" Marketing Plan – Next 74.0 Consumer and Markets 4.1 Segmentation and Targeting In segmenting, targeting and positioning strategies, companies firstly decide the types ofcustomer that exists. Secondly, it decides on the customers that they want to serve and lastlycommunicating the company’s products and services to chosen market segments (Hassan andCraft, 2012). Segmentation is involved grouping consumer in a similar segment that may havesimilar characteristics and may respond to marketing actions in a similar way. The varioussegments in a market are demographics, psychographics and behavioural. Once, thesegmentation is done the NEXT step is targeting. Developing specific marketing strategies forthe segment market is very important (Boone, and Kurtz, 2013). The NEXT demographic segmentation includes both genders i.e. male and female who areyoung professionals within the age of 20 and 48. The consumer incomes segment markets ofNEXT are the consumers with the income middle class consumers. However to achieve thestated marketing objectives, the company has to segment consumers from the age of 15 andabove. The young generation are becoming more fashion savvy and likes to keep up the fashiontrend and will prove to be a profitable segment for the company. Also, as related to thepsychographic segmentation of NEXT’s consumer are working and middle class with busylifestyle with a mind set of value for money (Hood, Clarke, and Clarke, 2015). Also, the NEXTshould aim to target consumers are trend setters and innovators rather than late majority orlaggards in fashion. Due to the high quality of NEXT products the behaviour segmentation oftheir customers are independent purchasers. As per the VALS 2 lifestyle model, the consumersof NEXT are believers and strivers. This is because of the consumer being conservative andaware of the quality that they are purchasing (Valentine, and Powers, 2013). In order to achievethe given marketing objectives, NEXT should aim to target the consumers who are thinkers andachievers who are high on innovation and resources.4.2 PositioningPositioning is related to creating a brand image of the product in the mind of consumers (Singh,Kalafatis, Blankson and Passera, 2012). Companies use positioning map to assist them create aMarketing Plan – Next 8marketing positioning strategy for their offerings. The positioning map is based on the perceptionof the consumers that is why it is also called positioning map. The positioning map helpscompany in identifying where they are positioned presently and where the company wants to bepositioned in the future (Lee, Yang, Chen, Wang, and Sun, 2015). The positioning map of NEXTis shown in the below figure with reference to the company current competitors.Figure 1: Current Perceptual Map of NEXT plc(Source: Iskandar, n.d.).At present, NEXT is positioned as company with affordable pricing and with moderately highfashion trend and modernity in their products. The main competitors of NEXT are Zara andAsos. Both the brands are high on fashion with little variability in term of its pricing strategy.With this Marketing plan, the objective of the company is to be positioned as a brand that ismore premium and high in quality. The new positioning map of NEXT plc is shown in the belowfigure.Marketing Plan – Next 9Figure 2: Planned Perceptual Map of NEXT Plc(Source: Author’s Own).5.0 Marketing StrategiesThe order to realize the marketing objective developed in this marketing plan, there are differentmarketing strategies that the company need to adopt to meet the consumer changing demands,lifestyle and purchasing patterns. One of the marketing strategies that the NEXT can adopt intheir in store retail outlets is the use of virtual fitting room. Virtual fitting rooms will help inenhancing the customers shopping experience. Topshop, one of the top clothing retailers isalready using virtual fitting room in some of their retail outlets. This room will permit theconsumer to take a clothing piece of the rack without trying it on. In order to select one clothingitem, the consumer has to use hand gestures to manger the user interface. Also, with theadvancement in technology, the virtual fitting room can be applied in e-commerce as well. ThusNEXT plc can use the virtual fitting room both online and offline."