Keywords

1 Introduction

Global communication networks are changing our lifestyles and also affecting consumer and purchasing behaviour. The Internet has brought about a significant change in the interaction between consumers and their interaction with businesses (Vysekalová 2004). Nowadays, the digital revolution enables greater customisation of the product, service and promotional messages to the customer. This allows sellers to establish and maintain relationships with customers. Digital technology also allows sellers to collect and analyse a growing volume of consumer purchasing patterns and personality characteristics. There are many influences on human and consumer behaviour as well (Stuchlý et al. 2018). However, the penetration of these influences into a specific purchasing decision process is unique and highly individualised (Kliestikova et al. 2018). If we start to examine these influences in more detail, we find that the outcome of these influences in the form of a particular manifestation of behaviour often resembles that of another individual. This similarity is highly sought after and used by many companies. It enables a rational orientation of the company in a strong competitive environment (Bártová et al. 2007). In order to highlight these similarities in groups (segments), companies use “market segmentation” or otherwise “identification of market segments”. In this study we have identified the most important factors of purchasing behaviour in terms of customer segmentation by generation in the Slovak Republic. Based on the specificity of the purchasing behaviour of customers across all markets, we examined only customers of the hotel industry in a networked environment. The hotel and tourism sector has certain specific characteristics resulting from the ways in which services are offered and used (Moravcikova et al. 2019). Most of the specifics of the tourism and hotel industry arise from the fact that the product of these industries is a service, which is intangible and is characterised by a certain level of complexity, temporal and local binding and other characteristics. The role of marketing and marketing research is very important in the hotel sector. One of the goals is to determine the target market, needs and requirements of the selected market segment and the way of meeting demand in the most favourable manner for the hotel. In order to achieve the goal of this research paper, methods of data analysis such as cross tabs, various contingency measures and factor analysis were used to capture relevant criteria.

2 Literature Review

The approach to market segmentation can be very different due to the variety of methods. Basically, the term market segmentation means the meaningful subdivision of a heterogeneous overall market into homogeneous submarkets with the help of segmentation criteria, with the aim of effectively working with the segments identified (Abedi 2019; Meffert et al. 2012; Freter 2008). A company’s current and potential customers, who form the overall market, have individual wishes, needs and expectations. In the course of market segmentation, matching criteria are identified for different customers, which means that customer groups that are as homogeneous as possible and that are as heterogeneous as possible are differentiated. The identified target groups, i.e. those customer groups that have been determined on the defined market, can therefore be assessed for their attractiveness and finally addressed through specific marketing measures (Evans et al. 2019; Freter 2008; Berekoven et al. 2006). If companies combine knowledge of their customers with target group-oriented marketing, the chances of succeeding against the competition can be expanded, especially in times of stagnating markets (Kesting and Rennhak 2005). In contrast to mass marketing, the market segmentation strategy follows the focus concept, i.e. the targeted addressing of the needs of specific groups (Becker 2013; Kotler et al. 2007). The target group strategy comprises the STP approach—an acronym for segmenting, targeting and positioning. Various authors (Kim et al. 2019; Prusa and Sadilek 2019; Kotler et al. 2007) clarify this model based on three main steps:

  • Market segmentation: includes the determination of segmentation variables and consequently the division of the overall market into customer groups as well as profile development for the individual segments.

  • Targeting: includes the selection of at least one attractive segment.

  • Positioning: aims to develop a positioning concept in the sense of a sustainable competitive position for the selected segment.

Similar to the three-stage STP approach, other scientists’ approach to market segmentation is based on a two-stage concept, which is divided into an information activity and an action activity. The information activity represents market entry, which refers to the explanation of buyer behaviour as well as the extraction and processing of information. Market entry can be equated to the first step of the STP approach. The action activity, or market development as a second sub-aspect of market segmentation, includes the evaluation and selection of suitable segments and consequently the design of segment-specific marketing programmes. Thus, the second and third steps from the STP approach overlap with the market development activity of the two-stage concept (Freter 2008; Kesting and Rennhak 2008).

