Marketing Analysis For The Retail Industry: A Report By MIT University Students

Task Overview

The term marketing management means giving directions to an organization’s resources in order to implement the best possible strategy so as to meet the desires of the customers. The goal should be maximize the sales of the particular product or service. The person responsible for overseeing, planning the development of new products is the manager of the company. “The manager is also responsible for making the advertisements and promotions. He is also responsible for sales and managing the products for both day to day. He also maintains the long term strategies of his organization”( Akdeniz & Calantone,2017, pp. 43-57).

Mainly the advertisement and marketing department of a company work a s a single department. The marketing manager oversees both the departments. The manager also looks after the projects of the employees and their tasks which help the company in making new projects.  The car industry has a large range of companies and organizations which are involved in designing, development, manufacturing, marketing and selling of the car products. The car industry began in 1960s. The car industry companies have to maintain the safety of the cars. “The manufacturers have to make sure that the parts that they are using are not causing any harm to the passengers or they should also have to make sure that there is no chances of accidents” ( Atkinson, 2016, p. 386).

Part 1  Car dealership market audit.

The car industry is always composed of care dealers who are new. They accepts the ins in trade on the sales of the new car products. They can also purchase old articles directly from different customers, or from the other car dealers. They can also buy from the wholesale markets and the fro the auto dealers who work independently. The independent auto dealers don not have affiliation as an automaker, they can only sale the used vehicles. “While examining the dealer before buying a product, the examiner should make some specific questions” (Camagni, 2017 pp. 183-202). The questions that he should make regarding sales are –

• Wheather he is making a personal record or the list of the profits in on the cars or their deals.
• Which sales are at auction?
• If there any sales to wholesalers.
• What are their sales to other retailers?
• “Is there any in housing dealer finance systems?”( Charter & Polonsky, 2017 pp. 57-70).
• Is there any financing sales who are third party present or not?
• Is there any other types of transactions in sales are present or not?
• If there is any sale which have brought loss should be described.
• While making the sale of a car, how do they report the sales.
• The prices of gross sales per sales contracts should also be known.
• Does the sales price includes the licensing fees and the titling fees ?
• How they keep the records of the incomes and the expenses on books?
• Does the person really own the car company or he is just only the shareholder of the company?
• How he can arrive about the amounts of discounts that is recognized on the sales ?( Charter & Polonsky, 2017, pp. 57-70).

Regarding the inventory items the questions that should be made are –

• “For setting the value of invention for a car, what are the different information sources that are used? Have the values have ever changed? What are factors to be considered for changing the values?
• If a car has to be repaired for it’s resale, how the costs are recorded?
• What is the value used for vehicles at the end of the inventions and how the value actually differs from the price that was estimated previously”( Cherubini et al, 2015, pp.40-49)

Apart from these the customer factors must also be considered for new inventions , for launching a new project. The choices and needs of the customers actually changes from time to time. The types of cars which were liked by people years ago are not liked by people now. They also want goods within  a reasonable price. For example when a car first launched, it’s demand was huge as the cost of the car was much less in comparison to other cars. But now, the demand of the car has reduced as people after using it are not satisfied with the quality of the car. So people now will go for other modes of transport or other types of cars. Mainly demand high quality goods of comforts at low price. So apart from buying cars, people may buy bikes as they are available at reasonable price. Each and every person needs a mode of transport. So if they cannot afford car, they may go for bikes (Christopher, 2016). 

Conducting an Industry Audit

Part 2  Market analysis

The macro environment and microenvironment factors affect the production of the cars.  In most of the countries the production of car is restricted only to domestic or regional uses and demands of the local people. Also the level of car production by an industry is dependent on the level of incomes of the people. It is also dependent on the interest rates and also the financial ability. It is also dependent on the confidences of the consumers and it is also dependent on the other macroeconomic factors. Production of a product takes a long time , so the consistent and predictable progress in the economy is important. Therefore the general macroeconomic and monetary policies which gives consistency in GDP per capita growth are really important factors.

