eThesis - School of Business electronic theses

The market potential of sexual minorities has been traditionally overlooked by marketers. When the economic times are tough and the competition is only getting fiercer, can marketers afford to narrow down their target customer groups anymore?

The aim of this thesis is to understand how B2C products marketers in Finland view and approach the sexual minorities as a target consumer group in their marketing. The findings will contribute to the existing theories of sexual minorities as a target consumer segment in marketing, and produce future research topics for researchers as well as business information for Finnish B2C marketers.

The research methodology used in the empirical research of this study is interviews. Nine open-ended interviews were conducted by phone or e-mail with B2C products marketers. These companies were either Finnish or had a functioning division in Finland, and belonged in the top 3 of their business area by turnover and marketing budget per overall budget. The aim of the study was to gain a deep understanding of their views of and approaches to sexual minorities as a target consumer group in marketing.

The respondent companies chose from two interview templates the one describing their approach to sexual minorities as a target segment the best. Their responses were analyzed using qualitative research methods, in more detail content analysis. The findings of the study suggest that there are three different categorizations to be identified in how B2C products marketers in Finland view and approach the sexual minorities as a target consumer group. These three categorizations identified are: 1. The Non-Targeters, 2. The Includers (indirect targeters) and, 3. The Targeters

The key theoretical contribution of this thesis is a revised version of Branchik's (2002) Phased Historical Framework, which has been modified by the context and findings of this study. The findings of this thesis suggest that there is a need for further research on these topics in order to better understand the complexity of sexual minorities as a target consumer group in marketing, as well as extend the scope and scale of the study to a wider range of market contexts both in Finland and abroad.