In principle, there are several requirements for segmentation criteria as a prerequisite for effective segmentation in both market segmentation approaches. If segmentation is to be meaningful, it is necessary to add a second condition of segment heterogeneity to the first condition of internal homogeneity. These two conditions are interdependent; having one without the other makes no sense. Similarity can only be used for marketing if it is linked to (some) different relation to the product, or to other marketing activities. In practice, the aim is to find such a combination of factors whose interaction causes the greatest difference in the behaviour of the monitored segments, while the members of one particular segment react as closely as possible. The first factor is the base comprised of segmentation variables, on the basis of which we create clusters; the second set of variables is then related to a specific product, service, or marketing strategy. In this case, we need it to create the greatest difference between segments (Koudelka 2005).

Kumar (2008) extends the basic characteristics of a marketable segment by two additional conditions that such a segment should meet. In addition to the condition of ‘differentiation’, or different reactions of different segments to the marketing mix, he also adds the condition that a segment must be characterised by ‘identity’ and ‘reasonable size’. The characteristic of identity means that there must be a possibility of simple, reasonable and logical identification of which customers belong to which particular segment. The condition of reasonable size ensures that the preparation and application of a tailor-made marketing programme for a particular segment is economically acceptable to the company.

Doyle and Stern (2006) and McDonald and Dunbar (2004) add that exposed segments are often characterised by instability and variability over time. Therefore, it cannot be assumed that segmentation is a one-time process, the results of which can be used indefinitely. The characteristics of the segments, their manifestations and size may change over time. For this reason, the emphasis is on selecting those segmentation variables that are as stable as possible over time. In addition, it should be borne in mind that this segmentation process should be repeated periodically to ensure that the segmentation results are accurate (Šlapalová-Čempelová 2012).

Koudelka (2005) defines a set of segment requirements as follows: segment homogeneity/heterogeneity, positive attitude (positive responses to marketing incentives), availability, measurability, stability, sufficient size, responsiveness (segments that are beyond the capabilities of the business should not be included), objectivity (an attempt to prevent personal sympathy or antipathy for a particular segment). Kotler and Armstrong (2011) require segments to be accessible, measurable, substantial, distinguishable and punishable. Doyle and Stern (2006) define market segment requirements in a very similar way. Howaldt and Mitchell (2007) also set basic data requirements for segments:

  • Segmentation needs to embrace all the dimensions of consumer reality—emotional, functional, economic, etc.—in a way that can be ‘joined up’.

  • It needs to be data-based.

  • This data must have a firm centre of gravity: the ‘ultimate building blocks’ of markets are individuals, not products or brands or aggregated groups of individuals. Hard, irrefutable data is essential to win credibility among all factions, and for the many practical applications that are needed.

  • The data must be modular so that it can be aggregated, sliced and diced at will, and ‘attacked’ from any angle for any purpose.

  • The data also needs to be ‘taggable’ so that e.g. demographic, income, propensity to spend or media viewing data can be appended as another data field to each individual’s statement bank answers. One of the benefits of the profiling approach is its ability to turn ‘soft’ emotional values into hard, taggable data via the scoring of answers to the statement bank.

  • Because it is taggable, it should also be ‘drill-downable’ so that different users can interrogate the same data banks for different purposes; so that the finance director can ask ‘What is the relative economic attractiveness of these different segments?’ and get a useful answer, while the media buyer can ask ‘What are each of these segments’ distinctive media habits?’ and get an equally useful answer.

  • Even though the actual statistical analysis at the heart of the process may involve a good deal of rocket science, it must be ‘visualisable’ so that anybody can immediately and intuitively ‘see’ what we are talking about, without their head spinning from jargon, getting drowned in data or wrestling with arcane concepts which they do not understand.

  • It provides a common language. When a finance director and a media buyer talk to each other, they can point to the same picture and be confident they are talking about the same thing. Only if the data is visualisable in this way can it act as a common language that brings the various silos together.

Jenkinson (2009) also introduces the so-called segmentation gold standard, by describing eight segment requirements. This list is almost identical to the requirements defined by Koudelka (2005), but he also adds the right timing requirement, as even well-exposed and analysed segments used at the wrong time may not deliver the expected benefit. It can be stated that the authors agree on the basic points and requirements for marketing segments, or the data that compose them. Of course, there is no absolute match, and each author adds other possible segment requests, or calls the same requirements by a different term.

