Project Proposal

Sales and Marketing Strategies of Automobile Sector

Name of the Student:

Registration Number:

GRIFFITH COLLEGE DUBLIN

2019-2020
 SECTION 1

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This section gives details about the methods that was used in data collection and they include;
Research design, Survey population, sampling design, Sampling size, Sources of data, Tools and
methods of data collections and possible problems to be encountered during data collection.

About the Topic

Sales and Marketing strategy is your plan for reaching, engaging, and converting target prospects
into profitable customers. It’s the charter that guides Marketing and Sales in their daily activities,
helping them clarify shared objectives and how to achieve them.  

A strategic sales and marketing plan outlines specific customer markets a business will target
with a sales and marketing campaign. It also delineates tactics the business will use to reach
target consumers. These tactics can include advertising, brand building activities and product
specials. Most effective strategies include an in-depth market assessment, budget and timeframe.

In this present era of marketing all the business activities revolve around consumer and his needs
and wants so it has become mandatory for the marketer to understand the consumer and then
plan the marketing strategy accordingly. Today the business world very well recognizes that
consumer rules the market and correct prediction about when, why, how, and where consumers
do or do not buy a product is crucial for them to succeed. Moreover, understanding the consumer
is not an easy task as it is very difficult and sometimes impossible to predict about their behavior.
Consumer behavior is a blend of economic, technological, political, cultural, demographic and
natural factors as well. Sometimes the customers positively respond to company's offerings and
sometimes they straight away reject it.
SELECTION OF SAMPLE SIZE

In order to take a reasonable sample size and not to take too much time of the respondents, a
sample size of 100 customers have been selected at random from all demographic backgrounds
and feedback forms (questionnaire) have been obtained.

SAMPLING TECHNIQUE USED

The technique of Random Sampling has been used in the analysis of the data.

Random sampling from a finite population refers to that method of sample selection, which gives
each possible sample combination an equal probability of being picked up and each item in the
entire population to have an equal chance of being included in the sample. This sampling is
without replacement, i.e. once an item is selected for the sample, it cannot appear in the sample
again.

DATA COLLECTION

To determine the appropriate data for research mainly two kinds of data was collected namely
primary & secondary data as explained below:

PRIMARY DATA

Primary data are those, which were collected afresh & for the first time and thus happen to be
original in character. However, there are many methods of collecting the primary data; all have
not been used for the purpose of this project. The ones that have been used are:

 Questionnaire

 Informal Interviews

 Observation

SECONDARY DATA

Secondary data is collected from previous researches and literature to fill in the respective
project. The secondary data was collected through:
  Text Books
 Articles
 Journals
 Websites

STATISTICAL TOOLS USED

The data will be analyzed through statistical methods. Simplex percentage analysis will be used
for analyzing the collected data.

Simplex percentage analysis:

Percentage analysis will be the method to represent raw streams of data as a percentage (a part
in100‐ percent) for better understanding of collected data.

Graphs:

Graphical representations will be used to show the results in simple form. The graphs will be
prepared on the basis of data that will be received from the percentage analysis
 SECTION 2

AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

As the car manufacturers are now open to competition consequent to removal of restrictions by
the government on market entry and exit, capacity addition and technology adoption, they are
faced daily by whole sets of challenges and opportunities. Decision to be made includes location
of production, mode of entry and marketing strategies, for example, and all have significant
ramifications for marketing and corporate performance. They have to be flexible enough to
respond rapidly to competition and market changes, and in order to surpass their competitors,
they need to create competitive advantage and then sustain it through the appropriate fit business
strategies. Competition is the starting point of strategy. If there is no competition, there is no
need of strategy. Consumers, meanwhile, are exposed to a plethora of domestic and foreign
products and brands, among which choices have to be made. They have even started thinking to
change over to the new models of cars, with related ease than before, to suit their changing life
styles. This indicates that within just over a decade and a half, the automobile industry landscape
has changed completely.

