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Customers are normally pro-
filed based on certain param-
eters, such as age, sex, occupation, marital status, income,
purchasing power, values, attitudes, beliefs, life style, buying
patterns, etc. Customer profiling provides an overview of one's
customers, or at least one's best customers. It
helps to build "customer preference profile" and "share of customers."
Further, "customer activity report" provides an overall view of the
specifics of relationship history with each customer, the number of
transactions, average transaction value, last purchase date and the
active status of the customers. In short, a lot of factors go into
the making of an in-depth customer profile.
In general, "customer profiling is the process of using relevant
and available information to describe the characteristics of a group
of customers and to identify their discriminators from
those of other customers or ordinary customers and drivers for their
purchasing decisions". In ordinary parlance,
it means "segmenting and defining customers into groups, to better
understand them."
A marketer can respond to almost all his marketing
challenges when he knows who his customers are. An accurate profile of his
customers allows him to analyze the market, the penetration rate and
the market potential for his goods and services. It also helps him to
focus on a target market where one can sell and
earn a higher return on investment. |
