Generation Z as Bentley’s New Customer Segment
SWOT analysis is a suitable framework for situational analysis of Bentley, and its new customer segment, Gen Z. According to Bhasin (2019), Bentley’s critical strengths are popularity, brand uniqueness, technologies, and car designs. Bentley’s principles of exclusivity and the high standards associated with Bentley are the reasons for such weaknesses as limited reach, excessively long processes of car booking and sales, and a small target audience (Bhasin, 2019). Opportunities associated with Gen Z customers are new digital platforms and ways for advertising and rising global markets of wealthy young consumers. Specific threats are growing environmental knowledge and awareness in young people and increasing economic instability.
Segmentation
Marketing experts distinguish four big sub-segments in Gen Z car buyers. Some customers use social media and online space for shopping, booking, renting, and selling cars (How is Generation Z shopping? 2022). There are also those preferring traditional retail, but the first category prevails greatly. The other two are young consumers who are willing to pay extra for products because of personal ethics and those who are not (How is Generation Z shopping? 2022). The first group again predominates significantly in proportion to the other.
Individual and Group Influences
One can easily identify two specific major individual and group influences that are constantly present in and manifested by most Gen Z car buyers. A big individual influence is their commitment to environmental ethics that affects their preferences of products and brands (How is Generation Z shopping? 2022). A critically affecting group factor is young people’s almost ubiquitous use of social media. It affects the purchasing behavior of their peers who buy cars through non-traditional, digital shopping (Khadar, 2020). Both these socio-psychological patterns are crucial for the automobile industry.
Recommendations
Bentley products’ high quality and costliness must remain their distinctive features because these constitute the brand. However, organizations need ecological innovations and policies and better ways to communicate with customers. Experts argue that “connecting with Gen Z car buyers requires a more nuanced marketing approach compared to traditional methods” (Gen Z and cars, n.d., para. 9). These improvements would attract potential Gen Z car buyers to Bentley, accelerate their processes related to sales and customer relations, and better the company’s performance. Adopting sustainable technologies in automobile production would give significant positive promotion among Gen Z for the whole industry.
References
Bhasin, H. (2019). SWOT analysis of Bentley. Marketing91. Web.
Gen Z and cars: Transforming automobile marketing for a new generation of car buyers. (n.d.). SocialMiningAi. Web.
How is Generation Z shopping? (2022). Apptus. Web.
Khadar, M. (2020). Understanding the pattern of online consumer buying behavior of Gen Z – An empirical study. Asia Pacific Journal of Research, 5(7), 167–172.