In this assignment, you apply your knowledge of the internal factors that influence consumer behaviour in the purchase of electric vehicles (EVs) to inform marketing recommendations.
Background:
Electric vehicles (EVs) are set to become the new driving norm as reducing carbon emissions becomes a globally urgent requirement. Numerous car companies have developed hybrid cars, while Tesla surged ahead with a fully electric luxury car range. Since then, many new players have now entered the market and in Australia, Hyundai’s Kona is the first electric SUV in the country, and Ioniq is its sedan. Similarly, Nissan have developed Leaf and Renault has developed Zoe, although Toyota is choosing to pursue a hydrogen rather than electric car in Australia, the Mirai. With electric car sales highest in Victoria (Budget Direct 2022), and a growing acceptance across the nation, there is an opportunity for a non-Tesla brand to dominate. Knowledge about the internal factors that influence people when making purchasing decisions, and adopting sustainability practices, such as those learned in the study of Consumer Behaviour, should provide insight for the development of Marketing strategies to encourage the purchase and usage of EVs.
Your task:
Select one company and one of its electric vehicle brands to be your ‘client’ (that is not Tesla!). As a marketing consultant, you have been commissioned by this company to develop marketing strategies which will accelerate the uptake of the company’s EV. To do so, you will apply your expert knowledge of consumer behaviour and internal influencing factors to explain how each factor might work in influencing the purchase decision of an EV. This analysis will inform the development of marketing strategies that you recommend the company adopts. Note that car sales or lease are viable outcomes for the company.
As for any business, it is important to first identify the segment most attractive for the company EV brand to target.
Accordingly, you will need to:
1. Segment the market and select the most appealing segment to target for the chosen brand. Create a persona for the target market.
2. Explain the internal factors that influence purchasing, and apply them to the purchase decision process of an EV – be sure to explain what should happen compared with what the company currently does to identify gaps in which your subsequent creative Marketing solutions will fill.
3. Provide recommendations for marketing strategies the company should adopt (noting these must be in addition to, or replace, any that are currently being implemented) that reflect a sound knowledge of how the internal factors affect consumer decisions.
Report structure:
Your report is to be written as a professional document in business report format. The report should demonstrate a consistent and appropriate style of presentation and use Harvard referencing throughout.
You need to produce a well-articulated, succinct minimum 10-page business-style report containing:
– Cover page (Title and names, date, etc.).
– Executive summary (no more than one page).
– Table of contents (no more than one page).
– Introduction and background: intro the purpose of this report, who it is for and from, industry background information (recent industry sales, EV vs. non-EV, other relevant stats), scope
– Segmentation: segment the market, evaluate segments and choose a segment to target. Then develop a persona suitably depicts people in the targeted segment.
– Select and discuss 2 (of 5) internal influencing factors on consumer behaviour and apply them to the purchase of the company’s EV (needs and motivation, personality, perception and self-concept, attitudes, learning). Be sure to include in your discussion an evaluation of any of the company’s current marketing strategies for this brand as to whether the strategies seem to apply knowledge of these factors well, or not. For example, your discussion of ‘perception’ may reveal how Gestalt principles influence perception, and in arguing that it is relevant for the purchase decisions of an EV, notice that currently, the brand does not use any Gestalt principles in its marketing strategies. This recognition of a ‘shortfall’ in implementing theories about perception (or any of the influencing factors) leads to a recommendation later in the report.
– Drawing from your analysis, provide two sound Marketing recommendations for your client to implement that you feel will best bring about an increase in sales or leasing of its EV, that reflect a sound knowledge of how the internal factors affect consumer decisions. Be sure to include four components for each recommendation: 1) a brief statement of the recommendation; 2) a brief explanation of your idea; 3) a justification for the recommendation from earlier analysis; 4) sufficient details so it could be implemented by the company.
– A brief conclusion.
– Full reference list.
– Appendices if required. Please note: These should be supplementary reading only and not form a substantive part of your report.
Be sure to review the Report assignment criteria to optimise the best way to approach these sections.
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