Marketing of Service Products - Book Report/Review Example

?Marketing of Service Products Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 1 Company Background 4 2 Objective of the company 5 3 Services of Austin Travel 5 2. Target Market 6 2.1 Identification of needs of Couple A and Couple B 6 3. Market Segmentation 8 4. Planning of the trip 9 4.1 Detailed itinerary of Couple A 11 4.2 Detailed itinerary of Couple B 14 4.4 Justification for choices for Couple A using relevant 7 P’s of Marketing 17 4.5 Justification for choices for Couple B using relevant 7 P’s of Marketing 18 5. Conclusion 18 1. Executive Summary The tourism industry has been experiencing huge growth over the last few years. This is due to the “advent of the borderless world” (Levy, 2012) and increasing reach of information about the royal places and scenic beauties throughout the world. Austin Travel is a travel agency which operates in Maryland, United States and is the only established travel agent in Maryland. It has already penetrated the lucrative market rapidly because people are now more attracted towards tourism. Austin travel has been planning a tour for two couples of Maryland to Paris. Before planning the tour, information about the two target markets are to be extracted in order to provide them with exactly what they want during their tour. A good research about: who are the customers, how did they find Austin Travels and the most important what they like about Austin travels and what they dislike will help the company to get the idea of the customer’s perception about the company. The customers are then divided into different segments according to the service requirements using the VALS concept for psychographic market segmentation (Kotler, Keller and Koshy, 2009). Market segmentation is planned in order to guide the travel agent in tailoring their services to satisfy the two target markets during Paris trip. The essay elaborates the plan that the travel agent will execute during the trip i.e. Schedule, daily meal and site seeing. 1.1 Company Background Austin Travels aims at providing individuals, couple and group of travelers with the comfort and leisure they want during a trip. They organize pre-arranged tours and custom packages catering to the clients need. They book the tickets for their clients and make reservations for lodging in well known hotels so that their clients are not faced with any difficulty and they also arrange for other important services that are needed during a trip. Austin travels has established itself as a premier travel company in Maryland. People of Maryland and its surrounding cities prefer to book their trip with them as they have made good reputation in the market by giving uninterrupted and proficient service to the customers. They are now aiming to expand their business by opening new stores in two to three cities of United States to attract more customers. They believe in knowing their customers before customizing tour for them. They judge their customers according to the psychographic market segmentation and then try to give exactly what each of them wants (Saren, 2006). Austin Travel has been introducing new packages for the couple and also for group. They are constantly trying to give their customers new ways of making their trips comfortable and safe. Austin Travel gives prime importance to the safety of their customers during the trip and also ensures that they administer their duties and responsibilities at their best. The marketing strategy of the company is based on ensuring the customers to know about their services to the respective target groups. The company ensures that the price is reasonable and is affordable for the common mass to have luxury holiday outside the country. The promotional strategy includes advertisements on television and small pamphlets which are circulated with the newspapers. Austin Travel also provides information about different packages in their website. The company intends to plan a trip for two couple to Paris for a week. They made the plan according to their requirements and thus made a detailed schedule of the trip along with the cost that helped the customers to estimate the total cost of the trip (Constantinides, 2004). 1.2 Objective of the company The primary objective of Austin Travel is to provide the target customers of Maryland with quality service and ensure safety to them. It has good professional team who assist the customers to design the travel packages at a reasonable price. The summary of the objectives of the company are as follows: 1) Provide the customers with quality excursion in limited budget and time. 2) Create good market reputation to assure short term and also long term profitability. 3) Support the changes that are taking place in the tourism industry and the overall economic condition of United States. 1.3 Services of Austin Travel Austin Travels helps the customers to select trip based on the predefined holiday criteria. The following are the services that are provided by the company: 1) Book flight tickets and also reserve rooms in luxury hotels for lodging. 2) Give car facilities as soon as their clients arrive at airports and assist them till departure. 3) They assign guide who can also be the translator to the client when he/she is not aware with the language used by the inhabitants of the holiday destination. 