BUS300: Global Marketing Report - Mercedes Car Sharing Service

This report presents a global marketing analysis of the Mercedes company, focusing on its car-sharing service, "Croove." The introduction highlights the importance of global marketing and its role in attracting international audiences and increasing profits. The report then delves into the company's background, its slogan, and the innovative features of its vehicles. It examines the car-sharing service, including its competitive advantages like reducing parking demand and promoting financial savings, as well as potential problems such as insurance issues and competition from taxis. The analysis covers market segmentation based on geographical factors, population, transportation, and customer buying habits. Distribution strategies, including selective distribution, and promotional methods, such as social media and print media, are also discussed. The report concludes with an overview of market size and the various factors influencing Mercedes' global marketing efforts.

GLOBAL MARKETING

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
The company..........................................................................................................................3
The Product............................................................................................................................5
The Market.............................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
6. References....................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Global marketing is used to representation the approach of world wide marketing where
products are commercialized at global level to meet objective and fulfil requirements of
customers. It is considered as an important step towards initialization of product at international
level. Through this, business can be accessed at international level as well as profit and margin of
firm also get increased. Firms that are using global marketing approach are able to attract
international audience and customers towards their product (Adams, 2016). Present report is
based on global marketing of company, that is, Mercedes. Mercedes is an auto mobile company
used to provide services focused on safety, luxury and implementing precise engineering in their
product.
The company
(Source: Shultz, and et., 2015)
Mercedes is one of the leading auto mobile service brands which is popular for
manufacturing safe and luxurious car. It is one of the reputed brands across the world. They also
include the latest features and techniques in order to produce high performance engine for their
vehicle. Slogan provided by the brand is “the best or nothing”. The first creation of this brand
was a petrol car and later, it became one of their famous auto mobile brand. They are popular
among customers for high quality services that they are providing to them. They provides huge
range of passenger vehicals along with light and heavy commercial vehicles in multiple countries
around the world. They always implement innovative approaches into their products such as anti-
Illustration 1: Mercedes "the best or
nothing"

lock breaking system and electronic stability program. At present, firm is active in many
countries and large number of employees are working with them. Firm has developed various
strategies along with time to promote the brand and services in order to attract national as well as
international customers. Germany can be considered as the best example of using technologies,
improving level of manufacturing and success in order to build a strong image of organization. In
order to implement this process, different stages involved. Brnd is having intention of creating
unique products, strictly follow the slogan of the brand, promotions of values, in order to
maintain prestige into market (Cannon, and Yaprak, 2014).
Along with this, firm is introducing another service “Croove” in order to provide car
sharing facilities by making online booking. Under this service, car owners of different
companies can provide their car. In order to do this, they have to create an account through app
and specifies vehicle available and according to that suitable rental price will be provided by app.
This car sharing service is considered to be the most preferred service in daily life and they are
playing an important role by contributing 30% annually in the past five years. To provide this
service, different versions of car are used in order to provide a wide range of services to
customers. The brand wants to introduce this service in global market by attracting more number
of audience. Customers can use this service directly by downloading the app into their mobiles
and then they can easily choose their location. On the basis of that, they can easily reserve any
car according to their facility and after completion of ride, they have to pay to the owner. These
types of services are growing fast in the market and this concept is also appreciated by
customers.
This is not only beneficial for renter, owner and Mercedes brand only but it is also
providing benefits to customers as they are getting cars at low price and reducing adverse effect
on pollution. The competitive advantage of this service can be considered as it helps in reducing
the parking demand, sustainability, recruitment and retention along with financial savings as well
as health and well-being. Under first advantage, as previously every one used to have their own
vehicles while travelling but due to this concept of car sharing, people have started sharing
vehicles because of the issue of traffic and parking of vehicles. due to this gradual decrease can
occuur (De Mooij, 2013). In the next advantage, attraction of talented employees should be
maintained towards the firm in order to maintain a healthy competition in market. Therefore, by
using this service, staff can easily travel and stay at organization for longer time period. Through

this service financial saving also takes because method of sharing transportation cost shared
among all traveller due to this average transpiration cost is paid by individual. Due to this, traffic
congestion automatically gets deduce because overall vehicles count get decreased.
The Product
In this report, Mercedes is introducing a new car sharing service in order to provide
online access through app. In this service, brand is providing an app through which owner can
create their account and specify vehicles location so that when the time client is requesting for
service nearest owner can connect to client and provide service. On the basis of service provided
by car sharing market analysis of the is mentioned below: Relative Advantage: Advantages of service can be considered as it is cost effective
while using car sharing service transportation charges are distributed among every
individual who is travelling therefore they have to pay average cost. Along with this,
another major advantage is that while using sharing service, traffic congestion as well as
parking space related issues automatically get resolved (Griffith, and Hoppner, 2013). Compatibility: Under this, compatibility of car sharing service is considered with respect
to social and environmental factor. Generally, car sharing service works on the
methodology of “pay-as-you -go”. According to that, if someone is not able to afford
luxury car then in that case, he/she can reserve car on rent. Along with this, by using this
service, individual can effectively reduce the transportation cost. It is because; in this,
individual can share charges.
 Complexity: Under this service it can be considered as due to increasing car sharing
services serious insurance related problems are being faced by owners. If people are
going at different locations but catch the same car ad also reach at same time in this case
both individuals may face inconvenience and difficulty to reach their destination.
Problems associated with car sharing service: Problems associated with car sharing
services are such as potential users, transportation infrastructure, government policies and
business competition that badly affect car sharing service in that form of: Potential users: Under this concept of car sharing, service potential users such as people
who are vehicle owner or those who are providing services in order to have vehicle
ownership, both are considered as obstruction and possibility for sharing services. Car-

