Samenvatting

Neckermann, one of the biggest tour operators in The Netherlands, wanted to improve the product placement on the lister pages of the website Neckermann.nl. This report provides a way to arrange the product placement for different customer segments on the website. In order to do so, the customer preferences of products were investigated and the customer segment of the Ecommerce market of Neckermann have been precisely defined.

Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used in the research. Analysis of customer groups, product features and the website lister pages has been completed and applied. Data such as complete questionnaires and historical sales data were involved in the analysis.

The outcome of the research defined new customer segments with detailed information on the preferences of the products. These new customer segments helped Neckermann.nl to make it clear what products should be promoted for which customer. The outcome also changed the way of arranging product placement. Instead of only changing the default setting for every customer group, nowadays Neckermann.nl can arrange the product placement for 5 customer segments: 2 adults + children (oldest 0-5 years), 2 adults + children (6-10 years), 2 segments of 2 adults (within different age groups due to different sales peaks of a year), and 4+ adults. In this way Neckermann.nl provides different products to various customers on the website. By the end of the research a new product prioritization process has been recommended: Instead of prioritizing the top-selling products on only the main lister, product prioritization should consist of 2 parts - prioritization of the main lister and prioritization of customer segments. Each of the parts has activities of selecting, assessing and prioritizing products and has used Ecom Webtool as the platform to arrange product placement online. This new way of product prioritization will help Neckermann.nl to start at the customers' needs and wants. As long as customers use the party size search function, they could see products suitable for their travelling group.

However this research can never be taken as the final result, as the research is based on historical data, and the demand of customers changes frequently. A product which was popular a year ago could be not popular this year. External factors such as political issues and natural disasters can also influence the customer purchasing decision. Moreover, this kind of product placement based on customer segments is only effective when customers use the party size search function. Therefore it is recommended at the end of this report that Neckermann.nl should not only depend on the party size search function, but also create new pages for several specific themes. Neckermann.nl should use the findings of the report as a guideline, and always combine the current situation with the customer segments in order to keep up to date with the market's demand.