Volkswagen: Market Intelligence, Buyer Behaviour & Market Research

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of market intelligence for Volkswagen, focusing on understanding buyer behavior and effective market research techniques. It begins by outlining the main stages of the purchase decision-making process, explaining relevant theories of buyer behavior, and detailing factors that influence these behaviors, including the relationship between brand loyalty, corporate image, and repeat purchasing. The report evaluates various market research techniques, emphasizing the use of secondary data and assessing the validity and reliability of research findings, culminating in a marketing research plan tailored for a specific situation. Furthermore, it assesses market size trends, plans and executes a competitor analysis, and evaluates Volkswagen's opportunities and threats. The report concludes with an evaluation of techniques for assessing customer response, including designing, completing, and reviewing a customer survey to gauge its success. This analysis aims to provide actionable insights for Volkswagen to enhance its market position and customer engagement.

MARKET INTELLIGENCE

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Describe the main stages of the purchase decision-making process................................1
1.2Explain theories of buyer behaviour regarding individuals and markets 2
1.3Explain the factors that affect buyer behaviour.................................................................2
1.4Evaluate the relationship between brand loyalty, corporate image and repeat purchasing3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
2.1Evaluate different types of market research techniques....................................................3
2.2Use sources of secondary data to achieve marketing research objectives.........................4
2.3Assess the validity and reliability of market research findings.........................................4
2.4 Prepare a marketing research plan to obtain information in a given situation.................4
TASK 3 ...........................................................................................................................................5
3.1Assess market size trends within a given market..............................................................5
3.2Plan and carry out a competitor analysis for a given organisation....................................5
3.3Evaluate an organisation’s opportunities and threats for a given product or service........5
TASK 4 ...........................................................................................................................................6
4.1Evaluate techniques of assessing customer response........................................................6
4.2 Designing and completing a customer survey..................................................................7
4.3Review the success of a completed survey........................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Market intelligence can be defined as the information which is relevant to the market of
the company and to gather with the analysis for the purpose of appropriate and accurate decision
making to determine the strategies in areas including development of market and opportunity of
the market. The present report is based on Volkswagen which is largest automobile industry over
the world and it is headquartered in Germany. This report covers stages of purchase decision-
making process of the cited organisation. It also includes the theories of buyer behaviour and
some of the factors which affect that behaviour (Li and Li, 2013). Further, this report also
evaluates various types of techniques of market research and use of sources of secondary data to
achieve the objectives of the market research. It also covers a plan which helps to carry out the
competitor analysis for the stated organisation and opportunities and threats for the same.
Moreover, it also identifies the range of techniques for assessing the response of customers. In
the modern era, understanding customer buying behaviour has become very important for the
growth and success of any business enterprise. Furthermore, it helps companies such as
Volkswagen to understand the key factors which affect the buying behaviour of customers and
how it can attract them. Factors such as income level, age, social, personal, culture etc. plays
very important role in influencing the decision making of customers. It is important to know
customers needs because it supports in areas such as product development and growth. It can be
stated that by offering products according to the need of people, businesses such as Volkswagen
is able to create sense of satisfaction among them and encourage their loyalty.
TASK 1
1.1 Describe the main stages of the purchase decision-making process
The customer buying process shows the perception of the customer before buying the
product. The main stages in the decision making process of customer purchasing in context of
Volkswagen that is describes below:
Problem recognition- The first step in the decision-making is identifying the needs of the
customers of Volkswagen. In context of the selected business enterprise, it can be asserted that a
customer here develop a need that he want to buy a car. A need of using car develops within him
and this is termed as the first stage in process of decision making. I need a car as now I have a
baby and I cannot travel with my baby here and there without car. Thus, I need a car which is
good and has adequate space.
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Search process- After the recognition of the problem, in second stage the consumers try to
take information regarding the market from the retailers, friends and so that motivates them for
purchasing products of Volkswagen.(Kuester and Rauch, 2016). Here, the customers will look
for the various alternatives and car brands available in the market. Suppose a friend of that
customer (me) has recommended Volkswagen car and because of the trust factor i will seek for
the same.
Evaluation of alternatives- The third stage is to evaluate the alternatives where the
consumer select between all products of Volkswagen and there are other option of the brands and
they have the ability to purchase other products as per the requirements of customers. Here, I will
compare Volkswagen with the other brands avalaiable in the market. The comparison will be
made on different factors such as price, mileage, quality, comfort level, convenience etc.
