Economic And Demographic Segmentation Of Volkswagen

• Explain demographics, Geographic’s, psychographics and why companies use these methods to segment the market effectively

1. Develop a segmentation scheme for the automobile industry in your country of residence. Using benefit segmentation, behavioural segmentation, or some other basis of segmentation, identify at least four of the major groups of consumers in this market that are evident to you. Justify, from a marketing perspective, (explain) why your segmentation scheme is an appropriate one, using the criteria in Figure 3.2 (page 77). (5 marks)

Psychographic or lifestyle – According to Bhasin (2017) psychographic segmentation is one which uses peoples lifestyle, their activities, interests as well as opinions to define a market segment. This market would be directed towards families that go to the movies, watch videos on the internet, and shows interest in videos.

The Volkswagen Group follows a cost leadership and differentiation strategy. The Volkswagen Group achieves low cost leadership by sharing automotive parts amongst its products and as well as sharing vehicle platforms amongst the other 12 brands under the Volkswagen Group, such as Audi, Bentley, Porsche and Volkswagen Passenger Cars. The Group improves product differentiation by focusing on the product quality improvement, innovation and sustainability. This differentiation strategy helps ensure that the customers are satisfied with the products, and that the customers will be willing to pay a premium for the product.

They have brands and models of cars to appeal to every kind of demographic group, and simply cater for the needs and wants of consumers.
• Ford is particularly successful in their sponsorships, advertising and other forms of marketing. Ford is currently sponsoring the football Champions League, with “Destination Football” slogan (Bloomberg, 2005).
• The current research and development activities of Ford allow them to be pioneers in certain production technologies (Kochan, 2001).
Weaknesses

• In an attempt to attract younger generations to purchase Jaguar cars, Ford introduced “baby Jag”. The effects of such an action proved to be negative in damaging Jaguar’s reputation, and is a weakness for Ford (Kerwin, 2002)
• Quality assurance needs to be more of a focal point for Ford to avoid recalling cars and expensive repair operations. (Kochan, 2001)
• In 2002, Ford and Bridgestone experienced a faulty tyre scandal which caused a two billion dollar loss (BBC, January 2002). 
Opportunities

• To develop vehicles that uses other forms of energy than petrol and diesel and to become pioneers in this area.
• The numbers of car owners who replace their old models with new ones are on the increase (Mintel, 2004). 
• Demand for cars by women drivers is on the increase and so is the overall demand for cars (Key Note, 2005).
Threats

• Further increases in gasoline prices, and eventually the world supply of gasoline finishing.
• To become

One must understand the marketing segments of this population. First, the geographic segmentation represents a market that is divided by its location. In this case, the geographic segmentation is based on the consumers who live in a specific region, such as the homeless mothers and young children. In other words, these women and children all share some similar wants and needs. Then there is demographic segmentation, which consists of demographic factors such as age, ethnicity, nationality, and occupation. In this case, the demographic factors include young mothers and their children, homeless individuals with no jobs, and a variety of different ethnicities. Next is psychographic segmentation that handles personality, values, attitudes, interests, and lifestyles. Lastly, there is behavioral segmentation, which divides the market into groups based on their knowledge, uses and responses to a certain product. For example, the population being discussed has a lack of knowledge of healthcare, but understands how to interact with social media.

Volkswagen One of the largest automobile company in the world. Volkswagen is a company from Germany that deals with automobile manufacturing. In the list of top ten best selling cars Volkswagen’s has three cars, those us Volkswagen Golf, Volkswagen Passat and Volkswagen Beetle. The meaning of Volkswagen is ‘People’s car’, which is a German word. Slogan of Volkswagen is “Das Auto”. Ferdinand was funded Volkswagen was founded in 1937 its Headquarter is in Wolfsburg, in country Germany. Martin Winterkorn is the Current chairman of the company. Volkswagen’s revenue 94.7 billion euro in 2011 and also has more than 3658500 employees. Volkswagen is among world’s largest car manufacturer. Others are Toyota, General Motors,

Volkswagen is an car manufacturer that sells mainly in Europe, North America, South America, and the Asia-Pacific. It is composed of four sectors: Passenger Cars, Commercial Vehicles, Power Engineering, and Financial Services, of which help them manufacture, develop, and sell their products. The company’s productions are sold on many platforms including Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Audi, ŠKODA,

"May 28, 1937: Volkswagen is Founded." History.com. A&E Television Networks, LLC., n.d. Web. 9 Nov. 2012. .

Psychographics is the science of using both psychology and demographics to understand consumers (Kotler & Keller, 2011). Psychographics divides the consumers into different groups on the basis of psychological/personality traits, lifestyle, or values (Kotler & Keller). The most popular commercial psychological program is Strategic Business Insight’s VALS system, it signifying values and lifestyles, classifies U.S. adults into eight groups based on answers to a questionnaire featuring 4 demographic and 35 attitudinal questions (Kotler & Keller).

Volkswagen, as the name suggests means “people’s car” and defines its objectives to design and manufacture cars which are fuel efficient and affordable. With continuous improvement, Volkswagen has not only subjugated the automotive market with respect to its low priced cars, but also earned industry acknowledgement. The core competency of Volkswagen is structured to build customer loyalty. Although, Volkswagen suffered from erratic sales pattern when the company introduced a new model commonly called as the “Himalayas chart” due to its rise and falls (Austin, 2007).This was because of the management not dealing with situations proactively. This problem was mitigated soon through its

At the end of the 19th century, in Germany, there were already a number of car manufacturers. August Horch & Cie was one of them, which was founded on 14, November,

Market Analysis is a process that helps to identify and access the key features of a market to have full understanding of customers, competitors, suppliers and so on by using a range of market research techniques. Therefore, by carrying out market analysis, Cielo Sendirian Berhad is able to run more efficiently and effectively. One of the most commonly used market characteristics is market segmentation. Market segmentation refers to subdividing a market of people in groups by categorizing them with different level of purchasing power, gender, religion, different needs and so on. The purpose of segmentation is to concentrate on the needs of different groups to gain an advantage over our competitors. Our company Cielo, is currently focuses on women’s market, who are professionals. Market segmentation that we are going to discuss are geographical segmentation, demographical segmentation and psychographic segmentation.

The company is able to satisfy the buyer’s needs and wants through variables. Such as; occupation, gender, age, nationality, family size and lifecycle, income, religion, social class and education.

Volkswagen has set a bold goal of dethroning Toyota as the world’s largest auto maker. This goal includes significantly increasing the North American market share, as Volkswagen currently holds only 2.2 percent of the United States market. Volkswagen’s strategy includes cutting prices and tailoring its cars to better fit the American lifestyle and tastes. This includes increasing the size of its vehicles and modifying certain amenities, such as increasing the cup holder size to fit the larger sized beverages which Americans are known to drink. In order to become the world’s largest auto maker by 2018, Volkswagen’s management team has set a lofty goal of selling 800,000 vehicles per year