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* “B*MW CASE” Figure 11-1 and BMW are similar in that they both use the same steps in the product life cycle and have similar goals as well as a few differences: Similar They both want to increase the primary demand for the product class. They both want to gain customer awareness in this stage and have limited paces of distribution. They both stress differentiation between versions (ex. 328 and M3) and will gain market share. They show similar effects in the maintaining brand loyalty stage; they offer a full product line of versions at this time and use a reminder oriented promotion strategy (ex.
BMW quality). Dissimilar Doesn’t take into account the different places of sale so some versions of the product will have shorter life spans in different countries. Gaining distribution won’t be a problem because BMW makes its cars and sells it at their dealerships; figure 11-1 is a general product life cycle and doesn’t take that into account. BMW doesn’t use a skimming strategy because its uses a more prestige pricing strategy to find its target market. BMW gains most of its sales in the last couple years of a product, while most products begin to decline. Marketing Strategies: 3 Series I would use S. T.
P to find out what my target market is. I would use multicultural marketing to target more Asian countries and try to expand the product life cycle. X5 I would use a skimming/penetration strategy and offer discounts and rebates until the price settles to equilibrium. This would work because it would cover allot of the costs of research and make the customer think their getting a bargain. I would use brand personality to make the X5 seem like a sophisticated SUV with extraordinary off-road capabilities. This would make the car seem more exciting and put BMW and the term “ultimate driving machine” synonymous with each other.
BMW manages its product life cycle by modifying the product. They regularly introduce new models for each of the series to keep it “new” which helps expand the lifecycle of their products. They also use this to keep the customer happy by modifying the product to fit the customer’s needs and making it easy to customize their vehicle thru the website or dealership. One of the strategies BMW uses is a Multibranding strategy. Although BMW is a standalone name, they also own other companies like Mini Cooper and Rolls Royce. This keeps their market share high and helps reach new arget markets. After going to the BMW website and designing my X5, there were things that I noticed that were different which you can’t do at a dealership. I realized that it was very easy and convenient for me to design the car that I exactly wanted (ex. quickly changing interior and exterior colors). I can add packages and accessories to my car and see how it would look visually instead of waiting till it gets shipped. You can see a visual side by side comparison of different models in that series, so you find the choice that suits you.