Repositioning Strategies For Passenger Cars-A Segment-Wise Empirical Study Using MDS And Cluster Analytic Approach

Brand positioning and market segmentation appear to be the hallmarks of today's marketing research. A company cannot serve all customers in a broad mass market. The customers are too numerous and diverse in their buying requirements. Thus, company needs to identify the market segments it can serve effectively. By segmenting the market, .firms can better understand their customers and target their marketing efforts efficiently and effectively. Thus positioning and segmentation go side by side. This study attempts to carry out benefit segmentation of the passenger car market and suggests repositioning strategies for the existing brands of passenger cars in the identified segments. The study is based on a sample of 303 car owners/ potential buyers from the major cities of the state of Punjab and union territory Chandigarh. Eleven brands of cars alongwith an Ideal (Imaginary) brand are considered. Advanced multivariate techniques, viz., Cluster analysis and Multidimensional Scaling (MDS) were used for data analysis. Results of the analytical study brings out two segments of respondents on the basis of benefit segmentation and also identified position of Ideal brand vis-à-vis other brands. Study further reveals that Ideal brand is away from all other brands (considered in the study) as far as segment I is concerned. However, Zen and Santro can very well be stretched towards the most preferred Ideal brand using various repositioning strategies. In case of segment II, Zen is observed to be closer to the ideal brand.