Segmenting the car industry and mind
mapping
If we wished to
segment the British car market, we would need to take into account a whole
series of variables and factors. The first part of this paper shows in list
(linear) form, some of those variables and factors. The second part of the paper is concerned with presenting the car
market information in mind map format.
As we will see,
we can segment the British car market in terms of whether the car being sold is
a new or a used (second hand) car; whether the car is being provided for the
Fleet market, the Business market or for the Private market? We can further segment the market in terms
of the kind of car are we selling: a mini, a supermini, a lower medium sized
car ...
Read through the
listing of the segments first and then consider the mind map that you will find
in this paper. If you are unsure of
what a mind map is there is a page on this site relating specifically to them: go
to the paper and have a read; but don’t forget to come back here if you
need to!
Overall:
British
Car Market
Segment 1
New
Used
Segment 2
Fleet
Business
Private
Segment 3:
Classification Examples
|
Mini |
Rover Mini, Fiat Cinquencento |
|
Supermini |
Ford Fiesta, VW Polo |
|
lower medium |
Alfa 33, Renault 19 |
|
upper medium |
Peugeot 405, Nissan Primera |
|
Executive |
Mercedes 190, Honda Legend |
|
Luxury |
BMW 7 Series, Lexus LS400 |
|
Sports |
Porsche 911, GM Calibra |
|
utility &
other |
Renault Espace, Mitsubishi Shogun |
Segment 4:
Domicile of manufacturer
Home
Import
Segment 5:
Manufacturers
BMW
Fiat
Ford
GM
Mercedes
Nissan
Peugeot Citroen
Renault
Rover
Toyota
Volkswagen
Other
Segment 6:
Retailers
Franchise
Independent
Large
Medium
Small
So, that’s the
list, or the linear version of the various aspects of the British Car
Market. Let’s turn now to the Mind Map
of the same information. In fact, as
you will see, we haven’t included all variables; but there are tasks for you to
attempt following on from the mind map you are about to see. The mind map is as the end of this paper:
Note: this is only
one way of representing the British car market on a mind map; and there are
alternatives. For example, we could
rearrange the segments that would show fleet managers dealing in new or used
cars. You might also wish to build in
the classification of cars into other aspects of the market.
Task 1: if you wish to practice your mind mapping skills then you
can attempt the following
Reformat
this mind map to allow for the inclusion of the major European
manufacturers How and where would you put the manufacturers?
Would
you add them to the above map, draw a new map … ? The main manufacturers, repeated here for convenience, are:
|
BMW |
Peugeot
Citroen |
|
Fiat |
Renault |
|
Ford |
Rover |
|
GM |
Toyota |
|
Mercedes |
Volkswagen |
|
Nissan |
Other |
Task
2: Some or all of the following additional
variables may be included in your mind map of the British Car Market. Redraw the mind map to include these
variables.
Segment 7: Key
Economic Indicators
(Leading to
segmentation by class/income/wealth?)
GDP
GDP per capita
Growth
Inflation
Unemployment
Net Disposable
Income
Net Disposable
Income per capita
Segment 8:
Population
Total size
Age groups
Male
Female
Conclusions
The above example
of the British Car Market is concerned both with segmentation and mind mapping
at the same time.
The purpose of
the discussion was to introduce a practical example of segmentation of the
market for one product/service and then to demonstrate the role that mind
mapping can play in presenting, learning and appreciating it.
