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Question on market segmentation
Question on market segmentation
Case study about market segmentation
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Step 1 Market segmentation means dividing the market into distinct groups that have common needs and will respond similarly to marketing action. Each segment must be unique, have common needs, and respond in a similar manner to marketing efforts. Target market is the group of potential customer that has been selected by business to focus its marketing efforts towards. This is the group the business wants to sell its products/services to. Positioning refers to the image created in the minds of customer of its product or brand. It is a perception created in the minds of the consumer relative to that of its competitors. Step 2 There are different ways in which the Airlines industry is segmented. The first form of segmentation is the area served by the airlines. The "major" serve the entire country and even fly people internationally, the "national" airlines serve the country and provide services to most parts of the country, and the "regional" airlines provide services to single regions or among a limited numbers of cities. Other segments of the industry are the carriers that provide cargo services. Their target market is those customers that provide cargoes. Within the airline industry currently the airlines can be divided into low cost airlines and full service airlines. The low cost airlines targets customers that are seeking no frills connectivity between cities at low ticket prices. The full service airlines provide several add-ons like free meals, on plane entertainment, and communication facilities. The target market for full service airlines are customers who are willing to spend extra for the services that the airlines provides. There are other ways in which airlines customers are segmented. The airline services are divid... ... middle of paper ... ...sons), and cost conscious business traveler. The target market of JetBlue airlines is customers who along with low cost seek services. The services provided by JetBlue included in-flight entertainment, TV on every seat, satellite radio, extra leg room, free unlimited snacks, and leather seats. The target market of JetBlue is also the leisure traveler, the low cost ticket seeking traveler, and the cost conscious business traveler. JetBlue has actually, posed a threat to the other low cost airlines like the Southwest Airlines. The positioning of Southwest Airlines is a reliable, low cost, no frills airlines. The positioning of JetBlue Airlines is a low cost, reliable airline that provides extra services to its passengers. JetBlue positioning is a low cost airline with several extras to passengers. These are the perceptions of customers of airlines in the US market.
of price versus service in the airline industry as a whole, as well as, the
Mason, K. J. (2001). "Marketing low-cost airline services to business travellers." Journal of Air Transport Management 7(2): 103-109.
The seventh largest major domestic airline in the United States (US), Southwest Airlines, is commonly known or referred to as a low-cost carrier. Southwest Airlines is the only major airline that provides short-haul, point-to-point service in the United States. In fact it was the first airline of its type ever started; it has become the archetypical low-cost airline. The idea has proven itself so well, that other start-up airlines have based their company strategies upon the basics of Southwest. Today, there are two other low-cost air carriers (the other two airlines are considered national airlines and not major airlines) that are actively and aggressively competing with Southwest Airlines for business and profit turning. The three American low-cost air carriers are currently posting profits even in light of the US economy’s current state of affairs, with Southwest Airlines first, JetBlue second, and Air Tran third, in profits. How is this possible when the major six airlines are reporting losses of millions and millions of dollars each quarter? The answer to this question begins about 30 years ago.
Also, Southwest is renowned in the airline industry for its short turnaround time on arrivals and departures. And since people's biggest concern nowadays is money and time, having low price airline tickets to cater their traveling needs in a shorter period of time will surely satisfy them. Moreover, aside from the low prices offered, what attracts customers is Southwest’s way of dealing with them. The employees of the airline treat their customers well and really listen to their needs. Southwest Airlines is also well-known for having a very productive and loyal workforce.
JetBlue's management has numerous years of airline industry experience. The team members have catered to customers, they've been customers, and they have extensive backgrounds on what it takes to be successful in the industry.
The marketing approach of Southwest Airlines is built upon their strong business model. They have successfully managed to target two specific market segments of the airline industry while remaining profitable. Their strategy is simple, to offer frequent non-stop flights with the lowest costs which appeal to both the business and budget travelers. By segmenting their target audience to specific demographics and ticket pricing, passengers know exactly what they are getting for the price they pay.
Advertising: As one of the largest domestic airlines, Southwest Airlines has an enormous advertising budget to sustain its presence and increase its market share through focusing on the benefits of flying Southwest over its competitors. Southwest recognizes that flying is no longer a pleasurable experience for many customers, even on Southwest, historically a budget airline. Even though Southwest is often regarded as a no-frills airline, it still attempts to build goodwill from its customers based on its advertising. Of the $249 million it spent on advertising in 2011, Southwest Airlines is unique in that it does not sell additional ad space on the exterior of its aircraft. Many domestic airlines have begun selling aircraft exterior space as a way to increase revenue, but Southwest Airlines insists that it wants to keep its product and advertisi...
Southwest Airlines strategy of focusing on short haul passenger and providing rates as low as one third of their competitors, they have seen tremendous growth in the last decade. Market share for top city pairs on Southwest's schedule has reached 80% to 85%. Maintaining the largest fleet of 737's in the world and utilizing point-to-point versus the hub-and-spoke method of connection philosophy allowed Southwest to provide their service to more people at a lower cost. By putting the employee first, Southwest has found the key to success in the airline business. A happy worker is a more productive one as well as a better service provider. Southwest will continue to reserve their growth in the future by entering select markets only after careful market research.
