UniteHosting

The subject of hosting market segmentation comes up frequently in the web hosting industry. Specifically, web hosts are often searching for the best market segment or niche for their particular expertise. For anyone who has worked in the web hosting industry, these market segments are well known. To those who are newer to the industry these market segments can seem quite unusual. Here is a brief overview of some specific web hosting market segments, and examples of companies which occupy those segments. Wikipedia describes a market segment as follows: ”A market segment is a subgroup of people or organizations sharing one or more characteristics that cause them to have similar product or service needs. A true market segment meets all of the following criteria: it is distinct from other segments (different segments have different needs), it is homogeneous within the segment (exhibits common needs); it responds similarly to a market stimulus, and it can be reached by a market intervention.” So generally as applied to the hosting market, segments are different groups of customers who will be attracted to the same basic products and services. A common market segmentation that occurs in hosting is that of price. One typically sees three segments of pricing emerge: discounters, mid-tier providers, and premium hosting services. Examples of discounters would be: iPower or GoDaddy. Mid-tier companies are represented by firms like HostMySite.com or NaviSite. Premium hosting is the scope of web hosting companies like Rackspace. Natural market segments arise according to geographic boundaries as well. It is logical that a business based in Germany would prefer a hosting provider whose website is written in German, whose support is conducted in the German language, and who uses the German Mark as the currency of choice for transactions. It is possible to get around some of these boundaries by having multiple versions of a website in multiple languages or currencies.