Car rental customer loyalty through preference and competitive analysis

Marketing: Increasing Customer Loyalty

The market research conducted by the large car rental company revolves around the identification of the proper incentives it has to offer its heavy customers in order to increase their loyalty and retain them. In this order of ideas, they will need to gather data on the customer preferences related to automobile specifications, such as the features it has to possess, the mileage, the color, the size, fuel consumption or any other technical specifications. This information is important to retrieve in order to ensure that the company is able to provide the customer with the desired product. Satisfaction of the client would as such be increased when he is able to rent the automobile he prefers.

Then, the second category of data to be gathered refers to the traveling schedules of the customers. It may seem that the request for this type of information is rather invasive, but since they are already regular customers, they should be willing to offer their traveling information in order to ensure that the company is able to 100% serve their needs.

A third set of data relates to the princes customers are willing to pay in exchange for the car rental service. Additionally, the company ought to look into the strategies used by its competitors and try to top them. For instance, if a competitor is offering their customers a 10% discount on the fifth rental, our organization could offer a 15% discount on the same conditions.

The information necessary to increase customer loyalty would be gathered directly from the customers through open discussions and the request to fill in customer surveys. The data on the competition would be gathered from the market through industry research.

2. Horology Industry

The horology industry has undergone a wide series of complex changes throughout its existence and has evolved from hour glasses of running sand to digital watches that reveal multiple features. The growing popularity of the mobile telephones and the growing existence of household appliances that tell time have put an intense pressure onto horologists, which may even find themselves activating on a niche industry. But in spite of these numerous and ongoing modifications, the time telling industry remains one that attracts the interest of the modern consumer.

The customer base for the horology industry can be divided into numerous sectors, based on various criteria. A first such criterion is represented by the income of the shopper. Watches and clocks are not only used to tell time, but through their artistic characteristics, they can make economic and social statements by revealing the taste and status of the buyer. Then, a second criterion is given by the destination of the device, which is a highly popular gift, emergent from a long Japanese tradition, leading us to the next segmentation criterion -- the tradition behind the watch or clock (Japan Clock and Watch Association, 2008). Based on this criterion, the customer base can be divided into those who look for watches and clocks from specific historic periods and value them as pieces of art and as real assets. On the other hand, there is the segment of consumers who are less attracted to the historical and cultural legacy of the device.

A final segmentation criterion is derived from the previous three presented, but presents a more specific segment -- that of the buyers looking to purchase a unique product. The strategy of offering unique items is highly success within any industry, but even more so in horology, where this segment has in fact become a niche.

4. Consumers' Role in Consumption Choices

The traditional view is that the customer is an independent being and that his purchasing choices are entirely based on his personal preferences, experience with a given product, necessity of that product and so on. James Twitchell (2002) however argues the opposite. The first signs that he disagrees with the traditional view are obvious in the title of his article, Needing the Unnecessary, which implies that the buyers will be convinced by manufacturers and retailers that they in fact need stuff of no real utility to them and that this process will finalize with purchases that reveal that the customer is not as independent as initially thought.

Twitchell argues that high levels of consumption are nowadays the determinants of wealth and that "you are not what you make, but what you consume." He states that producers and manufacturers have implemented a wide series of marketing strategies that convinced the population they ought to buy things in order to show them off, to prove their economic worth and their social position through the acquisitions they made, regardless of the actual utility these items had or did not have. Luxury, premier, brands, all are an integrant part of the American culture, of the contemporary way of being and no matter how mundane and frivolous certain purchase might be, they are ongoing through sustained support from the business community. The national economy in the United States was built on consumption. After the WWII, the Congress decided to promote consumption as a means of overcoming economic impediments and reviving production. The model however got out of hand, and has transformed into a system in which consumers will purchase any items they are presented with, and their power to decide is extremely reduced. Business and marketing strategies, alongside with social and peer pressure were the main generators of this situation.

References:

Twitchell, J., August / September 2002, Needing the Unnecessary -- The democratization of luxury

Wilkinson, S., 2009, Selling the Bugatti Veyron, Forbes Magazine, Edition of March-April

2008, History of Industry, Japan Clock and Watch Association, http://www.jcwa.or.jp/eng/historyindustry/history01.html last accessed on May 27, 2009