Consumer Behaviour: Range Rover

This report is focused on the history of Range Rover and related changes that has happened in this model from 1990 to 2018. It also includes the marketing mix strategy used by Land Rover Company to promote their Range Rover product in the automobile market. This report also includes the target audience and various strategies to motivate potential customers to purchase their product. It also includes the high involvement purchase decision by both customers and company related to the Range Rover models.

Running Head: CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Range rover
Consumer behaviour
Report
Student name
[Pick the date]

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR 1
Executive summary
This report is focused on the history of Range rover and related changes that has happened in this
model from 1990 to 2018. It also includes the marketing mix strategy used by Land Rover
Company to promote their Range Rover product in the automobile market. This report also
includes the target audience and various strategies to motivate potential customers to purchase
their product. It also includes the high involvement purchase decision by both customers and
company related to the Range Rover models.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR 2
Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Marketing mix of Range Rover...................................................................................................................4
Target market and strategies used to attract them and convince them to purchase......................................6
Strategies to convince the potential customer to purchase...........................................................................7
Type of purchase for Range Rover..............................................................................................................8
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................10

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR 3
Introduction
Range Rover is known as one of the most premium class SUV in the world. Range Rover is the
product element of the land rover family. It came to existence in 1951, when the designers of the
land rover company were experimenting with the existing land rover series and credit goes to
Gordon Bashford. In support to this experiment, the first prototype of Range Rover was launch
in 1967 with little change in the front grill and configuration change in headlights (Landrover,
2018). In range rover product line, velar happened to be the most successful model of the land
rover family from 1969 to 1970. The growing demand of this model in Australia has forced them
to establish their assembly plant in 1983. The first generation range rover also served as the
specialist utility vehicle which was a two-door model. Then the company decided to launch their
second generation model of range rover in 1995 with four-door availability. Earlier the
ownership was in the hands of ford motors but slowly the ownership got shifted in many hands.
Currently, the ownership is in the hand of one of the most prestigious groups of India which is
Tata motors in 2008. At that time Range rover was facing great issues related to their market
demand and company was not even able to survive due to impact from recession on the global
level (Clegg, Chandler, Binder and Edwards, 2013). After 2008, the range rover demand has
truly shown heavy growth with their latest engineering and the latest growth in GDP of various
nations has also supported their progress.
(Sources: Land rover, 2018)

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR 4
Marketing mix of Range Rover
Range Rover is basically a sports utility vehicle which belongs to the automobile industry and
serves as the most engineered model of its manufacturing organization known as Landrover. It
happens to be one of the most popular brands in the SUV class which offers both off-road drives
with luxury comfort (Luan and Sudhir, 2010). This model is able to form the remarkable image
in the market of vehicles as compared to their competitors.
Product
Range Rover is a sports utility vehicle which is capable of four-wheel drive and is currently
serving its eighth generation. Earlier the company was functioning with only one model in the
automobile market but understands the variations in the demand of the potential customer, the
company came up with three variants like range rover sports, range rover Evoque and range
rover velar and vogue. The company has introduced its first launch in 1970 and it was launched
in the market with two facilities. But later understand the need of the market; this company
brought its first modification in 1981 and this process is still continuing with the help of extreme
automobile engineering (Chattopadhyay, Shivani, and Krishnan, 2009). The company has
completely changed the pattern of the vehicle from mechanical operated towards electrical
operated which seems to be realistic in the segment of automobiles. In 2018, the company has
introduced its new full automatic electric operated vehicle called velar which shares the
capability of both off-road and comfort. The company has introduced this segment because they
want to compete with the latest model of BMW X3 and Audi q5 segments which were offering
such features. The company has introduced all the aspects which were presented during the
environment conference in Paris related to lower down the carbon emission in their all models.
Place
The original birthplace of Range rover manufacturing company was in Britain but it was also
further established in other states. In 1979, the plant was established in South Wales and then the
business operation was directly under the control of Jaguar-Landrover in Australia. The rising