Therefore, possibly the most challenging concept in the marketing is to deal with understanding
the buyer behavior. The attitude of Indian consumers has undergone a major transformation over
the last few years. The Indian consumer today wants to lead a life full of luxury and comfort. He
wants to live in present and does not believe in savings for the future. Thus, understanding how
consumers make buying decisions can increase the car manufacturers’ probability of getting
success in the market.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The proposed study aims to study the marketing strategies adopted by the automobile companies.
This study also aims to develop appropriate options, which can be used by the professional and
by the companies to take appropriate decisions related to automobile marketing.

This study specifically attempts to create a systematic understanding of:

1. To study the knowledge companies, have about customer and competition in automobile
industry.
2. To study marketing strategies adopted by companies and its impact on the market
effectiveness and profitability.
3. To study the measures adopted by companies for gaining competitive advantage.
4. To analyse the buying process of the different consumers.

BACKGROUND OF THE RESEARCH OBJECTIVE

The car market in India is increasing by leaps and bounds. India might be a rapidly growing
economy, but it’s the car industry that is going to dominate the Indian roads, generate volumes
and strengthen car manufacturers’ bottom-lines in future. The marketplace currently occupies a
considerable share of the annual car production in India. Most players within the car industry are
trying to outdo one another in terms of style, innovation, pricing, and technology, so as to
achieve increased market share.

Considering few market realties; many more people are also buying cars now than even few
years ago and this number is growing exponentially. One of the reasons is the continuously
increasing income level of the Indian consumers with the growth in the national economy. This
can be manifest by the increased affluence of the growing Indian middle class category (Nagaraj,
2008), ending in a very huge growth in personal vehicle possession. It is predicted by a study on
Indian consumers, conducted by Mckinsey Global Institute, that if India's growth continues
unabated, then the rise of over 291 million people over desperate poverty line by 2025, will make
it the fifth largest consumer market in the world. The reports forecast a massive rise in the
number of Indian middle-class to 583 million by 2025. The report also discusses a rise in the
average household disposable income from INR 113,744 (US$2,499.87) in 2005 to INR 318,896
(US$7008.70) by 2025 (McKinsey Global Institute, 2005).

These results indicate a rise in the consumption level of the Indian consumers and shift in the
consumption pattern from necessities towards discretionary consumption which include
expenditure on transportation in the form of passenger cars. The findings of the report also reveal
a change in spending habits of the rich urban households which converges with that of their
counterparts in developed countries and their priority expenditure includes purchase of branded
apparels, foreign vacations and purchase of passenger cars. Other reasons apart from economic
growth, cited by the report include availability of easy consumer financing, tendency of the
people to rely more on their personal vehicles and reduction in the prices of the passenger cars.

Traditionally, economists and market researchers were inquisitive about identifying the factors
that may have an effect on consumers’ automobile purchase behaviors, and have developed
different marketing strategies to estimate market share. A consumer’s buying preference
behavior is influenced by cultural, social, personal and psychological factors. Most of these
factors are uncontrollable and beyond the hands of car manufacturers but they have to be
considered while developing marketing strategies to influence the complex behavior of the
consumers.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study focuses on the fieldwork to collect detailed data related to the present marketing
strategies adopted by Automobile Industry in India for marketing as well as perceptional
consumer demands and competitive advantage that are influencing our industry and will
dominate in the future also. And the emerging trends that are more dramatically reshaping the
Automobile Industry in India.

The study is an attempt, on relatively large scale, to understand the market, marketing strategies
and marketing practices in greater details.
LIMITATIONS OF THE SUDY

The study is confined to only limited area so that the results cannot be generalized.
Respondents may give biased answer to the Questions.
The study was conducted in limited span of time.
This study is restricted to customers only.
Quality of information is based on the degree of brand awareness among customer.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What are the factors/sources that influenced the present car purchase decision and brand
choice?
2. How important are product related attributes to customers while making a car purchase
decision?
3. What are the different marketing attributes that influenced the customers to purchase a
car?
4. Which media is presenting the advertisement is necessary for sale of company’s
products?
5. Are the Famous personalities and slogans necessary for the advertisements of company’s
product?
 SECTION 3

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Anand and Sujatha, (2014) studied that the consumer’s attitude towards multi utility vehicles.
The researchers found the factors that influence the buyers for the purchase of multi utility
vehicles. The data was randomly selected with the sample size of 200. The hypotheses were
tested by using standard statistical tools such as Path analysis, Factor analysis and Regression
analysis. The study concluded some of the points here.

