The car-sharing market is booming in popularity. The global market for car sharing was valued at $6.6 billion in 2021, and projected to rise to over $35 billion by 2030.

While many types of people might consider a car-sharing program, not all of them can be captivated with the same marketing message. Their tastes and interests all vary, depending on factors such as their age, lifestyle, income, and geographic location. It's critical for companies to divide the pool of potential customers into smaller, better defined, and more manageable segments. Companies can then successfully tailor their message for each individual segment.

This has been the approach at CarGo. With millions of members who are part of a brand, the company needs to segment and to really understand what drives different groups. Not everybody is exactly alike. But it can take a lot of energy and effort to make sure you understand different groups.

CarGos main segment is urbanites. CarGos mission to reduce dependency on personally owned vehicles resonates with consumers who wish to fight congestion, cut pollution, and save money. CarGo strategically promotes the company's positive impact on the environment, as well as its cost savings to these drivers.

CarGos honestly is embraced by urbanites. Urbanites love living car free in the city, but sometimes they need a car to get around. CarGos car share offers a solution for mobility without all the hassles and expense of car ownership. The messaging to this group on their website showcases the positive impact they have on making cities better places to live, by actually taking cars off the road. From an environmental perspective, CarGo makes sure that theyve got content that really appeals and directly talks about their impact. Testimonials from members, often millennials and GenZ, who really respect the opinions of their peers, help reinforce many of these messages directly.

CarGo has also been spending a lot of time and energy focusing on older GenZ (18-26yrs) and younger millennials (27-35yrs). The segment of 18- to 34-year-olds are the largest market for the car-sharing company and already constitutes more than half of CarGos entire membership base. As a result, the company has a presence on over 750 college campuses.

The 18-34 year old market of Millennials and GenZ are among the most dedicated, loyal, and engaged members of car share brands. So, CarGo wants to make sure that they really communicate to them with a message that resonates, in a medium or a method that appeals to them the most. Their current market approach for the 18-24 age group relies on on-campus ambassadors, and peer-to-peer marketing and word of mouth. Ambassadors help host experiential events and activations on campus, that get this older group of GenZ students deeply involved in the brand. Contests and car rallies tied to campus orientation have been successful, as have a car karaoke contest, widely shared within the target group on social media through video. Car Karaoke contests have worked with younger millennials (24-35yrs) too, with the emphasis on their early adulting lifestyle, establishing careers, friendship, and family, with car sharing at the heart of a responsible lifestyle.

A third segment which CarGo has been focusing on is the urban boomers -- a demographic cohort of adults who live in urban areas and are a part of the baby-boomer generation. CarGo recently conducted a study which revealed that urban boomers in the U. S. are tech-savvy, highly active, and while many still own a car, they are driving less after moving to the city.

Over 15% of CarGos members are truly urban boomers. This is the baby-boomer generation who has likely lived in the suburbs raising a family, but decided to come back and really get the most out of city living attending theater, concerts, sporting event and dining out. CarGo tailors their marketing approach in a way that really resonates in message and approach. CarGo has partnered with Zoomer Magazine and the Association of Retired People, where they discount memberships to readers and ARP association members to make it easier for urban boomers to become a member of CarGo. Urban boomers tend to be really involved and heavy users of Facebook, so the company uses video content through posts, reels and stories and testimonials from urban boomers themselves, in terms of how they get around in the city using CarGo, to reinforce the brand to this group. Posts on Facebook help urban boomers see and understand what CarGo is about, from one of their peers.

CarGo has had success identifying their most important segments, understanding their individual needs, and then effectively creating tailored messages which appeal to each subgroup.

Customer segmentation has been one of the most fundamental parts of CarGos success. It allows them to really connect with members on a much more one-on-one basis and forge authentic loyalty, connection and transparency.

Questions

1.Create a positioning statement for CarGo ?

. Thinking about an environmental scan for CarGo, what are two environmental forces which would be important to understand for their business? Identify two and describe how they would apply.

3.What consumer behavior characteristics do you think would be important to CarGo in understanding the GenZ 18-24 year old car share user?

4. Choose one of CarGos customer segments and develop the segment profile by categorizing their characteristics using demographic, geographic, psychographic, and behaviouristic categories.

5. Create a marketing persona for one of CarGos segments.

6. Assume that you have decided to do some real-life primary marketing research about CarGos urbanite consumer. Describe at least two quantitative research techniques that you may want to do in order to better understand the needs and wants of the target audience.