Marketing Analysis of BMW: Strategies, Segmentation, and Positioning

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of BMW's marketing strategies, segmentation, and positioning. It discusses the company's competitive advantages, market research, and recommendations for enhancing productivity.

Marketing

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Present report is based upon marketing analysis of BMW company where its
brief overview and its current marketing strategy and analysis of its internal and external
environment. Its segmentation, targeting, positioning approach and which concept of
marketing strategies has been used in this company, its market research analysis and
using analysing techniques. Other than seven element of marketing mix is used to
identify its overall functioning. It is recommended that BMW might use 7 P's to enhance
its productivity in overall operation as it include all the factor that every organisation
must consider while planning activities and strategies.

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Analysing marketing strategies and competitive advantages of the company............................1
Literature review of current market scenario...............................................................................6
Market research of organisation...................................................................................................7
Evaluating the study of company.................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
RECOMMENDATION...................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10
APPENDICES...............................................................................................................................12
Reflective statement ..................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Marketing means spreading awareness of particular product and services of
company by using certain strategies and techniques that were made to influence the
costumer to buy the goods (Alalwan and et.al., 2017). It is wider term and include many
activities and play important part in promoting the products. In this market analysis of
BMW organisation is famous auto mobile company and owns and produces cars, bikes
and parent company of Rolls-Royce cars. Where its brief background and marketing
strategies and analysis of micro and macro environment, customer and evaluation of
segmentation, targeting and positioning is discussed. Evaluating the market research
and type of data collection and techniques is used in this company Analysis of digital
marketing and difference of contemporary and traditional marketing and evaluation of
PESTLE and SWOT to following elements has been studied.
MAIN BODY
Analysing marketing strategies and competitive advantages of the company
BMW also known as Bavarian Motor Works, is German auto mobile, bike and
manufacturing engine founded in 1916. It is headquarters in Munich, Bavaria and
manufacture Mini cars and parent company of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. It is counted in
top 3 luxury auto-mobile in Germany, other two companies are Audi and ,Mercedes
Benz. It is initially formed in 1913 in the name of Bayerische Flugzeugwerke AG and
after enamoured to Bayerische Motoren Works (BMW). BMW's first product was six-
aircraft engine named as BMW IIIa and remained in business by manufacturing the
motorcycle engines and farm equipment and produced its first bike in 1923.
Marketing Strategies- This refers to tactics and plans that were adopted by
organisation to promote its brand and achieve its objective. BMW is using extensive
strategy and maintaining its brand name across the global market (Appel and et.al.,
2020). It's auto-mobile showroom mostly established in posh area and focusing on
premium segments like targeting the people which were elite class and has god
standard of living in the society. It bridges premium branding and emotional touch of
costumer. Marketing mix done by company is amazing and succeeds of it largely
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depends on its brand image and maintaining costumer sanctification and performance
in innovation and technology.
Porters analysis of company- Porters is basically refers to tool that is used by
firm to identify its competitive forces and determine industry's weakness and strength. It
helps in analysing the segment that understand the level of competition in market. BMW
is using this model in following way-
 Competition rivalry- It concern with intensity of competition prevailing in market
and how it affect the company's performance and stability. In Auto mobile sector
there is quite tough competition as there are many rivals such as Audi,
Mercedes, Ford, Volkswagen and many more (Chaffey and Smith, 2017). There
is extensive and very different strategies were adopted by many competitors.
Threat can be in market in overnight as well and many investing in environmental
and technological innovation. So, there is high force of competition rivalry in this
sector.
 Supplier power- Power of supplier majorly affect overall strength of company as
they to supply their product and services in market. For BMW, supplier power
does not work much as it enjoy brand locality and financial profitability. It also set
some code of conduct and rules for supplier and in this there is low force of
supplier towards the company as it can attract good proposition of supplier and
having good relation with all over supplier globally.
