Market Segmentation of Lay’s

Guacamole, beer, movie nights, watching sports… Crunchy chips are the only fixed attribute during all these events. Crispy potatoes are the snacks that will hold their place in every cozy gathering. Lay’s is definitely on Mount Rushmore of potato chips brands. Their rainbow of flavors can satisfy even the most demanding customers. Lay’s chips have grown into much more than a tasty bag of spiced potato. Their marketing strategy is their real treasure. Our story today is about the ideal customer of Lay’s and the marketing mix derived from the strategy. Let’s take on this exciting journey!

Whom the Lay’s’ segmentation strategy sees as their go-to customer?

Segmentation strategies of brands describe the characteristics of the company’s ideal buyer persona. Lay’s has worked its way up to the top by addressing the needs of its targeted segment. Analyzing this Lay’s commercial will help us uncover their ideal buyer persona and its characteristics.

The commercial features a lady who is making lemonade at the beginning. One of her friends tells her to hurry up. Our hero gets excited that she is about to have a snack. She opens the drawer, where a variety of Lay’s chips is lined up.

The chips start speaking with the lady and attracting her to try them out. The classic Lay’s says its word, then the Wavy Lay’s comes in, and they keep on speaking to the lady. The hero of the commercial gets more and more excited and finally makes a choice.

She chooses Classic and Wavy Lay’s chips and turns around to see her friend. Her friend throws a critiquing look at the lady and tells her that they have talked about speaking with snacks. Our hero cannot help it, as she loves Lay’s snacks. Eventually, her friend also takes a bag, and the commercial ends with a slogan. It says “A little joy in every bag”.

This commercial shows how Lay’s links its products to human emotions. Their purpose is to become a part of the moment. With their emphasis on enjoyment and happiness with small things, we can conclude that Sharers are the targeted segment of Lay’s.

Who are the Sharers?

Lifestyle and values: Sharers find enjoyment in every moment in life. Even the smallest things bring them excitement and happiness. They want to live an adventurous life full of challenges, changes and novelties. Everyday tasks become moments of enjoyment for them. Surely, they approach these tasks with a strong sense of duty and seek recognition for them. They take care of the family, home and parents and want to get praises for that.

Representatives of this segment work to build a career and earn money. They will do everything to get on top, but money is the real measure of success. Sharers consider their home the best place to spend time with family and friends. Consequently, they make sure their home is nice and cozy. They like cooking as a way to gather the family and make sure they eat healthily.

Besides taking care of their family, Sharers pay attention to themselves as well. They are careful in what they eat and how they eat. To stay in shape and be fit, they train regularly and make sure to live an overall healthy lifestyle. Sharers try to stand out in a small town. They try to achieve this by dressing differently, similar to celebrities and following fashion trends. Even if they cannot always afford premium brands, they try purchasing them for the same above reason.

Attitude to shopping: Regular shopping and visiting shopping centers is a great way to spend time. Visiting shopping centers is the highlight of the weekend. They try to turn this into friends or family gatherings and gain pure enjoyment of the process.

Sharers do not mind paying more for high-quality healthy food. They manage money well and understand the boundaries of the budget. In contrast, if they find something they like price and quality become secondary. They are not a typical brand-loyal segment, and they might switch brands just out of curiosity and excitement.

Sharers are mostly followers rather than early adopters in terms of brand adoption. They try to explore new brands, but they are not among pioneers by far. The Discovery of new products and brands is fulfilment for them. Despite their limited budget, they try to use premium brands whenever possible. That is why they might sometimes seek special deals and discounts.

Other interesting facts about Sharers.

• Sharers look for more variety and want to find an escape from reality. They consume glamourous magazines and films that will feed their dreams.
• They often choose magazines with product samples to try new things and possibly use them regularly.
• Prefer topics of magazines that are far from the lifestyle they live. They often choose films, fashion, celebrities, entertainment and beauty as main topics.
• They are strong TV viewers, which is another way of escaping their routine life.
• Sharers are not proficient on the Internet. They often struggle with technology and computers but find a few advantages for the Internet.

We will now see how Lay’s forms their positioning plan…

Lay’s has the purpose of becoming the most favorite snack to enjoy. They position themselves as a brand that brings smiles to the faces of their customers. Every variety of Lay’s has a mission of bringing joy and becoming a part of the joyful moment.

