Singapore – buying a car

Executive Summary

The main objective of this project is to find exposed of the diverse factors influencing on the consumer decision and consumer behaviour while buying a car in the age group of 25 to 50 in the city of Singapore. On the deeply discussion on the background its talk about various factors that guides us to understand this research and study and how and to whom and where this project report will benefit. Objectives talks about the different types of the data which could be generate by the research project and how these data is relevant. (Srivastava).

The automobile industry in Singapore has shown a great potential in manufacturing an innovative and creative car, but from last two to three years registarion of the new vehicle in Singapore’s decline has worsened , rather than showing the sign of recovery its going down. Sales of 2009 looked like off to a poor start Q109 falling 12% as compared to the same period last year. According to the statistics analysis by the motors traders ‘ association of Singapore declair that by october sale was running 25% lower than the first 10 months of last year at 76,408 units.In 10M09 , Toyota Motors , Lexus brand , the overall market also got off to poor start with a only 25% share of new consumer vehicale registration is done. And that time after toyota Honda motors place the second with 14% of market share , third is hundai with 10.3% market share (Singapore Autos Report Q1 2010, 2010).

There are so many up and downs in atomobiles industries . Due to these changes in automobile industry market, there is a need to identify and find out the reason for change of the consumer purchasing pattern . And this study aims to conclude the infuencing factor of consumer decion while buying a car in a age gruop of 25 to 50 in the city of China town. For this project we are totaly concentrated on the consumer behavior and the focus group of the people. And i was trying to find out the what consumer wants the specific quality in their car (Srivastava). And after analysis we get the result that people are highly involved in the purchase decision of a car.

Introduction

Singapore is most important profitable hub in the Asian cub-continent. One of the most leading industries in Singapore is Automobile industries. It is one of the leading and most stylish in Asia and in whole world which provides an innovative and latest technology not only in country but also to the global market. Many of the biggest and large automobile industries are depend on the Singapore automobile industries (Jackman, 2010). Singapore market offers opportunities in the automobile company, which continue to grow. Recent investment reflects the importance of Singapore as a major manufacturing base, especially for the production of higher value – added engineering system. Many multinational corporations set up international offices for source high quality and competitively – proved automotive parts. They all have established headquarters in Singapore to coordinate manufacturing and distribution operation for region (Singapore, 2008)

The automobile industries in Singapore has shown enormous potential for intensification from last few years and it’s also helped in strengthening the country’s trade dealings with America and Europe (Jackman, 2010). In 2008 the market trend of new vehicle registration in Singapore finished Q109 by 12%. This was the sign of improvement. But in 2009 the number of the registration became limited to 73,830 compared with registration of 97,348 cars last years (Singapore Autos Report , 2004).

We had just gone through recently published report on Singapore Automobile industry , and according to that report , compare to last decaes 2009 gots very poor trend in automobile industries. Rather than recovery its going down. At the beginning of 2009 it gots off to poor start , ragistration falls down 12% as compared to last decaes (Just Published: Singapore Autos Report Q1 2010, 2010). There was then a dramatic additonal degeneration in Q209, which decipher into a 20.7% y-o-y fall in new car registration for H109 , to a volume of 49, 619, according to statistics complies by the MTAS (Motor Traders Asscoication of Singapore). The severe worsening in sales dimensions and new automobile registrations has beaded expectations, especially prearranged a financial incentive packge reveal by Singapore’s authorities and the contribution of incentives by delaership to clear accumulation inventories. Against these conditions, BMI (Business Monitor International ) has formerly again amend our forecasts for 2009 downwards. According to forcasting it assumed that new vehicle registation in 2010 is for rise of 3.2% y-o-y , to a total of 94,644 registrations. Howerver lack of trading and registration of new vehicle in singapore placed third in 2009 in production. Toyota, honda, all these are very reputed and famous brand . in last decades overall market for Toyota is only 25% share, which ranked first placed , Honda motors sits in second place with a market share of 14%. Hundai is in third place with 10.3% up from 9% in H109. Kia is fourth with 6.6% , up from 4.8% in H109, while Nissan (5.6%) is fifth (Just Published: Singapore Autos Report Q1 2010, 2010).