The researcher collected the data from the respondents by using questionnaire method. The
sample was collected randomly. After collecting the samples, they were coded certain objectives
and hypotheses were formulated. The hypotheses were tested by using standard statistical tools
such as Path analysis, Factor analysis and Regression analysis. From the analysis and research
survey, the researcher identified that all the respondents were favourable attitude about the multi
utility vehicle.

Arokiaraj and Banumathi, (2014) identified that the factors influencing the purchase decision of
passenger cars in Puduchery. The data was collected from 100 passenger car users of Puduchery
with the help of a structured questionnaire. Various hypotheses were framed and tested. The
tools like percentage analysis and chi-square analysis, reliability test results and its acceptance
level were analysed. From the analysis, it was found that out of 100 people surveyed 82% of
them were male, 40% of them were undergraduates followed by postgraduates (34%) and 17%
of them were researchers. Regarding their occupation, 23% of them were employees of private
organizations, 20% of them were public servants and 25% have their own business. The age wise
classification indicated that 80% of them belong to 20-40 years. Only 6% of them were above 50
years. Around 45% of them earn Rs. 20000-40000 per month and 20% of them earn more than
Rs. 50000. It was concluded that the customers were more focused more on performance than
environmental factors and safety. Therefore, it was essential to create awareness among the
customers regarding various environmental issues by organizing seminars and providing
information through websites to the passenger car users. Governments, non-governmental
organizations and private corporations had been adopting various strategies to assure the level of
anti-environmental practices in the areas of waste disposal, air emission, use of natural resources,
etc.

Arpita Srivastava and Mitu Matta, (2014) stated that consumer behavior towards passenger cars
in Delhi NCR and identified the different sources of information used by the buyers and their
role while making a purchase decision. For the purpose of this study, 50 respondents were taken
by simple random sampling technique. From the research, it was concluded that the consumers in
this region were influenced by various factor such as culture, family, reference, age and life
style. The most important factor that influenced the consumer to use passenger car was the price
of the cars, social status and durability. An understanding of the consumer behaviour enables a
marketer to take marketing decisions which were compatible with its consumer needs. There
were four major classes of consumer behaviour determinants and expectations, namely, cultural,
socio-economic, personal and psychological. Rising income had enhanced the purchasing power
and more and more people were able to afford a car. Customer demands were dynamic, but its
consideration was necessary for every company to make existence into the market. Customers
were purchasing the cars not only as a means of transport but also as a status symbol.

Muthukrishnaveni and Muruganandam, (2014) investigated that the relationship between the
perceived and expected service quality among passenger car users. For this purpose, convenience
sampling was used to collect the data from the customers from show rooms and service centers
for each of the four car manufacturing companies Maruti-Suzuki, Tata motors, Hyundai and
Skoda. The study was conducted in 10 districts of Tamilnadu state. The questionnaire was
administered to 500 customers. The researcher found that the initial direction in determining the
optimum service quality attributes to focus on in promoting services. No positive scores were
found. The largest discrepancies were found along the "reliability" dimension. This was alarming
since it was identified as the most important dimension in their overall perceptions. This
indicated that the sample population appears not to be getting what they expect from their
companies. However, service managers often need to consider the varying impact that both
process and technical factors of a service had on perceived service quality. If the industry persists
in measuring and monitoring the perceptual aspects of service quality, the complementary
aspects of basic outcome must be tracked as well to ensure an appropriate and satisfactory
customer experience.