Their positioning plan includes acting as a truly global brand. It does not simply refer to their dominant distribution to every little corner of the world. The primary target of this positioning plan is to localize product lines to fit the varying needs of customers.

In every corner of the planet, people have different taste preferences. As a global brand of snacks, Lay’s considers this fact when penetrating new markets. They cannot survive in the long term if they present the same product variety to every market. Consequently, they even developed new flavors, which accurately target some specific locations and tastes of locals.

Living proof of such positioning is the “Do Us a Flavor” campaign. Every year, within 12 weeks, customers propose new flavors for Lay’s. Lay’s produces the top three flavors and distributes them to the market. The customers vote for the best tasting one and the winner gets a million dollars as a prize.

This sums up how Lay’s positions itself as a responsible global brand that wants to put smiles on the faces of customers.

Marketing mix of Lay’s will provide an overview from different aspects…

Analyzing the marketing mix of Lay’s will introduce us to the company’s secrets in building its strategy. We will look at Lay’s from different aspects and uncover their diverse strategies, which made them so successful globally.

Product

It is not a discovery that Lay’s has a big variety of products to satisfy the demands of every customer. Their products are in seven major categories: Classics, Better for You Chips, Lay’s Dips, Kettle Cooked, Poppables, Stax, and Wavy Lay’s. These categories include rich product lines, each designated for the specific needs of customers.

All of the varieties have similar ingredients and consistency; however, they vary greatly in their flavors. For instance, the Better for You product line includes types with less fat, healthier sea salt and less sodium. Moreover, the Dips line introduces complementary products that go perfectly with Lay’s chips.

As a result, Lay’s has a reputation as a perfect brand for snacks. Their diverse flavors and forms leave the customer in front of a difficult, yet rich choice.

Price

In comparison with its direct and indirect competitors, Lay’s has moderate pricing for its products. At Lay’s, they prioritize accessibility over being premium. If their pricing were of a premium brand, they would struggle in capturing wider audiences of customers. It would narrow down their potential customer base to the people who could afford their snacks.

Currently, Lay’s reached a perfect balance of price and product offerings. Their prices match their product quality and prestige. Most importantly, their customers realize this balance and prefer Lay’s for its perfect price-product correlation. Finally, their pricing strategy helped them reach every location and enter markets without problems.

Place

It is a challenge these days to find a local store without at least the presence of Lay’s. With such a wide audience as a target, Lay’s has tried to reach every corner of the planet and capture maximum customers. Eventually, hold their share of market with pride.

Lay’s have reached every location they could get to. They realize the importance of being present in every market where their competitors are. The company’s presence excerpts fear in the eyes of competitors. Not only do they enter the market with their popular and loved products, but they introduce new ones as well.

Localization is one of the strengths of the company. They know that their whole product line cannot succeed in every location. Consequently, they adjust their product offerings to fit local demands. This way, the company avoids unnecessary dissatisfaction and negative feedback from customers.

Promotion

A product that is on every store’s shelves cannot have mediocre promotion in the market. Lay’s uses various media channels to reach its customers. In the era of smartphones and technologies, social media holds its place firmly. They have YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts, which regularly post relevant content to engage customers.

Nevertheless, TV remains the main promotional channel for Lay’s. Their commercials speak for themselves. Commercials feature Lionel Messi, Anna Kendrick, and Super Bowl commercials with Marshawn Lynch, Father and Son Mannings. As you can see, sports superstars and legends appear in Lay’s commercials. This is a trick of Lay’s for marketing Lay’s as the perfect snack for sports events.

Lay’s is a go-to brand for trying a snack rich with the taste and a rainbow of flavors. They have proven their dominance in the market for decades. Their success is the result of starting product development from their customers. Customers are the ones who create the demand for a certain product. Consequently, the companies who address those demands tend to become customer favorites and enjoy their loyalty.

Other aspects of Lay’s marketing strategy reinforce their segmentation strategy to build products that will instantly be loved. Lay’s holds its place as a powerful global brand that dictates the standards for the market. That is it for today, be sure to check out more posts like this on our website.