“The primary sources of information are those which are used during the studies or the research of the material. In the car industries the primary sources of information include the original research that is being done, the documents of the government, raw data like the statistics and surveys. It also includes different laws regarding the Australian car industries. Whereas the secondary sources include the ideas and the scholarships of others. Some examples of the secondary sources include some books regarding car industries, articles, histories, criticisms related to the car industries”( Kimes  & Wirtz,2015, pp. 1-68).

Part 3. Audit

The marketing mix includes the four decisions which should be taken before the launching of any project. These four variables are mainly known as the 4Ps of marketing. The marketing mix of the car industries also includes the 4Ps. Any car industry without involving these 4Ps will not be able to make a business prosperous. The 4Ps of the car industry includes –

• Products in the marketing mix – the first thing which comes about while starting an industry is the product. So the first variable in any industry is the products. The decisions to be taken in first is about the products. A product is again divided into core product, augmented product and the tertiary products. Before taking decisions on the components of the products the company should make sure about some questions .

1. What products are the company going to sale?
2. What the quality of the products would be ?
3. What are the features that are different from the markets?
4. The USP of the product should e known.
5. Whether the product that is going to be launched will be sub branded or will be another new brand?
6. What the secondary products are that could also be sold alongwith the primary products?

Based on all the above questions the product decisions should be made. This would affect the other market mix. Like if the company wants to launch a car of much high quality then the pricing, promotion and placing will also have to change ( Kotabe & Helsen, 2014). 

• Pricing in the marketing mix – Pricing of any product depends upon many things, so the pricing of goods change from time to time. Major considerations while pricing a product is the costing of the product, the advertisements and the expenses in marketing. It also includes any fluctuations in the price of the markets, distribution costs, etc. The pricing should be made in such a way that it is capable of adjusting with the changes from time to time. Alongwith these there are other thongs which is needed to be considered. Competition is one such example. At the same time the pricing also involves effects the targeting and positioning of the product. In sales promotion pricing is given as trade discounts. Thus there are many pricing strategies, any one can be implemented for pricing the cars in car industries. (Kotler, 2015). 
• Place in the marketing mix – “Place in the marketing mix refers to the distribution channel. If the product is the product of the customer then the product should be available as wide as possible. If the product is a premium customer product, then the product is available only in the selected stores. Where as if the product is a business product then a team is needed which always interacts with the business and the customers are available with the products due to this. Distribution has a good effect on the profits of the products. The logistic decisions and the supply chains are considered as very important costing decisions in the firms. The car industry should have a full proof logistics and supply chains”( Lutz, 2015,pp. 593-603. ).
• Promotions in the marketing mix – “The integrated marketing communications including the advertisements and sales promotions are the ways through which a car industry endorse a new product. Promotion of a good is dependent a lot on the goods and also the pricing of the products. It is also dependent on the budget and also the stage at which the product is launched. Product awareness promotions should be given if the product is completely new in the market but brand recall promotions should be given if the product is already existing in the markets. The right kind of promotion effects all the other three variables. If the promotions are seen to be effective then the distribution channels also have to be increased. The p[riving of the products also have to be increased. Promotion is considered as the expenses of the company and the same thing has to be considered while setting the costing. Sometimes increasing in the budget may cause decrease in the demands of the products. So proper promotion should be given for a product” (Mathur, Valecha  & Khanna, 2018, pp. 286-290).

SWOT analysis 

The car industries have strength, weakness , opportunities and threats.

Strength

• “Evolving industries
• Continuous innovation of the car and advancement in technology.
• Increasing demands of VHM vehicles.
• Increase in demand of the luxury, commercial vehicles”(Palmer, 2017, p. 225).

Weaknesses

• “Cars recalled
• The consumers have bargaining power.
• The growth rate of the car industry”( Riasi & Pourmiri, 2015, pp. 915-926).

