Market Segmentation: Circular Business (B2B)
Design circular offers that work for different business customers, buying groups, and procurement realities.
What it is
This template helps teams compare four B2B customer segments and decide which circular offer, commercial model, message, channel, and intervention is most likely to work for each group.
It supports circular models such as repair, refurbishment, take-back, leasing, product-as-a-service, reuse, recycled content, and closed-loop supply.
The template is pre-filled with four suggested customer segments:
Circular Partnership Leaders — organisations ready to co-design ambitious circular solutions.
Value & Efficiency Seekers — organisations motivated by cost, resilience, and asset productivity.
Risk-Managed Adopters — organisations that need strong proof, quality assurance, and contractual clarity.
Traditional Buyers — organisations that need a simple, low-risk alternative to familiar linear purchasing.
Treat these as starting hypotheses. Adapt, remove, combine, or add segments to reflect your sector, market, customer evidence, and sales experience.
How to use this template
Start by choosing one circular product, service, or business model to explore. For example: a refurbished product range, repair service, take-back agreement, lease model, recycled-content specification, or closed-loop supply partnership.
Use the board for a collaborative workshop. Bring customer research, account-team insight, procurement feedback, contract data, industry requirements, sales information, and supplier insight. Add evidence, customer insights, assumptions, and ideas as sticky notes.
Work through the ten factors for each segment, from readiness and motivation to barriers, tailored offers, commercial messages, buying moments, actions, and success measures. Consider both the organisation and its buying group: procurement, operations, sustainability, finance, technical leads, and senior decision-makers may each have different needs.
Finish by choosing:
One priority business-customer segment
One key decision-maker or buying group
One circular behaviour to encourage
One primary barrier to solve
One offer, message, or intervention to test
One success measure
Use the matching table to record agreed results clearly and share them with the teams responsible for delivery.
Who it is for
Use this template with sales, account management, product, procurement, operations, commercial, sustainability, circular-economy, customer-insights, and leadership teams. It is also useful for consultants, agencies, and cross-functional business-development workshops.
What you’ll leave with
A clear B2B segmentation view, a prioritised customer group and buying context, a targeted circular offer and commercial message, and a practical test plan.
You will also have a stronger shared understanding of what is stopping adoption, what evidence customers need, which teams must be involved, and how to measure both commercial and circularity outcomes.
