The marketing plan has been made to understand the efforts of the BMW Company as how their brand has been ingrained in the minds of its customers.
Executive Summary
In 1913, a company named Bayeriche Motoren Werk (BMW) was established in Germany who used to build military aircrafts and aircraft engines. With the passage of time, the BMW group also began to produce automobiles, motorcycles etc. The company has achieved a strong market presence in over hundred countries like United States, United Kingdom, Canada, China, India, Korea etc.
At present, the company has positioned itself in the premium segments with three world’s famous brands i.e. BMW, Mini, Rolls-Royce. In the following marketing plan, the challenges and strategic goals of BMW, the Situational analysis, Competitor analysis with rivals like Mercedes Benz is discussed. The collaborators of the company, the PEST analysis, SWOT analysis are presented to identify the factors that determine where the company stands out in the auto- making industry.
Moreover, the market segmentation of the company has been discussed briefly as what kind of strategy the BMW has adopted to be profitable and remain to be the best of all. This includes the concept of the marketing mix 4ps which defines every aspect of the company from its product, price, place and the promotional tool that they have used to market their products. In the end, the current revenue and growth of the company has been mentioned.
The marketing plan has been made to understand the efforts of the BMW Company as how their brand has been ingrained in the minds of its customers.
Challenges and Strategic Goals
As the world continues to change rapidly, many countries adopt to individual mobility that emphasizes on political regulation and national industry policy. One of the biggest challenge for BMW and other companies is Volatility that creates uneasiness in the period of economic uncertainty. In such a situation, the BMW has adopted a Strategy that aligns the BMW group with two main targets i.e. to remain profitable and raise the long term value of the company. The activities of the company will always focus on the premium segments existing in the international automobile market.
Situational Analysis
Company Analysis
Goals
The BMW Group has aimed to make an everlasting impact on its nine year reign to be the world’s no.1 premium automaker. In order to achieve this goal, the company decides to strengthen its internal synergies between its brands like BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce as well as to come together with new platforms and produce engines that can be shared by more model brands.
Focus
The Company’s main focus is to be profitable even in the volatile times. The BMW‘s latest strategy is to introduce a new front wheel drive architecture and a three and four cylinder modular engine family.
Culture
The BMW group is known for its passion for first class performance and to maintain this culture, the company looks for those employees who can bring out team spirit, taking independent risks and has a thirst for learning. The company promotes a culture of top performance, working together as a team and gives equal opportunity to strive for more.
Market Share
The world’s biggest luxury automaker has surged to a record high in sales as the profits earned by the company new models like 4 Series Gran Coupe and i8 sports car. The market share has advanced to 5.88 Euros or 7.3 % to close to the highest price when they were first got established in 1926. The stock price has also climbed up to 25% over the past 12 months by adding value of 55.4 billion Euros.
Customer Analysis
The company aims to target the younger consumers who are head-strong and appreciate to buy fast, sleek gadgets. One of the recent example is seen when the German automaker shows off the new BMW ‘s 32Oi which begins at the price of $32,550.The company targets the younger audience to this new product by placing ads on Spotify as the younger market is the technology savvy, this is why the company chose to promote the product on Spotify. Most of the products of BMW target the affluent and creative class who prefers to buy from BMW considering on how they feel about the company and what it stands for.
Competitor Analysis
The automobile industry is considered to be the most interesting yet complex business sectors globally. The Japanese cars are now complemented by luxury models such as Lexis Infinity, Acura, to compete with the other European brands like Audi, Mercedes Benz and BMW.
Mercedes Benz is also a German automobile manufacturer, which is also a multinational division of the German manufacturer Daimler AG. The brand name is known for its luxury automobiles, buses, coaches and cars.
The company has a great focus on the sponsorship events like golf, tennis and New York’s fashion week.
Market Positioning
The market positioning is always meant for the upper affluent class. For instance, the Mercedes Benz SL Class Roadster. SL is positioned as a sports car icon which originated since 6o years. Another model of Mercedes Benz, Smart For Two Coup is focused on the lifestyle and environment. Its premium micro- car two seated has a unique feature that allows the vehicle to play a ground-breaking role in terms of environmental compatibility and driving pleasure.
Strengths
• Mercedes Benz is known as the world’s market leader in the luxury segment.
• Strong brand reputation specifically in the area of safety technology.
• The products are high class, comfortable and least consumption of fuel vehicles.
• Ranked as the 16th most well known brand in 2013.
Weaknesses
The Company faces a fierce competition with its rivals like BMW and Audi. This is why; Mercedes Benz has to still strive for a successful differentiation strategy to compete against them.
Market Shares
The Company set a significant sales record in 2013 when they delivered more than 1.46 million Mercedes brand vehicles to the customers. In 2014, the customers are given a whole series of new products such as C-Class which is the first Mercedes Benz model built on a slogan of “Four Continents, One Passion”.
BMW 3- Series vs. Mercedes Benz C Class
The C-Class is less sporty and less powerful as compared to the 3 series which is more fuel efficient, scoring 24 mpg city and 33 mpg highway while the C Class has 21/31 mpg rating. However both the models differ in interior and exterior style , but for those who is looking out for a luxurious and out class performance , BMW 3 Series is the best choice.
The BMW group also has a stiff competition with companies like Audi, Lexus etc.