Opportunities

• “Introduction of fuel efficient vehicles.
• Strategic alliances.
• Changing life styles and customer groups.
• Market expansion”( Penna, & Geels ,2015, pp. 1029-1048).

Threats

• Intense competition.
• Volatility in the prices of the fuels.
• Sluggish economy.
• High investments in the research and development ( Shaw, 2016).  

Part 4 Recommendation

In order to improve the marketing performance of the car industry, the companies need to know about the increasing demands of the people. They have to make much more research on the growing needs of the customers. The car that people are liking at present may not be their priorities later. So the company have to make sure that they are coping up with the needs to the people. They should create such vehicles which consume much less petrol so that it does not cause much air pollution. Less fuel consumption also reduces the costs. They need to modify the existing products so that people do not band making use of those old products. The manager of the company must also increase his knowledge about leadership skills, so that he can run his company fruitfully. He must also maintain a homely relationship with the other members of the company.

Part5. 

Conclusion

The assignment has almost come to an end. While doing this assignment I have  learnt a lot regarding the management and marketing of car industries. Though the marketing and management policies of all industries are same but the car industries have some special characteristics. The dealership qualities of the car industry has some differences. The questions that the examiner must ask the dealer for dealing the products have some differences. The car industry has to abide by all the rules that has been set by the government. It has to follow all the product mixes to achieve success in the business. 

Reference list

Akdeniz, M. B., & Calantone, R. J. (2017). A longitudinal examination of the impact of quality perception gap on brand performance in the US Automotive Industry. Marketing Letters, 28(1), 43-57.

Atkinson, D. (2016). CONCEIVING A MARKETING STRATEGY IN THE ERA OF DYNAMIC CAPABILITIES. Economic and Social Development: Book of Proceedings, 386.

Camagni, R. (2017). From city hierarchy to city network: reflections about an emerging paradigm. In Seminal Studies in Regional and Urban Economics (pp. 183-202). Springer, Cham.

Charter, M., & Polonsky, M. J. (2017). Rethinking Marketing: Shifting to a Greener Paradigm. In Greener Marketing (pp. 57-70). Routledge.

Charter, M., & Polonsky, M. J. (Eds.). (2017). Greener marketing: a global perspective on greening marketing practice. Routledge.

Cherubini, S., Iasevoli, G., & Michelini, L. (2015). Product-service systems in the electric car industry: critical success factors in marketing. Journal of Cleaner Production, 97, 40-49.

Christopher, M. (2016). Logistics & supply chain management. Pearson UK.

Kimes, S. E., & Wirtz, J. (2015). Revenue management: Advanced strategies and tools to enhance firm profitability. Foundations and Trends® in Marketing, 8(1), 1-68.

Kotabe, M., & Helsen, K. (2014). Global marketing management.

Kotler, P. (2015). Framework for marketing management. Pearson Education India.

Lutz, C. (2015). Marketing car love in an age of fear: an anthropological approach to the emotional life of a world of automobiles. Etnográfica. Revista do Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia, 19(3)), 593-603.

Mathur, S., Valecha, R. R., & Khanna, V. (2018). A Study on the Impact of Green Marketing on Consumer Buying Behavior in Automobile Industry. International Journal for Advance Research and Development, 3(1), 286-290.

Palmer, A. (2017). The dematerialization of marketing in a global economy. Strategic International Marketing: An Advanced Perspective, 225.

Penna, C. C., & Geels, F. W. (2015). Climate change and the slow reorientation of the American car industry (1979–2012): An application and extension of the Dialectic Issue LifeCycle (DILC) model. Research Policy, 44(5), 1029-1048.

Riasi, A., & Pourmiri, S. (2015). Effects of online marketing on Iranian ecotourism industry: Economic, sociological, and cultural aspects. Management Science Letters, 5(10), 915-926.

Shaw, S. (2016). Airline marketing and management. Routledge.