Purchase decision- In this stage, the customer decides what they have to purchase and from
where. After carrying out the comparison between different brands of car available in market,
here I will select Volkswagen as it will suit my need and demand in the best possible manner.
After carrying out the evaluation of, it has been identified that it is the best suitable car for my
needs.
Post purchase decision- In the final stage of decision-making process there is evaluation of the
satisfaction of customers regarding the products of the company. If the customers are satisfied
with the Volkswagen then they prefer it for the next time which is beneficial for the company. It
can be stated that I am satisfied with the product of Volkswagen which I have purchased. My
need regarding car with good design and space has been accomplished.
1.2Explain theories of buyer behaviour regarding individuals and markets
There are some of the major theories of buyer behaviour regarding the market and in the
context of Volkswagen which are described below:
Economic theories- This theory of buyer behaviour focuses on allocation of income and its
impact on demand for products of Volkswagen. This includes many factors such as the concept
of marginal utility; the law of consumption which affects the buying decision of the customers.
Psychological theories – This theory helps to analyze impact of various factors in the
decisions of the future purchases fro Volkswagen. . There is significant role of brand loyalty to
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form the basis for the learning of consumers that can influence the purchase of the customers
(Bulley, Baku and Allan, 2014).
Psychoanalytic theories- There are some of the dimensions that are derived about the
personality which is based on the analysis of buying behaviour of the customers regarding
market.
Socio-cultural theories- This theory helps to determine the culture of an individual,
society and the other factors which affect the behaviour for purchasing the product.
-Generic Theory of Buying Behaviour -
Maslow hierarchy of needs
This theory was developed by Abraham Maslow and the theory highlights the key factors
which can be held responsible for human achievement. Maslow has developed a proper pyramid
of need and has explained that a person seeks for accomplishing other needs after satisfied one
particular need in pyramid. For example first of all individuals seek for attaining their
physiological needs which are related to food, water and shelter. After satisfying this need, they
place efforts to accomplish safety needs which are linked with safety and security. In the
pyramid, the third need is related to belongings, fourth one is esteem need and the last need is
related to self actualization. The purchase of car falls under the category of esteem needs which
is linked with prestige and feeling of accomplishment.
1.3Explain the factors that affect buyer behaviour
There are different factors which can affect behaviour of the buyer such as personal,
social, cultural. There are two factors one is the personal and other is the social which can affect
the buyer behaviour in the context of Volkswagen which is described below:
Personal factors- This factor highly influence the behaviour of the buyer and there are
some of them which include age of buyer, occupation ad standard of living. As per the changes
in the age of people there preferences also changes. For example my occupation and lifestyle of
will also help me to determine the factor and the products of Volkswagen which can be
purchased by the buyer.
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Social factors- The impact of friends, colleagues which influence the purchasing decision
of buyer. To fulfil the requirement of the family, there is a major role of them in the decision of
purchase. The products of Volkswagen can be purchased by consumers who have high income
and to maintain the status in society..
Cultural factors – It can be termed as another major factor which has influence of buying
behaviour of people in the market. As a child grows up, his/her values and attitudes are being
developed by influence which comes from parents and siblings. Thus, at the time of buying
Volkswagen car, the culture in which I am born and bought up will have direct impact on my
buying behaviour. I will consider my values and beliefs the time of buying Volkswagen’s car.
Psychological factors- This factor includes elements such as motivation, perception, attitude etc
of a person which has direct impact on the decision making process of a person. For example at
the time of buying Volkswagen car, my attitude and perception towards the other brands in
market will play a very important role. I may not choose to buy others cars because of negative
image of those brands and my positive attitude towards price and quality of Volkswagen.
1.4 Evaluate the relationship between brand loyalty, corporate image and repeat purchasing
The brand is considered as a design which helps to identify the product, service and
place. Branding is essential for Volkswagen as it gives an advantage to serve the customers and
offer standard prices to their customers. It leads to increase in profit and provide benefits of low
advertising cost.. Further, the corporate image of the company is based on their branding which
is appropriate and the perception of the company in the eyes of different customers which is an
important aspect. The corporate image of the organisation is the outcome of the actions of the
company, (Nazari and et.al., 2015). Repeat purchases determine the buying behaviour of the
customers for the products of Volkswagen and the other products which are provided by them..
There are various factors behind the repeat purchases which involves quality and convenience of
the customers. The relationship between all the three factors is not only based on the brand
loyalty. Their relationship shows that there is an effect of corporate image on the branding
because of the positive image of Volkswagen and the products or services which are provided by
them. It can be stated that the positive image of Volkswagen helps in order to enhance and
improvement in the brand loyalty of the customers and that provide the positive outcome in the
purchase by the customers.
