The garden hose company, water tight, has decided to conduct market segmentation to understand its customers better and identify new markets. it first identifies the total market for its hoses. next it conducts research, focus groups and surveys to collect more detailed segment data. what important step did water tight forget to take?

Before starting with identifying the total market for its hoses, Watertight should have first identified the marketing goals that they want to achieve, so that the segmentation strategy can be directed towards a clearer target.

Explanation:

For example, Watertight's marketing goal is to increase their product sales. By knowing this, Watertight can perhaps choose to expand their market segmentation by not serving certain groups only to increase their product sales. For example, Watertight knows that the people who buy their garden hose products are females at the age of 30-45 who are married with kids. To increase their product sales, Watertight can expand their target market by choosing to direct its marketing efforts to a target group with similar profile, such as perhaps, males at the same age group who are married with kids. By knowing this, Watertight can continue the segmentation steps according to the provided information in the question on a more accurate trajectory.