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EXite - Target Market
After extensive research, we found that the target market of eXite may be female bloggers aged 21-35 which have an intermediate level of technical prowess in creating websites but have no resources to build their own. Findings also indicate that based on the number of internet users and the percentage of the local population which speaks English, we found that the UK and Germany are currently attractive target markets—followed by France and Italy.
METHODOLOGY
The initial phase of our research involved finding surveys, case studies, and facts and figures about the target markets of web builder platforms such as Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace. Upon finding that such information is not directly available, we redirected our research towards sources which compile statistical and demographic information of the users of web builders. From there, we conducted an independent research about the European countries with the biggest population of internet users after finding data suggesting that the target market of eXite may be highly-involved with audiences that have a significant level of engagement with the digital space. Finally, we dedicated the last phase of our research to finding European countries that fit the aforementioned criteria and have a high percentage of English-speaking populations.
WEB BUILDER USER SURVEY
Clutch is a research firm that specializes on gathering data about the latest trends within technology and digital marketing industries. They recently published a 2017 survey covering the preferences and psychology of 307 web builder users.
WEBSITE USE
The survey found that most of the participants use their website for personal use at 48 percent compared to 42 percent of those who use their website for business use.
TECHNICAL PROWESS
The survey has a section which categorizes each participant depending on his/her technical prowess. Users with enough technical prowess to change images, font, and content within their website were classified as ‘beginners’. Those who are able to set up a site and implemented certain advanced features without the need for assistance were classified as ‘intermediate’. Those who have the capability and knowledge to perform advanced tasks such as customizing or injecting HTML/CSS were classified as ‘advanced’. Data shows that majority of participants (53 percent) were categorized as intermediate. 25 percent of participants were classified as beginners, while 22 percent were classified as advanced.
AVAILABLE RESOURCES
Findings from the survey show that 63 percent of participants did not have any resources available to build their own website. 19 percent of participants were assisted by family or a friend in building a website. 11 percent asked help from a freelance web designer, while only 7 percent had assistance from an in-house web designer.
PURPOSE OF WEBSITE
The survey had a section dedicated to the purpose of use of participants’ websites. Majority of participants who stated that their own website is only for personal use said that they use their websites for either blogging or as a platform to showcase their art. Based on this information, we decided to extend the scope of this path of research to include the demographics of bloggers. We also attempted to apply the same path of research for users of online artist platforms, but non-conclusive results after exhaustive research proves that there is not enough information available within public domains for this to be a viable strategy.
BLOGGER DEMOGRAPHICS AND PSYCHOLOGY
MeO Social is a collaboration between several community managers and professionals. Their website serves as a resource database for marketing and digital advertising findings. They recently published an article which covers statistics taken from several surveys about bloggers worldwide. The article states that the biggest demographic of bloggers consisted of 21-35 year-old millennials at 53.3 percent of the blogger population covered. It was also mentioned that there are 1.8 percent “more female bloggers than male bloggers.” In addition to this, the article states that the most popular niche for bloggers according to WordPress are magazines, news sites, sports sites, social networks, and company sites.
INTERNET USE PER COUNTRY
Internet World Stats recently uploaded a table covering the top 20 countries in terms of number of internet users in 2017. We decided to use this as a basis for determining which countries may have the biggest market for bloggers, online artists, internet users, and website builders.
RUSSIA
As of December 2017, Russia is the fourth at the list and the highest ranking European country with over 109,552,842 internet users and an internet penetration rate of 76.1 percent. Analysts predict that the number of internet users in the country will rise to 143,964,709 by 2018 at a year-on-year growth of 3,434.0 percent.
Sources indicate that although 77 percent of the landmass of Russia is situated within Asia, 75 percent of the Russian population resides within Europe.
Despite this, we decided to exclude Russia from the potential target audience of eXite because data shows that less than 10 percent of the population speaks English.
GERMANY
Ranked 11th in the table, Germany is the 2nd highest ranked European country in terms of the number of internet users. As of 2017, Germany has around 79,127,551 internet users and an internet penetration rate of 96.2 percent. Experts anticipate that by 2018, there will be over 82,293,457 internet users within Germany, growing at a year-on-year rate of 229.7 percent.
According to an interactive data map by The Telegraph, over 70 percent of the population of Germany speaks English.
UNITED KINGDOM
The UK is the 3rd highest ranked European country within the table with over 62,091,419 internet users. By the year 2018, This figure may grow to 66,573,504 at a year-on-year rate of 303.2 percent. The country currently has an internet penetration rate of 93.3 percent.
FRANCE
Currently situated as the 4th highest ranked European country within the table, France has over 60,421,689 as of December 2017. Experts believe that this will grow to 65,233,271 by 2018 at a year-on-year rate of 610.8 percent. France currently has an internet penetration rate of 92.6 percent.
ITALY
With an internet penetration rate of 92.4 percent and a total internet user population of 54,798,299, Italy is the 5th highest ranked European country in the list. Experts believe that by 2018, the internet user population of the country will grow to 59,290,969 at a year-on-year rate of 315.1 percent.
However, only 40 percent of the population of Italy speaks English.
TRIANGULATION
The combination of all our findings may be indicative that the current target market of eXite may be female millennial bloggers, within the age of 21-35, that currently have an intermediate level of website coding, and no resources to create their own website. They may be situated within the UK or Germany, followed by France and Italy, in terms of the high percentage of the population of these countries that both use the internet and are comfortable speaking in English.
CONCLUSION
The target market for eXite may be female, aged 21-35, bloggers, have an intermediate level of technical capabilities for creating websites but have no resources to create their own websites, and are situated within the UK, Germany, France, or Italy.