Question

Provide 2 examples from the automotive industry when segmentation would NOT impact the marketing mix.

Answer 1

The segmentation of market is usually done by considering the various segmentation factors such as demographic, psychographic, geographic, etc. On the other hand the marketing mix is a combination of marketing decisions that the organization can take in order to improve their market position. Segmentation is necessary to create a healthy and fruitful marketing mix. However, in the following scenarios, the activity of segmentation may not impact marketing mix to a great degree.

Monopoly: If the organization has a sole monopoly due to regulations set by government then the segmentation may not be necessary. This is because the company will be the sole producer and supplier for the automobile parts/products in the industry. This would mean that there is not much competition and as a result, the company does not need to tweak their marketing strategy to a great extent. This also means since the marketing mix is kind of fixed, there is no need for further segmentation.

Commoditized product in a homogeneous market: Consider the scenario where a company sells automobiles to an extremely homogeneous market. If the product is a commoditized product such as lubricant for the engine and nearly the whole market uses the same type of cars, then there is hardly any requirement for segmentation. While marketing mix can still be improved, the need for segmentation will reduce drastically and their impact will be little to none on the marketing mix.