MOTOR OIL AS A PRODUCT IN DEVELOPING
MARKETS FROM B2B TO CONSUMER MARKETS AND ITS IMPACT TO ADVERTISING.
Motor oil regarded as low involvement products have continued
to create consumer interest on the best choice for engine use in the now ever
expanding developing economies. Economic, political, and regulatory forces are
reshaping the dynamics of lubricants supply and demand throughout the world;
hence opportunities to grow this business continue to emerge. Among the
developing economies, South Asia, and India are regarded as a key growth market
as well as a source of competitively priced lubricants that could eventually
affect mature markets. Growing awareness of vehicle emissions as a source of
air pollution is driving environmental regulation, which will force commercial
fleets across the region to modernize. This in turn will create a small but
growing market for higher-performance engine oils, . klinegroupThe use of
modern cars with engines that have low carbon emission are constantly been put
to use in these economies thereby the need for more improved motor oils to suet
new technology.
The motor oil market is divided into three different parts,
namely consumer automobile, commercial automobile and industrial automobile, Klinegroup . The passenger car market is subdivided into retail which
includes high street accessory shops, forecourts, DIY and supermarkets and
workshops which further splits into fast fit operations franchise and non
franchise dealers. Each of these segments has a unique role in terms of
consumption, consumer behaviour and the type of promotion strategy to apply in
each case.
The global outcry for cleaner environment caused by vehicle
emissions necessitates the need to improve on the poor fuel quality and
vehicles. Vehicle and lubricant manufacturers are continuously improving the
design of their engines and quality of their oil to meet these new challenges.
Product marketers within the marketing department must
ensure that they meet consumer tastes either in the B2B market or the consumer
market. Effective use of brand marketing will enable differentiation from other
products and extend it from becoming a commodity.
It is widely believed brand equity plays a big role in
customer loyalty due to the customer’s perception, on the contrary, studies
have shown that it is brand image that leads to loyalty. The more customers regard
a particular brand the better they will stick to it over a long period of time.
Brand equity creates brand recognition over a long period of time. Brand equity
is subdivided into categories such as brand awareness, brand
loyalty, brand association, other proprietary brand associations and perceived
quality. To differentiate a brand from competitors, a reliable
and strong corporate brand needs to be developed. When customers judge a brand
as unique, desirable and strong, they rate it as high brand equity.
Some might argue that advertising is deceptive and a waste
of shareholders money, but studies have shown advertising
can induce sales to a large extent especially in established brands. The need
to beat competitors in a similar product line necessitates the need for
advertising. Organisations undertake advertising mainly for brand maintenance,
loyalty and ensure an existing level of sales.
A popular notion is that advertising persuades people to buy
things such as the theory of awareness, interest, desire and desire (AIDA),
this might seem true in new entry brands but it seems highly unlikely in
established brands where consumers must have already used the brand before
seeing the advert.
In any economy, whether developed or developing, product
innovation has always been copied by competitors hence this always seems to be
a cause of concern to manufacturers. However to achieve a sustainable
competitive advantage advertising is used through branding and differentiation. Branding values are constantly promoted in the media
distinguishing one product from another making it easier for consumers to distinguish differences between competitors.
