differences in marketing strategies used by the world’s leading brands

 differences in marketing strategies used by the world’s leading brands

There are significant differences in marketing strategies used by the world’s leading brands. From these strategies, they develop their images, names, and products. The selection and application of an appropriate strategy mainly focus on what the brand wants to present in the market and the perception it will get as it attempts to gain recognition. However, when a brand aims a unique segment of the market, it has to adapt its strategies to suit the intended segment much better as compared to the first option. In this research memo, our interest as a company will be to focus on the pricing and distribution strategies of Volvo. These two marketing strategies are critical towards helping Volvo gain brand image in the motor vehicle industry.

Pricing Strategy

Volvo is popular with the use of optimal pricing. The company uses this marketing mix strategy entirely for pricing its wide range of brands. It differentiates the industry with vibrant segmentation according to the diverse customer base. Volvo is one of the few companies in the industry that produces a variety of products and a wide range of brands. This allows it to potentially charge a wide range of prices to diverse brands and products. In the past few years and these emerging economies, the company is known to be charging high but on average for most of its motor vehicles. Most of the cars produced by this company are priced between $ 25,500 and $ 40,500. The company has the capability of commanding and maintaining this level of a price point as a result of its reputation for high quality in the automobile industry. This makes Volvo have superior pricing power and strategy as compared to the industry competitors. In recent years, Volvo products have been witnessed to have high prices as a result of the safety and the technology that the company uses.

To realize adequate profits with the marketing mix strategy, Volvo is very sensitive to its pricing. Whenever it produces new products or brands, the company ensures that the set prices do not affect the consumer purchasing power to greater degrees that would make its competitors edge them in the industry. Some of the methods Volvo uses to maintain price sensitivity include analyzing the tastes and preferences of consumers, the number of customers that purchased previous brands as well as the cost of product marketing they will use on the new product. Upon finding out this and analyzing market strengths, Volvo often implements price customization to suit consumer factors in the market. Price customization is often implemented by Volvo when their competitors alter their prices or whenever their sales aren’t going as anticipated. Price customization is a great tool in ensuring the prices of the company’s brands resonate with the prevailing market conditions.

Distribution Strategy

A brand needs to develop a workable distribution strategy. This goes hand in hand with the execution of a good business strategy. Through effective distribution channels, Volvo can reach and deliver products to its consumers. Companies should emphasize in ensuring their consumers enjoy good experiences during delivery procedures. Volvo ensures this through the use of different channels of distribution.

Firstly, Volvo uses the 4S franchises method of distribution. The company owns over 200 franchises of this kind all over East Asian countries like China. These are four in one retailer that integrate motor sales, spare part sales, survey, and service. Volvo also distributes using E-commerce owing to the increased popularity of electronic stores and trading mechanisms.

This company started selling its products on its Chinese website over a decade ago. This allows customers to make orders in real-time. Lastly, Volvo products are also sold by dealers across the world. These mega-dealership channels are also spread across where the 4S franchise shops are located. Although these channels are effective, Volvo has noticed that they can be improved for efficiency. For instance, costs could be cut by closing some of the franchise shops and replace them with E-commerce platforms.

All the stated channels above have well highlighted and designated functions. The 4S franchise shops are mainly meant to sell motor vehicle brands that are being supplied in the market. The shops are also responsible for selling spare parts and servicing customer motor vehicles regularly. In these shops, some experts conduct relevant surveys and compile useful reports for the company. E-commerce also plays a significant role in linking the company directly to the buyers. Lastly, dealers also play the role of selling motor vehicles, spare parts, and other relevant products.

As noted above, Volvo uses franchise retailers and dealers as intermediaries in some of its channels of distribution. Besides sales, servicing, and surveys, franchise shops play a critical role in linking the company and the clients. Consumers who trust and have a taste of Volvo may need critical information from the company concerning the manufacture, customization, or even review of a certain brand. The franchise shop representatives may lack such information but may be critical in providing leads towards getting help. The company also uses dealers because these representatives are crucial in boosting sales by brokering deals, especially in tough market situations. Lastly, it can be noted that the coverage and structure of the channels are simple. The franchise shops and the dealers show a few sophistications about marketing, but E-commerce links directly to the consumer.

In conclusion, an appropriate marketing strategy is crucial in branding the company. It also encourages the company to enhance what is being presented and how it wants the consumers to perceive it. Volvo, through its pricing and distribution strategy, has come up with a marketing plan that has branded it appropriately and helped it gain image in the global scene.