More recently, such segmentation approaches have been heavily criticized.''
Taking a large number of customers and forming groups or segments
presumes a marketing effort towards an "average" customer in the group. Given
the range of marketing tools available that can reach customers one at a time
using tailored messages designed for small groups of customers (what has been
referred to as " 1 -to-1" marketing), there is less need to consider the usual market
segmentation schemes that contain large groups of customers (e.g., women
18-24 years of age). Rather, there is increased attention being paid to understanding
each "row" of the database—that is. understanding each customer and
what he or she can deliver to the company in terms of profits and then, depending
on the nature of the product or service, addressing either customers individually
or in small clusters.