Company Description
Discuss about the Marketing Analysis of Holden Automobile Company.
For each and every organization, it is very important to conduct marketing analysis so that it can evaluate its surroundings and external environment. Through this analysis, the company studies the dynamics and attractiveness of a particular market within a specific industry. There are various frameworks which can be used to analyze the external and internal market and related factors that can affect the company’s business. It is significant to analyze the external environment by evaluating different factors like political, social, economic factors etc. This report is totally focused on marketing analysis of Holden Automobile Company that is formally known as General Motors Holden. Holden Automobile Company is a subsidiary company of General Motors that operates its business as Australian automobile importer and former automobile producer. This report includes the discussion about the target market of the chosen company. Considering the market and its competitors, a perceptual map is prepared for Holden Automobile Company. Further, it analyses the external and internal environment of company by considering different factors. At the end, the report discusses the current integrated marketing communication campaign of the company.
Holden Automobile Company, officially known as General Motors Holden is an Australian automobile manufacturer and automobile importer. The company was founded in the year 1856 as saddlery manufacturer in Australia. In the year 1908, it entered into automotive sector and became a subsidiary of US based automotive giant General Motors (GM) in 1931. Currently, it is headquartered in Port Melbourne, Victoria. After that, it has changed its name to General Motors-Holden’s Ltd. In 1998, it was renamed Holden Ltd. and General Motors Holden in the year 2005 (Holden Australia, 2018). Holden offers residual stock of locally manufactured range of Commodore vehicles and imported models of GM. Additionally, the company has provided the badge engineered models in sharing agreements with Isuzu, Nissan, Chevrolet, Toyota, Suzuki, Vauxhall Motors and Opel. It is an international manufacturer and distributor of vehicles, components, parts and engines (Packham, 2017). The company represents its domestic country (Australia) as design center of excellence and a significant base in emerging Asian markets.
Target Market
Holden Automobile Company is successfully operating its business operations in Australian automotive industry. The organization focuses on its target market by establishing a mission statement i.e. “to become the most successful automobile company of Australia with a full commitment to customers and passion for excellence”. Holden Automobile Company is offering its products and services considering the needs and demands of customers in Australia and New Zealand. It targets its customers considering different characteristics like geographic, demographic, psychographic and behavioral characteristics. Under geographic segmentation, Holden focuses on the population of Australia and New Zealand. Moreover, it emphasizes on the age and income under demographic segmentation (Thompson & Martin, 2010). Considering these segmentation, Holden offers its products to the people of moderate income level and age group of 25 to 40 years. In the Australian states, it sells its products by targeting the upper and middle class individuals. Thus, it can be stated that Holden Automobile Company currently offers the automobiles for all segments in the market.
Target Market
Perceptual Map
Perceptual mapping is the process which is used by the marketing divisions of companies that show the opinion and perception of customers towards company’s products and services (Guajardo, Cohen & Netessine, 2015). In the perceptual map, the position of company’s product line, product is shown comparative to their competing brands
(Source: By Author)
The above diagram indicates different competitors of Holden Automobile Company on the basis of price and quality of their automotive products. Among them, the major competitors of this company are such as Honda, Toyota, and Renault etc. Holden Automobiles is the organization that is offering quality products on moderate prices which can be afforded by middle and upper class people (Wheelen, Hunger, Hoffman & Bamford, 2017).
There are some environmental factors which can affect the business operations of Holden Automobile Company in its industry. These factors are given below:
Social Factors
Social factors have a huge impact on the business operations of Holden Automobile Company. The company is offering a wide range of automobile products to its targeted customers. Being a subsidiary of General Motors, this company understands the social wants and needs of customers and offers them with the vehicles as per their preferences. In Australia, a significant percentage of its population is covered by middle and upper class people. Thus, it offers its products keeping in social status of people in the mind. In Australian society, people judge others based on the type of car they drive. So, Holden manufactures attractive and innovative cars so that it can attract more people towards its products (Conlon & Perkins, 2018).
Economic Factors
Economy of Australia is one of the largest economies all over the world with a Gross Domestic Product of AU$1.69 trillion. It is the second richest in terms of wealth after Switzerland. It indicates that economy of country is growing year by year that supports the business operations of Holden Automobile Company. In the country, disposable income of people is higher than earlier so they have enough money to spend on purchasing vehicles. It has positive impact on the growth of Holden Automobile industry in the country.
