How did you determine SNHU Pet Supply’s target market? Describe how the target market you are using has informed the marketing strategies that you will be utilizing. What might cause you to change your target market? Be sure to support your response with evidence.

In response to your peers, discuss whether you agree or disagree with your peer’s decision to reach out to their target market. Please support your reasoning with details, and/or an example.

Case Study:

http://snhu-media.snhu.edu/files/course_repository/undergraduate/mkt/mkt355/mkt355_snhu_pet_supply_case_study.pdf

Reply 1:Sarah Spencer

I chose the target market for the SNHU Pet Supply store based off of which age group spends the most on their pets. SNHU Pet Supply will want to target the demographic who spends the most on pets because they are a pet supply store. “According to the survey, millennials ages 18-24 outspend all other age groups on their pets with an average of US$173.67. Pet owners ages 25-34 came in second at US$141.50.” (petfoodindustry, 2018) Both of the age groups are in the millennial category.

Since the target market for the SNHU Pet Supply store is millennials, then SNHU Pet Supply will want to create posts that resonate with millennials. “Facebook is the most used social network among US millennials, with Instagram coming in second place.” (emarketer, 2018) Since I found that millennials use Facebook, SNHU Pet Supply should focus on improving their marketing on Facebook before expanding to other social networks.

There are multiple reasons that SNHU Pet Supply may need to change their target market. One reason is if millennials stop spending money on their pets. If this happened, SNHU Pet Supply should change their target market to the age group that does spend the most money on their pets. “There are constant changes in society that may impact the market. Things that were true of a demographic 10 years ago may not be true today.” (Mary Pomerantz Advertising, 2017) Another reason SNHU Pet Supply would change their target audience is if SNHU Pet Supply came out with a product that another demographic would respond to.

References

emarketer. (2018, August 30). Teens aren’t using Facebook as much as millennials and Gen Xers – here’s the social platform each generation uses the most. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/top-social-media-p…

Mary Pomerantz Advertising. (2017, August 25). How Do you Change Your Company’s Target Audience? Retrieved from https://www.marypomerantzadvertising.com/blog/chan…

petfoodindustry. (2018, August 19). Survey examines US pet ownership demographics. Retrieved from https://www.petfoodindustry.com/articles/7255-surv…

Reply 2:

Mazandrea Guiam

There’s really not a lot of ways to determine the SNHU’s Pet Supply target market. But in able to do so, you simply have to be precise and careful. To start off, proper research needs to be done. For one, figure out who would shop online. In this case, individuals/couples/families with household members that have four legs and who go online to shop. In an article about the pet industry and its analysis, “As of 2015, 65% of households in the US own at least one pet”. This proves that our intended audience is homeowners with pets that see them as a part of their little families.

This specific targeted market plays a vital role in my marketing strategies that I will be utilizing digitally, all online. I say this because it is usually young parents that give in into getting a home pet for their families. These young parents are millennials and millennials are big online users. The top channels we’ll be using for this campaign are Facebook and Instagram.

The one cause that may get me to change my target market is depending on how much single parents or individuals (not families) are willing to spend on necessities for their pets. Because SNHU Pet Supply isn’t the cheapest brand for pets, it might be a bit more challenging for individuals with less financial support to afford the brand.

Reference:

Pet Care Industry Analysis 2020 – Cost & Trends. (n.d.). Retrieved February 12, 2020, from https://www.franchisehelp.com/industry-reports/pet-care-industry-analysis-2020-cost-trends/