Consumer segments for wooden household furniture

Since 1950 market segmentation has become a dominant concept both in marketing theory and in real word applications. Not many studies have focused on furniture market segmentation. In this study wooden household furniture are divided into three categories according to construction: 1) solid wood construction, 2) plate structure and 3) upholstery furniture, and each category is segmented. The survey covered all ISKU furniture stores in Finland in autumn 1997. Results show that in a choice situation quality and design are the most important attributes in all three categories. The last two attributes in all three categories were style and advertising. The plate structure category was identified as being the most price sensitive business area. The upholstery category was identified as offering the best possibilities to use environmentally based marketing strategies. Quality meant more and was emphasized in the solid wood and upholstery categories. There are differences between structural categories and these results can be used as an indicator for product based marketing research.