4) Arranging food facilities for them during the sightseeing and also arrange for lunch and dinner in the hotel in which clients will be staying. 5) Make a detailed plan of the places to be visited and the making schedule accordingly with the consent from the clients. 2. Target Market Target market clearly identifies the group of customers that the company has planned to aim their marketing efforts and strategize the exact plan which will make them satisfied. Austin travel aims at targeting two markets which are Couple A and Couple B. The couples are from Maryland and have decided to spend a holiday in Paris for a week. They will be arriving in Paris airport at 10 am on 29th August 2013, Thursday and their departure date is on 5th September, 2013, Thursday at 2 pm. Both the couples have their individual requirement regarding the trip to Paris. Couple A is a newly married couple named Mr. and Mrs. White. They have planned to visit Paris for their honeymoon. Couple B is the parent of the wife named Mr. and Mrs. Hastings. They are interested to visit Paris to have a holiday during the same duration when their daughter and son-in-law are visiting Paris. Both the couples have their own need from the trips, thus it is the responsibility of Austin Travels to plan their trip according to their need. 2.1 Identification of needs of Couple A and Couple B It is important for any marketer to identify the needs and preferences of the customers. Austin Travel has identified the needs of the two couples by inquiring about their interest in the trip. The professional executives in the company have summarized their needs after interacting with both the couples which are as follows: Mr. and Mrs. White are newly married and they are going to Paris for honeymoon. Thus they seek romance and want to spend time together enjoying each other’s company. The couple wants to make the trip memorable for the rest of their life and thus desires to enjoy the trip to the fullest. They are young and energetic and they have the enthusiasm to reach every part of the romantic city. They are quite adventurous and do not quite concentrate on luxury much as they seek to be with other. So their most important need is to spend quality time with each other and also enjoy the beauty of Paris. But they are quite economic and want their honeymoon within their budget. Mr. and Mrs. Hastings are old couple of age between 50 to 60 f years. Their main interest for visiting Paris is to explore the culture and heritage of the beautiful city. They seek for comfort during their journey as they have grown old and do not have that energy to travel all day long. Thus they cannot follow a hectic schedule and desires to make a luxurious trip which will make them happy and satisfied. They are quite aged and have difficulty in walking long distances and climbing stairs so they prefer to travel in cars and avoid places with high altitude. They are not energetic and at this age adventure is not at all a desire for them instead they prefer to live their life calmly and with pride. The above needs are to be kept in mind and then the schedule for both the couple is to be made. The taste and preferences of the two couples are different and also the life style which they follow is far from each other’s reach. Though the couples are travelling together to Paris but they will be independent of each other while in Paris. They will meet up occasionally for the meals and also during few excursions if it meets their wants and needs. Thus Austin Travel has to make an individual schedule for each of the couple and provide them what they exactly want form the trip (Rowley, 2012). 3. Market Segmentation Market segmentation is defined as the marketing strategy that aims at dividing a vast target market into small sets of consumers. These set of consumers have the common needs and the companies design and implement strategies to target these needs of the segments. VALS (Values, attitudes and Life style) is a research methodology that is used for the psychographic market segmentation. The companies use these segments to target their products and services. These methods of segmentation explore the facts like the mindsets of the consumers and what are the factors that motivate the consumers to act like the way they do. Value segments are useful to the companies as they can be used to identify the profile of the customers and their leisure activities along with the preferred brands (Roy Morgan Research, 2013c). Mr. and Mrs. White are the young couple and their age is between 20 to 30 years. When segmenting the target market Austin travels will fit them into the Young Optimism VALS segment. Young optimism is referred to those patterns of responses that are often connected with optimism and are seeking to improve their life in the society. They are young group of customers who like to style and make a particular image in the society. When they are with their friends or families they want to spend their maximum time. They are courageous and energetic due to their age and thus want to explore and experience almost everything in the world. Connecting the characteristics of the Young Optimism segment and the characteristics of the young couple it can said that they possess also the features that are included in the segment. They