Models of Car in Singapore automobile industries

Maruti Cars
Maruti Cars

Hyundai Cars
Hyundai Cars

Honda Cars
Honda Cars

Tata Cars
Tata Cars

Chevrolet Cars
Chevrolet Cars

Ford Cars
Ford Cars

Toyota Cars
Toyota Cars

Mahindra Cars
Mahindra Cars

Skoda Cars
Skoda Cars

Audi Cars
Audi Cars

bentley Cars
Bentley Cars

BMW Cars
BMW Cars

Fiat Cars
Fiat Cars

Hindustan Motors Cars
Hindustan Motors Cars

ICML Cars
ICML Cars

Jaguar Cars
Jaguar Cars

Lamborghini Cars
Lamborghini Cars

Land Rover Cars
Land Rover Cars

Mahindra Renault Cars
Mahindra Renault Cars

Maybach Cars
Maybach Cars

Mercedes Benz Cars
Mercedes Benz Cars

Mitsubishi Cars
Mitsubishi Cars

Nissan Cars
Nissan Cars

Porsche Cars
Porsche Cars

Premier Cars
Premier Cars

Reva Cars
Reva Cars

Rolls Royce Cars
Rolls Royce Cars

San Motors Cars
San Motors Cars

Volkswagen Cars
Volkswagen Cars

Volvo Cars
Volvo Cars

Theoretical framework
Consumer Buying Behavior

Consumer behavior is a challenging task to analyze the consumer. It depends upon the choice of customer what they want to buy and what they don’t want to buy. This influences us to analyze better on consumer decision making process. It’s necessary to know how the consumer is making the decision at time of purchasing the product. Every person has its own choices, ideas, psychology for buying a product. When I came to know about the project on consumer buying behavior I found it very interesting achievement for me as guided by my professor I got the success to complete the given task. (Consumer Buying Behavior)

Why customers buy products?

As we all know that a consumer buy product to satisfy the needs and his desire .some of its needs are necessary for our daily routine life and some needs are based on the customer demand. For buying a car a customer needs influences about the car. There are two types of car:-

Internal influences

External influences

I have include both type of influences in my survey

Following are the sources where a consumer gets information:

Personal sources-family, friends, neighbors etc. Commercial sources: advertising; salespeople; retailers; dealers; packaging; point-of-sale displays. Public sources: newspapers, radio, television, consumer organizations; specialist magazines Experiential sources: handling, examining, using the produce

How do consumers buy?

This model is used for making marketing decision. It used in buying process rather than for purchasing.

In first step the consumer identifies the requirement of needs. At this step consumer analyze that we should buy a car or not.

After this the searching of getting information starts. A consumer more influence buy the word of mouth coming out rather than other sources like advertising, internet etc.

After this it’s important that how does the customer use the information obtained. This is an important aspect that how a consumer analyze the information received.

High-involvement purchases include those involving high expenditure or personal risk – for example a car.

Why should a marketer need to understand the customer evaluation process?

The answer lies in the kind of information that the marketing team needs to provide consumer in different buying situations. In high-involvement decisions, the marketer needs to provide a good deal of information about the positive consequences of buying. The sales force may need to stress the important attributes of the product, the advantages compared with the competition; and maybe even encourage “trial” or “sampling” of the product in the hope of securing the sale.

Post-purchase evaluation – Cognitive Dissonance

This is a final target of consumer post-purchase evaluation of the decision. A consumer needs to take experience of all its concern after making a decision. This is known as “cognitive dissonance”. For managing the job of post purchase it is compulsory for the marketing team to influence the maximum potential consumer that the product will satisfy its needs. After the purchase of product the consumer should encourage that it had made a correct decision.

According to my survey;

Which model of car do you own? * Which factor is most important to you while choosing a car? Cross tabulation

Count

Which factor is most important to you while choosing a car?

Brand Image

Price

after sale services

Good mileage

Superior quality

Overall body look

Others

Total

Which model of car do you own?

