5. This is something I love

For this part there are some theoretical explanations needed before I can tell you something about the product


Three levels:





There are three different levels of a product:

1. Core product:
That is the product which you get and for what you pay. It is in general the benefit, which you get when you buy a product or use a service.

For my product, the car:
Here the benefit is that you are very flexible, you can take your car and go where you want. Furthermore you can use it for several other things: e.g. transporting something, going on holiday and so on

2. Actual Product:
The actual Product is the product itself. It is that what you can touch. Furthermore you can have influence on the product, when you buy it.

For my product, the car:
The Actual Product in my case is the car itself. You as a customer have the influence how to design it (color, model, interior and so on).

3. The augmented product:
The augmented product are the products, which you get after buying the product itself, they are mostly luxury things.

For my product, the car:
Here you can add several things. For a car there is mostly a warranty that is one augmented product. Another would be the service of the garage, which takes care of your car and gives you a rental car when your car needs to be fixed.



Product line:
Those are the products, which are closely related to each other.

Product mix:
The product mix of a company has three different parts:
Depth: the number of different products which are offered in the product line
Width: The number of product lines
Length: The number of all products in the mix


For my company:

For my company there are two product lines:
1. The cars
2. The accessories, which you can buy for your car and yourself.

In Part 4 of the blog you can see which a short overview of the first product line that are all the cars which Skoda builds.


Product mix:
As you can see there are many different products, which are all individual (especially product line one). So the depth in my company is very high. On the other hand the width is not so high, because they only have two product lines.
But in general it can be said, that the length of Skoda is very high, because all the cars are individual made and that gives the customer endless possibilities to choose his/her product. The constellation of this mix is, because they want to give the consumer as many possibilities as possible to find the product.
In addition the consumer can identify him-/herself with the product by buying accessories form the second product line. So there is one main product line (the cars) and a second (the accessories) which should help the customer to identify with the car and the company.


Product life cycle:

Before you can show the product life cycle of my product, you must explain it in general:
The product life cycle can be compared with the human life cycle. It shows the main periods of life for the product.





There are four different periods:
1. Introduction:
That is the part where the company wants to put the product on the market. They made the whole marketing stuff for it. In this period it is important to mention that the product is not on the market for public, perhaps there are several examples of the product but you cannot buy it, so the profit is zero, or below zero.

2. Growth:
That is the period, where everybody wants to have the product. The sales grow rapidly and reach the peak.

3. Maturity:
The third period is the period in which the product is on the market and stays there. That is the longest period, which also includes the beginning of the decline.

4. Decline:
That is the last stage of the product life cycle. The sales go down rapidly and the product will be taken out of the market.

For my product:
My product the Skoda Octavia, the new one, is now in the maturity period. It was published in 2004 (that is the introduction). After that there was the growth period, which went over in the maturity period. Something special in this period was the facelift form 2009, which had a short growth in the maturity period. The decline period will perhaps begin, when the new Octavia will be introduced and published.



Branding and Packaging:





For the branding and packing I choose the key ring from Skoda Rs as you can see it above.
Here you can see that the packing is very simple. It is just a box with the brand on it. Furthermore the brand is also on the product directly.
I think it is a very good solution to put the brand on the packing and the product itself. In both cases you can find association to the company and I think that is really good.
In addition the packing is very simple which I guess is also a hint to their slogan: simply clever
Another point which should be mentioned is, that the asseccoires are for daily use, so they do not need a special packing.
The only thing which could be changed is, that they put also a picture of the car one the package, because then you can see for which model the product is, because there are several accessories for each model.
But in general it can be said, that Skoda managed the branding and packing for their accessories: Simply clever, like the global slogan says it. The branding of the cars is also managed in many possibilities, like in the internet, in newspapers and several other sources.



Reference list:

Topic 1:
Definiton: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080617020807AAkovo6

Topic 2:
http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/tools/pestle-swot edited by myself
http://new.skoda-auto.com/COM/about/perspective/social/Pages/social.aspx
http://www.excelsia.ch/htmlgb/blog/index.php
http://www.skoda.nl/gfx/dealerpages/1856/1856_Skoda_logo_met_simply_clever.JPG
http://new.skoda-auto.com/COM/about/perspective/environment/Pages/environment.aspx
http://new.skoda-auto.com/COM/about/perspective/environment/techdev/Pages/Technicaldevelopment.aspx
http://www.allgemeinbildung.ch/pics/imagemap/Automarken_47x.jpg