want enjoyment and pleasure from the trip to the fullest which is one of the features of the above mentioned segment. From the busy schedule that they face every day, they have found out time to spend time with each other which is another important characteristics of the segment that is mentioned above (Roy Morgan Research, 2013a). Mr. and Mrs. Hastings are old and their age is between 50 to 60 years so they can be segmented under the Visible Achievement VALS segment. Visible Achievement is referred to the sample of responses that are often given by the respondents who are successful in their life and achieved every pleasure in life. They have seen success in whatever path they have taken and are confident with their own capabilities and the position they hold in the society. They being successful have not left the old traditional values back at home; still they stick to it and respect them very much. Family is very important to this people and they give greater emphasis in providing their families with a high quality life and a good societal status. They do not flaunt their success to everybody, they are known by their work at this age. This segment is less adventurous and they prefer a calm and quite life with their family and friends. They associate themselves with people of their own age and even devote themselves to political and economic environment. Connecting the characteristics of the Visible Achievement segment and the characteristics of the old couple it can said that they are quite related. The main interest of the couple from this trip is to search for culture and heritage of the royal city and get the pleasure of natural beauty of Paris (Roy Morgan Research, 2013b). 4. Planning of the trip After knowing the need of the individual segment, Austin travel has to make the plan of the trip for the individual couple. They are not concerned with the flight tickets of the couples; it has been arranged by the couples themselves. Their responsibility is from the time the couples arrive at the Paris airport to their departure flight back to United States. They have to book the meals for the couples as that are within the special package they are providing to the couples (Hermawan and Setiawan, 2010). They are concerned with the ground components of the trip and summarized special package that is provided to the couples is as follows: 1) Reserve accommodation for the couple one week before the trip in luxury hotels after taking the consent from the couples. 2) Pick up from the Paris airport and taking them to the hotels which are booked from before. The cars that are used for fetching the couples from airport are to be provided to them for the entire trip. 3) Two travel guides for the two couples who is also the translator for the couples in case they do not understand the local language. The travel guide will be taking them to the places that are in the schedule and will be taking care of their requirements like medical emergencies etc. 4) Reserve seats for the couples for the meals (lunch and dinner) and the expense is paid by the couple themselves. 5) While travelling they will be providing with snacks and water which include in the package. 6) Make special arrangements for the newly married couple like arranging for the one candle light dinner free of cost, giving them gifts on their arrival to Paris airport, greeting by their agents in the hotel when they enter the hotels and also arrange for them special honeymoon suite at a cheaper rate than the usual. 7) The old couple is also greeted in the traditional way in the hotel and is provided with gifts. They will be provided with free two passes for the famous theatres and the dance shows in Paris that take place every Saturday (Klaus, 2013). 4.1 Detailed itinerary of Couple A The following are the itinerary that are provided to Mr. and Mrs. White (excluding the surprise of candle light dinner) Date Time Place/Tour Cost Remarks/ Comments 29th August 2013 10 am. Arrival at Paris airport and pick up from there to Hotel Le Meurice Free Buffet breakfast. Per day discounted cost for accommodation in special honeymoon suite is 820 AUD Taking rest and then go for stroll to the Piazza San Marco. 2 pm Lunch at Benoit Paris At your own expense After lunch drive around few places of Paris (as per your wish) 7 pm Dinner at Hotel Cost about 112 AUD for each person (included in the package). 30th August, 2013 8 am Buffet Breakfast Free 10 am Move out for Sight seeing Eiffel tower Parc de la Villette Musee des Arts et Meitiers The travel expense is included in the package (550 AUD/ day) Lunch at Benoit Paris at your own expense 8 pm Return to hotel for dinner Included in the package 31st August, 2013 8 am Buffet Breakfast Free 10 am Move out for Sight seeing The Lourve Grand Palais Included in the package. Lunch at Vini Da Gigio (own Expense) 7 pm Dinner at Hotel Included in the package. 1st September, 2013 8 am Buffet Breakfast Free 10 am Move out for Sight seeing Sainte-Chapelle Parc Asterix Shopping Included in the package. Lunch at Vini Da Gigio (own Expense) 7 pm Dinner at Hotel Included in the package. 2nd September, 2013 8 am Buffet Breakfast Free 10 am Move out for Sight seeing Disneyland Resort Paris Cathedrale saint-Maclou de Pontoise Shopping Included in the package. Lunch at Vini Da Gigio (own Expense) 5 pm Return to Hotel for rest Dinner at 8 pm. Included in the package. 