TOYOTA

27

27

HYUNDAI

1

22

9

32

HONDA

18

18

CHEVROLET

4

7

1

12

Others

3

5

3

11

Total

28

22

31

7

4

5

3

100

My aim is to know about the main perception of consumer about the car. According to the above mentioned table and my survey first main focus of the consumer is the brand image after that price comes and third sale -service comes. In china consumers are basically focusing on luxury cars because brand image is most important for buying a car.

I want to know about the customer perception about car, after analyzing the table we conclude that for purchasing a car most of customers focuses on first Brand image second Price and third on after sale services. In china town city customer likes to spend their money on luxury car because brand image is most important for buying a car.

Focus Group:

In focus groups, a moderator uses a scripted series of questions or topics to lead a discussion among a group of people. These sessions take place at neutral locations, usually at facilities with videotaping equipment and an observation room with one-way mirrors. A focus group usually lasts one to two hours, and it takes at least three groups to get balanced results.

Focus group is also called as group discussion or group interview we could say that interaction between the one or more respondent and one or more researchers for collecting the research data (Focus Groups)

.Focus group is generally talks about the

* How group of people talks about their interest.

* motivate new ideas

* exploratory research

How to conduct a focus group?

For conducting a focus group there are few steps which we have to follow for achieving accurate and satisfactory results.

1. Define Purpose:

Defining purpose means for starting a project first we need to understand why we are doing this project. To find out what is thinking of people? And why do we want to know that? If we able to understand these three question it will make our prices easier to go to next step. We need to be clear about our project.

Purpose of my project is that I want to know about the consumer buying behavior and at the time of purchasing a car how customer make purchasing decisions?

2. Establish timelines:

A focus group cannot be generating overnight. We should start planning for each and every stage of Process.

For our project we gather the information about the Singapore car industries.

We develop the questionnaire, and fixed the deadline for that.

3. Invite the participant :

In my project I have develop 15 questions. And I have done 100 questionnaires.

4. Create questionnaire and select location:

I have design 15 question. Some are the personal questions and some are questions related to a car. And for our survey I had chosen Singapore.

Age * Gender Cross tabulation

Count

Gender

Male

Female

Total

Age

18 to 25

10

10

26 to 35

28

28

36 to 50

29

16

45

Above 50

17

17

Total

67

33

100

I have focus 26 to 50 age group of people. I got 100 respondent apart from 100 their 67 % are male and rest are females. 45 % of people comes under the 36 top 50 age group were 29 are male and rest are females. According to survey we calculate that 73 % of respondent are from “26 to 50” age group were 57 % are male and 16 % are female.

Age * Occupation

Crosstab

Count

Occupation

Student

Housewife

Professional Self Employed

Executive IT/ BPO

Others

Total

Age

18 to 25

6

4

10

26 to 35

3

25

28

36 to 50

23

22

45

Above 50

7

10

17

Total

6

7

48

29

10

100

The above table shows the relation between the age and occupation. According to our survey there are 45 % of respondent from 36 to 50 age of group and their occupations are professionals and self employed. Means income level must be high in this group of people. And they can buy luxury and branded car.
Postal Questionnaire

Questionnaire is a list of written questions, there are two types of questionnaire, first were respondent could asked to complete the question with researcher not present, these types of questionnaire is called as postal questionnaire. And secondly respondent could asked to complete question with research present is called as structured interview (Sociological Research Skills).

Questionnaires are restricted two types:

Close ended: In this type researcher provides a list of suitable response (Sociological Research Skills).

Open ended: in this type researcher not provide any suitable list of response to the response dent .respondent asked to write the answer in their own way (Sociological ResearchSkills).

For my project I am using postal questionnaire because I am a student and I am not able to go each and every places of Singapore. One of the most reliable methods of research is postal questionnaire, because it is very easy for me to standardize and analyze the questions. Each respondent answered exactly same question. And I am using close ended questioner in this type there is no misinterpret of answer. Because respondent are restricted to give only multiple choices answer (Sociological Research Skills).