sharing is providing the best option for accessing car but people still consider it as a
second option and always give preference to their own car. This concept is being widely
implemented in developing countries such as India and China. In these countries, car is a
social symbol and individual usually prefer to have personal car to show social status
(Hollensen, 2014). Transportation infrastructure: In today's digitalized transformed era, most of the
countries are facing problems related to traffic congestion and it is gradually increasing
day by day. The problems related to traffic congestion cannot be solved with limited road
infrastructure and facilities. In order to overcome this issue, many countries provide
public transportation services so that multiple people can travel together and for better
transportation connectivity, all routes are covered. Along with this, different private
service providers are also working for the same. But transportation infrastructure should
be corrected in order to release the congestion. Government policies: As per this, major problem is that many government agencies are
not aware about such services and due to traffic and pollution related issues, government
implements certain restrictions on car-sharing services. But in some countries, during
peak hours, fifty vehicles are allowed on road and car-sharing also incloded under thi
count so they also have to follow this rule, due to limited vehicles people use car-sharing
services and other vehicals also started sharing (Keegan, 2016).
 Business competition: Taxis and auto-rickshaws are considered as the biggest competitor
of car-sharing service provider. It is because; they also work on same mode and
providing services for a long period of time. Usually, people prefer this service because it
is easily affordable and do not need any internet connection in order to access the portal.
But in some cases, car-sharing can fulfil the unique demands of customers where their
competitors cannot.
The Market
Marketing of any product depends of different factors that are used to make any product
or service popular among audience. The marketing of any product depends on geographical
segmentation, population, Gross National Production (GNP), form of transportation and
communication used in that region, customers buying habits. They all are described below:

 Geographical segmentation: For marketing of any product and service, geographical
conditions of that location or region plays an important role. It can be classified on the
basis of countries, states, cities, villages, climatic conditions and so on. On the basis of
same, marketing manager can easily identify the needs and requirement and also change
or enhance advertising approach for that region. Similarly, Mercedes is also providing
Croove services in urban areas. Population: For marketing another important method is population based, under this
approach specific locations are considered such as growth rate, age, sex that helps to
identify the type and preference of services and products under that particular region. In
the same way Mercedes is also providing Croove service in high population region only. Transportation and communication mode used: Under this, different transportation and
communication approaches are considered that play a significant role in marketing of any
product or service because through this method, Mercedes is also using internet as a
transportation and commutation medium to communicate with their customers about
Croove service (Keegan, and Green, 2015). Customer's buying habit: On the basis of customer’s buying habit, marketing manager
will be able to identify the types of products that are preferred by people of that region
and also, to identify products consumed by people over there.
Distribution of product: Under this method, different distribution methods are
considered to supply services to customers. This can be achieved in three ways, that is, selective ,
intensive and exclusive . In the given article, services are provided by using approach of
selective distribution. Under the same, only specialised dealer will provide services. Such as
only car owner are providing service of car-sharing. Intended distribution strategy is also
considered by Mercedes because under this, service brand tries to provide an exclusive service
and attract audience towards innovative approach of organization.
Advertisement and promotion: Any business organization has certain marketing plans in
order to attract people and increase sale of products. In order to achieve this, various
advertisement and promotional strategies are adopted by firms. In promotion, when business
firms want to communicate with audience then in that case, they use this methodology. In this,
marketing is done on the basis of research considering all segments, targeting, positioning and

messaging. Another method is advertisement under which involvement of social media, print
media and TV takes place.
Market size: Under this, market size is considered as an important factor for marketing.
In this, annual sales of firm is estimated on the basis of which new sales are estimated for new
industry.
Government participation: Government also plays an important role in marketing of any
product or service by providing and implementing certain rules and regulations that helps in
encouraging the use of such services.
CONCLUSION
On the basis of given article, conclusion can be drawn as Mercedes company is one of the
leading auto-mobile brand which is popular for providing safe, luxurious car.sharing (Shultz, and
et., 2015). In some countries this services are accepted by people where in some countries it is
not much popular. To implement this at wide level lots of schemes are provided by service
provider. Through this service, they are also creating a positive impact on environment and
helping society by reducing traffic congestion.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Adams, 2016. Global vs. Local Marketing. An Analysis of the Usefulness for Global Companies.
Cannon, and Yaprak, 2014. Cosmopolitan-based cross national segmentation in global marketing
simulations. Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, 28.
De Mooij, 2013. Global marketing and advertising: Understanding cultural paradoxes. Sage
Publications.
Griffith, and Hoppner, 2013. Global marketing managers: Improving global marketing strategy
through soft skill development. International Marketing Review, 30(1), pp.21-41.
Hollensen, 2014. Global Marketing, Harlow.
Keegan, 2016. Global Marketing: Student Value Edition. Prentice Hall.
Keegan, and Green, 2015. Global marketing. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Ricks, and et., 2015. Continuing Controversies and Ethical Issues in Global Marketing
Management. In Proceedings of the 1997 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual
Conference (pp. 171-171). Springer International Publishing.
Shultz, and et., 2015. The Global Marketing and Consumption of Sport. In Proceedings of the
2010 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 223-224). Springer
International Publishing.
Online
Global marketing. 2017. Available through:
<http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/global-marketing.html>. [Accessed on
26th May 2017].