Business to Business Market segmentation Page 1

Badr Moussadek

Hybrid 2 Week 4

Business to Business Market Segmentation

1. What value are we trying to sell?

Tourism in Ottawa can benefit from many criteria the city has. Therefore, segmenting this market can be

a broad task. In this research I will present a narrowed (simplified) market segmentation to illustrate the

strong aspect of the tourism market in Ottawa. To promote the tourism business to other producers,

retailers, and government we have to let them understand the values of the market they are entering to

by:

Segmenting the market for them and emphasizing the benefits that their customers will have.

Using descriptors of the market segment and showing them the strongest of the market they

are entering to.

Providing them with the necessary criteria of information and plan they can go through.

On other hand, Ottawa got a strong market segments in the tourism field. For instance, we can find

many attraction places, restaurants, shopping center, and fine chain of hotels to accommodate tourism

and promote the city in wide range or even in niche market (Segmentation Discussion, 2002).

2. Which types of businesses in the Producer, Reseller, Government and Institution categories

could we sell to?

The riches of Ottawa tourism consist in its natural aspect and infrastructures; therefore, we can

promote and emphasize both of them in details. Natural part contains; Rideau Canal which is the

world’s largest naturally frozen skating ring (in the winter); Gatineau Park offers hiking, biking, and cross

country skiing; Rideau river and lake enriches the area, in the summer, with beautiful colors and

emotional view. The infrastructure part contain; Parliament hill that is a historical monument and

where pomp, ceremonies and celebration are conducted; ByWard Market, offers most reputable shops

and boutiques, over 80 restaurants and cafés, and a thriving nightlife; Hotels, most five star hotels like

Westin and Sheraton along with water parks, National art museums and other facilities and

entertainment (Official guide to travel and hotels, 2009).

From the categories given we can chose producers like hotels and water parks that deliver unique and

professional services; Reseller like one-of-a-kind shops and boutiques that resell clothing, perfumes, and

merchandises; Government that govern and manage Parliament hill, convention centers, and National

art museums.

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3. Which descriptors would you choose to use to further segment these segments from #2

and why?

The segment given above where a natural segment and an infrastructural segment, we expending both

of them to include almost seven segments in total; however, they are not the limit of segments in

Ottawa market. Furthermore, I have included the segmentation descriptors with example as the table

below shows:

Segment Detailed segments Descriptors Examples

Natural

Rideau Canal geographic emphasize the advertising part of it

Gatineau Park geographic create awareness of its activities

Rideau river and lakes

Geographic implement new activities and entertainment

Infrastructure

parliament hill geographic/volume attract more business by conducting new live shows

ByWard Market product use / volume implement new selling strategy/ new products

Hotels product and service use

create new packages/ facilitate visa process for visitors

National art museums

volume and size create guides and CD's information

Table 1: Segmentation descriptors of Ottawa tourism

4. Which criteria would you use to profile and analyze the segments and why?

Defining the criteria of each segment will be important for businesses to identify their long run existence

in the market, it also give them a hint about how to enter the market and which strategy to use. The

table below categorizes each segment with important criteria and the reason behind it:

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Segments Criteria Why?

Rideau Canal profit good profit with less expenses

Gatineau Park competition as new parks are opening competition might raise

Rideau river and lakes profit

good profit, new opportunities, and located in a central area

parliament hill cost to access the cost might be high to access

ByWard Market growth new shops, boutiques, new products and services

Hotels competition new hotels might create competition but with the growth of tourism the effect will be small

National art museums profit/ cost to access

good profit and again less expenses with cost to access that might be higher

Table 2: Criteria of tourism segmentation in Ottawa

In conclusion, the segmentation of Ottawa tourism market is very large and encouraging market that

most businesses will benefit from. Segmenting the market and show how strong it is can play a big role

in new and existing companies to enter and expend their output and services.

Bibliography Official guide to travel and hotels. (2009). Retrieved June 09, 2010, from Ottawa tourism:

http://www.ottawatourism.ca/

Segmentation Discussion. (2010). Retrieved June 09, 2010, from Tourism Action society in the

Kootenays: http://www.taskbc.bc.ca/documents/SegmentationDiscussionPaper_000.pdf