3rd September, 2013 8 am Buffet Breakfast Free 1 pm Visiting Exhibition at Cite des Sciences et de I’Industrie Included in the package. Drive across Paris and spend leisure time by your own Lunch at Antico Pingola at your own expense 8 pm Return to hotel for dinner Included in the package. 4th September, 2013 8 am Buffet Breakfast Free Free 7th night accommodation 12 am Spend time as your wish Lunch at 2 pm at Antico Pingola 3 pm Special event organized by Hotel Le Meurice for the honeymoon couples 9 pm Dinner Special dinner at our cost 5th September, 2013 8 am Buffet Breakfast Free 1 pm Move out for Airport 4.2 Detailed itinerary of Couple B The following are the itinerary that is provided to Mr. and Mrs. Hastings. Date Time Place/Tour Cost Remarks/ Comments 29th August 2013 10 am. Arrival at Paris airport and pick up from there to Hotel Le Meurice Free Buffet breakfast. Per day accommodation 585 AUD. Taking rest at hotel 2 pm Lunch at Benoit Paris with White family. At your own expense After lunch drive around few places of Paris with White family (as per your wish) 7 pm Dinner at Hotel Cost about 112 AUD for each person (included in the package). 30th August, 2013 8 am Buffet Breakfast Free 12 am Move out for Sight seeing Les Invalides Place Vendome. The travel expense is included in the package (550 AUD/ day) Lunch at Benoit Paris with White family (own expense). 5pm Return to hotel for taking rest Dinner at 7 pm with White family Included in the package 31st August, 2013 8 am Buffet Breakfast Free 3 pm Visiting The Pantheon Included in the package. Lunch at Vini Da Gigio (own Expense) 5pm Return to hotel and spend time in the hotel. Dinner with White family at 8 pm. Included in the package. 1st September, 2013 8 am Buffet Breakfast Free 12 am Visiting Palace of Versailles Shopping Included in the package. Lunch at Vini Da Gigio with White family (own Expense) 7 pm Dinner at Hotel with White family Included in the package. 2nd September, 2013 8 am Buffet Breakfast Free 12 am Visiting Sorbonne, Palais Garnier Shopping Included in the package. Lunch at Vini Da Gigio (own Expense) 5 pm Return to Hotel for rest Dinner at 8 pm. Included in the package. 3rd September, 2013 8 am Buffet Breakfast Free 1 pm Exhibition at Cite des Sciences et de I’Industrie with white family. Included in the package. Drive across Paris and spend leisure time by your own with White family. Lunch at Antico Pingola at your own expense 5 pm Return to hotel for rest and dinner at 8 pm. Included in the package. 4th September, 2013 8 am Buffet Breakfast Free 12 am Spend time as your wish Lunch at 2 pm at Antico Pingola 3 pm Free passes for you to attend the famous theatre at Stade de France. 9 pm Dinner Special dinner at our cost 5th September, 2013 8 am Buffet Breakfast Free 1 pm Move out for Airport 4.4 Justification for choices for Couple A using relevant 7 P’s of Marketing Mr. and Mrs. White are young and they are going for their honeymoon to Paris. The most relevant marketing mix that is justifiable in their case is “People”. This marketing mix identifies the fact that the marketers should develop the habit of thinking in terms of their customers tastes and preferences so that they can earn profit and should strategize their plan accordingly. In this case, it is necessary to understand the likes and dislikes of the couple and concentrate on their need from this trip (Kalaimani, 2013). 4.5 Justification for choices for Couple B using relevant 7 P’s of Marketing For Mr. and Mrs. Hastings the marketing mix that will be relevant for them is “People”. It is very important for the travel agent to understand the couples need at this age in order to satisfy them with their services. Thus Austin Travel has to do a critical and methodical understanding of the tastes and the preferences of the couple and provide them exactly what they want (Patsy, 2013). 5. Conclusion For any marketer it is important to know the preferences of the target market in order to establish their business successfully. It can be concluded that Austin Travel concentrated on the needs of the individual target markets and formed their schedule accordingly for the trip to Paris. The two target groups belonged to two different segments and thus there is a vast difference between their need and their acceptance to life. Each characteristic of the two segments are scrutinized by the professional team of the travel agent so that they do not miss out anything which will make their customers unsatisfied. Reference List Constantinides, E., 2004. The marketing mix revisited. Journal of Marketing Management, 28, pp. 407-411. Hermawan, K. and Setiawan, I., 2010. Marketing 3.0. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Kalaimani, G., 2013. 7 P’s of marketing. Journal of Management and Science, pp. 1-29. Klaus, P., 2013. Towards a better measure of customer experience. International Journal of Market Research, 55(2), pp. 227-237. Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G., 2008. Principles of marketing. New Jersey: Pearson Education. Kotler, P., Keller, K. and Koshy, A., 2009. Marketing management. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Levy, S., 2012. Marketing management and marketing research. 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