There are many ways to sort and categorise individual segmentation criteria. Evidence may also be the literature in which a number of different variants can be encountered, always according to a particular author (Pelsmacker 2003; Jobber 2004; Kotler and Armstrong 2004; Doyle and Stern 2006; Drummond 2008). However, they do not differ significantly in the description of the individual segmentation criteria. For the purposes of this article we have focused on buying behavioural criteria. Unlike segmentation using demographic and psychographic criteria, behavioural segmentation starts with actual buying behaviour. A common subdivision of these criteria in the literature is based on the marketing areas of product, price, place and promotion (Freter 2008; Becker 2013; Kesting and Rennhak 2008; Meffert et al. 2012).

Previous surveys dealt with behavioural aspects and determined factors affecting consumer purchasing decisions in the online (networked) environment. Pilík (2012) examined on-line buying in the Czech Republic, focusing on factors influencing on-line buying behaviour. The price of the product was the most important criterion in an online decision process; respondents were also ranked highly in this context. They also ranked word-of-mouth recommendations and reviews among the most important factors influencing purchasing decisions in the online environment. Thus, besides price, marketing communication tools are considered to be significant attributes. Based on a survey by Lab42, Micháleková (2012) confirmed the significance of communication as a dominant factor that influences purchasing decisions, because the respondents stated the positive and negative references with the product description as the most significant indicator for their decision. Agyapong (2017) states the opposite view by listing recommendations, advertising and word-of-mouth as unimportant factors when it comes to influencing online purchasers. However, the importance of price has been confirmed by several studies (Rajyalakshmi 2015; Baubonienė and Gulevičiūtė 2015; Agyapong 2017). According to a survey of Slovak online consumers (Dunárová 2015), price is not the most important criterion for product selection. Most respondents focus on reviews (58.58%). However, price remains important, occupying second place (55.12%). Thirdly, the characteristics and parameters of the products (49.23%) are also important in the purchase selection. Another survey, by Heureka Group, which operates price-comparison and shopping advisory websites across the entire CEE region, shows that up to 62% of online customers read reviews and decide to make purchases on that basis. In doing so, 27% of respondents almost always read reviews, and up to 35% of respondents check customer ratings at a retailer they have no experience with. Thus, reviews play an important role in purchasing decisions. The topic of factors influencing online shopping can be also found in papers by numerous other researchers (Bačík et al. 2014; Novotný and Duspiva 2014; Štefko et al. 2011; Wang and Chou 2014). However, neither survey has been carried out to identify differences between generations.

3 Methodology

The aims of the paper are to conduct research into factors influencing the purchasing decision-making process in a networked environment, to learn more about the online purchasing behaviour of Slovak customers, and subsequently to propose customer segmentation based on the information gathered. Based on the specificity of the purchasing behaviour of customers across all markets, we examined only customers of the hotel industry in a networked environment. Because of the lack of any survey of the factors affecting consumer online purchasing decisions by the Slovak population, broken down by generation, the decision was taken to use generational market segmentation as well (Michman et al. 2003). Understanding generational values and motivations has become essential because each generation is driven by unique ideas about the lifestyle to which it aspires (Smith and Clurman 1997). Each generation represents a different set of unique expectations, experiences, generational history, lifestyles, values, and demographics that influence their buying behaviour. Numerous studies identify and analyse differences in consumer behaviour according to the customer generations (McCrindle and Wolfinger 2010, Schewe and Meredith 2004; Bourcier-Bequaert and Barnier 2010; Rentz and Reynolds 1991; Reeves and Oh 2008; Noble and Schewe 2003; Sima 2016; DeAlmeida et al. 2016; Chakraborty and Balakrishnan 2017; Diaz-Samiento et al. 2017).

The primary data for these analyses was gathered by means of a questionnaire survey conducted within the APVV project using the CAWI (Computer Assisted Web Interviewing) method by an external agency. The implementation of the questionnaire survey took place between January and March 2019 on a socio-demographic representative sample of 2000 respondents comprised of Slovaks who were over 15 years of age. The reason for such a limitation was the requirement to ensure the autonomy of purchasing decisions and the mirroring of the real factors affecting the consumer purchasing decisions of the Slovak population in the online environment. The structure of the surveyed sample was socio-demographically representative.

