Psychographic Segmentation is one of the many different approaches taken in dividing the market into segments. It divides the market into groups based upon social class, lifestyle and personality. It is based upon the assumption that types of products and brands an individual purchases will reflect that person's characteristics and patterns of living. Social class is the single most used variable for research purposes, and divides the population into groups based on the occupation of the Chief Income Earner, as such it can be seen as a socioeconomic scale.

An example of this is the National Readership Survey in the UK. The following chart summarizes the socioeconomic scale:

Social Grade

Description of Occupation

Example

Upper Management

Company director

Middle management

Middle manager

C1

Supervisory

Bank Clerk

C2

Skilled manual Labor

Plumber

Semi- & unskilled labor Laborer

Pensioners and Unemployed

Unemployed, Retired

This scale operates on the assumption that individuals in similar positions of authority and income will have similar interests and attitudes. For example, when marketing automobiles, the President of the company (Social Grade A) will have different reasons and motivations behind the purchase than the company's janitor (Social Grade D). While the lower social grades will be sensitive to such things as dependability and affordability, the executive is more likely to choose a car based upon style or prestige.

Lifestyle segmentation involves classifying people according to values, beliefs, opinions and interests. There is no one standardized lifestyle segmentation model, instead market research firms and advertising agencies are constantly devising new categories, which will best help target possible consumers of their clients' products.

The company Young & Rubican provide an example of lifestyle with their Cross-Cultural Consumer Characterization, abbreviated as the 4 Cs.

Here are brief descriptions of the categories within the 4Cs.

Resigned: Rigid, strict, authoritarian and chauvinist values, oriented to the...

Brand choice stresses safety, familiarity and economy. (Older)
Struggler: Alienated, Struggler, disorganized - with few resources apart from physical/mechanical skills (e.g. car repair). Heavy consumers of alcohol, junk food and lotteries, also trainers. Brand choice involves impact and sensation.

Mainstreamer: Domestic, conformist, conventional, sentimental, passive, habitual. Part of the mass, favoring big and well-known value for money 'family' brands. Almost invariably the largest 4Cs group.

Aspirer: Materialistic, acquisitive, affiliative oriented to extrinsics... image, appearance, charisma, persona and fashion. Attractive packaging is more important than quality of contents. (Younger, clerical/sales type occupation)

Succeeder: Strong goal orientation, confidence, work ethic, and organization... support status quo, stability. Brand choice based on reward, prestige - the very best. Also attracted to 'caring' and protective brands... stress relief. (Top management)

Explorer: Energy - autonomy, experience, challenge, new frontiers. Brand choice highlights difference, sensation, adventure, indulgence and instant effect - the first to try new brands. (Younger - student)

Reformer: Freedom from restriction, personal growth, social awareness, value for time, independent judgement, tolerance of complexity, anti-materialistic but intolerant of bad taste. Curious and inquiring support growth of new product categories. Select brands for intrinsic quality, favoring natural simplicity, small is beautiful. (High education)

These categories show that each consumer has a particular attitude towards life, and that attitude helps guide the individual's buying decision. For example, Internet ventures and dotcom enterprises would be very attractive to Succeeders but hold very little allure for the Resigneds. The prestige of designer clothing labels would attract Aspirers but probably alienate the Reformers. The development and use of the 4Cs and other scales allows the marketer a glimpse at why consumers make the purchases they do.

Psychographic segmentation also uses personality as an influencing factor. Personality reflects a person's traits, attitudes and habits. Porsche Cars North America,…