In the other hand, it will be less effective for promoting products in countries with high culture context like Italy, France and UK by just setting up websites with information. Consumers of high culture context will be more persuaded by implicit style, images and subliminal messages. Therefore, in order to attract these consumers, Honda should pay more effort in promoting its image by advertising and also relate the motor vehicles with consumers’ lifestyles or perceptions. In addition, web sites may not be a good channel to communicate with high cultural context consumers as they are slower in adopting the Internet. Hence, Honda can diversify its promotion channels by making advertisements in local newspapers, magazines or billboards.
- Is it wise for Honda to market its products the same way in every country?
Marketing Honda’s products similarly in every country may be effective under certain environment. With the constraint of cost and the globalization of markets, companies can use similar marketing strategies for the countries having similar culture. Moreover, having the same methods in marketing may give a sense of consistency for Honda’s image and easier to market products to a particular segment.
For the countries like France and Italy, consumers there are having a high-context culture and appreciating style, feeling and image more. Thus, Honda could use similar ways of marketing in these two countries in order to lower its cost. For instance, the media for promotions and the advertisements’ ideas may be similar in Italy and France. Also, Honda should promote its brand by building up a social responsible and environmental friendly image. It is because Honda’s car emits less CO2 then other cars of the competitors.
In addition, when Honda is targeting at a certain segment, for example a lower income group in Europe, they will be able to use similar methods to market its products in different countries. It is because the amount of personal income affects consumer a lot for their buying behavior. People with lower income will behave quite similarly when making purchase decision in different countries. For examples they will focus on the price and tax of motor vehicles. Thus, Honda should market its products by emphasizing the tax brackets of its low-emission of CO2 cars as the Honda Insight is rank the first for the cars with the lowest CO2 emission.
- Is pricing its vehicles similar to the competition a good strategy for Honda?
With a saturation of the market for automobile in Europe, having a similar price with the local competitors will not be a good strategy for Honda. Honda was being positioned as a brand having low image and low breadth of product. With a similar price of local manufacturers, consumers will tend to buy the products with higher brand image or breadth of products. If Honda can improve its brand image and breadth of products, it will be able to price comparably with the local competitors. Nevertheless, in present, Honda should lower its price for its products so as to attract consumers. Also, with a lower price, consumers with risk-adverse personality like the French and the Italian will be more persuaded to try Honda’s products and sales would then be improved.
- Should Honda change its product mix from country to country?
It is undoubtedly that changing product mix of products in different countries will be better for suiting the needs and preferences of consumers in different countries. Nonetheless, Honda’s differentiation in product mix was not selected carefully. Although it change its product mix from country to country, it is still ineffective for improving the sale in those countries.
Honda’s product mix was not the same in different countries of Europe. In UK, Honda has twenty models while Germany is having sixteen models, Italy is having eleven models and France is having nine models. UK and Germany are the two best-selling countries where consumers welcome Honda’s cars more. For France and Italy, one of the reasons for the failure is that the product mix does not really fit into the need of the consumers there. In France and Italy, gasoline prices are high and consumers there will be attracted by diesel engine cars as they are cheaper for maintaining in the long run while gasoline engine cars would definitely spend a lot. In 2000, France and Italy contributed to more than eighty percent of the market share of diesel cars. As diesel cars were offered in UK only with a low sales volume,
- Is distributing its motor vehicles together with its motorcycles a good strategy for Honda?
Although the image of Honda’s motor vehicles and the image of motorcycles are aligned together by consumers in Europe, the distribution of motor vehicles and motorcycles should still be separated in order to let consumers to differentiate the image of the two product categories as the image of motor vehicles should be different from the image of a motorcycle.
For the motor vehicles of Honda, most of the users will be a whole family or young career women. They will focus on the safety and durability of the motor vehicles. In contrast, motorcycles’ consumers will focus on the speed and individualistic of the products. When the two products are selling in the same distribution center, consumers may have a confused image of Honda. Hence the distribution should be separated.
