Korean Auto Brands Gaining Interest Among General Motors Shoppers
BOSTON, Mass.--Dec. 10, 2002--New analysis from Compete, Inc. evaluating recent automobile shopping behavior showed that Hyundai and Kia are making real inroads with shoppers of popular General Motors vehicles. Compete tracked the pre-purchase shopping behavior of consumers from July to October to measure the extent to which those who considered GM also considered Korean sister brands Hyundai and Kia. Compete's analysis showed that Hyundai and Kia achieved significant mindshare with shoppers of lower-market GM products--especially Chevrolets--confirming GM's claim that it faces stiff competition from the Korean brands.Compete assessed a broad range of consumer interest and behavior metrics, including share of interest by brand and by model, and cross-shop and reverse cross-shop patterns to measure the head-to-head competitive dynamics. The analysis focused on the impacts of Hyundai and Kia on the Chevrolet brand. Compete found that:
| -- | In terms of overall share of interest, Hyundai and Kia are approaching Chevrolet's mindshare. Between July and October, 14.3 percent of online automotive shoppers considered a Chevrolet, while 9.3 percent considered either a Hyundai or a Kia. This share of interest finding shows that Chevrolet has done a relatively better job at closing sales. Since Hyundai and Kia have richer purchase funnels relative to sales, this finding suggests they have a major opportunity to capture more market share by improving close ratios. |
| -- | At the individual model level, Compete's analysis highlighted instances where Hyundai and Kia models outperformed Chevrolet. To measure the level of consumer interest in individual models, Compete established a Market Interest Index (where a score of 100 represents a vehicle with average consumer interest). This revealed the Elantra as very popular at 156 (meaning there was 56 percent more interest in Elantras than average), followed by the Cavalier at 127 and the Accent at 113. In the minivan segment, the Chevrolet Venture yielded a below average score of 71, while the Kia Sedona bested the Venture with a score of 118. |
| -- | Cross-shopping and reverse cross-shopping patterns across key Hyundai, Kia and Chevrolet models point to a distinct competitive imbalance favoring Hyundai. Among entry-level sport-utility segment shoppers, Compete found that consumers interested in the Chevrolet Tracker were far more likely to look at the Hyundai Santa Fe than the reverse. Over the period more than 17 percent of Tracker shoppers also considered a Santa Fe, while less than 5 percent of Santa Fe shoppers considered the Tracker. In the minivan market, nearly 20 percent of Venture shoppers also considered the Sedona, but less than 10 percent of Sedona shoppers considered the Chevrolet. |
"Hyundai and Kia have penetrated the consideration sets of Chevrolet shoppers, supporting the claim by GM that competition from the Korean brands is challenging its ability to grow market share," said Lincoln Merrihew, Compete's Automotive Practice Leader. "It also serves as a warning for other GM brands as Hyundai and Kia move further up-market. Chevrolet and GM need to track and respond to specific inroads by Hyundai and Kia--as well as those of their more traditional rivals--in order to develop proactive, targeted responses or risk further share erosion."
More than two-thirds of auto consumers turn to automotive Internet sites to research their purchases, making their online shopping behavior an accurate leading indicator of model preferences and in-dealer demand. Based on an industry-leading data pool of more than one million active vehicle shoppers, Compete provides automakers with the most detailed and immediate insights into vehicle purchase intent available. Compete's predictive analytics services help automakers to optimize decisions and monitor performance in four key areas: marketing effectiveness, demand forecasting, spending optimization, and new vehicle launches.
About Compete, Inc.
Compete, Inc. focuses its Business Intelligence (BI) services on strategic business issues including demand forecasting, pricing and promotions, marketing programs and product optimization. As the first firm to incorporate terabytes of external online consumer behavior data into its BI analyses, Compete is pioneering the use of online consumer data to predict offline consumer behavior. Based on the industry's largest pool of consumer behavior data, representing over 10 million consumers, Compete provides unprecedented consumer insights that its clients convert into powerful management tools for increasing market penetration, lifetime customer revenues and marketing ROI. Compete provides its Business Intelligence Services to financial services, automotive, media and communications, and retail and consumer products companies. The company is venture-backed by leading investors, including Charles River Ventures, St. Paul Venture Capital, North Hill Ventures and idealab! Compete is on the Web at www.compete.com.