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR 5
demand of this range rover in countries like China, Slovakia and India has forced the company to
make their present in the form of plant establishment in these countries so that the transportation
cost can be saved and the chances of product damage while handling can be minimized (Chen,
Fay and Wang, 2011). This strategy has truly benefited the company in creating own country
image brand in case of Range Rover. The ownership by Tata motors has truly helped the
company in creating a strong distribution network on a global level which has helped the
company in extending their customer reach.
Price
Through years of experience, Range Rover model is able to create a very successful image as
well as the most famous luxury vehicle in the automobile market. This model of Land Rover
Company belongs to the premium segment of the market because of its luxury look and high-end
performance (Jones, Clarke-Hill, Comfort and Hillier, 2008). It mainly targets those customers
which have their formed their unique image in the society through their luxury lifestyles like film
stars, businessman and sports players. In short, they focus their market on the famous
personalities of the society which are capable of buying this vehicle. In most of the countries this
range rover vehicle is always connected to the prestige and heritage and hence the customer
which must be associating with this brand must have their own special place in the eyes of the
society (Sheau-Ting, Mohammed and Weng-Wai, 2013). As this is a niche market, so the
company always adopts a premium pricing policies for this segment because these are the people
which are ready to spend extra for high-quality products.
Promotion
From the launch of Range rover first generation, the company has been trying to project this
vehicle as one of the exclusive automobiles on the global level. This brand is successful in
connecting the royal family of Britain and has become one of the most preferable vehicles of the
Queen. This company has always adopted a special promotion strategy to market its product in
their targeted customer market (Hui, Inman, Huang and Suher, 2013). For automobile industry,
auto show is always considered as the lifeline of this industry and hence, this company makes
use of the most famous auto shows to promote their latest models so that they are able to be
generating huge brand coverage. This company also takes help of all print and electric media for