Topic 4:
http://new.skoda-auto.com/com/model/newfabia/gallery/pictures/Pages/pictures.aspx?pageIndex=3ℑ=/PublishingImages/gallery/newfabia/gallery/_780x585/14photo.jpg
http://new.skoda-auto.com/com/model/newfabiacombi/gallery/pictures/Pages/pictures.aspx?pageIndex=2ℑ=/SiteCollectionImages/gallery/newfabiacombi/gallery/_780x585/31.jpg
http://new.skoda-auto.com/com/model/roomster/gallery/pictures/Pages/pictures.aspx?pageIndex=2ℑ=/PublishingImages/gallery/roomster/_780x585/03photo.jpg
http://new.skoda-auto.com/com/model/praktik/gallery/pictures/Pages/pictures.aspx?image=/SiteCollectionImages/gallery/praktik/gallery/_780x585/praktik_gallery_04.jpg
http://new.skoda-auto.com/com/model/tour/gallery/pictures/Pages/pictures.aspx?image=/PublishingImages/gallery/octavia-tour/gallery/_780x585/04photo.jpg
http://new.skoda-auto.com/com/model/tour/gallery/pictures/Pages/pictures.aspx?image=/PublishingImages/gallery/octavia-tour/gallery/_780x585/01photo.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ON1drcRars&feature=player_embedded
http://new.skoda-auto.com/com/model/newoctavia/gallery/pictures/Pages/gallery.aspx?pageIndex=2ℑ=/SiteCollectionImages/model/newOctavia/LIFTBACK/Gallery/_780x585/octavia_fl_28.jpg
http://new.skoda-auto.com/com/model/newoctaviacombi/gallery/pictures/Pages/gallery.aspx?pageIndex=2ℑ=/SiteCollectionImages/model/newOctavia/COMBI/Gallery/_780x585/octavia_combi_fl_20.jpg
http://new.skodaauto.com/com/model/yeti/gallery/pictures/Pages/pictures.aspx?image=/SiteCollectionImages/model/Yeti/gallery/_780x585/Yeti_36.jpg
http://new.skoda-auto.com/com/model/newsuperb/gallery/pictures/Pages/pictures.aspx?pageIndex=2ℑ=/SiteCollectionImages/gallery/newSuperb/gallery/_780x585/17_Superb.jpg
http://new.skoda-auto.com/com/model/superbcombi/gallery/pictures/Pages/pictures.aspx?pageIndex=4ℑ=/SiteCollectionImages/model/SuperbCombi/gallery/_780x585/supc045.jpg
http://new.skoda-auto.com/COM/model/newoctaviacombi/look/Pages/look.aspx?ff=0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIw1bsfTH9s&feature=player_embedded
http://www.yosax.com/car_pictures/2009/04/2009-skoda-octavia-scout-facelift.jpg
http://www.whoopster.de/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/skoda-octavia-rs-facelift.jpg

Topic 5:
http://retailsmart.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/core-product.jpg
http://dictionary.bnet.com/definition/product+mix.html
http://www.trumpuniversity.com/business-briefings/lib/resources/images/graphs/product_life_cycle.gif
http://i2.ebayimg.com/02/i/001/05/1f/71d6_35.JPG

Futhermore I took Information out of our Marketing book:
Marketing Concepts and Strategies (Dibb, Simkin, Pride and Ferrell)

4. Targeting strategy

Form Skoda there are several cars, which can be offered (I choose Skoda Germany).

Fabia (sedan/station wagon), the smallest car of Skoda





Roomster (van), a van of Skoda




Praktik (van), a van based on the Roomster, for workers use




Octavia Tour (sedan/station wagon), the old Octavia of Skoda





Octavia (sedan/station wagon), the new Octavia of Skoda







Yeti (SUV), the SUV of Skoda




Superb (sedan/station wagon), the largest car of Skoda





That was an overview about the products which you all could use. I will choose the Octavia station wagon (the new) one, for a closer look, to describe me and the segment.

The Octavia is the “family” car of Skoda there are many possibilities to configurate it.
First you must decide if you want the station wagon or the sedan. Both have some same features.

Quotation from the Skoda homepage:

The new Skoda Octavia offers not only all the benefits of the previous generation, such as quality workmanship, timeless design and voluminous luggage space, but also has new design elements, new technical elements and a greater degree of safety. It can satisfy varied wishes and needs. It is classic and modern. Still unique, yet different.



There you can see that there are some aspects for everyone which is similar in all cars. But there are also special lines, for each segment.
I will shortly present the German lines.

