Customer segmentation wins in focus

The concept of customer segmentation was first put forward by American marketing scientist Wendell Smith (Wended Smith), and its theoretical basis is mainly based on two points: one is the difference of customer needs, not all customer needs are Likewise, as long as there are more than two customers, the needs will be different. The second is the limited resources of enterprises and effective market competition. It is impossible for any enterprise to meet all the needs of the market. Enterprises should identify the market segments it can effectively serve, and concentrate resources to obtain and strengthen competitive advantages.

The principle of customer segmentation is that the customer group of each type of product is not a group, and new categories are subdivided according to the cultural concept, consumption income, consumption customs, and lifestyle of the customer group. Branding strategy and marketing strategy.

Cooper Tire has been well versed in this since its establishment. It has never been a factory tire, but concentrated its resources on customers in the replacement tire market. It is also the only one of the world's top ten tire manufacturers that only produces replacement tires. , after nearly a hundred years of development, won the title of "replacement tire expert" for himself.

Since entering China, Cooper has adopted a more precise marketing method according to its own positioning, and the effect is obvious. The company's car tires have maintained a growth rate of 40% in the first and second quarters of this year.

Alex Koi, general manager of Cooper Tire & Rubber Company China, said: "Marketing is a matter of choice. You can choose this group or that group. What do we choose? People with certain economic strength. They have to make their own decisions when buying a car. They don't want others to help them choose. Do you have any Cooper tires?"

Subdivided Customers

After Cooper Tire entered China in early 2006, it has adhered to the company's more than 90-year tradition of targeting the replacement tire market, but considering As for the actual situation of Chinese consumers, it does not take consumers in their 40s as its main target customers like the North American market.

Cooper's analysis of Chinese customers found that China's auto market is booming. Compared with North American customers, Chinese customers are younger, more individual, and have unique hobbies and needs. As a result, Cooper has positioned its customers at a younger age group, most of whom are between the ages of 25 and 35. This age group accounts for about 60% of Cooper's customers, and about 40% are over 35 years old. %. Gu Sili said: "Our retail staff will go to the store to see who is buying the tires and why they come to buy them. I also go to various markets to see that many white-collar workers come to buy our tires." Cars are generally in the price range of 150,000 to 300,000. They have a very strong hobby for cars, pursue personalization, and like to make their own decisions. They like to surf the Internet. Before buying a product, they like to search for the information they need from the Internet. After purchasing a product, they also like to express their opinions on the Internet. "I don't compete with cars that are too cheap. There are so many tire manufacturers in China, and their prices are very reasonable. What should I snatch from them? There is a saying that I don't compare ideas with foreigners, and don't compare prices with fellow villagers." Gu Sili said with a smile.

In addition to pursuing their own individuality, these consumer groups have more realistic requirements for the product itself and higher cost performance. "You can't blow it up too much, and then the product will be wrong." Gu Sili said, "If a consumer finds that there is a problem with your quality after using it, he will write bad things on the Internet. Good things will not go out, and bad things will spread thousands of miles."

Even if there is a clear target customer group, it is not easy to grasp the needs of these emerging tire consumers in China.

In Gu Sili's view, the Chinese market is changing too fast, and the needs of customers are constantly changing. When the survey data on the market reaches the company's Asia-Pacific headquarters in Shanghai, the market situation may have changed. Those surveys The data will not work in time. So what he prefers to do is to go out of the company headquarters, go to the consumers, get close to the consumers, and personally feel and understand their needs.

This is also why Gu Sili spends a week or two every month training dealers in various markets. In addition to helping dealers improve, another important purpose is to directly understand the situation in the local market. "This is the most direct, and it is closer to the real situation of the market than any survey data." Gu Sili said.

He gave an example. In the past, his impression of this place in Ordos was that the cashmere products were good, but when he got there, "it felt incredible, there are a lot of Lexus, and there are a lot of famous cars." Gu Sili only knew after asking, "It turns out that there are mining factories over there, and their consumption level has reached a very high level. They have a need to buy higher-end replacement tires. From this point of view, as a company, the response is unpleasant. , we lost this opportunity, but when we look there from the big cities, we can't see this. The whole situation in China has changed, and the market has already moved inland."

Although Cooper's entry into the Chinese market The time is relatively late, but in Gu Sili's view, Cooper's focus is his strength and strength. "Compared with our competitors, we have a strategic advantage." Gu Sili said, "Other tire companies may focus a lot of energy on the original tires, and directly use the original tires as replacements to sell, and the sales are also very good. Do high-end replacement tires, because it has no economies of scale. And when consumers realize that tires make a 30% difference in control, he has this demand, and we meet this demand.”

Precision Marketing

According to the needs of Chinese customers and the ever-changing road conditions in China, Cooper's tires introduced to the Chinese market are stronger and heavier than the North American market. Can withstand the test of complex road conditions.

Cooper also set up its third largest R&D center in the world in Shanghai, mainly researching products for the Chinese market demand. In order to allow the R&D personnel to truly develop tires suitable for the needs of Chinese customers, Gu Sili will let his R&D personnel sit in the car and personally feel the performance of their tires, feel the braking, drifting, spooling, and experience the different road conditions. , which tire has more grip. "Recently, we sent a few colleagues to test and ran more than 1,400 kilometers in three days. My R&D team can't stay in the office to do research and development, and can't do it behind closed doors. They have to sit in the car and feel the bumps and take you personally. If you put your life in those four tires, what you design will be completely different." Gu Sili said.

