Customer-Focused Quality Design for Mercedes Benz

📄 Words:	864
📝 Subject:	Management
📑 Pages:	3
💼 Companies:	Mercedes-Benz

There is no need to stress the fact that a product must be designed to meet the customer’s needs in the first place. However, at the end of the day, it is very hard to combine an efficient design with maximum functionality. In their attempt to please the audience, Google ParkPlace Mercedes Benz has offered the customers a new Mercedes Benz model. To analyze the quality of the design as viewed from the perspective of a customer, it will be required to run several tests.

Affinity Diagram

Target Customers	Location	Dealership	Product	Problems Associated
The people in their 30ies–50ies, who are considered less active because of their age and are believed to be devoted to their families	Learning about the opportunities of locating the retail companies within the suburban areas	Offering car wash, repair and maintenance services along with the car detailing services, which is bound to attract the suburban citizens (Quinn, 2012).	Focusing on the functionality of the product: the design is supposed to follow the function	Making the location of the company swell-known among the potential clientele and informing the clientele on the recent improvements
The people who prefer staying at home to traveling to distant places and, therefore, who will appreciate such facilities as auto transportation or having their car shipped to them.	Locating the Google ParkPlace Mercedes Benz products in the suburban areas to spread the influence of the company	Providing the auto transport services even to the clientele that live in the most detached parts of the suburbs (note: will require additional costs; needs to be considered when developing the pricing policy)	The opportunities for easier transportation of the car and the shape that allows for better extent of steamlining (for increased speed)	Learning more about the customers’ preferences and basing the company’s pricing policy on these findings
The people who would like to make efficient use of numerous discounts, special offers and sales, as well as take part in various campaigns to purchase cars times cheaper	The choice of the suburban area as the means to avoid increasing taxation and the way to pay for the rent of the premises for the company less	Offering the customers flexible pricing policy that will allow the customers use discounts and at the same time help the company raise the revenues to pay for the rental	The emphasis on the safety and reliability of the product; no hints on any possible risks concerning the passengers’ safety	In the light of the recently passed law, the suburban areas will be subdued to greater property taxes than the urban areas; therefore, the premises are going to be more costly (Suburbs getting more property taxes, 2012)

Analyzing the above-mentioned diagram, one must admit that the placement of the company and the product in question dictates its rules to the way in which the Google ParkPlace Mercedes Benz should be marketed to its target audience. Given the fact that the majority of the suburban citizens focus on family values (Gottlieb, 2002), it is important to promote safety and reliability as the key features of the product. Hence, it must be admitted that at present, the design of the car should be shaped so that it could correspond to the idea of safety.

Hence, no sharp lines or any other hints at risks should be allowed in the design. In addition, more family-friendly features should be introduced, such as more space in the back of the car and the specifically designed place for an infant safety seat. Finally, since most of the target audience are family people with concerns for the well-being of their family members, the Hybrid concept should also be introduced as an alternative to the polluting diesel cars (Mercedes-Benz S400 certified for qualified Hybrid vehicle credit, 2009).

From the perspective of the selected tool, i.e., the affinity diagram, the only vulnerable side of the chosen strategy is the payment for the rent in the suburbs. An obvious miscalculation, the fact that the price for the company premises in the suburbs is going to cost much more than in the city center is a considerable flaw of the plan. Allowing to evaluate the chances of the company in the suburban area, the affinity diagram has shown that one of the possible ways to avoid financial issues is to introduce a wide range of services and offer the suburban citizens such facilities as free transportation.

Therefore, it can be concluded that Mercedes Benz, the product of Google ParkPlace Mercedes Benz Company, suffers from the lack of focus on the needs of the customers that are related to the clients’ location. However, it is worth keeping in mind that these flaws can be easily eliminated at the given stage. Once the problems outlined above are addressed carefully and the methods offered above are used, it can be expected that the problem of the Mercedes Benz retail will be solved once and for all. While currently, the company could definitely use a better advertisement campaign and offer the customers more reasonable prices, it can be assumed that with a new pricing policy, Google ParkPlace Mercedes Benz will become extremely successful.

Reference List

Suburbs getting more property taxes. (2012). Web.

Gottlieb, R. (2002). Environmentalism unbound: Exploring new pathways for change. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Mercedes-Benz S400 certified for qualified Hybrid vehicle credit. (2009). Web.

Affinity Diagram

Reference List

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