Demography can be defined as "The study of human populations in terms of size, density, location, age, sex, race, occupation and other statistics".
[3] Using such statistics, communicators are able to segment their target audience, as consumer needs often correlate strongly with demographic variables.
While the disclosure of location is necessary on such websites for deliveries and adjusting currency, advertisers also use this information to alter the shopping experience based on ethnicity, culture and international trends.
For example, Amazon.co.jp (Amazon in Japan) will advertise the sale of Japanese produced TV shows, films and books on their homepage.
[citation needed] Particularly when shopping with online retailers of clothing and cosmetics, customers will often find they are asked to disclose their gender.
Online retailers tend to ask customers to provide their date of birth and may rationalise the request by offering an incentive such as a birthday discount.
However, this information can also be used by advertisers for demographic targeting as the wants and needs of consumers change with age (Kotler et al., 2013).
It is important for advertisers to realise that as society's social norm changes consumers are more likely to not be defined by past gender roles.
[6] This way of further segmentation is effective because it allows advertisers to filter out more consumers who won't match the demographics of the target market.
Doing this allows the advertiser to gain a better understanding of their target markets attitude and beliefs which allows them to communicate more effectively and efficiently.
[6] This is important because two different individuals could have a very similar set of demographics, but one will buy the product while the other won't.
[6] This type of segmentation is used to target consumers who are more inclined to hear and accept the communications from the advertiser and be interested in the product being offered.
[6] Behavioral segmentation is important because it examines how the consumer's past buying experiences will affect their future purchases.