Collaborators
• Subsidiaries: South Africa, India, China, USA, Egypt, Canada etc.
• Joint Ventures: BMW has recently decided to extend its joint venture with Brilliance China Automotive Holdings until 2028, which will help both the companies to grow in the largest car market segment.
• Distributors: The Company has several distributers/dealers in Singapore, Dubai, Pakistan etc.
Climate: Macro-Environmental Pest Analysis:
Political and Legal Environment
The laws and regulations of the country always impact the automaker industry. These laws are associated with the environmental norms that constitute any automaker industry and therefore, the car manufacturers should take the environmental issues, the foreign policy and taxes of the country they operate very seriously. In Germany, the company decided to make pollution badges compulsory.
Economic Environment
Most of the economic factors that affect the company are the economic downturn in the market. When the purchasing power of the consumer becomes low and the currency rate start declining in the developing countries like in India.
Social and Cultural Environment
People look forward to purchase hybrid and duel fuel cars. They highly demand for green products.
Technological Environment
BMW has always been famous for its technological expertise .Recently; the company has turned to new 3D printing in order to physically augment the car plant workers thumbs. Each thumb is made of a custom orthotic device with the help of a portable 3D camera.
SWOT Analysis of BMW
Strengths
• Strong brand reputation all across the globe. • Well –known for quality and environmental friendly vehicles. • The workforce is highly skilled. • BMW has maintained the role of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) successfully. • The company has a strong presence in China.
Weaknesses
• The prices of BMW products are usually high. • Strategic partnerships and acquisitions are small in number. • The brand portfolio can be further diversified. • The high cost structure can weaken the company’s brand name in various market segments.
Opportunities
• Living up to the needs and standards of the consumers. • Market expansion. • Diversifying the brand portfolio. • Increasing the fuel prices can be beneficial.
Threats
• Fierce competition with rivals like Mercedes Benz, Audi, Honda etc. • Decrease in fuel prices. • The rise in raw material prices. • The rise in euro exchange rate.
Market Segmentation
The market segmentation, targeting and positioning is mostly done by companies as businesses cannot fulfill the demands and needs of the consumers of the whole population in an equal manner. Segmentation helps in dividing the population into different market segments according to the criteria of demographics, geographic, behavioral and Psychographic.[sky]
BMW has categorized its market segment in 3 series that is comprised of three different engine sections; this helps people to differentiate as each engine has a different price. The company has used Demographic market segmentation where they allow the customers to make a purchase decision based on their demands. The demographic segment is further divided into income, age and gender. BMW is mostly favored by men of age over 35 whose income level is usually more than $75.000.Therefore, it suggests that the BMW targets the high income level of consumers. The company’s retail stores are mostly located in areas where the majority of the consumers live in the upper class region. This is how BMW execute its geographic segmentation. The biggest geographical market segment for BMW is the US and Western Europe.
Marketing Strategies of BMW
Global marketing strategy of BMW
The company understands the logic of marketing the product globally and serving the customers based on their needs. BMW choose to sell to those consumers who have high standards for quality and luxury as their products are built on these attributes. The company focuses on the premium segments on a global scale. Producing attractive and trend setting products which ranges from 3 to 7 series are targeted to affluent customers by successfully demonstrating the global marketing strategy. BMW has managed its global marketing strategy by integrating the emotional marketing perspective which interchanges synergistically to maintain its leadership presence in the automaker industry. In Korea, the company also donates pre- production automobiles to the faculty and students to further study in the automobile technology.
Innovation Strategy of BMW
The latest innovation strategy implemented by BMW is test driving the BMW X5 eDrive plug in hybrid prototype and the BMW 5 series Sedan; both of them are well equipped with the latest generation of proactive drive system.
Marketing Mix 4Ps OF BMW
Product
A product is the most important element in the marketing mix as it fulfills the required needs of the customers.BMW has positioned its products as a unique luxury car that gives an exhilarating driving experience to the customers.
Price
The strategy adopted by BMW is the Value based pricing. The customers are fond of buying BMW cars based on the brand name and quality of their products. BMW also uses Segment pricing strategy by offering the best pricing options to the graduate students. The price range of BMW begins with $16,000 to $60,000.Factors that affect the prices are engine size, motor sport version etc. The BMW group also has many discount offers for its valuable customers.
Place
The company use huge market dealership and imports from non dealership networked countries. They have got 4 manufacturing plants in UK. The company is operating in almost 100 countries worldwide with approximately 4000 dealers who are authorized to sell new and used cars.
Promotion
BMW has used several advertising means for promoting their products. This includes television for branding campaigns, new car launches, publications and magazines, outdoor campaigns, brochures, internet etc.
Short Term and Long Term Projections
In the first quarter of March 2014, BMW has profited from an increasingly responsive market conditions specifically in Europe, by achieving a new sales volume with 480,024A cars got sold.
According to the current reports, BMW has announced that they will soon outperform the market. This was a consensus forecast since the investment analysis has been improved on Feb 4th, 2014.The 2nd quarter earnings per share of the BMW Company were about 2.69 per share and achieved the revenue of 19.91 bn.
Conclusion
The BMW group is the world’s leading automaker industry. The company faces an intense competition in the market and in order to remain competitive should consider reducing costs and expand into new markets. The company has also maintained its brand management which attracts and target the right market and potential buyers.