Cooper is very confident in its products, "All of our employees will try our tires, I will try them first, and then everyone will try again. From desert to Gobi, we have tried all kinds of road conditions in China. Quality is the most fundamental, if I can't convince myself, how can I convince others." Gu Sili said.

Product strength is one aspect, and it is another aspect to let customers know and believe in your own product strength. In addition, many Chinese consumers believe in original tires, and the original package is often their first choice. It is not easy to change their concept.

In order to accurately convey its product information to target consumers and let them clearly understand the characteristics and advantages of Cooper, Cooper rarely does large-scale advertisements, but selects some niche groups for more accurate advertising We hope to spread word of mouth through these people, and hope to amplify the word-of-mouth effect through the Internet.

For example, Cooper will choose to cooperate with some well-known off-road clubs and modification clubs in China, provide them with some sample tires for their long-term use, and listen to their feedback.

"When these people play with cars, tires are no longer tires for them. They are a tool to save their lives. Give them tires and let them try them, so that they can tell me if they are not good, but I will not affect their testing. These people in the club are not short of money, and you can’t buy them. It’s impossible to say that I will give you 100,000 sponsorships and you can say something nice to me. These people love cars very much, and their credibility is more critical than anyone else.” Gu Sili said .

They will also organize people from these clubs and other customers to participate in some extreme experiences. For example, in June this year, Cooper organized 11 off-road vehicles, and more than 30 people from the club and Cooper's team, together Going deep into the hinterland of the Kumtag Desert, we experienced a wild horse-like gallop for three days and two nights. After returning, Cooper analyzes the performance of the tires and listens to everyone's feedback. "The feedback this time is very good, and the passability and durability are excellent."

Cooper systematically selected about ten clubs across the country to cooperate with. In fact, they are all interconnected in this circle, and word-of-mouth has brought Cooper a good market effect. Gu Sili told us, "There are now many clubs, modified clubs, and off-road clubs who come to us one after another, hoping to buy our tires, or use our tires to participate in some professional races."

In order to more accurately communicate with myself communicate with the target customers of Cooper, sometimes Cooper's marketing behavior seems very different, such as Cooper will cooperate with rock musicals. Because Gu Sili once conducted a survey, 20% of people who like rock and roll drive off-road vehicles, that is to say, at least 20% of people who like rock and roll are Cooper's target customers. Gu Sili said that doing an event can ensure that 20% of them are effective, which is already a precise launch for tire companies.

Cooper also invited cartoonist Zhang Ming to create a cartoon image of fat rabbit porridge, which is also to attract more young consumers.

They also began to get involved in online games, launching their own virtual "spokespersons" in the online world, and interacting with consumers in a timely manner in the virtual world.

Actually, whether it's collaborating with rock singers or cartoonists, the intention behind Cooper is the same, that is, through these activities, it reflects the youthful characteristics of the Cooper brand, to approach and attract the attention of young Chinese consumers. , and expect this attention to translate into their buying behavior in the near future.

Develop channels first, then sell tires

Like other tire manufacturers, Cooper mainly sells tires to customers through channels, "60% of tires are sold in retail stores." Cooper now has more than 400 distributors in the country, which is not a lot, but for a tire manufacturer like Cooper who has only been in China for more than three years, such a layout is reasonable.

More important than channel quantity is channel quality. Cooper's support for the channel is very comprehensive, not only in the promotion of new products, product introduction, but also a lot of management training. The cooperative relationship between manufacturers and distributors is delicate and sometimes tense, and incidents such as the defections of distributors are not uncommon. And Gu Sili has always admired the Mohist thought, to "love and not attack". Their principle is to help dealers grow, help dealers to make money, and win-win for both parties. They cannot simply be regarded as a channel for shipments. You can't reduce the income of the channel business for the sake of making money for yourself.

Cooper lets dealers or retailers see their own tests. When their tires test brakes on the road, they accelerate within 100 meters and then brake to 30 meters. The braking distance between different tires may be as far as a car. "What does the distance of a car mean, the distance between safe and unsafe, the distance between life and death," Gu Sili said, "The experience surprises many people, they don't know that 30% of the control of the car comes from Tires."

Cooper also has a special team called "Cooper Camp" to teach channels to sell tires. Pack up, get the process right, and let them know that what they're doing could save a family's life. Cooper Camp's team spends more than 20 days a month with different channel providers, and trains channels across the country on safety knowledge and operational procedures.

Gu Sili will also go to train dealers in person. He has developed two courses, one is called building an invincible team, and the other is called communication password. These two courses are used both to train their own employees and to train their own distributors.

Gu Sili said that they bought a copyright on the analysis of character portraits from abroad, and then provided analysis and training to the employees of the dealer for free. This is one-to-one, and each training is three hours, plus The character analysis for the last three hours was quite a dedicated job. On the one hand, through this kind of training, you can have a good communication with the dealers and know the local market conditions in time; on the other hand, through this kind of test, you can also understand the personality of the other employee and what kind of work he is suitable for , helping dealers put the right people in the right places.

For example, in personality analysis, some people are charming, and some people are delicate. A person with high charm likes to talk and talk to people, and is very suitable for sales, while a person with high charm is very good at doing things. Fine, channel dealers can let such people do tire work.

The communication password course is also aimed at the different personalities of employees, teaching them how to communicate with others, and teaching them to understand the criticality of body language in communication.

Gu Sili said, "We have several principles in doing business. One is to be reasonable and win-win; the other is to not only sell products, but also help the other party to improve spiritually and management. Only in this way can further cooperation be promoted. ." "Our principle is to educate people first, and then sell tires. When you train people well and build a good system, the products will naturally sell well."