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TASK 2
2.1Evaluate different types of market research techniques
Market research can be defined as a process in which data is collected from the consumers
and the clients of business to carry out the research. The main role of market research is that it
provides people in the market with suitable, adequate and required information which can play
very important role in the decision making of a person. Furthermore, research can be carried out
with the help of two major sources which are primary and secondary. Apart from this, qualitative
and quantitative are the two major techniques of research which can be used by Volkswagen to
carry out the analysis of data collected from various sources. It can be stated that Volkswagen
can use technique such as primary and secondary both to promote its products. For example it
can conducted primary research with the help techniques such as questionnaire and interview.
This will help the company in identification of customer needs and appropriate information
about competitors. In Primary research provides with fresh and new information whereas the
market research techniques are used by Volkswagen to measure the satisfaction level of the
customers regarding the products and services and it also give the data of the competitors and the
automotive industry. The data can be collected with the help of two different techniques of the
market research including the primary and secondary research (Bagnoli and Watts, 2015). In the
context of primary research, the data is collected by the stated company through the market
research agencies and the data is highly reliable. For the purpose of finding out the answers to
the specific questions, this type of research is helpful for the organization. The research can be
conducted with the help of the questionnaire, face to face survey to know the perception of
customers regarding the products and services which are provided by the company. Further,
there is another technique which is the secondary research in which they get the information
through the industry-wise research and the different case studies. This is less reliable sources as
compared to the primary research for Volkswagen.
2.2Use sources of secondary data to achieve marketing research objectives
Internal sources can be termed as the one through which Volkswagen can use sources
within the company. External sources are the one which lies outside the business enterprise. This
includes government sources, universities and colleges. On the other hand, competitors data
resources can be used to gather information. This research helps in gaining information of the
industry in the area where they want to expand their business and market share of the competitor
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in the automotive industry (Torpelund-Bruin and Lee, 2012). There are some of the resources
which can be used by the company for obtaining the appropriate information for the purpose of
market research which includes the report of the market research, a collection of the secondary
data for the different products which are required to retailed from the other sources.
2.3Assess the validity and reliability of market research findings
In order to assess the findings of market research whether the reliability is appropriate or
not in context of the stated company. The reliability of the sources helps to measure the
consistency of a proper period. It also has the ability to produce appropriate results for the
repeated measurements in context of Volkswagen. There are some of the errors which can occur
due to biasness in the process of implementation. With the help of reliability research there is
enhancement in the gain of this measurements and reduction in the random factors. (J. Trainor,
T. Krush and Agnihotri, 2013). Further, validity is required to measure the findings and there are
several ways in research findings which shows cause and effect relationship in the study and the
external validity helps to identify the people who are involved in the study.
2.4 Prepare a marketing research plan to obtain information in a given situation
Marketing research can be termed as the study in which different tools and techniques can
be used to gather data regarding market trend, customers etc. The research can be carried out
with the help of using techniques such as interview, survey and questionnaire. For the purpose of
obtaining the appropriate findings, there is a need to conduct a market research plan and this can
be conducted in two ways which include the qualitative and quantitative approach. In the
approach of quantitative research, there is discussion regarding the volume and the qualitative
approach helps to study the customers and the range of behaviour with the feedback regarding
efficiency of the products which are provided to customers by Volkswagen (Tej Adidam,
Banerjee and Shukla, 2012). For investigating the quality of the products of the company, they
make the qualitative research and in this the survey regarding the questionnaire is conducted for
identifying the findings. Thus, with the help of feedback from the customers, they form a basis
for identifying which helps to determine the outcome of the market research plan.
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TASK 3
3.1Assess market size trends within a given market
Volkswagen is a Germany-based automotive industry which is the largest automaker in
the world. There are millions of customers who prefer their products. Market share of
Volkswagen comprises of around 23.4% in the area they provide their services. The company
has their operations around 150 countries. They also sell cars under Audi, Skoda and the other
different products to their customers (Goel and Goldstein, 2013). Volkswagen also provides
commercial vehicles, engines and turbo machinery and the services such as banking, insurance
and leasing. In terms of key and direct competition, it can be asserted that Volkswagen is facing
key competition from brand such as Toyota and Daimler AG. It can be stated that the
competitors are offering same kind of products and services as Volkswagen. Toyota market share
in the world is 12.9% whereas the market shares of 13.55%. Strong research, development team
and effective system of production as considered as the key strength of Toyota. Furthermore the
company can be termed as the biggest threat for Volkswagen as it is trying very hard to steal the
market share from Volkswagen.
