demographic segmentation, classifying consumers according to the neighbourhood in which they live. This study relies on one crucial assumption: when people decide where to live, they naturally choose to live among individuals with similar demographics, lifestyles and aspirations. Even though the study analyses behavioural and psychological aspects (i.e. people’s values, preferences, day-to-day activities etc.), these findings are based on and correlated by the critical assumption previously mentioned. As such, Mosaic is a geo-demographic type of segmentation, since all its conclusions are driven from these factors.

1. Specify pros and cons for Mosaic segmentation.

Consumer segmentation is not exactly an exact science, since one can never be completely certain of an individual’s preferences or whims, nonetheless the correlation between certain criteria (age, gender, education etc.) and a person’s potential interest in the marketed product.

As such, just like any other type of consumer segmentation system, Mosaic has its own strong and weak points. We will attempt to identify and explain these points within the following sections.

Pros

• The Mosaic system is based on the geographic choices of consumers in terms of residence (i.e. the neighbourhood and postal codes that presumably correspond to different types of consumers). This type of data (i.e. consumers’ address and postal code) is quite easy to obtain, since all inhabitants of a country have their addresses registered within several official databases. Additionally, since the sources of this data is “official”, the information to be further used within the study can be considered reliable.
• The Mosaic system facilitates the physical, on street, type of marketing through banners, flyers, or even sales agents. This process is usually quite expensive for companies and it can easily become a net loss if the efforts are concentrated within the wrong area. In this sense, a geographic division of consumer preference is useful for companies.
• The Mosaic system is quite versatile in terms of utilisation, since the data it generates is quite diverse and can be applicable in most industries. Even if the fundamental assumptions are linked to the geographical position of the consumers, the system still offers a detailed description of each group’s profile in terms of aspirations, daily activities, values, principles, lifestyle etc.

Cons

• Consumer segmentation projects are generally quite expensive, since they require the centralization and filtration of large amounts of data. Even if the geographic information needed within the Mosaic system is easily acquired, the link between a consumer’s address and other characteristics (lifestyle, behaviour, principles, values etc.) requires very specific information regarding the inhabitants of a neighbourhood or region, in order to be able to create a pattern and thus build a group. In this sense, the required data is not only difficult to obtain, but it is unreliable since it is very subjective.
•  The Mosaic system might miss an important portion of consumers, since it is designed to universalize qualitative/subjective information, such as preferences and values, based on a quantitative variable (i.e. a person’s residence). In this sense, the system might misplace certain consumers into the wrong groups, or even disregard altogether the consumers that do not fit the description of the established groups.
• The Mosaic system is not future oriented. The consumer demographics are changing constantly, and the segmentation and targeting methods should adapt accordingly. Associating consumer’s preferences, values or lifestyles, which are changing rapidly, with something as fixed as their home is simply not sustainable and not representative for today’s fast moving markets. In other words, even if Mosaic might be a valid analysis, it may become irrelevant in a couple months or years because a consumer’s personal profile changes much faster than his/her address/postal code.

1. Give examples of products/services which can use this segmentation.