Oil change industry

 As more and more customers are owning cars, there is a market needs for oil change and regular maintenance. Besides changing oil by themselves, there are two ways customers tend to use to change oil for their vehicles.

The first one is car dealership. Every dealership usually has a service center that can do regular maintenance as well as repairs. They usually have highest labor costs, yet they attack the customer through customer services like coffee, and TV on waiting area, free snack bar etc. The customers mostly consist of original car buyers and people who are older and have time to wait and relax. One interesting fact is that the dealerships usually give you the latest model when you request a rental car. It's a test drive without us realizing it. It helps with the marketing of the new model and increases the customer service at the same time.

The second one is the local quick-lube stores. Jiffy lube is one of the leader brands in this case. Local stores promise you fast and reliable oil change services. However, they don't have the ability for the complicated repairs, and some of them do not have the inventory to do the same day tire change. They tends to attract young customers who needs the job done fast and cheap. Because of the recession, more people are holding onto the same car longer than before, and they also tend to drag the gap longer between car services. The effect is the loss of revenue for the local stores.

To compete with the large dealership, the local stores can increase their customer services. Their advantage is the proximity to the customers' home. They can offer to pick up and drop off for the customers at the promise of a long term commitment, for instance, customers can enjoy the service for free if they agree to prepaid three years' services. Another way is to schedule the services in a way that can optimize operations. The store manager can arrange the same type of the cars coming in the store on the same day to be worked on the same pit. This way they can raise revenue by cutting the operation costs.

In conclusion, local quick-lube store needs to keep and grow customers to compete with dealerships.

Everything is about marketing

      Many of us may not realize that marketing is an integral part of our daily life. From the time we woke up until go to bed, we are either influencing people with marketing or at the receiving end of it. On our way to work, we can't help but notice how others dress, what car they are driving, and what electronic devices they are using.
      We also constantly try to get people's approval through marketing. At work, We need to market ourselvies to our boss during performance review. At home, we have to do some marketing so that your significant half can agree with you on the new vacation plan.
       Marketing can become effective if you try to understand the customer. By doing so, we use the right strategy to get their attention. When the husband tries to sell a weekend getaway to the wife, instead of showing all the nice picture of golf course, he should show the spa and kid's swimming pool.

IKEA's model

What value does IKEA deliver to customers?

• Lower price 
• Easy to shop environment
• Contemporary design
• Easy to assemble. 
• Day care center which makes easy for customer to focus on picking the right furniture.

Assessment of food products in IKEA stores:

•  A place to rest
• Extend customer's shopping time.