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Keywords
Market segmentation, Older people, Disabled people, Quantitative techniques
Abstract
Purchasing decisions for "aids to daily living" (ADL) by the disabled and elderly tend to be commodity based to which value cannot be added through sales propositions. This paper reports research that investigated disparate customer segments in the "grey" sector. Quantitative research suggested that in order to develop market potential, different consumers need to be targeted and communicated to in different ways. Different psychographic categories had different personality based characteristics that need to be tapped into in order to better capture attention and interest. The traditional view of older people needing a rehabilitation product as being "desperate" needs to be changed through the use of promotional messages concentrating more upon humour and wit.
Introduction
Over the past decade the scale of health-care insurance provision relative to the ageing population has stimulated a migration of aids for daily living (ADLs) sales away from institutional and medical bases towards consumer driven retail sectors.
From a consumer perspective there is little "emotional" desire to purchase. Buying decisions tend to be commodity based, driven by fundamental variables like price, service, delivery and availability. Marketers cannot "add value" to sales propositions. Little consideration is taken by rehabilitation companies of varying customer types, with no differentiation to messaging and customer communication techniques. Without an understanding of the nature of these segments, rehabilitation companies are unable to optimise their sales potential.
The purpose of the research reported here has been to investigate potential disparate customer segments in the "grey sector" and each segment's relative propensity to purchase rehabilitation products. The rehabilitation sector covers the "posttreatment" area of the broader healthcare market. Owing to differences in interpretation as to the definition of rehabilitation, there were difficulties in defining the size and nature of the sector in terms of constituent product categories. This is often reflected in the structure and emphasis placed upon products within different companies' product portfolios. Views on the nature of rehabilitation are influenced by company attitudes.
Frost and Sullivan (1995) reported that the European rehabilitation support market was estimated to be at US$803 million (489 million) per year in 1993, estimating growth up to US$1,213.7 million (739 million) by 1999. The market potential for ADLs is...