Demographic
The demographic of the country shows that population of the country is forecasted to be 24,992,800 till 10 July 2018. Australia is 52nd most populous nation all over the world. Most of its population resides in the urban areas and it has 99% literacy rate (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2018). These are the major factors which can positively affect the business of Holden Automobile Company. People prefer to travel by their owned cars, so Holden Company has more opportunities to offer more products which fulfill the increasing needs and demands of customers towards vehicles with new specifications.
Perceptual Map
Technological Factors
It can be seen that General Motors adopts innovative and updated technologies in its operations and gain more competitive advantage in automobile industry. It is the subsidiary of General Motors, so it also has various opportunities in this area of external environment. For instance, enhancing implementation of self-driving car technology develops opportunity for the firm to offer more competitive vehicles to the customers (Litman, 2017). The company should emphasize on manufacturing advanced vehicles with fuel efficiency ratings. These technological factors will assist Holden to grow its business and increase the revenues.
Political/Legal Factors
Holden Automobile Company confronts the challenge of government promotion of public transport and other options for travelling from one place to another. For instance, this external factor boosts people to utilize the shared transportation like local trains, buses and car sharing businesses. It can reduce the Holden customers’ likelihood of buying automobiles. The government has introduced various tax policies and regulations that threaten Holden Automobile through increases in taxes which reduce profits and revenues. Thus, the company needs to comply with all the environmental and other regulations of the government. Additionally, road safety awareness program introduced by the country’s government directs the organization to enhanced safety focus in the vehicles (Smith, 2015).
Competitive Factors
Apart from above external factors, there are various competitive factors which affect the growth and success of business of Holden Automobile Company. In the Automobile industry, there are various competitors like Toyota, Hyundai, Honda, Renault etc. This organization is competing in the industry on the basis of different competitive factors like prices of vehicles, quality, distribution location and innovative features in the vehicles. Honda and Toyota Australia are two competitors which are offering quality vehicles on affordable prices. This is the reason that these companies are able to attain a significant market share in global automotive industry. The prices of Holden’s vehicles are comparatively higher which can be afforded by upper and middle classes of society (Peteraf, Gamble & Thompson, 2014). Considering different competitive factors, Holden Automobile Company needs to implement and upgrade its business and marketing strategies.
Apart from external factors, there are some factors related to customers that can affect their perception and choice towards the products of Holden Automobile Company (Azadfar, Sreeram & Harries, 2015). These factors can be both internal and external which are explained below:
Personal Factors
Among internal factors, personal factors are the major factors which force the customers to purchase the vehicles of Holden Automobile Company. One of the foremost factors is income of the people which can affect the choice of Holden’s products. The prices of its vehicles are higher than other competitors. Thus, only people with higher and medium income level can purchase its automobiles. Low income earners always tend to buy the less expensive cars from Holden Automobiles. Age is another factor which affects the decision of buyers towards buying the vehicles. For example, youth prefer to buy the sporty and electric cars and other generations prefer to buy traditional models which they find more comfortable. Moreover, customers always seek to select the cars which provide them satisfaction and self-esteem (Mirabi, Akbariyeh, & Tahmasebifard, 2015).
External Environmental Scanning
Psychological Factors
The image of product or brand affects different psychological factors like attitude and beliefs of customers, life style, needs of customers. Like fashion and apparel brands, automobile is also the extension of one’s perception. Generally, people purchase the vehicles which suit their personalities and life style. In addition to this, the Australian population prefers to buy the cars to fulfill their needs like travelling convenience, car size according to family etc. Considering the lifestyle of people, Holden Automobile Company is manufacturing its products by including new features which can affect the customers’ perception positively (Lin & Lekhawipat, 2014).
Social and Cultural Factors
There are some external factors which are related to the society and culture that affect the choice of customers towards the products and services of Holden Automobile Company. The perception of culture of automobile brands makes the people buy more and they always belief in what their relatives and friends prefer to buy. Moreover, social status of customers forces them to purchase higher priced cars so that they can show off in the society. The people from upper class have the tendency to make spending on the luxurious cars of Holden. Under this, quality is a foremost factor that influences the attitude and commitment of customer in buying the automobile products of Holden Company (Law, 2017). Quality depends on the factors such as color, faith in sales person and other related features. Additionally, the customers prefer to buy the products from the brands which belong to their culture and country background. For Holden Automobiles in Australia, it can be stated that family and role of social status has a positive impact but not more significant to the company’s product buying choices (Nayeem, 2012).