The “normal Octavia”, has five different design lines

Classic
The lowest line, with no luxury extras (no radio, no air-condition …)

Ambiente
The line with some basic extras (manual air-condition, radio, ESP…)

Elegance
One of the highest design lines for the model (automatic air-condition, leather seats …)

L&K (Laurin & Klement)
The highest design line for that model, with the most standard equipment.

Greenline
A special ecological design line with weight reduce and a fuel saving engine.

For all these design lines it is possible to order some extras like navigation system and so one.

But there are also two further models.

Scout:
Is a SUV based on the Octavia, with the elegance design line. But it has a 4 wheel drive, and is higher than the normal cars.



RS:
The sportive Octavia: It as special sportive design elements in the interior and exterior.





So as you can see there are special design lines, which speak to every segment, e.g. if you want to have a very sportive car you properly should have a closer look at the RS, or if you want to have a normal one, you can decide if the Classic has enough for you, or if you should order the Ambiente.
So those are the variables in the case.
Every design line is for a special segment and can be personalized for your personal needs.
For the different segments there are special marketing strategies. But in general it can be said, that there is a general campaign to advert the car.
In newspapers, there are adverts and perhaps special offers, in the internet on the Skoda homepage there are information and possibility to configurate your car, in TV/cinema/internet there are advertisements and furthermore there are special newspapers and TV magazines which test the car.

Now I will describe the segment to which I belong. I belong to the segment, which uses the car. Therefore there are, before buying it, special questions. Which design line do you need and which extras do you need, so that in the end there is the “perfect” car for you?
After buying the car, you are in another segment. You are now in the segment of using the service, when there is something broken on your car and has to be fixed.
Another segment in which you are is the “taking-care” segment. You have to look after your car, because it was a long time decision when you bought it.
So all in all it can be said, that there are several stages and segments when you purchase/use a car.

1. Getting information
2. Deciding which car you want
3. Buying the car
4. Using the car
5. Taking care of it
6. Service segment, when something is broken

And as a consumer you go through all these segments, and I did it as well.

3. This is what I am

For me as a customer there are two different sites. One the one hand there is a “one time decision”, that is when you buy a car, and on the other hand there are “long time decision”, when you bring your car the garage to control/fix/ ... it.
And there are also different segments as well, if you buy a car. For each model there are normally several segments, because the customer is the one who decides which car he/she needs, if it is a small one or a larger one.

So I am going to write something about general factors for a customer:

1. Personal

When you thing about personal factors, the first question is, do you really need what you are going to buy.
The second important question is, do you have enough money to buy that product or not.
So in general it can be said, that personal factors are the factors which influence yourself. You can decide all your personal needs, and what you want to buy. Furthermore this factors show something about your lifestyle.



2. Psychological


Psychological Factors are the factors about the behaviour of a person in general. Every person has different points of view, so that everyone looks for his/her personal needs.
Another point which should be mentioned is the personality of a person, which has a great influence on the buying behavior.
The third and last point I want to mention for this factor are the feelings of a person. Here it is important to have a closer look at the customer, if he just buys this product because he needs it, or does he/she really wants to have it.




3. Social


Social factors are also very important, and there are several, which are all connected to the other factors.
These factors are also very important. Here you can mention many groups around you, but they all have a different influence for your buying behaviour.
Furthermore you must thing about the follow-ups after buying a car, what will it does with your social role and your role in the society.
In general it can be said, that it is again about money and social status.

Now after describing general factors I want to describe my consumer behavior.
It began with the question, do we really need a new car in our family or can we use the old one for some years more.
After looking through the internet, there were several possibilities how to handle it. So we started to drive from one garage to another and look at the cars and after a short time it was clear, that there were not many possibilities about which model or if we should use the old one.
The next step was to talk with salesman to talk about the configuration and about the prize. We got a first offer and thought about it at home and discussed several other aspects, like what you we order or not, what is with the insurance and all other aspects.
After two weeks thinking about what to do or what not, we decided to make a test drive, so we made an appointment for that.
We got another positive impression of the car, but we still decided not to order it, because we wanted to go to another garage to check if they could make a better offer.
In the end we got nearly the same price for the same car at different garages, but one gave us a special gift, which the other did not, but that was not the turning point. The turning point was that the one garage was part of a chain and the other one was a family business.
In the end we decided to order it at the family business, because we felt much more comfortable there and we thought it would be a better service there.