The questions in the survey were divided into several groups. In the first part, general information about respondents (age, gender, education, income …) was obtained. The second part was devoted to obtaining information about the frequency of use of hotel services, reasons for attendance, preference of hotel category (type), hotel class etc. A third group of questions was set up to focus on the buying behavioural criteria (factors) influencing the purchasing decision-making process. We started from the fact that these criteria in the literature are based on the instrumental marketing areas of product, price, place and promotion (Freter 2008; Becker 2013; Kesting and Rennhak 2008; Meffert et al. 2012). Respondents answered these questions using Likert’s scale, always looking at to what degree the factor influenced them in the online purchasing decision-making process.

Our research assumption was that Slovak shoppers would favour factors of marketing promotion over other marketing policies such as product, price and place in terms of the importance of these factors in influencing purchasing decisions in the online environment (Micháleková 2012; Dunárová 2015; Reiter 2015). It was also based on the fact that online marketing communications in the hotel industry play an increasingly important role in shaping customer attitudes and evaluating online communication activities (Spilker-Attig and Brettel 2010). The area of online marketing communications is becoming important for hotels due to a significant change in the characteristics of hotel industry clientele. The post-crisis period has given rise to the traveller who is aware of his value as well as the value of the services offered to him by hotels (Jakovic and Galetic 2014). While previously hoteliers had been more focused on the physical product itself, they are now more focused on guaranteeing the stability and clear image of their brand, transparent prices, and attracting clients, particularly with regard to re-interest through various forms of online marketing communications that singularise hotels from the rest of the competition (Järvinen et al. 2012). We asked respondents for the most appropriate communication format, degree of urgency of information and degree of engagement, content of communication message as well as types of communication channels.

In the case of the content of the communication report, Maráková (2016) distinguishes the following strategic aspects of its delivery to customers: rationally (the content of the report proves that the hotel product will bring benefits to customers), emotionally (the content of the report raises positive or negative emotions motivating the purchase of a hotel product) and morally (the content of the report focuses on the recipients’ ability to understand what is right).When selecting and creating a communication message, it is necessary to consider not only its content, but also its structure, style and format (Maráková 2016). The best communication messages include those that encourage the identified group to draw its own conclusions about it (Maráková 2016; Ližbetinová et al. 2019). The hotel can apply a formal or informal, simple, complex or professional style. The hotel determines the format of the communication message depending on the type of communication method (Kotler et al. 2007). According to Maráková (2016), online communication channels through which the hotel can communicate its message are divided into primary and secondary ones. Primary online communication channels are made up of websites, including the hotel website, which constitute the primary source of information about the hotel’s products and services respectively. Secondary online communication channels consist of social networks, online advertising, online reservation systems, geolocation services etc. When choosing an online communication channel, the hotel should take into account the following decisive factors: which online communication channels the target audience pay increased attention to, and which online communication channels will highlight the hotel itself. Gúčik (2011) differentiates online communication channels into two groups. The first group consists of interactive online communication channels that provide information which is created and also verified by the hotel (online videos, or the hotel website). They are of primary character. These online communication channels are subject to the highest level of control, but with the possibility of a higher risk of distrust among customers. The group of interactive online communication channels is also made up of secondary ones, i.e. channels providing information which is created and verified by the company with the possibility of open discussion of the company with customers (social networks, interactive websites). The second group consists of personal online communication channels, which may also be primary or secondary in nature, based on the provision of information generated and verified by other people. Primary personal communication channels consist mainly of users’ own experience or information provided directly by hotel staff. Secondary personal communication channels include communication activities related to e-WOM marketing, e-mailing and blogs.

In particular, this paper mainly examines the factors that affect consumer purchasing behaviour in terms of online shopping using factor analysis, the main objective of which is to assess the structure of the relationships between the variables under consideration. Consequently, it is important to determine whether there is a possibility of grouping variables, with correlations significant within these groups and no correlations between groups. New variables, called factors, are created from existing variables by means of factor analysis. Factors make it possible to understand data in a different sense (Stankovičová and Vojtková 2007). In recent decades, the use of this method has grown in the sphere of social sciences, mainly through the development of information technology and the reduction of subjective interventions. The starting point for this analysis is the definition of the statistical model and the determination of rational assumptions. To determine the factors, it is first necessary to examine the dependencies between the original variables using the covariance or correlation matrix. The condition for performing the data reduction is the correlation of the original variables resulting from the matrix; also, the assumption that correlation arises due to the existence of a smaller number of undetected hidden variables, the so-called factors. Consequently, on the basis of mutual relationships, it is possible to diversify the original variables into subgroups where variables within one group correlate more than with the variables of the other groups (Kliestikova et al. 2019). Nineteen criteria (characteristics, components) linked to the four Ps of marketing which are suitable for the networked environment were included in factor analysis. The components were determined taking into account the specific characteristics of the hotel industry. They were then organised into the traditional four Ps quadratic model, which defines the concept of a marketing mix based on product, price, place and promotion (Table 1).