 Threat of new entrants- Entry of new player in this industry is not easy as it
require much large capital, resources and many entry barriers. To sustain in the
market require investment in innovation and technology department and must
have skilled professional workers which is difficult for any new firm to have such
requirement. Due to many obstacle and hindrances any new company will think
twice to enter in this industry. So, because of this there is low threat for BMW of
new entry.
 Bargaining power of costumer- This concern with power of buyer that how it
influence the company's functions. As, today's costumer were now educated and
know what is good and better for them and they properly evaluating the cost and
functions of cars or any other product (Dwivedi and et.al., 2020). So that leads to
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higher frequency of switching the products which makes the company to focus on
quality and safety of them. So, there is high force of bargaining power towards
the company.
 Threat of substitute- This termed as similar products and services in market
and how it impact the profitability of company. For the company, there are certain
rivals that come up with substitute with different way. As, BMW is providing better
costumer services and performance which is better than other organisation that
stands out the image of company. So, there is moderate threat of this force
against the company.
PESTEL analysis of the company- It refers to identifying the eternal factors that
impact the company's performance and profitability as, they are highly affect the
business functions (Katsikeas, Leonidou and Zeriti, 2019). BMW is also using this
model to monitor the external forces and regulating the different strategies and plans
according this model. Following the way through which company evaluate the factors-
 Political Factors- It concern with factors such as tax rate, political stability and
its policies and regulations (Deepak and Jeyakumar, 2019). As BMW has
worldwide brand name and function in various countries and contain huge profit,
capital analysis and funds so it can easily influence by the policies and growth of
country. So, it is not easy to survive in instability economic growth that will
directly impact the business of BMW.
 Economical factor- It refers to tax rate, interest rate and employment growth in
company. As this organisation has great brand equity and operate in multiple
countries. So, this impact the function as if there is high interest rate than it will
impact the negatively on company and if its low then it directly impact the
profitability of company as it largely operate in many areas.
 Social Factor- It refers to availability of different type of people in varoius
countries and their taste and behaviour (Giraldo Oliveros and Esparragoza, eds.,
2016). As company is operating many certain countries like China, South Africa
and Austria. As BMW has to carefully monitor and require heavy research on
what is needs and demand of costumer in the country and also has big political
and economic landscape there.
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 Technological Factor- It is refers to technology and innovation in industry and
how it impact the business functions. In the auto-mobile sector this factor is
important to consider as it greatly impact the activities of organisation. As, BMW
is already known for its new technology and innovation and its become its USP
 Legal Factor- It refers to law and regulation and other legal framework that exist
in country. As BMW is bound by certain legal formalities and rules, which need
to be followed by company in order to continue smooth functioning.
 Environmental Factors- It refers to maintaining the sustainable and
environment friendly activities that is used by company. BMW has introduced
hybrid car models that provide less fuel than average. Other than that company
is coming up with many public options that were good for nature and Eco-
friendly (INDONESIA, 2018).
SWOT Analysis : This is to analyse internal and external factors of company
and its impact on company functions and profitability. Following is the way through
BMW analysis is done.
Strengths Weaknesses
 BMW is the most valuable brand in
the world and has the manifold
revenue streams and has
partnership with China.
 Driving experience of BMW is
excellent and in competence with
the electric car so that they can
meet future challenges and trends.
 BMW with the minor differentiation
has the poor brand portfolio which
consist of only three brands
because of economic condition
BMW receives lot of negative
publicity.
 BMW is the biggest debt company
in the world because the company
invest in the technology for electric
vehicles.
Opportunities Threats
 In near future the prices of fuel will
increase this leads to buy the small
 Now a days the government
regulation is increasing as the want
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vehicle which consume less fuel
and BMW always invested in the
small vehicle.
 BMW has an ability to change the
models and update them very
frequently according to the taste
and demand of the people.
to reduce the green house gas and
increase the use of fuels which
leads to increase in the production
cost of cars.
