Internet Marketing in the Airlines Industry: British Airways and Ryan Air - Research Paper Example

Table of Content 0 Introduction 2 1 A critical analysis on the budget airline Ryan air and the British airways 2 2 A critical evaluation on theuse of website as a marketing tool in the two airlines 3 2.0 British airways 4 3.0 Budget airline Ryan air 5 4.0 The aspects of marketing theory that plays an important role in the success of both airlines 6 5.0 Conclusion 8 6.0 Reference: 10 1.0 Introduction Online marketing has brought very many benefits to the airline industry including the low costs in the distribution of information to the audience globally. British airways and the Ryan air have both adapted to this new technology which is an interactive nature of the internet media and it has further led to instance response which is an important aspect in the airline industry. (BBC business news 2001) 1.1 A critical analysis on the budget airline Ryan air and the British airways British airways Ryan air It is a high cost and trendy airline Have very strong internet marketing strategies to win back the passengers by lowering their prices. Use the internet as a very effective tool in their marketing strategy Has a lesser publicity with the people from the low socio-economic status but very popular with the worlds top most business travellers Have very high service standards for their customers Services that are offered by this airline are more expensive in comparison to Ryan airlines. They dominate the European skies. low cost and international airline in Europe Have very strong marketing strategies to win back passengers with ludicrously low prices. Have a web for their extensive marketing strategy i.e. it is advertising one way tickets to 11 European destinations at very low prices. The airline has a greater publicity than the British airways. Services that are offered by this airline are very cheap in comparison to the British airlines. They lack the clout to take over the European skies. 1.2 A critical evaluation on the use of website as a marketing tool in the two airlines British airways Ryan air It has Google earth an imagery for the vacation views Has online booking It is an e-ticket airline The customers can check their passenger information and details from the website before they travel. Has enormous online travel offers for the customers making them to embrace he online travel technology. Has cookies which are small texts files placed in the computers by the websites visited by the consumers Has an e-dialogue channel for the high frequency travellers and the customer communications in the UK. Has the mobile marketing and also personal messaging on its website. Sell tickets online. Has web sales and marketing Has online booking and paperless ticketing Customers can check their passenger information and details from the internet before they travel Has enormous online travel offers for the customers making them to embrace he online travel technology. 2.0 British airways British airlines have been using the web marketing very extensively and it has installed various modes of marketing the airline via the websites and this has since increased their anticipated profits. To start with through the internet marketing the airline has offered a Google earth vacation views in an attempt to lure more people to book their next flights with the airline. (BBC business news 2001) The Google earth imagery that has been added in their website has been used in helping the people who are travelling with the airline to see where they will be enjoying their vacations before they even take the flights. The British airways and the like have since suffered a considerable loss of revenue from a dramatic drop in demand for the transatlantic flights like the Ryan air as well as from the temporary closure of the American airspace after the attacks. (Vincent 2003) 3.0 Budget airline Ryan air In the midst of the turmoil in the airline industry the Ryan air breed has continued to prosper and attracting more and more passengers against all the formidable odds. The airline which is known as no frills or discount airline is seizing the initiative while most of the other carriers like the British airways are loosing their heads. Their low cost ethos advantage is enabling them to ride out the economic slowdown. Ryan airs low cost culture have made the company's costs gradually decline as they use the paperless ticketing and they also do their sales and marketing over the phone or through the internet. By the use of the website as a marketing tool the company's head office has however been made small and the growth of the company is also controlled since the penny pinching culture permeates the whole organization. (King, Lee, and Viehland, 2006 pg 86) The company is however very careful not to over expand as they effectively use the internet as their most effective tool. Ryan air is a low cost carrier from around the world. It has migrated to the new distribution model of its products and services to its consumers. Its migration is however tentative since other few low cost airlines are yet to sign up for these newly emerging options and they are little bit resistance. On the other hand Ryan air the European low-cost juggernaut considers the web marketing tool to be very effective since it covers a very large percentage of its consumers from the medium and low financial backgrounds. 4.0 The aspects of marketing theory that plays an important role in the success of both airlines For the British airways and budget Ryan air to achieve their successes utmost there are several aspects that I consider very important. They include the products, the positioning, the place, the price and the promotion since they all contribute to the market mix. (King, Lee, and Viehland, 2006 pg 45) Marketing for both airlines is more than sales since it involves getting the potential customers attention and motivating them to buy your products and at times we get the customers to buy the airline products and services. British airways and Ryan air need marketing strategies that would help them in defining their products and services, promoting their products and services, distributing their products and services and also maintain lasting relationships with their customers. The first important aspect in the marketing theory is the target market which is a group of the potential customers who have been selected for marketing. (King, Lee, and Viehland, 2006 pg 90) In the airlines industry the target market would mainly include the global businessmen as well as other people going on holiday to different destinations. Market segmentation is also needed so that the airlines can determine the different target markets for each of their target segments. If the airline selects their market target well than their marketing strategies will eventually be very successful and the airline company's will achieve their targeted successes. Anther important aspect that I consider to be of great importance in the airline industry is the description of the company's products and services. (King, Lee, and Viehland, 2006 pg 77) The services and products which are offered by the different airlines should be well understood by the customers and it is also very important that the airlines understand their services and products from their customers point of view. If the airlines make it very clear why their products and services are perfect for their specified buyers and also what their products and services do best then they will achieve their set marketing goals. The airline companies should be able to understand their products and services from the customer's point of view and list down the features, the functionality and also the benefits of their diverse products and services. On the other hand the positioning aspect is very important since it will clearly show how the target market defines a specific airline in relation to their competitors. Positioning is very crucial since it involves a tight competition for the potential customers with other airlines. For an airline to succeed then it needs to standout with very unique benefits of their products and services as this will make them have a chance of getting their customers attention. In positioning also it is very important to understand both the internal and the external environment. For an organization to achieve its successes in its products and services distribution channels, then it must carefully cover the areas of risk taking, financing, physical distribution, matching, negotiation, contact promotion and negotiation. (King, Lee, and Viehland, 2006 pg 44) The place or the distribution channel is virtually important since it entails the methods through which the company's products and services will eventually reach and be made available to the customer. 5.0 Conclusion Internet marketing in the airlines industry has further brought many unique benefits to the British airways and Ryan air since both airlines have been experiencing very low costs in the distribution of their information and media to their audience globally. On the other hand the interactive nature of the internet media for both airlines are very unique qualities of the internet marketing in terms of getting an instant response and also eliciting response from the potential and existing customers. 6.0 Reference: King, D., Lee, J., and Viehland, D. (2006): Electronic Commerce; a Managerial Perspective, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall publishers BBC business news, (2001): budget airlines look to exploit crisis. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/ accessed on 19th October 2007 Vincent, G. (2003): Ryan air slows on emotion. Retrieved from http://www.brandchannel.com/features.asp, Accessed on 19th October 2007 Read More