Table 1 Four Ps quadratic model linked to the suitable criteria
Full size table

4 Results

The assessment of the suitability of the data can be started by analysing the correlation matrix of the input variables in general, for all data. Methods of factor analysis require mutually correlated input variables. The existence of common causes can only be assumed in such a case. To evaluate the interdependence of input variables, the KMO (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test) criterion can be used, which is based on a comparison of simple and partial correlation coefficients (Table 2).

Table 2 KMO and Bartlett’s test
Full size table

The KMO test has generally shown that the condition of the sample adequacy is met, because the result was 0.921; a value above 0.9 is considered excellent. Also, Bartlett’s test identifies the dependency between variables. It is used to test the hypothesis that the correlation matrix is unitary and thus its value should be less than 0.05. The percentage of total explained variability was 65.495% (Table 3), which is the predicative value of the factor analyses.

Table 3 Total variance explained
Full size table

We can also conclude that there are four significant factors that indicate a given percentage of explained variability, based on the rule that the value of eigenvalues >1. The number of significant factors is also confirmed by the factor analysis as shown in Fig. 1. It can be seen that there are at least four dominant factors whose intrinsic value is greater than 1. This also corresponds to the initially defined assumptions; therefore, the graphical and numerical results confirm the four factors (product, price, place, promotion) which we had previously determined.

Fig. 1
A graph of a screen plot presents the variation of eigenvalue versus the component number. It plots a decreasing trend with the highest point being (1,7) and the lowest point being (19,0)

Scree plot (eigenvalues). Source: own elaboration

Full size image

For the individual components of the factors of purchasing decision-making process, we have verified their grouping within individual factors of the purchasing decision-making process on the basis of factor analysis. This was done by calculating a rotated matrix of factor saturations that express the dependence between the component and the factor. High values of factor saturation indicate that the factor significantly affects the indicator. Based on Table 4, we can see that the individual components are grouped into appropriate factors, as they were initially assigned within the implemented questionnaire.

Table 4 Rotated component matrix
Full size table

On the basis of the rotated factor saturation matrix, it is also possible to create the order of the factors which influence the buying decision-making process in general. This order is as follows: (1) Promotion, (2) Product, (3) Price, (4) Place. This ranking was based on the results in general, that is, by examining the entire sample size. This was necessary mainly because of the evaluation of the interdependence of input variables and sample adequacy as well. The data of the entire sample is suitable for use in factor analysis. Subsequently, we performed factor analyses for all the generations under investigation in a similar way. The results of these factor analyses confirm our assumption that Slovak shoppers will favour factors of marketing promotion over other marketing policies such as product, price and place in terms of the importance of these factors in influencing purchase decisions in the online environment. This can be argued on the basis that the data of individual generations is suitable for the use of factor analysis and the order of the factors influencing the buying decision-making process is the same for all generations. For this reason, we have designed the customer segmentation only on the basis of the promotion factor, as the analyses have shown its significance across all generations. By means of scientific research methods such as excerpting, description, comparative analysis, deduction and induction, determination of absolute and relative numbers, level of mean values, and confirmation of the existence of dependency between variables, we extracted the data obtained from marketing research in order to obtain the required information to fulfil our goal.

5 Discussion

From the above-mentioned analysis of customers (hotel guests) carried out from marketing research focused on them, the content of the communication message according to Maráková (2016), types of online communication channels according to Gúčik (2011), the most appropriate communication format and secondary research into the characteristics of generation cohorts (McCrindle and Wolfinger 2010; Schewe and Meredith 2004; Bourcier-Bequaert and Barnier 2010; Rentz and Reynolds 1991; Reeves and Oh 2008; Noble and Schewe 2003; Sima 2016; DeAlmeida et al. 2016; Chakraborty and Balakrishnan 2017; Diaz-Samiento et al. 2017), we categorised customers (hotel guests) into five groups (Table 5).