 There is a huge competition in the
market as technology is changing
like Tesla starts producing electric
cars which make difficult for the
BMW to compete against it.
SEGMENTATION, TARGETING AND POSITIONING: It is a model which has an
strategic approach (Hanssens and Pauwels, 2016). This model is mostly applied and
practice in the market. This model helps in creating the plans and help in prioritise the
positions and help in delivering relative messages to the audience. It helps in improving
the market mix design of the company. Bayerische Motoren Works is a German luxury
car manufactured in 1916, and it was used to be The King Of Castles.
Segmentation: It is a process in which market is divided into smaller sub parts
and the defined categories. It helps in dividing the person into groups who have similar
characteristics such as needs, demographics. Their are four ways of segmenting the
target market:
 Demographic: It is a segment which has a personal characteristics on the basis
of the age, gender, occupation, education it can be justified easily. BMW is
mostly use by the people having the age between 25-55 years and mostly
preferred by the married couple or the person who is highly successful in its life
and mostly prefer by the man's as a sport car.
 Geographic: This segment can be categorized in the basis of the country,
region, city etc. BMW is mostly sold in USA, Europe, India and China but the
main markets are in Europe and North America where BMW is used on large
scale.
 Psycho graphic: This segment is differentiated on the basis of the values,
lifestyle, attitude and interest of the peoples. BMW is mostly preferred by the
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successful active consumers and prefer premium products to demonstrate their
success and have interest in the cars have new technologies.
 Behavioural: In this segment behaviours of the people is justified by the product
why should they choose the product, what are their benefits and many others
(Kotler, Kartajaya and Setiawan, 2016). The behaviour of the customer depends
on the needs like they want safety, convenient, luxury, reliability and has benefits
like fashionable, full automatic and has high status and loyalty.
Targeting: It is a process in which customers are targeted who served the profits
in the future so that the company can have the benefits from that class of people. BMW
target the customers of the upper class and the social group as this is the group who
can afford the BMW luxury cars easily and will appreciate the models and the people
who have interest in sports and the racing cars.
Positioning: It helps in finding how to put the product in front of the customer of
the market that has been targeted as it is the last and important stage to fulfil the needs
and the demands of the people (Hanssens and Pauwels, 2016). BMW has position itself
in providing the cars who has high quality and has an advanced technology with high
performance and can easily shift to the needs of the people.
Segmentation, targeting and positioning these three models are used by the BMW as
these factors can be categorized on the basis of their city, age lifestyle, gender which is
very important for determining the needs and wants so that the company can fulfil them
according to their expectation and help in making the cars with new technology and are
innovative enough. It helps in targeting the people of the upper class who can purchase
them easily and help in making the market position by its quality and technology.
Literature review of current market scenario
According to Moorman and Day, (2016), in the current market condition there are
many marketing concept has come and transform the entire world' marketing scenario,
one of the new concept is digital marketing. This refers to doing marketing digitally
through website, social media, email and mobile apps. Many famous firms are coming
on this platform and highly influence the costumer base and that building large market
share. As, mostly all people were now access this platform which create a big
opportunity to many companies to attract them through their certain marketing tactics
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and plans. Some advantages are it is cost-effective, easy to target costumer, highly
approachable by costumer . As there are certain ways such as email marketing, content
marketing, mobile marketing and social media marketing these are newly developed
and most effective methods that were used by all new and old companies.
In the views of Saura, (2020), contemporary/digital Marketing is the technique
that concern with consumer- focused and formulating the strategy from the view of point
to target the market. This is highly costumer driven marketing strategies that concern
with their approaches rather than desire the company profit. It include one way
communication between buyer and supplier and thorough understanding the needs and
wants of costumer and pulling them towards the brands. It provide importance to
costumer and educate them and value their interest and desires.
