Case Study: Volvo YCC
Submitted by:
Akshay Sareen: GAPR11MM148
1. As cited in the case, female customers of Volvo’s YCC want performance, prestige and style from their automobiles. Additionally, they want more of the following to be incorporated in its design - smart storage solutions, easy embarkation/ disembarkation, good visibility, personalization, minimal maintenance and easy manoeuvrability for parking.
2. The case cites an adage which states that ‘if you meet the expectations of women, you’ll exceed the expectations of men’. This is substantiated by two key metrics – 65% of car buying decisions are made by women and 80% of buying decisions are influenced by women. These metrics, along with the fact that 54% of American Volvo buyers are women, strongly suggest that male consumers will respond extremely positively to the innovative design elements as envisaged in the Volvo YCC.
3. Future concept cars from the Volvo stable could expand its scope beyond addressing consumer needs & usage patterns, to also include the following elements of consumer consumption – how and when is the car primarily used (for instance: to & from office, weekend getaways, grocery shopping etc.), what is the frequency and duration of usage (in terms of mileage), safety, warranty, is the experience of driving a car purely functional or aspirational/ entertainment driven etc, when and how do consumers dispose of their cars (ie. through re-sellers, scrap dealers, swap deals etc.), and is there any cognitive dissonance prevalent after the purchase is made and before consumption.
4. The CDP model can help in formulating communication and marketing strategies for Volvo’s YCC. The marketing mix should be such that the automobile’s features satisfies the benefits as visualized by consumers (in the need recognition stage); promotional activities should include those mediums which are most frequently used by consumers