Case Study Of Bentley's International Market Segmentation

Segmentation and positioning are two important concepts in marketing. While these terms are generally used in relationship to promotional activities, the term segmentation has relevance for market research as well. Segmentation involves dividing the larger universe of consumers or businesses into smaller units that represent more specific target audiences. Positioning is the next step whereby companies determine, based on the segments they have identified, how they can effectively promote what they have to offer compared to competitive offerings and positioning. Effective marketers know that the better they can segment audiences, the more they will be able to develop target messages and select specific

From consumer’s perspective, the motivation of their purchasing high-end products is complicated. According to the report of Mintel (Academic.mintel.com, 2013), which showed that the reason why a large number of customs have purchased luxury merchandise in UK. There were 44 percent of female interviewees and 48 percent of male interviewees bought high-end goods due to the good quality. In addition, 31 percent of men and 18 percent of women consider the sophisticated technique

Bentley uses different kinds of market segmentation to segment their international market. By using variables like nation’s economic development and gross domestic product, markets like United States, UK and Europe are recognized and had been Bentley’s traditional market. Those markets gave Bentley a lot of sales especially during the economic boom in the 80s. As sales slowly declined in the 90s, Bentley had a hard time keeping up. That leads to a major investment in facility, new product development and brand repositioning. As sales drop again in 2008, Bentley began to realize that their use of variables for market segmentation like age, education, gender and etc is not how the market behave, with the increasing buying power of the rich from BRIC. This force them to segment market based on number of sales in that market and not based on developed or developing nations like they used to. This results in targeting market that are growing, despite those market have low per capita income, but the buying power of consumers in those market is the greatest. Young consumers in economically growing nations are being targeted. As they are young and less educated, they would like to possess branded things as a sign of their social class and since Bentley is a strong brand which comes along with luxury design and innovative technology, there is no doubt

According to Horner and Swarbrooke (2005: 39), Segmentation may be defined as the process of dividing a whole market into subgroups or segments for marketing management purposes. Market segmentation is the division of the overall market for a service into various categories with common characteristics. In response to different segments, organisations facilitate the available resources to achieve greater efficiency, in order to satisfy specific needs of customers.

Porsche is a tradition and a legacy all by itself. The competitive positioning of the Boxter is associated with the brand name. Porsche’s luxury and lifestyle brand are luxury personified in terms of the technically superior design. The long term success of the brand is only due to its designing and technical competence to deal with the super luxury definition.

Accompanying reasonability, the fact that expensive cars can be a status symbol does play a role in the consumers’ decision; however, people have bought expensive things to flaunt since currency has existed. “The only people who bought expensive cars for looks were wealthy adults. Most people bought

Market segmentation is a marketing strategy that involves dividing a broad target market into subsets of consumers who have common needs and applications

Mercedes-Benz operates on the differentiation strategy. Luxury, prestige and technological innovations drive the company 's production from the high quality small cars and e-bikes of the smart brand, to the premium automobiles of the global corporation.

This process helps a firm or organisation in focusing its marketing effort towards a specific segment or a group of segments. Depending on the product, organisational goals, the size of the firm and the marketing resources available a firm may target only one ‘niche’ segment or alternatively focus on several related segments. Another method can be to start with one segment and add more when business grows successfully. Large companies often target all market segments and try to serve them by offering a large variety of products to suit all their needs, wants and demands.

When the name Mercedes-Benz is mentioned, it needs no explanation to talk about a well company as it, but most people have no idea about this automobile legacy and its product’s line. In fact, Mercedes Benz is always associated with the world class brand of cars, buses, coaches and tracks known for their luxurious nature. Mercedes Benz is not a company in itself; Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm May Bach call its parent company Daimler AG, which was founded, in 1890.

1) The buyer decision process of traditional Porsche customers relies on the motivations that determine these people to select this brand. Their purchasing decision process is based on the exclusivity of the brand that is connected with the car owner. In their opinion, by purchasing a Porsche, traditional customers purchase the exclusivity and luxury associated with the brand. These customers want to purchase a car that reflects their social status and their financial power. In addition to this, they are not interested in the utility of the car, but in the characteristics that differentiate it from utility cars. These traditional buyers are rather interested in their feeling while driving a Porsche in comparison with the size, price, or fuel economy of the car.

Porsche is one of the most well-known brands in the world. In customers' minds, Porsche stands for exclusivity, class, and high quality. The company's marketing strategy is oriented towards identifying the needs and preferences of a small group of customers and on developing car models that satisfy these needs. However, Porsche was forced to introduce several models on the market that were not in accordance with what typical customers of the company usually prefer. These models refer to lower-priced cars, but also to high class SUVs like Cayenne and Panamera.

Market segmentation was to dividing a market into distinct groups of buyers with different needs, charactistics or behaviour who might require separate products or marketing mixes, the company will first

2. Differentiated marketing - A firm decides to target several market segments and designs separate offers for each.

However, due to its unique targeting strategy, it has not win compatible brand recognition among the public. Although Audi enter much earlier than BMW and Benz in the luxury car market, its marketing strategy limited increase of public brand recognition even Audi has over 100 years’ history. Besides, although its styles are highly accepted by the targeting customers, there are a growing number of people who can afford luxury cars for family use in China. Lack of vitality is limit of its further market expansion. On the contrary, its major competitor in China, BMW, has launched a series of marketing strategies to promote its high-performance, manoeuvrability, as well as stylish design to attract young people (BMW, 2009) in order to expand its market share. Therefore, although Audi has achieved success in the targeting market, it may consider further development through diversification in product line and advertising campaign.