Topic > The Asian market - 1284

Today, emerging markets are becoming increasingly attractive for multinational companies. The Asian market in particular, led by China, represents enormous potential. Asian consumers are motivated by a complex range of cultural factors and are becoming increasingly interested in pursuing brands to experience their reputation, to stand out from the crowd or to set new trends of a high-class modern lifestyle by purchasing items of consolidated brand, mostly Western. brands. Especially the revolting group of young urban professionals, the so-called Yuppies, are eager to spend large amounts of their relatively high income on luxury brands. Many multinationals, particularly those selling premium fashion, luxury accessories or sought-after consumer electronics in the Asian market, therefore recognize a steady double-digit percentage increase in sales. However, the increase in income levels of high-income Asian workers is still relatively low compared to more developed economies. Indeed, annual income levels within the peer group of Asian Yuppies living in first-tier metropolises reached in 1999 from $12,000 in Thailand, to $18,000 in Taiwan, to around $35,000 in Korea and China. Furthermore, housing costs in Asian cities are relatively high. That's why not all Asian Yuppies are capable of overspending, and young professionals generally stay with their parents even after starting work and beyond. As a result, this segment of Asian yuppies cannot be considered homogeneous, since some can spend on expensive, luxury brands and others have to focus on middle-class brands, offering products that pretend to be high-class. Therefore, the potential of the Asian yuppie market appears to be an attractive and challenging field for a wide range of companies. However, entering a new market is not trivial; strategies must be established based on the market and target group to provide a distinct marketing mix. The Asian market consists of many countries which also imply different cultures and preferences, as well as unequal living standards. To have an approach to the unknown market in order to design the marketing mix, market segmentation is the main step. There are three main ways to segment the market; geographically, demographically and psychographically. Generally, geographic segmentation of the market is based on variables such as region, country size, and population density. Referring to Asia, the market is very geographically diversified. So, geographic segmentation should be the first step. On the one hand there are large agricultural or barren areas, with little infrastructure, sparsely populated by inhabitants on average low income.