Table 5 Model of customer segmentation proposal
Full size table

The ‘Online gourmet’ segment is made up of customers from Generation Y and especially Generation Z, who are highly technically and communication-proficient and use modern technologies on a daily basis (Sladek and Grabinger 2019; Ng and McGinnis 2015). This group of customers is characterised by an exceptionally high degree of information urgency, as well as a degree of engagement in communicating with the hotel in an online environment through new communication tools. This type of customer actively seeks information about hotel services. As for the issue at hand, online gourmets have an affective but also rational relationship to it, so the hotel should use a combination of the emotional and rational approaches to informing them. Since they are customers with strong opinions and a high level of interest in information about hotel services, we recommend the use of two-way communication, which allows for dialogue between the hotel and its customers. For this reason, we also recommend the use of interactive secondary online communication channels with the possibility of open discussion. Media and information are an integral part of their lives and therefore they are always online, spending most of the day on social networks, preferably on Facebook and Instagram, where they reflect the activities of hotels, the quality of their services, the way of communication or the brand of the hotel itself (Cowan 2014; Fromm and Read 2018; Pate and Adams 2013) through comments, hashtags, likes and shares. They also consider online advertising on these social networks more attractive. Since the segment is not concerned about the misuse of its personal data, it is not hampered by behaviourally targeted online banner advertising, even clicking on it if it is in line with its interests. Various websites offering different reviews or geolocation services or online reservation systems can also be an important source of information. Thanks to their skills and education, the online gourmet segment is highly motivated to make progress in both their professional and private lives. Their enthusiasm for life expands with their outlook on travel, which can bring them some recognition (Seemiller and Grace 2019; Twenge et al. 2010). Such consumers search for four- and five-star luxury hotels, convention, wellness, mountain and boutique hotels, where they enjoy their holidays and share all experiences with others through social media. From the point of view of travelling, they are mainly interested in working and educational activities, entertainment, relaxing, getting to know new places, adventure and tourism (Sima 2016). They are an interesting segment for the hotel as they are people up to the age of 30 with solid future prospects, single, educated, employed and interested in climbing the social ladder.

The second group of customers (hotel guests), which we have called ‘Supporters of info age’, is made up of Generation Y customers who are also technically and communicatively proficient, but have not completely succumbed to the online environment (Mangold and Smith 2012). Generation Y associates the best things in life with certain purchased experiences, such as exotic travels, concerts, and so on. Part of these experiences is the social dimension. People avoid a feeling of loneliness, feel connected to others, or make new friends (Ng and McGinnis 2015; Fromm and Garton 2013; Sima 2016). As with customers in the first group, these customers are characterised by a high degree of information urgency and a degree of engagement in communicating with the hotel in an online environment through new communication tools. This segment of customers also actively searches for information about hotel services through selected new forms of online marketing communication, with the likelihood of a positive response to the emotional and rational approach of the hotel. Also, in this segment, we recommend the use of two-way communication with the possibility of expressing the customer’s specific opinion on the services provided by the hotel. Therefore, we also recommend the use of interactive secondary online communication channels with the possibility of open discussion, i.e. social networks (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube), PPC advertising, behaviourally targeted online banner advertising, geolocation services, websites including online reservation systems, email, content marketing and blogs. Although the analysed segment of customers capitalises on their skills through computing and the Internet is their source of information, they do not spend most of the day on the Internet. For them, social media is a way of communicating with their friends, family and acquaintances, including communicating with hotels and brands. This segment is unique in nature, as it differentiates itself from others through its creativity, ideas, rejection of authority, travel and shopping. Despite this, customers in this segment are not impulsive, as they get to know people, places and things to get exactly what they are looking for. From the point of view of travel, they prefer tourism and adventure activities, work and education activities, entertainment, relaxing, festivals or accommodation activities (Klapilová Krbová 2016; Pinzaru et al. 2013; Pate and Adams 2013; Mangold and Smith 2012). Therefore, they like to stay in cheaper classes of hotels (three-star), but do not despise even luxury hotels (four- and five-star). Within the hotel category they are interested in holiday, mountain, wellness and convention hotels. From the point of view of using new forms of online marketing communication, they are also a very interesting segment for the hotel, as they are people aged 25–39 with solid prospects for the future, single, but also family-oriented, educated, employed and interested in climbing the social ladder.

