1. Badr Moussadek
Hybrid 2 Week 4
Business to Business
Market Segmentation
1. What value are we trying to sell?
Tourism in Ottawa can benefit from many criteria the city has. Therefore, segmenting this market can be
a broad task. In this research I will present a narrowed (simplified) market segmentation to illustrate the
strong aspect of the tourism market in Ottawa. To promote the tourism business to other producers,
retailers, and government we have to let them understand the values of the market they are entering to
by:
 Segmenting the market for them and emphasizing the benefits that their customers will have.
 Using descriptors of the market segment and showing them the strongest of the market they
are entering to.
 Providing them with the necessary criteria of information and plan they can go through.
On other hand, Ottawa got a strong market segments in the tourism field. For instance, we can find
many attraction places, restaurants, shopping center, and fine chain of hotels to accommodate tourism
and promote the city in wide range or even in niche market (Segmentation Discussion, 2002).
2. Which types of businesses in the Producer, Reseller, Government and Institution categories
could we sell to?
The riches of Ottawa tourism consist in its natural aspect and infrastructures; therefore, we can
promote and emphasize both of them in details. Natural part contains; Rideau Canal which is the
world’s largest naturally frozen skating ring (in the winter); Gatineau Park offers hiking, biking, and cross
country skiing; Rideau river and lake enriches the area, in the summer, with beautiful colors and
emotional view. The infrastructure part contain; Parliament hill that is a historical monument and
where pomp, ceremonies and celebration are conducted; ByWard Market, offers most reputable shops
and boutiques, over 80 restaurants and cafés, and a thriving nightlife; Hotels, most five star hotels like
Westin and Sheraton along with water parks, National art museums and other facilities and
entertainment (Official guide to travel and hotels, 2009).
From the categories given we can chose producers like hotels and water parks that deliver unique and
professional services; Reseller like one-of-a-kind shops and boutiques that resell clothing, perfumes, and
merchandises; Government that govern and manage Parliament hill, convention centers, and National
art museums.
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2. 3. Which descriptors would you choose to use to further segment these segments from #2
and why?
The segment given above where a natural segment and an infrastructural segment, we expending both
of them to include almost seven segments in total; however, they are not the limit of segments in
Ottawa market. Furthermore, I have included the segmentation descriptors with example as the table
below shows:
Segment Detailed segments Descriptors Examples
Rideau Canal geographic emphasize the advertising part of it
Gatineau Park geographic create awareness of its activities
Natural
Rideau river and
Geographic implement new activities and entertainment
lakes
attract more business by conducting new live
parliament hill geographic/volume
shows
ByWard Market product use / volume implement new selling strategy/ new products
Infrastructure
product and service create new packages/ facilitate visa process for
Hotels
use visitors
National art
volume and size create guides and CD's information
museums
Table 1: Segmentation descriptors of Ottawa tourism
4. Which criteria would you use to profile and analyze the segments and why?
Defining the criteria of each segment will be important for businesses to identify their long run existence
in the market, it also give them a hint about how to enter the market and which strategy to use. The
table below categorizes each segment with important criteria and the reason behind it:
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3. Segments Criteria Why?
Rideau Canal profit good profit with less expenses
as new parks are opening competition might
Gatineau Park competition raise
Rideau river and good profit, new opportunities, and located in
lakes profit a central area
parliament hill cost to access the cost might be high to access
new shops, boutiques, new products and
ByWard Market growth services
new hotels might create competition but with
Hotels competition the growth of tourism the effect will be small
National art good profit and again less expenses with cost
museums profit/ cost to access to access that might be higher
Table 2: Criteria of tourism segmentation in Ottawa
In conclusion, the segmentation of Ottawa tourism market is very large and encouraging market that
most businesses will benefit from. Segmenting the market and show how strong it is can play a big role
in new and existing companies to enter and expend their output and services.
Bibliography
Official guide to travel and hotels. (2009). Retrieved June 09, 2010, from Ottawa tourism:
http://www.ottawatourism.ca/
Segmentation Discussion. (2010). Retrieved June 09, 2010, from Tourism Action society in the
Kootenays: http://www.taskbc.bc.ca/documents/SegmentationDiscussionPaper_000.pdf
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