3.2Plan and carry out a competitor analysis for a given organisation
To carry out the competitor analysis of Volkswagen, there are some of the competitors
such as Toyota, Ford, and General Motors. These companies give tough competition to
Volkswagen and it considers that Toyota has the large and strong market share which can also
influence the customers. Volkswagen has their group and they sell almost all the different range
of products. Toyota sale around the 10.15 million vehicles in the year 2015 and which is down
from 10.23 million in 2014. Further, in the case of Volkswagen the data shows 9.92 million in
2014 so that it can be said that Toyota Motors give tough competition to Volkswagen and they
are required to make some of the changes as per the desire of various customers.
3.3 Evaluate an organisation’s opportunities and threats for a given product or service
SWOT analysis can be termed as a technique which is used for carrying out analysis of
internal and external factors which can affect the business. Its wide reach in market due to early
reach can be termed as USP of Volkswagen. Volkswagen is one of leading manufacturer of the
automotive in the world and it is having its headquarters in Germany. Furthermore, the selected
business enterprise is carrying out its business operations with a very wide portfolio. This has
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helped the company in getting the competitive advantage over other players in the market. The
key strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats of Volkswagen are mentioned below as: Strengths – Volkswagen is offering a wide range of products, services to its customers
and this has resulted in creating a sense of satisfaction among people or customers in the
automotive industry. Another key strength of the brand can be considered as its strategy
of diversification which has supported Volkswagen in earning adequate sales and profits. Weakness - In the recent few years, the negative publicity of Volkswagen has emerged as
its biggest weakness. Furthermore, this has also resulted in creating different obstacles in
achieving higher sales and profits. Apart from this, the brand is also not having any kind
of expertise in making vehicles which are battery driven (Kumara, Farooquee and
Sasidhar, 2016). Opportunities- The increasing demand of Automotives in developing and developed
economies of the world is one of the major opportunities which are available for brands
such as Volkswagen. On the other side of this, the selected company can also go for
mergers and acquisitions with other small and big automotive companies to increase its
volume of sales, profits and market share.
 Threats - The biggest threat at present for a company like Volkswagen is the growing
competition among businesses in the automotive industry. Nowadays, people in the
market are available with wide range of options and alternatives to choose from
(Sundström, A., Ahmadi and Hyder, 2016). This has created barriers to the overall
success of the selected business enterprise. Increasing government regulations in some
nations is another major threat for Volkswagen.
TASK 4
4.1Evaluate techniques of assessing customer response
For the purpose of assessing the response of customers, there are two most important
techniques which are used by Volkswagen such as online questionnaire and face to face
questionnaire. With the help of survey and questionnaire, it provides the feedback of different
customers and it also helps the company to learn the response of the employees, customers and
vendors. The survey of the customers allows the organisation to make the improvement in the
quality of their services and the employers make the improvement in the management at
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workplace. (Jensen and et.al., 2016). Further, the company can take the response of the
customers with the help of online questionnaire in which they can obtain huge number of
interviews in short period of time and that is beneficial for the company. The customer service
questionnaire is also considered by the company in order to take response regarding their
services and in which area they require improvement. This survey helps the organisation to get
the perception of customers in the context of the cited company.
4.2 Designing and completing a customer survey
In the modern era, customer survey at regular intervals has become very important for
overall growth and success of a business enterprise. It can be stated that such kind of survey
helps the organisation to identify the fact that whether their products and services can satisfy
customer needs or not. The customer survey for Volkswagen is carried out with the help of well-
structured questionnaire which is mentioned below as:
Name
Gender
 Male
 Female
Age
 Below 25
 25-30
 30-35
 Above 35
1. For how long you have owned the car of Volkswagen?
 Less than one year
 One to two year
 More than three years
 Four years and above
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2. What is the main reason behind purchasing the car of Volkswagen?
 Price
 Quality
 Comfort level
 Luxury
 Other than this
3. Do you agree that Volkswagen marketing strategies are effective?
 Strongly Agree
 Agree
 Neutral
 Disagree
 Strongly Disagree
4. How satisfied are you with the service delivered by the sales consultant of Volkswagen?
 Very satisfied
 Satisfied
 Neutral
 Unsatisfied
 Very satisfied
5. Are you satisfied with the pricing and product quality offered by Volkswagen?
 Very satisfied
 Satisfied
 Neutral
 Unsatisfied
 Very satisfied
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