So there are several stages of the buying process:

1. Thinking about the necessity of buying (psychological/personal factors (is it useful or not))
2. Getting information about the product/prize (personal (interest of getting information)/ psychological (thinking about the prize))
3. Going to the shop for more information and to have a closer look at the product and getting more information (personal/psychological/social factors)
4. Thinking about the product, a second time. (personal/psychological)
5. Making an appointment, in order to do a test drive. (Personal)
6. Thinking about the final decision. (Personal/psychological/social factors)
7. Buying the product. (Personal)
8. Waiting for the product.
9. Getting the product and use it.

2. Marketing environment

I choose the company Skoda, because I think it is a very interesting company, and you can analyze the marketing environment from different points of view.

First I want to explain which two environments I want to look at.

The Marco Environment:
The Marco Environment is the environment, which shows the whole company in the whole world.

The Micro Environment:
The Micro Environment is the environment, which shwos the company in a smaller part e.g. one country. For that part I will choose Bielefeld.

The macro environment:
Skoda is since 1991 part of the VW-Group. That means that they have access to the market in the whole world.
To get a better overview about the macro environment I am going to explain it with the PESTLE analysis, which stands for "Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental analysis".






1. Political Factors:

Skoda is part of the VW-Group, which in Germany is partly owned by the state Niedersachsen. So the state has somehow something to say. But the most important factor is that the VW-Group is the “boss” for Skoda.
Of course, they have their own managers and can make their own decisions, but they have to go also through the VW-Group.
All in all it can be said, that they are independent on the one hand, but on the other, they are influenced by the VW-Group. To be part of that group offers them also a great competitive advantage, because they can act globally, use the VW technologic and the can save money for their own developements.


2. Economic Factors:



Since Skoda is part of the VW-Group its economic growth continuous grew. Especially in Germany there was a high growth last year, because of the “Abwrackprämie” (similar to the English cash-for-clunkers program). Skoda is also an “independent” company, which has to look after the market and do their own econmic programs.


3.Social Factors:



Skoda is one of the biggest entrepreneurs in the Czech Republic, because of that; the company has got a very high esteem for the workers there. Furthermore Skoda takes much responsibility for the workers. You can find on the homepage, the following statement for their social policy.

“The philosophy of Skoda Auto policy in the HR and social fields is based on the long-term role of the biggest employer in the region and places the human being at the core of attention and emphasizes the social responsibility of the company to its employees and the surroundings.”
HR= Human resource



4. Technological Factors:



In the beginning of the 90th Skoda was not very popular and they did not have a very good image.
But then the change came, Skoda became a member of the Volkswagen group, and a restructure of the brand began.
Skoda could use some of the technology from the Volkswagen group, which had following pros:

1. They must not spend so much money for their own development -> save costs
2. They can use the quality standard form VW -> better image/ higher quality
3. They have a high production level, because they must not spend as much
time/money on development -> can make more profit

Another thing which is very important, especially for the marketing, Skoda has nowadays a new and fresh design. This design was introduced in 2008 with the new Skoda Superb 2. There you can see that they have their own development, and want to become popular on the automobile market.
Those are the most important factors, for Skoda. There are also many others, but I think they must not be mentioned here.


5. Legal factors:

Skoda is a very large entrepreneur, so they have to cover several things on the law, but these factors are not very important for the consumer himself, so I will not describe them in detail. I will only say that they are covered by the company.


6. Environmental factors:



The company has a green production nowadays, as the most automobile companies. Furthermore Skoda as introduced some “Greenline” models, which are very environmental friendly and safe fuel.



SWOT analysis
To get a better overview about the micro environment I am going to explain it with the SWOT analysis, which stands for "Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats".




For this part I will only concentrate on the micro environment around the area in Bielefeld, because I think there you have got the best possibilities to show what is meant by it.


1. Strengths:

In the area around the place where I live there are six Skoda partners. Which I think is a very large number. Furthermore these partners are mostly directly next to their competitors, which mean you can easily compare different brands.
I cannot tell something about each partner in detail, but I made the experience, that most of them have a really good service, when you go there you do not have to wait long time (for service as well as for advice in special problems).j
Strength for Skoda is that they use techniques from VW that means that you have tested techniques and if you have a problem and a Skoda is not near you, you can also go to VW.
What is also very mentionable is the price of the cars. If you for e.g. compare a Skoda (does not matter which car) to a similar car in the same league you will see, that for the same money as you buy another brand you will mostly get even more when you buy a Skoda. So it can be said, that they have a really good price performance ratio.


