Public drivers refer to those who operate on mass transportation such as bus and subway as well as drivers for any public institution such as school and hospital. Any purchase decision to such vehicles must go through a series of official approvals. Public drivers are not particularly concerned about fuel cost on an individual level. However, reducing toxics in the emission could be a major concern of environment regulations and therefore triggers the need of modifying public vehicles to be more ozone-friendly.
For commercial drivers, driving a vehicle is part of revenue generating activities and they can be further divided into two segments. The first is general commercial drivers, as practically all business involves transportation of goods and services. The second is professional commercial drivers such as taxi drivers and drivers for trucking company. They can also be segmented by fuel consumption pattern to heavy users and moderate users. Since operating a car/truck is the core of business, drivers from this segment are most sensitive to the cost of fuel. Statistics shows that for a typical fleet company, fuel and oil cost averages 19% ~ 37% of total operating cost, which has a direct impact on their bottom line. In particular, taxi drivers are distinguished from regular consumers for their heavy fuel consumption and considerable alertness to the cost of fuel.
Of all the segments, we have decided to target the taxi drivers and trucking company for a few considerations. First of all, Plasmatron is a technology intensive product which is more acceptable to buyers who have more urgent desire to save on fuel. Regular car owners may not be motivated enough to learn about the technical benefits of our product and therefore it will be more difficult to ensure them of the result. Secondly, we are limited in resources to launch a full-blown mass marketing. It’s more sensible to target a single segment where we have a better chance of opening victory. After we have established credential for our product in this segment, later on we can expand to other segments with proved performance record.
Although a single segment is easier to target, our concentrated marketing has its drawback as well. Without diversification of risk across different sectors, unexpected resistance from our focused segment will radically weaken the success introduction of our product. For instance, demand for taxi services may suddenly drops, and taxi drivers are force not to consume as much fuel any more. If that happens, we’ll instead target the segment of private drivers and revise our marketing plan accordingly.
