Segmenting Paddy Farmer's Attitude and Behavior: A Study Towards the Green Fertilizer Technology Adoption Among Malaysian Paddy Farmers – Adoption of GFT

Introduction

The market of the 21st century is a giant network, which covers the whole globe. The market is divided into hundreds of domestic markets and international markets. There are thousands of organizations and millions of consumers, a wide range of products and services to be offered. A great skill is needed to be able to manage these markets. The marketing science studies show markets from bottom to top, develops techniques in managing consumers, competitors, partners, dealing with products and advertising strategies. Every single company has a marketing strategy. It might be well-structured or not thought through at all, but yet there is one in every company. One of the first steps on the way to a marketing strategy is completing market segmentation. Nowadays it is very important for a company to have a crystal clear understanding of its marketing strategy. Any attempts in doing marketing and product positioning won’t work as they should unless a company has an understanding of its clients and develops a marketing strategy.

Market segmentation is one of the most basic and essential parts of developing a marketing strategy. During the past hundred years, the market has grown enormously: there are lots of new products and consumers’ needs getting more and more twisted and complicated over time. Technology and innovations encourage farmers’ wants and companies’ imagination, which is why markets become more complicated. With continuous growth and development of different market segments, it is important for a company to have a deep knowledge of consumers and markets. This study concentrates on market research, specifically on market segmentation: what kind of information and advantages can be gained out of market segmentation. The purpose of this study is to provide to exemplifying that how market segmentation can determine the right target (paddy farmers) farmers for GFT which is name as One BAJA.

In the beginning of the study, the researcher will explain the segmentation process of marketing and after that, it will follow by the analysis as per the questionnaire led and using respectively the Minerva model and the Mosaic model. In the first part of the study, the market segmentation process will be defined later the different types of market segmentation and the variables will explain. These types are significant when identifying the right target customer’s farmers to a product (One BAJA). There are four major types of segmentation first is the demographic segmentation, which is considered the most shared one that deals with basic demographic factors such as age, income, gender etc. and divides the target farmers into segments based on these variables. Whereas, the geographic segmentation divides the target farmers into segments based on geographical areas such as nations, regions, cities, etc. The psychographic segmentation divides the farmers into segments according to their values and lifestyle. Finally, the behavioral segmentation divides the target customer farmers into segments based on their attitude toward product.

On the basis of the description of the types, it will be concluded which of the types are best suited when identifying the target farmers of respectively the landline telephone and the mobile telephone, in this case, being the demographic and the behavioral segmentation. The second step for (One BAJA) team is the segmentation process which is a matter of right target marketing. After identifying the target customers (farmers), the fertilizer company essentially chooses which segment to target. Subsequently the fertilizer company then must decide which market strategy to choose i.e. undifferentiated marketing, where the fertilizer company does not consider differences between the segments and targets the market with one offer, differentiated marketing, where the company targets many market segments with offers specially designed for each segment or concentrated marketing, where the fertilizer company chooses one or few markets. Furthermore, the third and final step of the segmentation process is the matter of right positioning.

The fertilizer company (One BAJA) will have identified and evaluated the target customer it is then essential to choose what position the (One BAJA) wants to occupy in the chosen segments. In order for the One BAJA to achieve a successful positioning i.e. when the (farmers) find that the product satisfies their expectations and desires, there are steps the (One BAJA) must follow. These include amongst others; the fertilizer company (One Baja) must understand what the farmers expect and believe to be most important when deciding on a purchase, the fertilizer company (One Baja) must develop a product which caters specifically for the farmers’ needs and expectations different analysis.