Segmenting and Profiling Green Consumers with Use of Self Organizing Maps

Concern about the environment has led to a new segment of consumers called green consumers. Because not all the consumers are equally green، using target marketing for persuading them to buy green product is essential. The first step in target marketing strategy is to segment the market and then develop profiles of the resulting market segments. This study aims to identify distinct green market segments based on demographic، psychographic and behavioral variables and also investigate the relationship between each variable and green consumer behavior. This study uses self-organizing maps (SOM) to segment and then develop profiles of Iranian green consumers. Based on the results four market segments have identified and were named intense greens، potential greens، egoist browns and intense browns. The results of this study also indicate that demographic variables including gender، age and income and psychographic and behavioral variables including personal values، religiosity، environmental attitude and knowledge have significant role in predicting green consumers’ behavior.