Discovering behavioral segments in the mobile phone market

Purpose – This paper aims to discover consumer segments with different behavioral profiles in the mobile phone market. For this purpose, it seeks to analyze the decision‐making criteria of 302 mobile phone consumers in Turkey and cluster the sample meaningfully into four behaviorally different groups. Design/methodology/approach – Factor analysis is conducted on 32 different attributes to which consumers attach importance in purchasing a mobile phone. Nine major decision‐making criteria emerge from this analysis. These criteria are used for segmenting this consumer market into four behavior clusters, namedly as pragmatic, abstemious, value‐conscious, and charismatic. Findings – Pragmatic consumers are found to give high importance to the functional, physical and convenience‐based attributes of the product. The abstemious group also gives importance to functionality along with design. While value‐conscious consumers focus strongly on price, the charismatic segment represents the want‐it‐all group valuing many attributes such as technological superiority, practicality, durability, functionality, and design. The study also includes findings and discussions about the differences these clusters display in terms of their involvement and loyalty styles. Research limitations/implications – High‐tech products such as mobile phones are becoming indispensable in people's lives; thus leading to a high‐involvement decision‐making process. It is crucial for marketers of these products to understand behaviorally different consumer segments that show significant variations in their decision‐making criteria for such products, and approach them accordingly. Originality/value – The study applies cluster analysis as a behavioral segmentation tool in a high‐technology product market and successfully identifies four distinct consumer groups with alternative decision‐making styles.