Sample of Questions:
Postal Questionnaire

Name: ________________

Age: ___________________

Gender: M/F

Occupation: ______________

Income: __________________

1. Which model of car do you own?

Toyota

Hyundai

Honda

Chevrolet

Others

2. Which factor is most important to you while choosing a car?

Brand Image

Price

After Sales Services

Good Mileage

Superior Quality

Overall Body Look

Others

3. Which color would you prefer?

White

Black

Silver

Gray

Read

Blue

Others

4. How much will you be ready to spend on a car?

$48,999 to $51,999

$52,099 to $92,299

$93,000 to $147,000

$150,800 to $187,800

Above $187,800

5. Would you be ready to pay premium charges for additional services?

Yes_______ No________

Totally satisfied

Very satisfied

Somewhat satisfied

Very dissatisfied

Totally dissatisfied

6. SATISFACTI–ON ABOUT THE SHOWROOM

a) How satisfied are you with the ease of contacting the person who is entertaining you?

b) How satisfied are you with the way problems were solved?

c) How satisfied are you with information clarity about the car?

d) How much are you satisfied with the products and services offered by Dealer?

e) According to you how much are you satisfied with after sales services of the company?

f) Were you satisfied with the extra benefits provided by the dealer/sales person?

g) How much are you satisfied with the finance service provided here?

(Where totally satisfied means 5 points, very satisfied 4, somewhat satisfied 3, very dissatisfied 2 and totally dissatisfied means 1 point)

7. Do you think that the delivery of cars was made in time?

YES_____ NO_____

8. Are you satisfied with staff working here?

YES____ NO______

9. Do you think the staff working here has proper knowledge?

YES_____ NO_____ DON’T KNOW______

10. Before buying a car from here were you offered a test drive?

YES_____ NO_____

11. What was that single most important reason for initially buying the car of this brand or from this dealer?

Advertisements

Recommended by others

Location

Quality product

5

4

3

2

1

12. On a scale of 1 to 5 how would you rate you overall purchase experience?

13. Based on your overall experience how likely would you be to purchase another vehicle of this brand/dealer, if you have to replace within a year?

Definitely would

Probably would

Might be or not

Probably would not

Definitely would not

14. How much are you satisfied with the performance off your car?

Totally satisfied

_____

Very satisfied

_____

Somewhat satisfied

______

Very dissatisfied

______

Totally dissatisfied

______

15. Do you think that your car is better than cars of others companies in this segment?

Yes____ no____
Anaysis :

Form finding I anlyse that purchsing a car consumer get anxiety because its not a product which used in day to day life , mostly people purchaed occasionally. And often purchase process involves the negotiation with dealer or sles person , Which need to gather lots of infromation regarding car. Most of consumer spend their lots of tim at buying because its high economy and stress could be high.

According to 100 survey with singaporean , consumer ranked the following factors which are most important for taking decion for buying car.

* Sales after service

* Brand image

* Vehicle relaibilty

* Driving performance

* Saftey rating

* Car price infromation

According to my survey Singapore car are cheapest in reality market place, compared to USA, japan , and European countries because of singapore Government ploicy. There are 100 of automobiles dealers in singapore who provides the aggressive and superior services to owners of car.
Conclusion and Recommendations

Since Singapore Automobile industry market is continuously in the prowl of swelling as a biggest car manufacturer, people are like to buy car as there is growth of income of normal people as well as preferences of consumer. It is very important for the car dealer or car manufacturer to understand the different feature affecting the amount in car buying behavior. According to finding and analysis of data about the consumer satisfaction of showroom it’s rated as 3. its consist the information provided by dealer or sales person ; service after sale, before buying allow for test drive, providing extra premium changes; and latest technology are mostly affecting the car procuring behavior. People are most conscious about spot information which is given by dealer and sales person who serves according to needs and want of the each and every customer. Sales after services, safety, brand image and reasonable price are one of the important factors for consumer. Factor two contain family needs which includes income level, brand image, insurance facility, credit card acceptance is also affects the customer car procuring decisions. Factor three contains location of car dealer shop, looks availability of services provided by car dealer.

Overall various internal and external factors like extra facilities , infrastructure of showroom ,location of showroom, various information provided by car dealer , promotions and media , features of car , latest technology, it’s all contributing in making car buying behavior of costumer.

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