Prasanna, (2014) identified that the reasons for selecting and level of satisfaction about the
services of Hyundai car in Vijayawada city and the users opinion regarding the performance of
Hyundai car in Coimbatore city. For this purpose, the data was collected from 300 consumers of
Hyundai car users in Vijayawada city. The statistical tools like Percentage Analysis, two-way
table, Chi-square test and Weighted Average score analysis were used. From the research, it was
found that (78%) of the respondents were male members, (48%) of the respondents were
graduates, (50%) of them were earning the income of Rs.4-6 lakhs per annum, (54%) of the
respondents were having small car, (40%) of the respondents were using the car for their
personal purpose and (72%) of the respondents were satisfied regarding Hyundai car
performance. The researcher suggested improving the performance after sales service. The
researcher concluded that the road transport played a very important role in this modern world, in
which car had attract many people because of its various added advantages and technologies,
such as they had given more importance to small size cars for personal use. The consumers also
got satisfied regarding the performance, good looking, resale value, vehicle design and safety of
the Hyundai cars and maintaining their car by private mechanics, they were ready to recommend
it to others also.

Sachin, (2015) explored that the different sources of information used by the buyers while
making a purchase and the factors influencing the selection and purchase of small car. The
convenience sampling method was used to collect the data from a sample size of 100
respondents. The tool used for the analysis was percentage analysis. From the research, it was
found that the demographic factors like age, gender, education, status, and income influence
consumers indirectly for small car buying preference. Most of the small car owners were in age
group of 26 to 35 years. Price & fuel efficiency were the important factors which influenced
small car buying. The researcher concluded that understanding of the consumer behaviour
enabled a marketer to take marketing decisions which were compatible with its consumer needs.
Indian consumers were now mainly comprised of the middle class. Advertisements were too
showing an effect on the Indian consumer. When compared the level of satisfaction, it revealed
that nearly sixty-five percent consumers were fully satisfied from their brand while around
twelve percent of respondents were not satisfied from their purchasing decision. Technology
measures in car were least preferred criteria. Small car sector offered huge potential as
penetration and consumption of small cars was very less in Pune compared to its Population. For
promoting the product consumption and creating awareness Manufactures had used advertising
campaigns to promote higher consumption of small cars with lots of promotional offers. So, the
manufacturers had to analyze all these factors and find out the best suitable tools for promoting
their small cars in India.

Simon Hudson, et al., (2015) stated in their research that companies were increasingly allocating
more of their marketing spending to social media programs. Yet there was little research about
how social media used was associated with consumer brand relationships. They conducted three
studies to explore how individual and national differences influenced the relationship between
social media used and customer brand relationships. The first study surveyed customers in
France, the U.K. and U.S. and compared those who engaged with their favorite brands via social
media with those who did not. The findings indicated that social media use was positively related
with brand relationship quality and the effect was more pronounced with high anthropomorphism
perceptions (the extent to which consumers' associate human characteristics with brands). Two
subsequent experiments further validated these findings and confirmed that cultural differences,
specifically uncertainty avoidance, moderated these results. They obtained robust and convergent
results from survey and experimental data using both student and adult consumer samples and
testing across three product categories (athletic shoes, notebook computers and automobiles).
The results offered cross-national supported for the proposition that engaging customers via
social media was associated with higher consumer brand relationships and word of mouth
communications when consumers anthropomorphize the brand and they avoid uncertainty.

