week 3 reply
kiace1
responses with three references across them for max credit on peer interaction.
Dylan
TOPIC 1: Customer Expectations
PROMPT: Compare two companies within the automobile industry: one that is known for exceeding expectations (delight) and another that reflects simply positive satisfaction. What influenced the customer perceptions of performance (expectations, quality, responsiveness, price)?
A car company that is a flashy and exceed expectations would be Ferraris. This is one of the most well-known sports cars and attracts many consumers for their famous color and brand in general. They are known for their red cars and when you think of a red flashy car Ferraris come to mind. The brand hold lots of value and are one of the most desirable luxury cars (Wealth X, 2016). Ferraris heritage has helped enhance its value as they are tied their success with Formula 1 which helps their merchandising as well (Wealth X, 2016). They limit their production which keeps them exclusive and very luxurious. They strive to stay in their lane with design and production, staying unique helps keep their pristine.
Toyota seems to have great customer satisfaction as they are the world’s largest auto manufacture and constantly provide great quality on their vehicles. Although they are not the most flashy and premium looking cars, they receive constant praise and have great customer service (DuBose, 2022). Many Americans would rather buy foreign made products like Toyota because they have long lasting good quality with good prices (DuBose, 2022). Say you need to get a part fixed on your car if you have an expensive car like a Mercedes, those parts are expensive. Being the largest automobile manufacture, Toyota offers decent prices on parts because they make more of them.
DuBose, M. (2022). Exceeding Customer Expectations ~ Mike DuBose. Mikedubose.com. https://www.mikedubose.com/blog/exceeding-customer-expectations
Ferrari Carves Out Position as a Luxury Brand Rather Than Automobile Manufacturer - Wealth-X. (2016, January 5). Wealth-X. https://www.wealthx.com/featured/2016/ferrari-luxury-brand
Richard
TOPIC 1: Customer Expectations
PROMPT: Compare two companies within the automobile industry: one that is known for exceeding expectations (delight) and another that reflects simply positive satisfaction. What influenced the customer perceptions of performance (expectations, quality, responsiveness, price)?
By collecting data from the 2021 Annual Auto Surveys, which compiled consumer satisfaction on over 300,000 vehicles covering the 2019-2021 models, Consumer Reports National Research Center was able to rate American consumer’s satisfaction scores covering a multitude of areas to release a list of the most favorable and least favorable brands. It should be noted however that even being notated on the lower end of the scoring, most owners said they would purchase the vehicle again.
Consumer Reports broke down each brand into five ratings; Driving, Comfort, In-Car Electronics, Style, and Value.
An automobile company that is known for exceeding expectations is Genesis. Although scoring third on the provided rankings, I chose Genesis over Tesla and Porsche because their rankings were the highest while maintaining balance. Tesla and Porsche’s value was rated as 1/5 and steer many consumers away. Genesis scored perfect scores in driving as well as style. Comfort and value were pegged at 3/5 and in-car electronics at 2/5. A Brandwatch report in 2020 on automobile consumer trends found that “quality was the most popular option with 30% of the vote. Affordability followed, with 21% of respondents choosing it as the most important attribute” (Brandwatch, 2020). Although there are two other luxury brands outscoring Genesis, the average consumer is not open to spending large amounts on vehicles and Hyundai’s stand-alone luxury brand provides strong quality while also delivering on value which strongly influences customer perceptions on performance.
An automobile company that is known for reflecting simply positive satisfaction is Volkswagen. Volkswagen rated 20th on the Annual Auto Surveys, rating lower than Honda or Chevrolet, but only by the smallest margin. Even rating 20th, Volkswagen’s satisfaction scores were pretty balanced with driving, comfort, and style pegged at 4/5 but in-car electronics and value rated at 2/5. Volkswagen is not known as a top-tier/luxury brand and does not generate the same consumer excitement such as brands like Tesla, but as notated by Brandwatch’s report, customers perceptions of performance in the brand is strong and continues to influence the bottom lines of the company.
References
Linkov, B. J. (2021, February 4). The Most and Least Liked Car Brands. Consumer Reports. https://www.consumerreports.org/car-reliability-owner-satisfaction/most-and-least-liked-car-brands-a1291429338/
2020: Consumer Trends for the Auto Industry. (2020). Brandwatch. https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/consumer-trends-auto-industry-2020/
Brandon
TOPIC 1: Customer Expectations
Customer satisfaction has always been the number one key element of determining the service quality after all a company bears to its customers. Companies need to measure, evaluate and invent new strategies to continue pleasing each of their customers. A good strategy has to set the right expectations in the mind of its customers and deliver on those set expectations. A classic sales strategy is to "underpromise and overdeliver" as setting the expectation too high runs the risk of not meeting the consumer's expectations. Non-pleased clients are more likely to tell more to their friends about their bad experiences than telling about their good or satisfying experiences.
Car dealerships are notorious for having poor customer service as buyers come in with the idea that the salesmen will try to scam them into buying things that are overpriced because "the best salespeople convince themselves that the lie is true"(Sharpe, 2021). This applies to all dealerships but some companies make an effort to avoid this for their consumers such as Honda which has been boasting one of the top slots for customer satisfaction with their satisfaction plan 
(Honda,2014) Honda is marketed towards the middle class and offers reliable vehicles with many safety upgrades included so it's always a good choice for most average consumers. Reliability is one of the most important concerns when purchasing a vehicle which helps a brand like Honda that build their cars to last and why a brand such as Infiniti is failing. "The INFINITI Reliability Rating is 3.5 out of 5.0, which ranks it 16th out of 32 for all car brands."(PAL,2022). Despite the unreliability, the company still needs to make a profit so salesmen are trained to use any trick to persuade the buyer which ultimately hurts the business as many consumers are left feeling cheated.
TOPIC 3: Loyalty Schemes
Loyalty programs have been around for decades and more recently had reinsurance with almost all stores offering some sort of program. None of them has been as popular or profitable as Amazon Prime with "As of Q1 2019, 62% of all U.S households are now Amazon Prime subscribers"(Wolfer, 2022). Prime offers many exclusive features such as free prime videos as well as discounts on prime movies. Shipping fees are completely negated with even faster shipping. I have been a member for two years now and I haven't regretted it as the continuing benefits keep covering the cost.
Loyalty schemes keep consumers coming back to their establishment with many programs offering tiers of loyalty with the top being many discounts or free services. While the business takes a hit to direct profits from these schemes it often makes up for this fact by more consistently smaller profits resulting in a bigger a margin. Loyalty programs aren't for all sellers such as equipment stores because many buyers only shop once in a while.
References
Honda (2014) Hond's Approach to Customers Satisfaction https://global.honda/content/dam/site/global/about/cq_img/sustainability/report/pdf/2014/2014_en_4.pdf
PAL (2021) INFINITI Reliability Rating https://repairpal.com/reliability/infiniti
Wolfer, P. (2022, January 13). How Amazon Paved the Way for Premium Loyalty Programs. Clarus Commerce. https://www.claruscommerce.com/blog/how-amazon-paved-the-way-for-premium-loyalty-programs/