The third segment of customers consists of the so-called ‘Conscious online users’ of Generation X. Representatives of this generation have the huge advantage of being some of the first to come across computers and current technology, so it is easy for people in this age category to adapt to the new technology industry (Dabija et al. 2018). Generation X has many ambitions and can adapt quickly. The typical characteristics of the representatives of this generation include independence and self-sufficiency (Hensler 2013). The degree of urgency for information about hotel products and services is moderate compared to previous segments. While the segment’s involvement in the hotel communication process through new forms of online marketing communications is bidirectional, it is on a voluntary basis, implying that customers pay more attention to convenience (DeAlmeida et al. 2016). The lack of initiative taken in seeking information about hotel products and services, coupled with low customer effort and convenience, means that members of this segment take only essential information based on facts and figures into account in their hotel selection decisions. For this reason, we recommend that hotels use a rational approach when creating the content of a communication message within this segment. Conscious online users prefer to receive information through both online interactive and personal channels; thus, we recommend hotel websites, blogs, and copywriting (content marketing), as they tend to believe the veracity of customer feedback about hotel services, discussions and reviews. Social networks need to be used to a lesser extent, since the communication of these customers is clumsy and consists only of communication with family, friends and acquaintances (Dabija et al. 2018). These customers also prefer to obtain information from hotel staff or their own experience. The conscious online user segment is stabilised in life with a more or less fixed status. Shopping and travel are an important part of their lifestyle. They like traveling for culture, exploring new places, hiking, entertainment, relaxing, educational and working activities (Sima 2016; McCrindle and Wolfinger 2010; Twenge et al. 2010). Accommodation is simpler, meaning three- and four-star hotels and categories such as mountain recreational, wellness, spa and convention hotels.

The penultimate customer segment ‘Online incredulous customers’ consists of customers of the Baby Boomer generation. Baby Boomers pay for their children’s education and clothing, give them pocket money, and buy them apartments, caravans, and new cars. After the birth of grandchildren, they save money for more gifts and dedicate the next stage of their lives to taking care of their grandchildren. Many, however, have full lives, pursue their hobbies, travel, and continue to educate themselves (Patterson and Pegg 2009; Pavlic et al. 2018). They are less proficient in technical, communication technologies and Internet use, but still have an interest in—and the and desire to—continue their education, at least to the extent that they are able to use these technologies very easily. They are rather mistrustful of new forms of online marketing communications, taking into account the opinions of their closest friends and acquaintances (Tiago et al. 2016; Chakraborty and Balakrishnan 2017). The interest of this segment in information gained through new online forms of marketing communication used by hotels is superficial, constituting a low degree of urgency for this information. Therefore, the desired level of engagement is only one-way communication for even greater convenience than in the previous segment. The need for communication in its new online forms is limited. Therefore, we recommend that hotels focus primarily on personal communication channels primarily consisting of providing information directly at the place of delivery of the hotel’s products and services respectively. The communication should be sufficiently imaginative to be able to reach the customer segment. In addition, we also recommend the use of secondary personal communication channels providing information mainly via email or blogs as part of content marketing. This implies that, when providing information, the hotel should apply a combination of rational, emotional and moral styles when creating the content of the communication message. This segment likes to travel for culture, relaxation, exploring new places, undemanding tourism and natural beauty (Diaz-Samiento et al. 2017; Sima 2016; Noble and Schewe 2003). They prefer three-star hotels to five-star ones, mainly spa, recreational and wellness hotels.

The last group of customers, which we have labelled ‘Seniors in the online world’, is made up of representatives of the silent generation. These people focused on their careers, which they prioritised above active lifestyles. They grew up at a time when it was not safe to express their views and attitudes (Joesalu 2016). In terms of the use of communication technologies in the online environment, they use them mainly to stay in touch with their family and loved ones (Randall et al. 2015). It is very difficult to accept new things, especially new forms of communication in the online environment (Henger and Henger 2012). Therefore, the degree of urgency of information and the degree of involvement, especially in the field of new forms of online marketing communications, are almost nil. The only way the hotel should communicate with this customer segment is through primary personal communication channels presenting numbers, facts and a moral-emotional attitude. An adequate means of communication could be to present information directly at the point of sale of a hotel product or service and to keep communication by email or blogging to a minimum. Seniors in the online world comprise a segment that is more or less retired and has more free time. Such people like to get to know new places and things, they like to relax and participate in culture (Henger and Henger 2012; Sima 2016). They prefer three- and four-star spa and holiday hotels.