In the views of Kamps and Schetter, (2018), traditional marketing refers to one to
one communication between costumer and marketing activities is done through TV,
Newspaper, Radio and Billboards. They do not gives much attention to their costumer
needs rather than focus on making good sakes and profit. It involves one way
communication and do not focusing much on delivering costumer centric gods and
services. This is still by some companies ad new modification were come during their
implementation.
According to Payne and Frow, (2017), contemporary marketing is widely used by
many companies to gain more costumer base and target BMW's audience. It focuses on
developing costumer based product and highly research on their needs and demands.
BMW is using this through their website, social media. Whereas, Traditional marketing
is normally concern with making profit and achieve their desired targets rather than
focusing on costumer needs. This marketing require lot of investment and capital to
multiple ways and needs time and efforts. BMW is using this marketing by advertising
through magazines, radio and other medium where they can target their costumer.
Market research of organisation
There are two types of data collections methods that are Quantitative research
and qualitative research. Quantitative research refers to numerical analysis that include
statistical, mathematical and other techniques (Moorman and et.al., 2019). Qualitative
research method is also known as secondary research which involves collecting and
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determining non- numerical data to understand concept, approaches that gather to get
insights into problem or coming up new ideas about research. In this research
Qualitative research is being used because it involves observation, interviews, focus
group, surveys and secondary research (Deepak and Jeyakumar, 2019) . This can be
taken in the form of texts, photos and videos and interviews and beneficial for this
research. Analysis techniques is method to solve the specific problems in long term and
there quire some techniques that used in organisation. Such techniques were
Regression analysis, Grouping Methods and Multiple Equation Models that help in
examine relationship between variables.
Evaluating the study of company
From the above report, it has been used secondary method where PESTEL,
SWOT, Porters Model, STP is done. Overall organisation is enjoying brand name and
advantages of global presence in market. BMW is targeting premium quality and upper
class costumer who can afford its pricing (Berger and et.al., 2020). Due to its large
scale production across globe impact its operational and functional activities because
various of external forces in the competitive market. It has following elements of
marketing mix that can be effectively used-
 Product- It refers to product and services offered by many companies. Company
is manufacture Mini cars, Rolls Royce and BMW Bikes. It is using product
portfolio strategy where it shows collections of all services. It can come up with
an idea to deliver lower middle class people who also can use their cars.
 Place- This refers to availability of their services and product at convenient place.
Company has about 6000 dealers across the world and 150 countries where it
sells. BMW can use this strategy by providing its products and services so that its
increase its availability in market.
 Price- This refers to price offer to costumer and how it attract them through
different pricing strategies (Mothersbaugh, Hawkin and Kleiser, 2019). BMW is
using premium pricing strategy that focuses on elite class who generally prefer to
buy these cars.
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 Promotions- It refers to promotion and advertising strategy used by any
organisation. BMW is using extensive promotion planning to advertise their
branded cars, they were using digital marketing to promote their cars.
 People- It refers to who will connect to costumer and establish relationship with
them. Company has its efficient dealers around countries who has good contacts
with costumers.
 Physical evidences- It also known as packaging which influence the costumer
to buy BMW (Andika and Susanti, 2018). is great stores design that makes
costumer attracted towards it and it also how appealing the product is.
 Process- It refers to process used in any organisation to enhance its
productivity. BMW is using operation management very effectively and focuses
on manufacturing high quality cars and bikes.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that Marketing is refers to promoting the
products and make aware about goods and services. In this brief overview of company
and macro and micro factors and its SWOT, Porters models and STP has been
discussed. Market research and its marketing method, various marketing elements has
been studied. This can done in through using different pricing strategies and different
strategy and tactics. Apart from that there are some marketing mix elements that
determine from marketing strategies and changes and implementation in them and the
way it execute to promote their growth and can stand out from other competitive
companies.
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that company can use Marketing mix element to make its
more effective and improve its productivity. This involve all the important external and
inner element within the business organisation that company can use and focus in its
operational activities. All the component in marketing mix plays important role in making
essential decision and plans, that is helpful in growth of organisation.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journal
Alalwan, A. A. and et.al., 2017. Social media in marketing: A review and analysis of the
existing literature. Telematics and Informatics. 34(7). pp.1177-1190.
