Marketing Strategy for Cruze Car from Chevrolet Company in Qatar - Essay Example

Marketing plan for Cruze car from Chevrolet Company in Qatar s Introduction Due to the rapid development of technology, the automobile industry is also growing at a fast rate. A similar trend has also been observed in the Qatari. Chevrolet car manufacturing company is major player in the automobile market. It is an American automobile division of General Motors (GM) also of the American origin. The company was founded by Louis Chevrolet and William Durant in 1911, 103 years ago. It is headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States (Collier, 2012). Chevrolet branded automobiles are sold in the majority of the automotive markets across the globe. The mission statement of automobile firms defines their brand, culture, and customer experience. Since Chevrolet is a brand of the GM, it uses the mission statement of the General Motors Car Company. The mission statement of GM is backed by the following core principles: safety and quality first, create life-long customers, innovate, deliver long-term investment value, and make a positive difference. The unofficial mission statement of Chevrolet brand is “We win when the customer says we win.” In the Middle East, the Chevrolet-branded cars are a sourced from General Motors in North America, General Motors Korea in South Korea, and General Motors Holden in Australia (Gustin, 2008). Chevrolet has various vehicles. To that effect, the paper will discuss the marketing plan for Chevrolet Cruze car brand in the Qatari market. Marketing research In the present scenario, the Qatari automobile market segment has now been developing in a considerable manner due to augmented demand for fuel efficient, spacious, affordable, and easy to maintain cars. According to Qatar’s Automobiles Company, by the end of this year, about 90,000 cars had been sold in Qatar with most of the vehicles being from Toyota Company. Furthermore, Rolls-Royce also realized an increase in sales by 37 percent. In the same way, most of the automobile companies recorded an increase in the number of sales. However, Bhaktavatsala (2013) notes that more than 700,000 people drive Chevrolet cars in Qatar. Chevrolet has significant market share in the automobile market. Most of the people who purchase motor vehicles in Qatar have higher disposable incomes. This implies that they have the ability to purchase the vehicles in spite of their higher prices. Most Qataris prefer to purchase vehicles that are technologically advanced, fuel efficient, stylish with modern features, and easy to maintain. Proceeding further, nobody denies that safety is one of the major concerns of customers. Almost all automobile clients will not purchase a vehicle that has no proper safety elements, such as, airbags and in-vehicle tracking devices. More than 80 percent of the Qatari population uses the Internet (Wang, Chen, & Liang, 2011). In this perspective, since the majority of the Qatari population has embraced technology, the firm will use both electronic and print media to advertise the Cruze car. With regard to electronic media, the Chevrolet products will be advertised on social media and television. This will improve the sales by 70 percent by 2017. As for the family cars, the consumers prefer vehicles with ample cargo room and fuel efficiency. External environment analysis CREST analysis Competitiveness: The automobile industry is highly competitive with players, such as, Toyota, Hinda, Nissan, Ford, Volkswagen, General Motors, Rolls-Royce, and Mercedes. Rules and regulations: Qatar has a global agreement with the vehicle regulations. Environmental pollution is one of the challenging issues in Qatar. The government has regulation on carbon-dioxide emissions levels. The vehicle meets the set emissions’ standards by the Qatari government. All automobile firms are to adhere to the rules and regulations governing the motor vehicle industry, like, safety and standard issues and compatibility spares manufacturers. Economic: Qatar has a high per capita income making it a suitable market for the product. In Qatar, the retail car market has been on the rise in the last five years. The income is also growing resulting to an increase in the upper middle class population who are associated with high-quality purchases. Inflation is also on the decline and gross domestic product is rising. Social: Most women in Qatar rarely purchase motor vehicles. There are also few women in the workforce. Due to social stratification, there are the high, middle, and low income earners. The Islamic religion also plays a significant role in market orientation with men being the core decision makers. However, the younger generation has increased the demand for cars. Most people also do