Air travel has developed into the main form of transportation this century and its demand will double in the next 20 years. In order for airlines to maintain their profitability, they have turn to airline revenue management. Ever since deregulation, airlines have adopted this system to maximize revenue and profitability. What exactly is revenue management? Is a system designed to take advantage of the market, by segregating the market population into different categories of consumer needs, income, and overall behavior of the consumer. Through this process airlines carriers enhance product availability and price to maximize revenue.
market is a set of buyers sharing common needs or characteristics that the company decides to serve (Bethel, 2007). When identifying the target market it is important to know who buys your product and who your customers are. Smart targeting benefits the consumer as well as the company. It allows the company to be more efficient and effective by focusing effort toward that segment; therefore maintaining the most profitable outcome. The consumer is rewarded by receiving the product or service that is customized for them.
The mission of Southwest Airlines is a dedication to the highest quality of service delivered with warmth, friendliness, individual pride, and company spirit (Mission…, 2007). The company also provides opportunities for learning and personal growth to each employee. Creativity and innovation is very important and highly encouraged, for the purposes of improving effectiveness. Employees are to be provided the same concern, respect, and caring attitude within the organization that the employees are expected to share with the customer. Southwest Airlines was initially created to be a low-cost alternative to high price of intra-Texas air carriers (Freiberg, 1996). Southwest’s fares were originally supposed to compete with car and bus transportation. It was a little airline, and it would withstand the test of time. As a discount, no-frills airline, it would provide stiff competition for larger airlines. Their strategy was to operate at low cost, offering no food, no movies, no first class, and no reserved seats. They created their own market and provided increased turnaround times at the gate, by avoiding hub-and-spoke airports and opting for short-haul, direct flights. Through this market approach, Southwest has a majority of market share in the markets they serve.
Features that draw customers in include assigned seating (contrary to its competitor, Southwest Airlines), leather seats, more leg room, and superior on-board service. Furthermore, JetBlue is one of only a few airlines that offers each passenger free Direct TV and XM satellite radio entertainment. Finally, with regard to customer service, JetBlue focuses intently on attracting and motivating a talented workforce. The company gives each employee a sense of ownership in the operations. This value and respect bestowed on each employee translates into a motivated, productive workforce that focuses on customer satisfaction and exceeds consumer expectations.
The first initiative that they were able to gain in competitive advantage was the reduction of costs. They have been able to use an online system where consumers can reserve tickets avoiding which avoids using travel agents. Having this systems reduces costs for the company as well because they do not have to hire nearly as many as employees. Along with buying tickets, JetBlue has been able to use other systems to reduce costs which helps them with the maintenance of their planes and organizing information that involves every aspect of their business ranging from their planes to their employees and consumers. The second initiative that JetBlue uses is the creating of new services. By creating their new online services and systems they are able to gain competitive advantage because it allows easier and less expensive accessibility to their services. Not only have they created new services but they are able to differentiate these services from their competitors because of the easiness and quality of the services that they do provide. They not only focus on making their services the best but also the highest level of customer service that they can offer which other airlines struggle to do. Other competitors have realized that JetBlue is beating them in many aspects in the business that they have needed to adjust what they are doing to catch up. Even with the jumps in technology use with the other companies, JetBlue has still been able to enhance their services to continue to gain competitive
According to Kotler et al 2013 market segmentation is defined as dividing a market into smaller segments of buyers with distinct needs, characteristics or behaviours that might require separate marketing strategies or mixes. As per the industry data which we were operating we used different theories to segment the market one of them is STP process. In this method whole market is sub divided into different segments based on three activities these are segmentation, targeting and positioning. From the market information in case study we identified similar groups of consumer under market segmentation activity. For example market E had consumers travelling between mini hub to medium city that had a new and growing market. While targeting the market we identified which group of consumers to aim for instance market D had major university and service sectors. Lastly in the product and brand positioning we created a concept so as to appeal the target market by running as discount airline. One of the approaches for market segmentation according to Kotler et...
In order to identify Air Mauritius’ target market variables such as demographic, geographic, psychographic and behavioural variables have to be covered. Air Mauritius can be considered a small aircraft company as it has a rather narrow range of planes compared to other airline companies, this is primarily due to the fact that Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport in Mauritius Islands cannot accommodate very large planes. However, it is not a small nor regional airline company and has flight schedules every week in continents such as Africa, Asia, Europe and Australia (O'Hanlon, 2013). Consequently it can be assumed that the target market is basically adult (age) men and women (gender) from different places all over the world who are looking for comfort and good services while travelling (benefits sought) of a medium to high status and income in order to be able to pay for all the tariff fares (psychographic). . Hence, it can be approved that Air Mauritius’ target market is scattered worldwide and cannot be really classified as they tend to market for various markets ranging from businessmen to tourists of different ages. However as Mauritius Islands are mostly known for its tourism industry, Air Mauritius is trying a new marketing strategy in order to attract more families to travel with them to Mauritius Islands for touristic reasons (4 trends in family travel for