Costco Market Segmentation Overview: Every business and/or organization begins and works to achieve a single overarching goal, which is typically included in the company's mission statement. Setting a goal, however, does not in itself translate into success; it's just the first step. Understanding market segmentation is the second most important aspect of doing business. “Marketers and advertisers want to be able to determine what the potential market is for their product or service, as well as the best ways to reach potential consumers” (Terrell, 2013). Once an organization has set a goal, it must first decide whether it wants to operate locally, regionally, nationally and/or internationally, as the size of geographic coverage has a large influence on demographic coverage. It is essential for a company to understand what is meant by demographic coverage; it means understanding the age, gender, culture, social norms and beliefs, and income of people in a given geographic dimension (Grewal & Levy, 2010). Let's take a high class and luxury bar as an example to explain the importance of these key factors. If the bar is located in an area where the average age is 60, it's safe to assume the business will have trouble finding many customers. Likewise, the business will not be able to survive if it is located in an area with many Mormon or Muslim residents since drinking alcoholic beverages is prohibited by these religious practices. On the other hand, if the aforementioned bar is located in an area like San Francisco where the average age is around 38, the average income is around $70,000, and the culture is a melting pot of many races with many beliefs and behaviors. , will most likely thrive to its full potential (city-data.com, 201...... middle of document ...... 195Ingram, J. (2013, March 6). Costco CEO - Panderer or Economic Illiterate ?. Examiner.com Retrieved April 6, 2014, from http://www.examiner.com/article/costco-ceo-panderer-or-economic-illiterateNguyen, A. (2013, April 12:). of dollars over three years Costco Wholesales Corp. Retrieved April 6, 2014, from http://lindaperry.us/aec3033/AdNguyen2.pdfSan Francisco County, California (n.d.). April 2014 from http://www.city-data./San_Francisco_County-CA.htmlTerrell, E. (n.d.). .loc.gov/rr/business/marketing/Wal-Mart Stores Inc.. (nd). WMT Annual Income Statement. Retrieved April 5, 2014, from http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/wmt/financials.