Consumer Attitude for Korean Car Imports in Australian Market - Essay Example

Consumer Attitude Moulding for Korean Car Imports in Australian Market When we talk about consumer behaviour, it varies from people to people, product to product and other factors such as quality, price, need, standard of living etc. when we talk about the product category such as cars; it generally is referred to as a high involvement product. No consumer would just go to a showroom look at a car and buy it without going through a thought process. Cars are not low involvement products; therefore action cannot come before the thought process. A customer will not just go and buy the car and then evaluate its positive and negative characteristics, here the attitude hierarchy would be cognitive then affect, how the consumer feels or first chose emotional then rational, you will not act on it before you go through a cognitive and emotional process (Foxall, 2002). You will make sure that you look at as many features as possible and go through intense emotional processes, instead of depending on your mood while looking at a car. For example if you have a family you will consider a mini-van over a convertible because of the added benefits and features, you will then see if you will enjoy the car, how will your family like it is it giving you the satisfaction you want, and then you will finally decide on the connotation, whether you want to buy it or not. This goes for all products that require high involvement of the consumer. (Windham & Orton, 2000) As a strategic Marketing manager for a new line of South Korean cars in Australia I have to consider many things about the product. As a Strategic Marketing Manager I should have in-depth knowledge of competitive dynamics and how to integrate marketing strategy into the overall business strategy, I should be able to develop Frameworks for analyzing customer preferences and enhancing customer relationships and should be able to Build and manage brand equity with effective market communication. (Chernev, 2007) (Stanford, 2008) Hyundai and its auxiliary Kia are currently the 7th largest car group in the world, just after companies like GM, Ford, Toyota, Renault-Nissan, Volkswagen and DaimlerChrysler. It is also one of the fastest rising companies and a formidable rival to Western car makers. With the benefits such as low labour and parts cost in Korea and the government’s policies that favour the car industry, Hyundai and Kia are able to price their cars much cheaper and at an affordable cost than Western and Japanese cars. At the same time, the company has been able to improve its engineering and quality standard swiftly in recent years, getting closer and closer to world standard. (Wan, 2006) Kia started its production of cars in 1974 under Peugeot and Fiat’s licenses. In 1986, it became partners with Ford and came out with the Festiva (Pride) for Ford. The 1992 Sephia and next year’s Sportage SUV marked the independence of the company which began exporting cars under its own brand name. It became the third largest Korean car maker but over-expansion was hit by the Asian economy crisis in 1998. It and was acquired by Hyundai in the same year. (Wan, 2006) Companies like Kia and Hyundai, when first entered the Australian Markets, did not have a smooth run as they had expected. They realized that in order to survive in a market where people were very loyal to their own brands, such as Toyota and Scoda, but as time passed by they improved their technology and their marketing strategy to catch the attention of many people and gain a higher market share. (Wan, 2006) As the Strategic marketing manager, I am very well aware of the first impression of that Australians have of Korean car companies. The strong position if Hyundai in the country will be a plus point for us to market our new product, however, any new product in the market needs to be promoted and advertised extensively to create a buzz in the market. A product especially a new line of cars needs to be carefully introduced in the market and create a position in the minds of the consumer. My first and foremost priority is to develop and promote the product in such a way that it develops the desired attitude (Chernev, 2007). The two important things that I will keep in mind are the Attitude Valence and Attitude Strength (Hill & Sullivan, 2003). When I first introduce my product and before I work toward attitude moulding, I want to see the positive or negative cognitions or positive or negative affects people have towards my line and how they choose to act on it. For example if a person really likes the shape or the look of the car and it develops a certain emotion and then the customer will decide whether he wants to know more about the car or not. I have to make sure that whatever occurs first the affect or the cognition, it leads to a positive action. Then I will look at the Attitude Strength (Hill & Sullivan, 2003). It basically means the degree of commitment towards cognition, affect and action. If I feel that the initial reaction is positive towards my product I will try to strengthen the degree to which they feel or think about my car by highlighting more features and benefits or developing more emotional relationships. (Kotler & Armstrong, 2005) After the entire initial research has been carried out we look at the three ways or methods that we can mould the attitude of the consumers towards our car. The three routes that I can use to mould the attitudes of existing consumers. The cognitive route of moulding basically refers to the methods to change the minds of the consumers which would then lead to the change in affect and connotation. In terms of cars, since Korean cars already exist in the market it’ll be a good route to build on the positive perception of the people of Korean cars by emphasizing on maximum number of features that my line of cars will have. For example, I can use the trust that Hyundai has built in the minds of the consumers and built on t by saying that it fulfils all the promises of a Korean car and has features like built in set adjuster, DVD, screen and added safety options. When people will see the benefits along with the already positive mind set, they will create emotional relationships with the features such as safety and will be more inclined towards buying our cars. The other route to Attitude moulding is Affective route (Hill & Sullivan, 2003). This is when you attach an emotional significance to your product to change a person’s cognitive and connotative attitude. This is generally used when you want to induce a certain feeling in the consumer and attach an emotional significance to the product, this then becomes the position of the product in the minds of the consumer and leads to brand belief. If my cars are meant for families and are for those who value safety needs over luxury, I will try to invoke a sense of security, comfort and reliability by comparing my product to love and care and maybe play music that invokes feelings of love and care and affection. This will make the consumer create a certain perception about the product and help them be more inclined to buy my cars hence changing the connotative attitude of the consumer. The third route relates to the third type of attitude and that is the connotative route of attitude moulding (Hill & Sullivan, 2003). This is when you use the physical environment around you or carry out physical activities to involve people in your product and then lead them toward cognitive thinking and emotion building. If my car is a luxury car, I will create a certain atmosphere in the showroom and places where my car is being showcased to try to bring people to like my product, as it is new in the market and a good target market is necessary, strategies like price skimming and intense BTL activities such as test drives at malls, showcasing my car at public areas, doing activities that relate to the theme and the idea of the car will help me promote my product. In my opinion, I would like to use the cognitive route to attitude moulding because for a high involvement product like cars and my product being new to the market I would like people to identify with its benefits more than developing an emotional relationship at first. Since my product has done so well in the Europe and South Asia, I have a lot that I can build up on. if my car is a luxury brand, then I would like to use both the emotional and the cognitive route of attitude changing because generally items that are considered top class and luxury brands are generally promoted by creating an image but then again promoting the attributes and the benefits are also important for these kinds of products, especially when they are new to the market. It is very important to know that you have major competitors in the market who have been there for quite some time. As a strategic brand manager I need to know where my product stands and how can I promote it in the market, as far as I think being able to break into the market is the first and the biggest step and for that cognitive route is the best. (Kotler & Keller, 2006) Works Cited 1. Alexander Chernev (2007). Strategic Marketing Analysis. Brightstar Media, Inc. 2nd Edition 2. Elizabeth Hill and Terry O Sullivan (2003). Foundation Marketing. Financial Times Management; 3 edition 3. G. R. Foxall (2002). Consumer Behaviour Analysis. Routledge 4. Laurie Windham and Ken Orton (2000). The Soul of the New Consumer. Watson-Guptill Publications 5. Mark Wan (2006). Autozine Magazine. Retrieved on March 22, 2008 from http://www.autozine.org/Manufacturer/Korea.htm 6. Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong (2005). Principles of Marketing. Prentice Hall; 11th edition 7. Philip Kotler and Kevin Lane Keller (2006). Marketing Management. Prentice Hall. 12th Edition 8. Stanford (2008). Strategic Marketing Management. Retrieved on March 22, 2008 from http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/exed/smm/index.html Read More