Valter Rassega, et al., (2015) inferred that the use of social networks was a valuable tool to
support enterprises to increase the chances of survival through the activation of a favorable word
of mouth among the internal and external members of the virtual community. The diffusion of
network innovations, at the environmental level, which included institutional and regulatory
entities, was highly complex and had been relatively neglected in the literature. Therefore, this
research aimed, through a general overview of the literature on the subject, to understand how
the spread of social networks impact on the economy of enterprise.
Vinothini and Jayavel, (2015) determined that the consumer preference on passenger cars in
select districts of Tamilnadu. The researcher had decided to select five districts of Tamilnadu as
sample districts. They were Chennai, Trichy, Kanniyakumari, Coimbatore and Tanjavur. A
strong brand image was an important contributing factor to any successful company. Only by
understanding how brand was perceived, the manufactures can develop and implement effective
marketing strategies. Consumer preferred to buy the passenger cars which offer fuel
consumption, reasonable price, availability of spares, outlook and safety. The manufactures of
passenger cars should study the behaviour of consumers and try to bridge the gap between the
needs and satisfaction for their success. The total sample size has been targeted as 100 and these
from each district 20 were identified by adopting convenience sampling technique. The statistical
tools used were simple percentage analysis and Garrette Ranking Technique. This study
concluded that the customers were very particular about brand image. Consumer prefers to buy
the passenger cars which offer fuel consumption, reasonable price, availability of spares, outlook
and safety. The manufactures of passenger cars should study the behaviour of consumers and try
to bridge the gap between the needs and satisfaction for their success.

Consequently, to fill this gap in marketing literature, this research is designed to study the
strange buying behavior of consumer, the existing marketing strategies being adopted by the car
manufacturers and effectiveness of these strategies by examining their impact on consumer
buying decisions. The study includes an analysis of factors that influence consumer buying
decisions, satisfaction and loyalty and an attempt has also been made to emphasize on the
importance of social, cultural, personal and psychological factors and their impact on the
midsized segment car buyers’ preference by considering consumers’ demographics as factor that
will have an effect on the marketing strategies of car manufacturers for consumers’ brand
preference. The present study also takes the initiative to understand the close relationship of post
economic liberalization scenario of Indian automobile industry and the marketing strategies
through situational analysis including SWOT analysis, and PEST analysis with a special
reference to car industry in India.
 SECTION 4

CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF A TEXT

Sachin, (2015) explored that the different sources of information used by the buyers while
making a purchase and the factors influencing the selection and purchase of small car. The
convenience sampling method was used to collect the data from a sample size of 100
respondents. The tool used for the analysis was percentage analysis. From the research, it was
found that the demographic factors like age, gender, education, status, and income influence
consumers indirectly for small car buying preference. Most of the small car owners were in age
group of 26 to 35 years. Price & fuel efficiency were the important factors which influenced
small car buying. The researcher concluded that understanding of the consumer behaviour
enabled a marketer to take marketing decisions which were compatible with its consumer needs.
Indian consumers were now mainly comprised of the middle class. Advertisements were too
showing an effect on the Indian consumer. When compared the level of satisfaction, it revealed
that nearly sixty-five percent consumers were fully satisfied from their brand while around
twelve percent of respondents were not satisfied from their purchasing decision. Technology
measures in car were least preferred criteria. Small car sector offered huge potential as
penetration and consumption of small cars was very less in Pune compared to its Population. For
promoting the product consumption and creating awareness Manufactures had used advertising
campaigns to promote higher consumption of small cars with lots of promotional offers. So, the
manufacturers had to analyze all these factors and find out the best suitable tools for promoting
their small cars in India.
1. My research question of this text is “what are the different marketing attributes that
influenced the customers to purchase a car?”
2. It is a Research Study
3. This research has been undertaken for
a) knowledge for critical evaluation.
b) The study I have undertaken will take the past study further and look deep into
different marketing attributes that influence the customer buying decision.
4. With the help of this study the author has come up with finding that for promoting the
product consumption and creating awareness Manufactures had used advertising
campaigns to promote higher consumption of small cars with lots of promotional offers.
5. The convenience sampling method was used to collect the data from a sample size of 100
respondents.
6. With the growing influence of social media on customers in my view companies should
focus their attention towards social media/digital marketing.
7. The author claims that
a) Manufactures had to analyze factors like advertising campaigns to promote higher
consumption of small cars with lots of promotional offers. I completely agree with the
author as it is highly important to promote your product in order to increase sales and
build a strong brand image.
b) A sample size of 100 is too small to get a convincing outcome of the study.
 SECTION 5

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