Wedny Gordon’s (1994) research work contends that brands satisfy consumer needs in a specific context, which she calls need-states. Consumers’ use of brands is both need-specific and situation-specific. A housewife may have changing need-states while using coffee.She can serve special Nescafe Gold to her husband’s colleagues. In day-to-day use, she depends on coffee-beans, being ground at home to prepare coffee for the breakfast. When her husband has to hasten to the attend the urgent office work, she uses Nescafe Classic instant coffee.She may like to give chicory-mixed coffee to her group of friends to economise. During travels, she uses coffee sachets which prepare a single cup within no time. In tropical summers, she prefers cold coffee.During her outings, she visits coffee outlets like Cafe Coffee Day or Starbucks, and opts for cappuccino.This example awakens us to the reality that brand loyalty has to be re-considered. A consumer has a repertoire of brands in a particular product category and keeps on switching amongst these brands. Such consumers are not disloyal  as such.Instead, it shows their discernment. They choose brands to satisfy their need-states. Most consumers manifest such behaviour. There could be more differences between one consumer buying on two different occasions than between two consumers buying a brand on the same occasion.

PowerPoint presentations, pie charts and bar graphs are okay in presentations but are they convincing ? Peter Gubber, Hollywood producer and California University professor has authored a book Tell to Win to highlight the significance of story-telling to establish the connect with the audience. Story-telling stimulates that region of the brain that processes meaning. And humans are meaning-seeking creatures. Just a pile of information without meaning cannot be remembered. Meaning emerges when we set up connections between bits of information. Stories package these connections. It is a state-of-the-(he)art technology. It is also observed that a presentation merely in print or video does not cut much ice, as it is not considered authentic. However, when the same story is person-to-person, there is listening. The more a speaker is trusted, the more authenticity the story gets. It has thus greater influence.

Cars are aspirational products bought more for their image than only for their functionality. This is more so for an SUV. An SUV may not be the right choice for a rational customer doing cost-benefit analysis. SUVs are big, unwieldy and difficult to manoeuvre in cities. They are high on maintenance and low on fuel efficiency. It is psychology and not economics that drives SUV buying. There are functional benefits of SUVs—more space, off-roading capabilities, more power and flexibility of use. However, many customers never go off road, Renault understands this consumers psychology. Duster has flared wheel arches, muscular body, roof rails, raised suspension and big tyres—all these create the right image. Being small, it removes limitations of a large SUV. Duster delivers value-for-money of price, convenient handling and mileage. It has opened a new category..

Use of Focus Group by Product Development

Renault designed Duster by relying on Focus Group of around 200 people whose profile matched the potential buyer of Duster. It then short-listed 30 families from this focus group across five Indian cities for an ethnographic study spread over two months. The product development team during this period, lived with their target customers to understand their needs and lives. They also assessed their likes and dislikes about their vehicles.

The European Duster, according to this study, required 41 modifications. The critical purchasing factor, they understood, of a car in India is the exterior design. People love an SUV with a rugged look that stands out in a crowd. At the same time, it should function operationally like a sedan — easy to drive, and giving good fuel efficiency. The Indian consumers prefer lot of chrome on their cars. They like body-coloured bumpers. Inside they like a dual-tone interior. The power-window switches should be on the door rather than on the central  console. The rear seat need better treatment. There should be inclined seats for comfort. Rear air-conditioning was critical. There should be arm-rests, a mobile charger and a reading light. Some storage space is welcome.

The car was modified to suit Indian conditions. The suspension was reinforced to tackle tough Indian roads. More brackets were added to the doors as they were handled roughly. The engine was tuned to meet the quality of fuel in India and deliver a high efficiency of at least 20 kms per litre.

A customer clinic was organised after initiating the changes. The feedback was sought. It showed that the company is on the right track.

Imagine you are travelling in a train. You check for your ticket in the pocket. It is not there. You search for it in your handbag.You get it. You get a sense of relief. Thus not finding the ticket in the first place was Bad News, followed by finding it which is Good News. This sequence gives a sense of relief, which would not have been there, had you found the ticket to begin with. At the time of relief, you are psychologically vulnerable—your cognitive resources to process bad news have been depleted. Your tendency to be loss-averse increases. Extend this situation to a car show room. There is an attractive advertised deal. The customer walks into the show room. He learns that the deal is not available on his selected model ( Bad News ). After some time and consultation, the salesman offers the deal on the model chosen by the customer, (Good News ).The salesman says an exception has been made just for you. You accept the deal as you do not want to lose the car. You negotiate with less vigour. Had you not been subjected to the bad news-good news sequence roller coaster in the first place, you would not have wound up the deal mostly on their terms.

 

According to Vijay Govidarajan, India can be classified into three sections:–

Developed India: Those who live in 15 major cities with a population of 100 million.These are targeted by the companies as their consumers.

Developing India: These people live in 6000 small towns with a population of 300 million.

Under-developed India: This is the bottom of the pyramid.It is a population of 700 million living in 6 lac villages.

Almost a billion people in India in developing and under-developing sections remain non-consumers. Their needs and problems are the same as those of the consumers. The question is that of affordability. If we have to tap them, we have to innovate in such a way that the innovations become affordable.