2.Weaknesses:

When you are interested in buying a Skoda there are also some weaknesses. On the one hand Skoda is also today not very popular, when you compare it to other brands. That is the reason, why it could be, that you have to drive a longer distance, when you have to go to the service or something else and you live not in a “big” city were you easily will find a Skoda partner.
Another weakness, which depends on the point of view, could be that Skoda has not such a large innovation program as other brands. They are in the Volkswagen Group, which means they are somehow addicted to it and cannot do directly what they want.
If you are really old fashioned, the image of Skoda is as well one of the weaknesses.


3.Opportunities:

Here you can surely add the connection to the Volkswagen Group. Skoda has access to their techniques and innovations, which means they could save money for innovations and so they can achieve their objective to sell as many cars as possible, to a good price and a good quality.



4.Threats:

As you can see in the opportunities, the connection to the Volkswagen Group can also be a threat. Because if Skoda wants to introduce a new car and they say no, it cannot be put on the market and the whole development might be without success.
Also a threat could be that there are many other brands on the market which might have other products which are more interesting for the costumer.



Competition




As on every market Skoda has as well many competitors. There are reams of other brands on the market, which all have their segments. And if there are several competitors, who offer cars in the same league, there is the competition. With that competition every brand has to live, and every brand then has to make something special so that get a larger market and become the market leader.
All in all it can be said that competition is very useful for the market, because if the costumer does not want to buy what him/her is offered the company has to think about, what is wrong and how they could make it better.
Skoda is settled, I think, in a market niche, because they offer the costumer very good products, which have a high quality to a very good price. So as I said before the price performance ratio is very good.

1. Marketing from my viewpoint

First of all there several approaches to this subject, so I decided to answer some questions to show you my point of view.

1.) Tell us what is the role and significance of marketing in your life?
2.) Does it help you or embarrass you?
3.) How is it visible around you in your ordinary life?
4.) How could you manage without it?

After that, I will give a short definition of marketing and explain the meaning in general and for me.

Before I tell you what marketing is for me, I will talk about marketing in general.

Marketing is everywhere. In the morning when you read the newspaper, there is marketing. When you go to work/school there is marketing as well.

It doesn't depend on what you do or where you are, everywhere you will find marketing.

Marketing also can have different ways to be presented. On the one hand there is advertising everywhere and on the other hand there is mouth-to-mouth propaganda.

For me marketing has somehow an important role, otherwise not.

It is important for me, that I can see what there is new e.g. products, or that I can see special offers e.g. in the supermarket.
In general it can be said, that marketing is very helpful in my daily life.
On the one hand it informs me and on the other hand it also entertains me.

But there is also the question, what would life be without marketing?
For me I think there will be several changes, because I don’t get information about special offers, or other things like that. So I would only go to the same supermarket every time, buy the same things there and so on.
Life would be monotone and boring without it, I guess.
In my opinion it is also not imaginative to live without marketing, because in the whole life you are in contact to marketing and then it would be suddenly gone, so that is something which is really hard and the world would not be as colorful as it is nowadays.
But one of the most important things is that you we will not get informed about new products. That means you have a several standard, and if there are new products, you will perhaps not use them, because you stick to your old products.

For marketing there are different definitions, which in general are similar, but I choose the one from Dr. Philip Kotler, because it has in my opinion more content than others. Furthermore this is a definition, which does not need much explanation, because everything is in it.


Definition

"Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, services, organizations, and events to create and maintain relationships that will satisfy individual and organizational objectives."
Dr. Philip Kotler


In this definition you can see that Dr. Philip Kotler presents the whole idea of the marketing. There are several examples which you could use, it is for each product similar, but I will choose a product, which I will also use in the other tasks.

Example: A Car

A Car must first be produced and while you are producing the car, you think about the target group.
Therefore it is very important to look after the things which you will put into the car. Furthermore this is also the final decision about the price.
After you have decided about that, you think about the promotion of the car, where you are going to present it and so on.
When the final presentation is ready and your product, in this case the car is on the market, the car dealer is the one, who is responsible for the service and for the individual planning (that means the color and the extras which you are going to order for your car). That means every car is special, so he is the one who will satisfy your needs.

In this example you can see how Dr. Philip Kotler means his definition. Furthermore it can be seen, that for every product it is the same way. First there must be the product, and then it goes on the market.
All in all it can be said that Dr. Philip Kotler has found a very general definition, for each product. Also this definition has everything in its context what is needed for marketing.