Question

Consumer Buying Behavior - You are the manager for a car dealership which sells and services luxury automobiles. You are interested in understanding more about the consumer buying behavior for your customer base in order to effectively meet customer needs. Currently, your advertising is limited and while you have a service department, many customers go elsewhere to have their car serviced. Create a 300–400-word response on the consumer buying decision process and submit to this Discussion Area. Be sure to cover the following in your response:

Outline the steps in the consumer buying decision process.

Describe how your customers approach each step of this process for the purchase of a luxury automobile.

Based on your findings, what changes should you make to your marketing mix to better meet your customer needs?

What actions should you take to encourage loyalty among your customer base?

Answer 1

The usual approach followed by the customers for the purchase of a luxury car starts with the budget. The customer will have a budget in mind and then we will look at the options he has to choose from. He will then try to identify the best automobile manufacturer he can go for with his budget. He will check with multiple dealers and go with the one who treats and entertains him better when approached. He will shortlist a few cars and then he will compare the features of the car and the comfort it can provide to the driver and passengers. The buyer will then look for the unique features and how a specific car is better than the competitor's cars. The next step would be the evaluation of the post-sales support and the warranty provided by the company on the engine. Whichever car that meets all his demands will be the car that he will choose to buy.

In order to meet the customer demands, I will make the following changes to the marketing mix. I will make changes to the way in which the cars are displayed in the showroom. I will offer free test drives to the interested customers and improve the customer service quality. I will also make the pricing very competitive so that the customers consider us as the first choice. I will also make sure that the approach of the company is flexible to all the customer demands. Every customer will be assigned to an account manager to take care of the end to end sales activity. I will make use of digital marketing to promote the showroom better. I will use social media to communicate with the customers directly and answer their questions.

Some of the methods that can be used to increase the customer loyalty are by providing excellent customer experience. The way customers are treated before the sale, during the sale, and after the sale will also matter a lot. I will also promise offers and discounts on the service to the loyal customers. I will run campaigns that choose a customer randomly as a lucky winner and offer free car service. I will provide seasonal discounts as well to keep the customer base engaged all the time.