not like vehicles which emit a lot of smoke and noise. Technological: Due to the recent advancements in technology, car manufacturers are starting to produce fuel efficient vehicles and also introducing alternative energy vehicles as a solution to energy efficiency and reducing pollution. They are also using latest technology to ensure safety. SWOT analysis SWOT analysis is a described as structured planning method that is used to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that are involved in a business project (Hill & Westbrook, 2007). Strength: there is a 12-year warranty on the product which is more than its competitors’ products that provide 3 years of warrant. The firm also offers 3 years of free service for Cruze car. It is also the first car with 10 standard airbags offering protection to the driver and passengers. It is fuel efficient and has ample cargo space along with state-of-the-art safety technology. The car also produces very minimal emissions making it environment-friendly. It uses clean diesel technology thus cleaner gas emissions. Cruze car is available in 9 styles and combines technology that results in increased performance. Cruze car has the latest vehicle connectivity devices. Weaknesses: Low market share, medium service quality, low resale value, and few sales representatives and managers to attain the sales objective. Opportunities: manufacturing cars of the same model that uses both automatic and manual gear systems, need to expand sales into foreign markets, opening a service centre for the general public, and producing vehicles with hybrid engines. Threats: competition in the industry is a threat to the car manufacturing companies. The product faces stiff competition from TIIDA, Corola, and Lancer. The other threat is gaining and maintaining consumer confidence. Shift in consumer preferences. Increase in fuel costs. Market segmentation, target, and positioning For the people who earn more than 10,000 monthly and have families of 3 or 4, the Cruze car is spacious and fuel efficient among all other high-performing cars including Corolla, Lancer, and TIIDA because it uses latest engine-technology, a spacious interior, and ample cargo space. The target market for Cruze car are the Qatari people who earn an income of more than 10,000 Qatari Riyals every month and have families of not more than 4 people. The car can only carry a maximum of 4 people without putting pressure on any of its components. The vehicle is high-performing, fuel efficient, and safe, with adequate interior and cargo space. This makes the product (Cruze car) suitable for this target market. With an increasing population of upper-middle class people have families and earn more than 10,000 Qatari Riyals per month, Cruze car will be their vehicle of choice. Marketing strategy A new product’s marketing strategy involves the process of the placement of the four P’s: (product, placement, pricing, and promotion) (Laermer & Simmons, 2007). Product: Cruze car is technologically advanced, fuel efficient, stylish with modern features, and easy to maintain. The vehicle has incredible efficiency, bold design, potent performance, and delivers versatile driving choices. In the same way, the car comes in different colors including blue, grey, white, cream, green, pall white, and black among many others depending on the needs of the customer. It also has a 6-speed automatic gear and good suspension. Since the vehicle is a target for families, it has ample cargo room, spacious interior with a 60/40 split-folding rear sits so as to find room for larger items, and latest in-vehicle connectivity features. This element will ensure quick adoption by the consumers. The car also has the state-of-the-art safety technology including overhead airbag, knee bag, traction control, rear side-impact airbag, panic alarm, brake assist, dual front airbag, immobilzer, electronic stability, and occupant sensing airbag. A high-strength steel safety cage and roof crush resistance which adds to the integrity of the passenger compartment. Cruze is available in 9 styles and combines technology that maximizes fuel economy and impressive performance. It offers a performance torque of a V6 with a 4-cylinder efficiency. The fuel economy highway is 38 mpg with the 2.0-litre turbocharged clean diesel engine produces 151 horsepower. The vehicle is also eco-friendly since it utilizes the latest clean diesel technology that assists to reduce emissions. The clean turbo diesel beats out the competition from Corola, TIIDA, and Lancer. The lower emissions have enabled the car to meet the new generation of stringent clean diesel standards, such as, Tier 2 Bin 5 Emissions Standards. It also has entertainment features including CD player, AM/FM radio, steering mounted audio controls, and