Segmenting and Targeting of US Market and Product Positioning (STP)

A Segmenting, Targeting, and Product Positioning of the U.S. Market (STP)
Name
Institutional Affiliate
A Segmenting, Targeting, and Product Positioning of the U.S. Market (STP)
The increasing environmental awareness in the United States accounts for an equally increased demand and subsequent adoption of renewable sources of energy among the country’s population. The consumption of solar energy in the United States, for instance, is on the rise in the country with customers adopting different segments of solar energy products. The increasing demand is characterized by the rising projectile in the installation of solar panels and the adoption of other solar energy products for both residential and commercial use. Such trends create or rather account for an overall projected increase in the market size of the United States’ solar energy market to the tune of $22.9 billion in the next five years. Canadian Solar, Inc. makes for one of the key players in the United States’ solar energy market having cut a niche for itself in both the energy as well as the module and system solutions (MSS) segments. However, the achievement of sustainable growth and development in the highly competitive market calls for the implementation of effective strategies in the segmentation, targeting, and positioning of the outlined product segments in the U.S. market.
Segmentation
Canadian Solar, Inc. offers a wide range of solar energy products and services that are divided into two broad categories. The energy solutions segment, for instance, accounts for one of the company’s biggest projects in the United States as witnessed in the $2.9 billion electricity supply in the state-sponsored supply of solar-powered electricity in California for the period between 2006 and 2016 CITATION Chi10 \l 1033 (Chien, 2010). The firm thus currently enjoys a significant market share in the consumption of its wide range of solar energy products in the state of California compared to the over more than ten states within which it operates CITATION Chi10 \l 1033 (Chien, 2010). The company’s primary or target consumers comprises of distributors, project developers, system integrators, and EPC service providers or companies. The outlined customer base functions as the intermediary between the company and the increasing number of end-users for solar energy products and services. The distributors for, instance, ensure the availability of both the specialty solar products and standard solar modules that characterize the manufacturing segment of the company’s production model CITATION Mal15 \l 1033 (Malik, 2015). The project developers, system integrators, EPC services providers, as well as the distributors further bridge the gap between the company and end-users through the installation of the company’s solar panels for both the residential and commercial entities CITATION Mal15 \l 1033 (Malik, 2015). In essence, the existing market segmentation thrives on the company’s product catalog as evidenced by the products and services offered to its consumer base. The increasing competition coupled with increasing demand for renewable solar energy accounts for the reduction of installation fees for solar panels in both residentia...