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR 6
their brand promotion like television, sports magazines and newspapers. In order to extend its
customer reach on the global platform, this company also takes the active part in trade fairs so
that they can display their models and increase their visibility.
In the case of 2018 Range Rover models, the company has especially considered digital
marketing as their platform for promotion. The company was well aware that social media
platform has become one of the most important marketing platforms because of its speedy reach
with cost optimization features (Thackeray, Neiger, Hanson and McKenzie, 2008). As per the
study, the company came to know that around half of the world is connected to some kind of
social media which itself is beneficial for the product promotion. The company has used social
media tools like Facebook, Twitter to increase its product awareness among the target audience.
The company has also made use of YouTube to position itself in the minds of the targeted
audience by launching teaser and promotional videos. Understanding the popularity of Facebook
and Instagram, the company has created their pages which they are using for promotional
activities in the form of uploading pictures of some famous events which is being sponsored by
this company (Glanz, Bader and Iyer, 2012). In these pictures, the company tries to keep
focusing on the appealing image which acts as advocacy marketer for their brand.
Target market and strategies used to attract them and convince them to purchase
As this product is a luxury vehicle, so the company usually focus their efforts towards those
segment of the society which very special image in the society or famous among the population.
The company mainly targets the rich class of the society who is willing to pay extra for high-
quality product and comfort (Paul and Rana, 2012). In fact, the product must make a
resemblance to the personality of the person who is purchasing this vehicle both in terms of
psychographic as well as behavioural aspects.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR 7
(Sources: Land rover, 2018)
Psychographic
Here the company considers two factors from the psychographic point of view, one is lifestyle
and other is upper class. The company is well aware that their Range Rover models must be a
representation of the customers’ lifestyle or in fact, the potential customer must be able to see the
reflection of his lifestyle in the company's product (Mostafa, 2009). The company always keeps
in mind that the buyer of this product belongs to well-off financial capability and always tries to
focus on the most luxury features of the vehicle which can offer them a separate identity. Hence,
the company tries to catch the eyes of a potential customer by offering the most luxury features
in their product like electrically operated seats, full display touch screen, remote operates buttons
and so on (Kim, Fiore, Niehm and Jeong, 2010). In addition to this, the company tries to put the
reflection of cost for the upper class in the Range Rover with the help of their most premium
gadgets available in the automobile market like double stitched leather, sunroof, chrome cover
on inner body parts and so on.
Behavioural
In behavioural features, Company tries to first understand the buying pattern of the potential
customers. As, these segments are financially capable so they often try to buy those products
which can reflect their personality through high-quality standards and physical luxury
appearance (Marsh and Gibb, 2011). The company also understands that the target person is
looking for those products which can make them feel like they are the king of the world and so
their ride must so same aggression. Hence, by offering combined features of both aggression and
luxury the Range Rover model is trying to fulfill this expectation of the potential customer.
Strategies to convince the potential customer to purchase
Perceived Value
Land Rover makes use of Range rovers perceived image value as compared to other automobile
companies in order to convince purchase (Chen and Chen, 2010). This company believes that the
person is willing to purchase Range rover vehicle if they believe that they are getting more than
what they have spent.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR 8
Status symbol
Land Rover is well aware that the person who is financially sound always looks for that product
which can increase that person’s status. As per Landrover, there are mainly two kinds of
inspirations that trigger potential consumers to purchase their Range rover which is hedonic and
utilitarian (Bellezza, Paharia and Keinan, 2016). In utilitarian inspirations, Land rover focuses on
the responsible and knowledgeable aspect of the potential customer, while in hedonic
inspirations company focuses on promoting elevation on the social scale of the community.
Self-esteem
With the help of digital promotional activities, Land rover tries to trigger the self-esteem of the
potential buyer to boost their confidence in the society (Steinfield, Ellison and Lampe, 2008).
They make use of social media tools like Facebook as well as Instagram to grab the attention of
these potential buyers.
Build quality
For any premium customer, quality happens to be the most important concern on which customer
will not compromise. Range rover triggers this expectation of the potential customer by charging
them premium prices for this vehicle which make it conceivable to make use of high-end
finishes, improved quality materials, and most creative features.
Desire
There are many people that have a strong love for cars, especially when it comes to the vehicle
which can provide them both aggressions as well as luxury. Here, Range rover place it's self as
the only option which offers both these expectations of the customers. These people are not
looking for some kind of transport which they can use for their travel purpose only. Instead of
that Range Rover is offering this segment features which are more than the need for travel.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR 9
Type of purchase for Range Rover
In the case of Range Rover, the purchase decision is of high involvement because for the
customers buying product like range rover are very important because of the cost as well as for
personality matching. In any cases it has been found that purchase decision connects to their
prestige and egos. The decision for this purchase also carry some kind of risk to the customers in
terms of money as well as mentally and the availability of large variants in Range rover puts an
additional risk aspect in the high purchase decision involvement (Gu, Park and Konana, 2012).
For this purchase decision, the customers are willing to spend their times as well as efforts in
reaching for the model which suits them best. Purchase of Range rover is said to be high
involvement purchase decision because as the cost of the product is premium so the potential
