Estimating Multiple Consumer Segment Ideal Points from Context-Dependent Survey Data

Abstract

Previous research in marketing and consumer research has shown that consumers/households often possess multiple ideal points in a given product/service category. In such cases, traditional segmentation and positioning models that estimate a single ideal point per individual/segment may render an inaccurate portrayal of the true underlying utility functions of such consumers/segments and the resulting market structure. We propose a new clusterwise multiple‐ideal‐point spatial methodology that estimates multiple ideal points at the market segment level while simultaneously determining the market segments' composition of consumers, as well as the corresponding joint space.