Scottish car dealership Peter Vardy has sponsored a challenge for second year Marketing students with the top three teams winning monetary prizes.
Students in the Services and Retail Marketing class will work in teams to produce reports on how Peter Vardy can use the power of digital to enhance their future sales process and enhance their customers' experience.
The teams will have to make recommendations, set out the implications for their recommendations in terms of the car buying process, activities of dealership staff and marketing communication tools used amongst other things. They will also have to address what challenges the company may have in implementing the recommendations and how these might be overcome.
The task will be completed over 12 weeks, with the best five student groups presenting at a grand finale in front of a panel of judges from the senior management team of Peter Vardy. The winning group will be awarded £2,000, second group £1,000 and the third £500.
Peter Vardy himself, an alumnus of the marketing department, launched the challenge on February 5. He said, "It's fantastic to be able to come back to campus and launch a project that will provide the students with an opportunity to get a further insight into the world of retail. The retail environment is always changing, and at a rapid pace, and the same is true in the motor retail sector.
"When we launched Peter Vardy Limited we had a vision to build the world's best motor retail organisation, as measured by our colleagues, customers and the communities in which we serve. We still hold that vision today, and I'm sure the students involved in the project will generate new ideas and initiatives that will help us continue to drive that vision."
Professor Alan Wilson said, "This is a great opportunity for the students to gain a real insight into services and retail marketing on a very practical level. We're delighted Peter Vardy, one of our alumni, has decided to support the University in this way and provide our students with such a hands-on assignment. The students will gain valuable experience from this and will also learn about working together, producing consultancy reports and presenting to senior panels. We're looking forward to seeing what the students come up with, and I'd like to thank Peter Vardy and his senior management team for their generous involvement in this."