Appel, G. and et.al., 2020. The future of social media in marketing. Journal of the
Academy of Marketing Science. 48(1). pp.79-95.
Chaffey, D. and Smith, P. R., 2017. Digital marketing excellence: planning, optimizing
and integrating online marketing. Taylor & Francis.
Deepak, R. K. A. and Jeyakumar, S., 2019. Marketing management. Educreation
Publishing.
Dwivedi, Y. K. and et.al., 2020. Setting the future of digital and social media marketing
research: Perspectives and research propositions. International Journal of
Information Management, p.102168.
Giraldo Oliveros, M. and Esparragoza, D. J. eds., 2016. Gerencia de marketing.
Universidad del Norte.
Hanssens, D. M. and Pauwels, K. H., 2016. Demonstrating the value of
marketing. Journal of Marketing. 80(6). pp.173-190.
INDONESIA, M. P. I., 2018. Competitive advantage and product innovation: Key
success of Batik SMEs marketing performance in Indonesia. Academy of
Strategic Management Journal. 17(2).
Kamps, I. and Schetter, D., 2018. Performance marketing. Springer Fachmedien
Wiesbaden.
Kotler, P., Kartajaya, H. and Setiawan, I., 2016. Marketing 4.0: Moving from traditional
to digital. John Wiley & Sons.
Moorman, C. and Day, G. S., 2016. Organizing for marketing excellence. Journal of
Marketing, 80(6), pp.6-35.
Moorman, C. and et.al., 2019. Challenging the boundaries of marketing.
Mothersbaugh, D. L., Hawkin, D. I. and Kleiser, S. B., 2019. Consumer behavior:
Building marketing strategy. McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Payne, A. and Frow, P., 2017. Relationship marketing: looking backwards towards the
future. Journal of services marketing.
Saura, J. R., 2020. Using Data Sciences in Digital Marketing: Framework, methods, and
performance metrics. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge.
Andika, A. and Susanti, F., 2018. Pengaruh Marketing Mix Terhadap Keputusan
Pembelian Parfum di Azzwars Parfum Lubeg Padang.
Berger, J. and et.al., 2020. Uniting the tribes: Using text for marketing insight. Journal of
Marketing. 84(1). pp.1-25.
Deepak, R. K. A. and Jeyakumar, S., 2019. Marketing management. Educreation
Publishing.\
Hanssens, D. M. and Pauwels, K. H., 2016. Demonstrating the value of
marketing. Journal of Marketing. 80(6). pp.173-190.
Katsikeas, C., Leonidou, L. and Zeriti, A., 2019. Revisiting international marketing
strategy in a digital era. International Marketing Review.
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APPENDICES
Reflective statement
From the above report, I have learned various methods and techniques that a
company uses to analysis its performance and operations. To evaluate macro and
micro environment factors company uses PESTEL analysis and for identifying the
strength and weakness we formulate SWOT of company. To find out targeted market,
positioning and segmenting of organisation we determine STP model and how it help to
formulate various strategies and plan. To analyse competitors advantages strength and
weakness we evaluate Porters model. Also I have learned different types of marketing
methods like contemporary and digital marketing and its difference and which could be
beneficial for organisation. Apart from that we study to how to conduct market research
and implement qualitative method which is also called secondary research. There are
seven marketing mix elements which is use by organisation and what are its strategies
that can be use to enhance the productivity of company. Marketing mix is important to
consider while formulating any marketing strategies as it include all the factors and
influence in necessary decision in any company. Many modification and changes can
be done in these factors to improve the performance and efficiency. So, proper
executions in this concept will enhance the growth and maintaining the overall
effectiveness will help them the organisation to boost its profit as it involve all internal
and outer components of business is what I learned from this market reserch.
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