Pages: (161-175 )
Abstract
Geographical location of any business cannot be Goveremphasized. Today, companies have realized that they cannot be attractive to all customers, or absorb all into a system as these customers also have different needs at varied locations and demands as well as varied experiences, status and behavioral instincts. Geographical segmentation is one type of segmentation where expansion is immediately possible but the challenge is that a firm cannot expand to a territory when it has no idea of which segment of customers it will be meeting.There is therefore need to locate these customers segments,study their needs and position them strategically. This study determined the effect of geographical based segmentation on customers' satisfaction in the banking sector.Survey research design was adopted.The population of the research consisted of headquarters of four selected banks (First bank, Fidelity bank, Eco bank and Wema bank) with customer population of 73,800 and sample size of 1,960 was derived using Cochran formula and proportionate stratified sampling technique. Structured questionnaire with a six point modified LikertScale was administered with a 78.2% response rate.1,533 copies of the questionnaire came correctly and were used for the study. Data generated were analysed using simple regression analysis. It was found that geographical based segmentation had a positive effect on customers' satisfaction [â=0.414, R2 = .268, p <.05]. The study recommends that Banks are to enhance their branch network efforts to capture all segments of the market as this will enable proper targeting and placement of right customers at the appropriate segments with view to customers' satisfaction.
Keywords: Geographical based segmentation, Customers' satisfaction,Strategy,Product,Service.,