Archive for December 3rd, 2008

Luxury Cars Still Selling

December 3, 2008

Excerpted from BusinessWeek, “A Tough Auto Market? Not If You’re a Maserati Exec”, by Dan Strumpf, November 21, 2008

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With the U.S. all but certainly in a recession and many skittish consumers hesitant to buy even a Honda Accord, it would seem the last thing anyone would need is a $400,000 Rolls-Royce Phantom.

But sales of many high-end luxury cars are bucking the trend of plummeting car sales, as ultra-luxury cars are often highly resistant to economic downturns.

“You’re dealing with the ultra rich who, even if they take a hit, a car purchase for them is a very, very fractional piece of their net worth. Whether they’re paying $50,000 for a car or $200,000 or $300,000 for a car, it really makes no difference in their net worth.”

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Sales at many cream-of-the-crop carmakers are bearing that out, and are either flat or down modestly. Some, like Rolls-Royce, have actually increased.

Ferrari’s U.S. sales, for example, are down just 3 percent for the first 10 months of the year, compared with an industrywide slump of 14 percent, according to sales figures compiled by Autodata. Maserati sales are up 10 percent, while sales at Rolls-Royce are up a whopping 32 percent.

Edit by DAF

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Full article:
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D94JAGOO0.htm

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Posted in Autos - Travel | Leave a Comment »

The $1,500 new car option … (ok, it’s not really an option)

December 3, 2008

GM provides health benefits for a million people today — only a fraction of them actual workers.

These health-care expenses account for over $1,500 of the cost of every GM vehicle.

Common Observation: GM is no longer a car company that provides health benefits, but a health-care company that happens to make cars.

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Excerpted from WSJ, “What’s Good for GM Could Be Good for America”, Dec 2, 2008
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122818153973071061.html 

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AMS: Cutting Cell Phone Churn

December 3, 2008

Excerpted from the McKinsey Quarterly, “New ideas for customer segmentation”

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Customer life-cycle management, though a likely and proven strategy, presents a vexing challenge to prepaid mobile operators. They often resort to blanket promotions that risk destroying value by needlessly cutting prices or offering free services.

One alternate way is for marketers to look more closely at their billing systems, which contain a wealth of information; to create segments, often as small as 100,000 subscribers; and to plan tailored promotions for each group.

The exhibit below illustrates one prepaid mobile operator’s strategy to reduce churn rates by segmenting subscribers through their usage patterns. Tracking the number of days before a customer is “lost” helped the company to introduce promotions most likely to increase usage and retention while minimizing revenue lost to scattershot offers and unnecessary discounts.

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Edit by DAF

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Full article:
https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/newsletters/chartfocus/2008_11.htm

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Posted in Mktg - CLTV, Mktg - CRM, Telecom | Leave a Comment »

Smart Cars Get Big But Still Get Stares

December 3, 2008

Excerpted from Marketing Daily, “U.S. Now 3rd-Best Market For Smart ForTwo Car” by Karl Greenberg, December 1, 2008

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The ultra-diminutive Smart car still draws stares, but it isn’t as rare a bird as it used to be.

The Smart ForTwo car has been on sale in the U.S. for 10 months now…the U.S. is now the third-highest sales market for the 10-year-old ForTwo, behind Germany and Italy…since it began selling them in February, it has sold over 20,000 ForTwos through October.

Smart has eschewed advertising, relying instead on grassroots efforts, word-of-mouth and PR events…And the company still funnels prospects for the $11,990-$16,990 cars to a Web site launched last year, where consumers can reserve a car for $99…the company now has 73 “Smart Center” retail outlets in 35 states…about two-thirds are partnered with Mercedes-Benz dealers…

“We have always said our demographics are based on attitude and lifestyle, not income…the company is aiming to appeal to four demographic targets: baby boomers wanting a second or third car; empty nesters; people in large urban areas, “whose age could range from 18 to 80,” and first-time buyers.

“We are seeing a pretty even split across these groups in terms of who is buying the vehicles”…Smart will adhere to a no-advertising policy, focusing instead on online reservations, social networking, and discovery marketing…Next year, Smart will engage dealers to run promotions, and will begin to do owner events…

The car is selling strongly in New York, Los Angeles, the Pacific Northwest, South Florida and even Texas, as well as in large Midwestern cities.

Edit by SAC

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The Smart car has come to the US at the right time as more Americans seek smaller, fuel efficient vehicles. It isn’t surprising that Smart appeals to a range of targets and with the very low hurdle rate of a $99 reservation fee nearly anyone can go online to customize and reserve their very own Smart car.  Especially when the fee is refundable at anytime. 

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Full Article:
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=95741

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Posted in Autos - Travel, Environment - Green | 1 Comment »

Catalina Coupons Customized for You

December 3, 2008

Excerpted from The Wall Street Journal “Personalized Store Ads Take Off” by David Kesmodel, October 23, 2008

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For years, supermarket cashiers have handed shoppers coupons as they left the checkout aisle. These days, shoppers often get narrow paper strips printed with something else: ads related to the shopper’s own buying habits.

Recently, Stouffer’s has used such ads to encourage buyers of its single-serve frozen entrées to join its Dinner Club. Joining the club allows consumers to earn points for buying the Nestlé unit’s products. The points can be used to bid for rewards like TV sets and magazine subscriptions.

Targeted ads like these began appearing in some of the nation’s major grocery stores about two years ago, but big consumer-product companies like Nestlé, Coca-Cola and Kraft Foods are just starting to buy them in significant numbers, as they and other marketers put more emphasis on reaching the right consumer at the right time…

The company behind the ads is Catalina Marketing, a closely held marketing-services firm…Catalina, armed with data provided by retailers about shoppers’ buying habits, showed Stouffer’s that 6.7% of all shoppers accounted for 80% of its single-serve volume. So, Stouffer’s targeted ads at many of these regular buyers, bypassing those who hadn’t bought its products.

Catalina learns which shoppers buy a particular product by tapping into the vast reservoir of data retailers collect from customers who use loyalty cards. Stores offer such cards to their customers as a way of tracking their purchases, typically in return for discounts or access to special promotions…

GlaxoSmithKline has bought ads for its Tums antacid to target shoppers around holidays like the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving, when they tend to eat more heavily. Catalina serves up the ads to shoppers who have bought Tums in the past…

Still, the strategy isn’t foolproof.  Catalina says 80% of consumers read its coupons “most of the time.”

The service tends to be most effective in driving customers to buy more of a product or try a newly launched product.

It is less effective at getting shoppers to cross categories, buying a beverage, for example, from a manufacturer whose cereal they like. 

Edit by SAC 

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Full article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122472576115361225.html

 

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