The retailing of new motorvehicles is now in the process of major change, as the principles of lean manufacturing are extended to distribution. New supply systems should transform the selling process. Customer information gathered through the distribution chain will play an increasingly important role in product and marketing strategy. Car companies and dealers will need to rethink how they manage customer information.
Market research is in the 'informing and guiding companies business'. Its effectiveness depends on the quality of the informing service provided by both agencies and internal research departments. Examples from the motor industry suggest that many internal areas of car companies and also other important participants in the industry are not gaining the understanding of the market they need. Market research departments should be spending more time informing their internal clients but this means changes in attitude and a different quality of service from the agencies. Agencies can expand their traditional role to include a greater consulting dimension. They can also take more initiatives to include the smaller companies. Both parties need to re-examine and re-allocate their activities to meet the requirements of lean management in the more stringent economic climate of the 1990s.
Following the pattern established at the first ESOMAR Automotive Conference in Paris in 1990 at Geneva we set out to explore a wide range of marketing topics and their practical implications. The papers in this book, therefore, rarely deal with the methodologies and techniques of market research. Instead, their subjects range from the political arena of the European Community, through the practicalities of how car designers and marketers work together to the economics of survival as a car dealer. Just as important as the programme content is the quality of the speakers themselves. While not all of our speakers would claim to be seasoned presenters, their contributions were founded on a wealth of hands-on management experience. Two-thirds of the speakers and session chairmen are currently, or have recently been, directly engaged in the auto industry. Unlike some other auto industry conferences, which can parade famous heads of car companies (there was one such conference also at Geneva), none of our presenters was confined to selling the company line - this was a working conference. The 108 delegates, drawn from across Europe, represented a variety of viewpoints. Naturally, for an ESOMAR conference, there was a strong representation from the research community, from both agencies and car companies. Delegates from the 12 car make represented at the conference also included many with general marketing and dealer development responsibilities.
The following paper is a âliveâ transcript of the panel discussion which concluded the New Products session. Although the discussion touches on some important areas of theory, the main emphasis is on the practical issues faced by designers, marketers and market researchers. It tackles, head on, some of the raw issues affecting the development of new car designs and this should make it especially valuable to everyone involved in this process.
The consumer has ambivalent feelings about the new car dealer, who has long been protected by the exclusive franchise system. In the U.S. market there are signs that the dealer franchise system is already undergoing a revolution, caused by changes in the industry and in the broader consumer environment. In a crowded market the product must be redefined and broadened to include the service element. Customer satisfaction with individual dealers Is now being monitored by market research studies carried out by the manufacturers. Such studies can monitor progress within a franchise, but it requires a larger, industry wide CSI survey to show the position of the franchise relative to competition. Some of the larger multi-franchise dealers are also seeking to build a corporate identity based on quality of service, which may in time conflict with the manufacturerâs image objectives.
B1 Cars is a major producer of British cars. During the 1970âs it lost the dominance of the British car market, and required rescue by government ownership. It has now been restructured and expects the 1980âs to be a period of regrowth. The Marketing Research department, started to monitor changes in motoring attitudes and behaviour after the 1973/4 oil crisis. Several attempts were made to use advanced analysis techniques as an aid to forward planning. Eventually, cluster analysis segmentation were found to be the most effective means of consolidating large amounts of survey data and of communicating the results to company management. Initially, the segmentations employed attitude statements to define customer needs. These findings led to a re-evaluation of existing sectorization of the car market, and provided a more realistic basis for defining product and customer targets. Later âimplicit' segmentations used image data to group customers according to their perceptions of different cars. A multi-market study of one model and its competitors also showed the potential value of identifying international buyer segments. Overall, this research project, lasting over six years, has contributed significantly to improving the qualitative elements of forward planning, encouraging creative adaptation to a changing environment.