What kind of sales promotion activities would you do to increase the sales of the “French Car”

24 Sep

Integrated Marketing Communications

1. How will you use the sales technique in the form of short term effort to increase the sales in your cake shop?

2. What form of trade shows do you suggest for a tile company and how should they go about differentiating themselves from the competitors?

3. Case Study

Renaults Kwid skids on volume

The French car, one of the most successful small cars in recent years and the growth engine for French carmaker Famous in France, appears to be losing speed, at least in volumes. The numbers sold by the company (to dealers) hit an eight-month low at 6,924 units in January after peaking to 10,719 units in August 2016. Volumes have been less than 8,800 for three consecutive months since November.

Launched in September 2015, the unconventional sports utility vehicle-styled entry segment aggressively priced car shot to success, attracting thousands of buyers instantly. A consequent waiting period, running into several months, prompted the company to ramp up production. Eyeing more market share, The French car maker also decided to expand its sales and service network.

Seen as a challenger to the Japanese entry-level vehicle Which is the basic car (the most sold car in the country), The French car started figuring among the top 10 most sold domestic passenger vehicles since June last year. However, the rank slipped from fifth in June to ninth in December and it did not figure in the list last month when 6,924 units were sold.

The French car maker, however, says that their car numbers are growing according to plan. “In India Q4 sales are impacted by seasonal trends wherein sales tend to dry. The same can be seen in the mini segment. We have communicated our targets or their car between 8,000 to 10,000 units per month and we are on track with this” said a spokesperson.

The cars early success is evident from 50,000 bookings within only about a month of launch. The company announced in March 2016 that bookings hit another milestone of 100,000 units. Yet another milestone of 150,000 booking was made public in July 2016. When the French car maker expanded this basic car range with the launch of 1-litre engine in August last year. It said cumulative bookings of this car stood at 165,000 vehicles. However, there has been no further update on booking numbers. The spokesperson did not answer the specific query on cumulative bookings till date. The French car maker announced last week it had sold 130,000 of this car since the launch but did not talk about bookings.

Volumes sold by the company hit and eight-month low of 6,900 in January. After hitting a high of 10,000 units around August-September, the number looks under pressure since November. Pace of new bookings are also subdued unlike in the initial few months. The company last announced in July 2016 bookings has hit 150,000 units. There was no update since then. The basic Japanese entry car made by the Japanese company in India which is most sold small car, has seen gradual pick up of volumes and 22,000 units were sold in January.

The spokesperson did not give any reason for the decline in January volumes but said while the mini car industry grew 15.1 per cent in January 2017, for the French car, the growth was 15.7 per cent. “So clearly, we are above the industry trend.” The company said February volumes were good and it was confident of retaining the volume levels hit in Q1 of calendar year 2016.

The small car market, dominated by Japanese car, has seen another entrant, Entry car from Indian manufacturer. The Indian car manufactures by the well known Indian conglomerate clocks an average monthly volume of 4,600 units. An analyst said that some impact on the French car might have come from the entry of that new car from Indian manufacturer (launched in April last year). “Both the French car and the Indian car appeal to the same set of buyers.” He said.

The French car begins at price of Rs. 2.65 lakh while the Indian car entry level model comes for Rs. 3.24 lakh.

Data Jun-16 Jul-16 Aug-16 Sep-16 Oct-16 Nov-16 Dec-16 Jan-17
French

Car

9549 9879 10719 10558 9801 7847 8797 6924
Japanes

e Car

15750 19844 20919 27750 18854 23320 17351 22998

a. Looking at the stastics in the chart how will you plan to boost up the sales of the “French car” in the competition that is coming from Japanese and Indian car manufacturer? What is your strategy to retain and grow your market share?

b. What kind of sales promotion activities would you do to increase the sales of the “French Car”? What should The French car manufacturer do to differentiate their car from their competitors?

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