Zipcar Case Study Essay

Zipcar, which was recently bought for $500 million by Avis car rentals, is a start up that is in the business of selling the urban lifestyle of renting cars for short periods of time instead of owning a vehicle. The case evaluates how Zipcar has been able to gain the trust of its customers by being a green minded company with a strong set of values and benefits that will keep a customer. Zipcar took advantage of the fact that they had a place in a niche market, which allowed them to create a positive image for their brand, all while creating a loyal following of urbanites that the company refers to as Zipsters.
1. Evaluate Zipcar based on benefit based positioning
Companies can use a variety of strategies to improve the reputation of their product within its market. Most brands lean towards benefit based or belief based positioning. Benefit based positioning focuses in on what benefits the product brings to the consumer. In the case of
Zipcar was able to use its deep seeded belief in being environmentally friendly to gain customers that live in a mostly urban area that is not considered very “green”. Zipcar gave its customers a sense of doing good by leaving less of a carbon footprint by using cars that are shared rather than owned. This sharing of cars allowed the carbon footprint of each individual to be cut by almost fifty percent. Inspiring the belief of being green-minded, or contributing to a cause allowed Zipcar to gain extremely loyal patrons. Zipcar also built a community of followers also known as Zipsters. Beliefs are either core or secondary. Zipcar managed to dig into the beliefs of the city dwellers that had to deal with the natural environment being able to harness the power to make the customer feel as though they are doing something positive for the community and the environment causes the bond between the company and consumer to become