In order to promote and advertise its products and services, Holden Automobile Company has implemented an effective integrated marketing communication plan (Percy, 2014). This company introduces different promotional campaign for its different products. Recently, Holden has introduced a new product i.e. Commodore Model with “For Sure” campaign through The Monkeys agency. The company launched Holden Commodore as most iconic brand of Australia and it is rich with remarkable designs and innovation. Following the current end to domestic manufacturing by Holden, this new campaign seeks to remind the motorists of organization’s relevance in Australian market. This “For Sure” campaign includes the series of branded films, with the running times of seven, 30 and 60 seconds (Meikle, 2018).
For advertising its products and approaching the targeted segments, Holden Automobile Company is using various IMC tools and modes. These tools and media assist the organization to grab the attention of Australian people (Ryan, 2016). IMC tools and media used by Holden Automobiles are given below:
Advertising is one of the most important tools that are used by Holden Automobile Company. This company has implemented the above mentioned campaign and it is featured across the broadcasting, print, digital and social media channels. It assists the organization to reach the Australian families (Assaf, Josiassen, Mattila & Cvelbar, 2015). The company is promoting and advertising its products to customers through below-given modes:
Traditional and broadcasting media is the most significant mode that is used by Holden Company to communicate its brand message to targeted customers. Under this mode, it promotes its automobile vehicles by using various platforms such as radio and television. It gives commercial advertisement on television. The people, who do not use internet and social media sites, they can be approached through this mode. In its commercial advertisement, the company mentions the innovative features of their cars so that they can create a positive attitude towards company’s products. It is the most attractive way to entice people towards company’s products (Mihart, 2015).
Print media is also an effective way to advertise the products to targeted audiences. Under this, the company aims to increase its brand presence among both urban and rural areas’ people in Australia. To attract Australian population, the company gives advertisement in newspapers, magazines, billboards and posters. It gives the ads in the newspapers which are most distributed on both local and international levels. This IMC tool assists Holden Automobiles to reach the largest population of country as most of the people read newspapers and magazines. Additionally, it displays the offers and discounts in an attractive manner so that it can grab the attention of targeted customers like middle class people. The company has developed its brand message very creatively so that it can affect the customers’ perception positively (Williams, 2016).
As mentioned above, youth and professional people cover a major part of its target market so company is focusing on promoting its products on social networking sites like Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Twitter etc. The company considers this mode as most efficient way to promote its vehicles. Young generation is actively using internet and social media sites so it is the best way to approach these people. The company has created a page on social media sites where it posts its pictures, videos and discounted offers (Luttrell, 2016). This mode can help Holden Automobiles to understand the response of customers towards its vehicles.
Holden Automobile Company is a successful subsidiary of General Motors so it is also an active participant in many sports and other events to create brand awareness. The company has sponsored various events like World Touring Car Championship, Supercars Championship, and NASCAR etc. Through this, Holden Automobile Company is able to target the people who have interest in sports and championships (The Conversation, 2014).
In this way, Holden Automobile Company is approaching its target market and affecting their purchasing decision positively.
Conclusion
In the limelight of above discussion, it can be concluded that Holden Automobile Company is operating its business operations successfully. This company offers different automobile products, parts and automotive components. The above report found that Australia offers a positive external environment to the business of Holden Company. It confronts the challenges of regulations and concern of customers related to the automobile emissions. Additionally, it includes various internal and external factors which can affect the customers’ choice Holden’s automobiles. Furthermore, the organization is using various IMC tools to attract more customers and create a positive attitude towards Holden Automobiles. In the future, the company should focus on its marketing and pricing strategies so that it can increase its customer base and revenues in Australian automobile industry. Additionally, it will be able to gain more competitive advantage over its competitors in the industry
References
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Williams, A. (2016). Holden CMO reveals 5 brand strategies it’s using to engage modern consumers. Retrieved from https://www.cmo.com.au/article/593135/holden-cmo-reveals-5-brand-strategies-it-using-engage-modern-consumers/
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