BP is one of the most outstanding oil and gas world companies. Despite the power and success of this company it is impossible to appeal to every representative of the world market that is why most popular companies focus on the target market or subsets of the overall markets. Identifying the target market is one of the most important methods to have a success at the world market. It is necessary to know the customer in order to satisfy their demands. Different factors about target market such as population, interests, the level of life and the level of business activity should be taken into account. There are a lot of questions that should be put during identifying the target market:
- How large is your target market now? How large has it been? How large can it become in the near future?
- What are the geographical boundaries of your target market?
- How many people use your products? What do you know about these people?
- How sensitive is your target market to price changes?
- What are the trends in your market?
- How mature is your market (shrinking, growing, stable)? (Griffin, 2006).
The target market of BP has been broadened from its foundation. The products of BP are sold in Europe, Africa, Asia, the North and South America and Australasia (Maharg-Bravo, Swann and Cox, 2011). The market is growing now and it will be broader in the near future. First of all, the company should focus on the potential customer itself. It is necessary to know why these people are your customers and how they use your products. BP takes into account different groups of consumers and they seek to satisfy all their demands. For example, in October 2005 BP produced a new fuel including three separate products: BP Ultimate 102 Unleaded, BP Ultimate Unleaded and BP Ultimate Diesel satisfying the demands of different groups of consumers (BP in Business, 2011). Each consumer may choose the necessary fuel.
BP resorts to the use of primary and secondary researches firstly to find out what segments the market is divided into and secondly to assess the particular product requirements for each of them. The main aim of primary research is to find new information that has not been already researched. For example, BP asked their customers about their points of view about the new BP Ultimate range. Questionnaires, personal interviews, postal surveys, telephone interviews, focus groups are used in primary researches to obtain the necessary information. Secondary research is based on the results that have been achieved in previous studies. For example, BP uses information about the predictions of customersâ future demands. A proper sampling technique should be used in a good market research. It is impossible to ask every customer about his/her point of view and demands. That is why it is necessary to choose the representatives from different groups from the target market to take into account the changes of their demands. âSamplingâ is the process of deciding who takes part in the primary research namely whose point of view should be taken into account. There are a lot of ways to do it namely quota, random, cluster or stratifying sampling. Factually, primary research is used to define the target market namely its personality traits, interests and lifestyles.
BP target market is known as mainly medium-sized businessmen (Amanjeev, 2010). They are people who use their automobiles nearly every day and the quality of petroleum is very important for them. It should be noted that there are successful businessmen who can afford themselves a high-priced gasoline and the beginners who do not spend a lot of money and have to save their money buying cheap gasoline. That is why there are different categories of fuel produced by BP catering for all these groups. The main interest of the consumers is to have a qualitative fuel paying for it not a lot of money. There are a lot of cases when consumers complain to the fuel that spoils their transport. The quality is one of the basic aims for BP that is why this company has become popular among consumers appreciating it.
From the above said, we may conclude that identifying the target market which is made with the help of primary research with the use of different ways of questionnaires is very important at developing and broadening the popularity of the company. BP has a success as far as it has always focused on the demands of its consumers and done all their best to satisfy these demands from its foundation. The interests of consumers are at the top of BPâs basic aims. The quality is very important to consumers that is why âwhatâ BP does is so important as âhowâ they do it (Research and Markets, 2009). It should be noted that BP Company is developing now and more and more consumers use their products that makes this company take into account the demands of different groups of their consumers. Target market is a potential client influencing the success of the company.
Works Cited
Amanjeev 2010. BP â Target audience Description. Web.
BP in Business. Case Study 4: Marketing 2011. Web.
Griffin, Michael 2006. A Guide to Preparing a winning Business Plan. Web.
Maharg-Bravo, Fiona, Christopher Swann and Rob Cox 2011. BP Fast Becoming a Takeover Target. Web.
Research and Markets: British Petroleum Plc â An In-Depth Business, Strategic and Financial Analysis of British Petroleum Plc 2009. Web.