6 Conclusions

Most customer markets are heterogeneous, meaning that customers have different preferences, needs, wishes, habits, options, income, etc. In this case, there are different needs on their part. The more different customers are, the more difficult it is to create a marketing mix of a product that suits everyone. As competition grows, businesses want to see all the detail of their customers’ wishes so that they can offer an in-demand product on the market, even in a networked environment. To this end, this research serves to classify customers with similar characteristics and wishes into individual groups. Customer segmentation is used in any sector of the economy, including the hospitality industry. It has a number of specific features that affect the segmentation of individual market segments. In general, by knowing the interests of hotel guests during the phase prior to purchase, hotels can prioritise some initiatives of the marketing mix that should be improved. The aims of the paper are to conduct research on factors influencing the purchasing decision-making process in a networked environment, to get to know the online purchasing behaviour of Slovak customers (hotel guests), and subsequently to propose customer segmentation based on the information gathered. We have analysed criteria linked to the four Ps of marketing in order to find out the factors that are most important for Slovak hotel guests when choosing a product in the networked environment. The results of the factor analyses confirm our assumption that Slovak shoppers will favour factors of marketing promotion over other marketing policies such as product, price and place in terms of influencing purchasing decisions in the online environment. For this reason, we have focused only on the aspects of marketing communication in the segmentation proposal for the selected industry. By means of scientific research methods such as excerpting, description, comparative analysis, deduction and induction, determination of absolute and relative number, level of mean values, as well as the confirmation of the existence of dependency between variables, we extracted the data obtained from marketing research into the proposal for the categorisation of customers (hotel guests) into five groups: Online gourmet, Supporters of info age, Conscious online users, Online incredulous, and Seniors in the online world. The determination of customer groups helps the hotel better plan suitable online communication, i.e. the hotel needs to create heterogeneous communication messages for heterogeneous groups and use adequate online communication channels or methods for each identified group.

By examining the internal relationships of the research data, we have assigned the most appropriate (most common) type of communication message content, types of online communication channels, and formats such as degree of communication engagement and urgency to each segment. The groups of hotel guests correlate to the existing generation cohort segmentation except in one case. The first group (Online gourmet) is made up of customers of Generation Y and Generation Z as well. As far as communication channel preferences are concerned, the segments differ significantly from one another. Customers of the Online gourmet segment prefer interactive secondary channels such as social networks. The Supporters of info age segment is influenced by interactive primary and secondary channels. In addition to social networks, they also consider hotel websites important. Several communication channels are important for the Conscious online users segment. In addition to interactive, primary or secondary channels, this segment considers personal communication channels to be important, both primary (own experience or receiving information directly from hotel staff) and secondary (communication activities related to e-WOM marketing, mailing and blogs). The Online incredulous segment focuses only on personal communication channels, both primary and secondary. Finally, the Seniors in the online world segment is limited to personal primary communication channels only. All segments prefer the rational nature of communication messages. The “Conscious online users” segment is limited to this form of communication content. In addition to rationality, other segments expect emotions and moral aspects of communication messages. However, their importance varies across segments. Based on communication channel preferences, it is possible to determine the required level of communication engagement for individual segments. The Online gourmet and Supporters of info age segments require bi-directional communication. This form of engagement is optional for the Conscious online users segment. Online incredulous segment is characterised by unidirectional communication. The Seniors in the online world segment requires almost no communication engagement whatsoever. The degree of urgency to obtain information in hotel customers is proportional to age: the younger the segment, the higher the urgency in communication.

Due to the impossibility of determination of segmentation and its subsequent application across the entire market, it is important to stress that the segmentation proposal is suitable only for the hotel industry. Time and geographical constraints can be considered as other limits of this paper. This restriction was especially reflected in the selection of respondents, when only Slovak hotel customers were selected. This limitation could be removed if the research is considered to be relevant to the solution and the results achieved are subject to subsequent verification in an international environment. If these barriers are removed, more accurate results could be achieved. Another limit is that the segments change over time. As consumers evolve and change as a result of time and milestones in their lives, segments also change (in terms of their characteristics and size). It is therefore necessary to continuously check whether the segments maintain their profile and whether the marketing orientation still reaches the target group.