customers will go extensive search from many resources directly or indirectly in order to ensure
the purchase decision (Radder and Huang, 2008). High involvement decision is not only
connected to the potential customers but is also connected to the Landrover Company because in
order to launch Range Rover models, the company have put huge investment in terms of money
like adverting and promotions, extensive marketing research and effort to offer the most
innovative features in order to meet the premium demands of the potential customers. Here, a
single mistake of the company can probably put an image of the company at risk in terms of
financial as well as the place in the automobile market. As per Land Rover Company,
promotional message plays one of the most important attraction aspects for the development of
the customer base because it this opportunity helps the company in positioning their product in
the minds of the potential buyers (Jansson, Marell and Nordlund, 2011). Land rover company
have learned their business lesion from KFC China case, in which one promotion message had
put the complete China business of KFC into risk and they had to offer a quick response apology.
KFC, promotion message without understand the target audience had impacted the sales of the
company. Hence, Landrover company always consider the promotional message as one of the
high risks which company has to take in order to place their product in the market.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR 10
Conclusion/Recommendation
The increasing GDP of many nations have increased the purchasing power of the citizens.
Though 2008 happened to be a setback for the Land Rover Company but with the help of new
parent company Tata Motors, the company has managed to create its special place in the
automobile market. The strong distribution network of Tata Motors has helped Range rover to
position itself strongly in the minds of potential customers on the global level. Also, the
combined engineering of Tata and JLR has offered this Range Rover model that competitive
advantage which other rivals are not able to even think of. Their active presence in most of the
famous auto car shows has helped this range rover model to become visible on the international
automobile platform. Land Rover Company has not only brought new innovative features in the
cars but they can put life into their Range Rover models. They have offered their customers a
complete package which is loaded with both essential features which are off-road capability
along with full luxury comfort aspects.
Recommendation
By focusing more on digital, the Land Rover Company will be able to understand the changing
needs of their potential customers related to automobile market. At present, Land rover is not the
only company which are offering luxury SUV vehicle to this automobile vehicles. Current world
is moving from Hollywood stars to sports stars and famous entrepreneurs, hence the company
must transform their brand ambassador approach towards famous sports player and entrepreneurs
due to their increasing followers.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR 11
References
Bellezza, S., Paharia, N. and Keinan, A. (2016) Conspicuous consumption of time: When
busyness and lack of leisure time become a status symbol. Journal of Consumer Research, 44(1),
pp.118-138.
Chattopadhyay, T., Shivani, S. and Krishnan, M. (2009) Determinants of brand equity-A blue
print for building strong brand: A study of automobile segment in India. African Journal of
Marketing Management, 1(4), pp.109-121.
Chen, C.F. and Chen, F.S. (2010) Experience quality, perceived value, satisfaction and
behavioral intentions for heritage tourists. Tourism management, 31(1), pp.29-35.
Chen, Y., Fay, S. and Wang, Q. (2011) The role of marketing in social media: How online
consumer reviews evolve. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 25(2), pp.85-94.
Clegg, B., Chandler, S., Binder, M. and Edwards, J. (2013) Governing inter-organisational R&D
supplier collaborations: a study at Jaguar Land Rover. Production Planning & Control, 24(8-9),
pp.818-836.
Glanz, K., Bader, M.D. and Iyer, S. (2012) Retail grocery store marketing strategies and obesity:
an integrative review. American journal of preventive medicine, 42(5), pp.503-512.
Gu, B., Park, J. and Konana, P. (2012) Research note—the impact of external word-of-mouth
sources on retailer sales of high-involvement products. Information Systems Research, 23(1),
pp.182-196.
Hui, S.K., Inman, J.J., Huang, Y. and Suher, J. (2013) The effect of in-store travel distance on
unplanned spending: Applications to mobile promotion strategies. Journal of Marketing, 77(2),
pp.1-16.
Jansson, J., Marell, A. and Nordlund, A. (2011) Exploring consumer adoption of a high
involvement eco‐innovation using value‐belief‐norm theory. Journal of Consumer
Behaviour, 10(1), pp.51-60.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR 12
Jones, P., Clarke-Hill, C., Comfort, D. and Hillier, D. (2008) Marketing and
sustainability. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 26(2), pp.123-130.
Kim, H., Fiore, A.M., Niehm, L.S. and Jeong, M. (2010) Psychographic characteristics affecting
behavioral intentions towards pop-up retail. International Journal of Retail & Distribution
Management, 38(2), pp.133-154.
Land rover. (2018) Range rover history [online]. Available from:
https://www.landrover.in/experiences/news/range-rover-history.html [Accessed 6/1/2019].
Luan, Y.J. and Sudhir, K. (2010) Forecasting marketing-mix responsiveness for new
products. Journal of Marketing Research, 47(3), pp.444-457.
Marsh, A. and Gibb, K. (2011) Uncertainty, expectations and behavioural aspects of housing
market choices. Housing, Theory and Society, 28(3), pp.215-235.
Mostafa, M.M. (2009) Shades of green: A psychographic segmentation of the green consumer in
Kuwait using self-organizing maps. Expert Systems with Applications, 36(8), pp.11030-11038.
Paul, J. and Rana, J. (2012) Consumer behavior and purchase intention for organic food. Journal
of consumer Marketing, 29(6), pp.412-422.
Radder, L. and Huang, W. (2008) High-involvement and low-involvement products: A
comparison of brand awareness among students at a South African university. Journal of
Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal, 12(2), pp.232-243.
Sheau-Ting, L., Mohammed, A.H. and Weng-Wai, C. (2013) What is the optimum social
marketing mix to market energy conservation behaviour: an empirical study. Journal of
environmental management, 131, pp.196-205.
Steinfield, C., Ellison, N.B. and Lampe, C. (2008) Social capital, self-esteem, and use of online
social network sites: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Applied Developmental
Psychology, 29(6), pp.434-445.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR 13
Thackeray, R., Neiger, B.L., Hanson, C.L. and McKenzie, J.F. (2008) Enhancing promotional
strategies within social marketing programs: use of Web 2.0 social media. Health promotion
practice, 9(4), pp.338-343.

CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR 14