In order to understand the purpose and benefits of segmentation, it's helpful to step back momentarily and look at markets as a whole and how segments help us understand a market. A market is a group of potential buyers with needs and wants, as well as the purchasing power to satisfy those needs and wants. These buyers might be individuals, groups, businesses, or organizations. The "total market" constitutes all the potential customers for a given product. Potential customers share a common problem or business need that your product can address, and they share other characteristics as well. In order for a market to exist, the following five criteria must be met: There must be a true need and/or want for the product, service, or idea; this need may be recognized, unrecognized, or latent. The person/organization must have the ability to pay for the product via means acceptable to the marketer. The person/organization must be willing to buy the product. The person/organization must have the authority to buy the product. The total number of people/organizations meeting the previous criteria must be large enough to be profitable for the marketer. If these criteria aren't met, there probably isn't a viable market for your product(s). Think about this... What are some things that a person/organization can do to prevent this from happening? What steps should a marketer take to make sure all the criteria above are met? INCLUDE RESEARCH AND RESOURCES FOR YOUR RESPONSE-RESEARCH IS REQUIRED