Customer Segmentation in B2B markets : Exploring key success factors, methods and barriers encountered

In the modern business world, customer segmentation has become an asset for companies to align their marketing strategy to the needs of their customer segments. Whilst customer segmentation has been heavily explored within business-to-consumer (B2C) markets, the business-to-business (B2B) sector, in comparison, is quite underexplored. The nature of the B2B environment and its relationships, including longer sales cycles and customized solutions, result in more complex solutions to tackling customer segmentation. Therefore, this research aims at analyzing customer segmentation in B2B markets and exploring how different B2B firms conduct customer segmentation, including their key success factors, methodologies used, and major challenges encountered. Additionally, to address the research gap, a qualitative multiple-case study approach is used, which combines theoretical insights with empirical data. This research contributes to a more enhanced understanding of customer segmentation in B2B markets through the combination of theoretical insights with empirical data from multiple firms and industries. The findings highlight cross-industry B2B practices and methods, as well as discovering common success factors and challenges in B2B customer segmentation. Ultimately, this research adds to existing literature, increases the understanding of customer segmentation in B2B markets, and offers valuable insights to B2B firms aiming to improve their customer segmentation processes.