MP3 decoder. The other features which sets it apart from other vehicles include heated door mirrors, power door mirrors, emergency communication system, integrated navigation system, an outside temperature display, and reverse sensing system, along with a speed-sensing steering wheel. Price: Price is the main competing factor in business (Thomas & Jogan, 2013). By having the knowledge of how pricing is perceived in the target market, it is easy to come up with a pricing strategy. Chevrolet will use pricing to generate revenue from the product. The price of vehicle will range between $17,500 and $22,770 depending on the model. The prices of Corolla, TIIDA, and Lancer range between $17,400 and $21,350. Since the target market for the product are people who earn more than 10,000 Qatari Riyals, these categories of consumers are easier to persuade to trade up to higher price points because they have more disposable income. Most customers in this segment judge a commodity’s price by its price taking. Higher price is a sign of good quality while low prices are associated with poor quality products. In this case, the firm will employ segmented pricing where the upper-middle class will be charged modestly while the wealthy people will be charged highly. The other pricing strategy Chevrolet will use is promotional pricing. The first 50 customer will be sold the vehicle at $16,500. Promotional pricing assists the manufacturer to attract more customers in a very short time (Thomas & Jogan, 2013). As part of the promotional pricing, longer warranties (12 years) and free servicing will be provided. Promotion: Promoting the product will ensure the customers are aware of the product. The Company mainly uses advertising as its core source of increasing consumer awareness. In the 21st century, the most effective marketing tool is online marketing. The Internet offers a better way of viewing the product as well as reaching a wider consumer base in Qatar and across the globe. The advent of the internet technology, as noted by Singla and Kumar (2011), has transformed customers into more complicated, savvy, and well-informed buyers. Shaw (2012) argues that online marketing has proven to be the most successful as a result of its convenience and flexibility. Chevrolet will use online networking sites to promote the product including Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Twitter, as well as through online forums and blogs. However, not all people in Doha and other parts of Qatar access the Internet. Therefore, advertisement would be done through electronic (television and radio) and print media (automobile magazines, newspapers, and billboards) on the benefits of using the Chevrolet product, Cruze car. Therefore, the use of both electronic and print media is aimed at reaching both the physical store shoppers and online consumers. Placement: The placement of distribution has to be decided on the basis of consideration of the areas where the footfall of the target audience is maximum (Kotler & Keller, 2006). The placement of the product needs to reach out to people who are in the target audience. The product will be easily available in places that are convenient for people who look for motor vehicles, such as, car bazaars. The firm will use 30 distribution outlets. The product shall be made available in car bazaars and car dealerships shops among other places in Doha, Dukhan, Al Kwar, Al Khuwayr, Al Jasrah, Ath Thaqab, Al Rayyan, and Al Wakrah. However, 23 of the 30 distribution centers will be located in Doha since 90 percent of Qatari population resides there with other seven in the aforementioned cities. References Bhaktavatsala R. (2013). "Structural Configurations and Strategic Investments: Qataris Automobile Industry". Economic and Political Weekly, 28 (8/9): 21-68. Collier, James (2012). The Automobile. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark. Homburg, C., Sabine, K., & Harley, K. (2009). Marketing Management: A Contemporary Perspective, London: Sage Publishers. Shaw, E. (2012). "Marketing strategy: From the origin of the concept to the development of a conceptual framework." Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, 4(1), 30–55. Laermer, R., & Simmons, M. 2007. Punk Marketing, New York: Harper Collins. Singla, B. B., & Kumar, P. 2011, E-shopping: A paradigm shift in buying behavior. International Journal of Research in IT, Management and Engineering, 1(2), 174-189. Kotler, P., & Keller, K. (2006). Marketing and Management, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, Thomas, A., & Jogan, P. (2013). Price adjustment strategies. New York: Francis & Taylor. Wang, Q., Chen, W., and Liang, Y. (2011). The Effects of Social Media on College Students. Johnson & Wales University, Providence, RI. Read More