Castle Bingo - Decision-Making - Case Study Example

Table of Contents Introduction 2 Gambling Industry 2 Customer Motivation 3 Customer Preferences 4 Market Research 4 Findings 5 Recommendations 10 Conclusion 11 References 13 Introduction Castle Bingo has seen a tremendous growth in the modern bingo clubs aided by the development of new clubs at different places. The organization has been successful because of their membership drives for the purpose built clubs which offer the modern bingo player comfortable seating, the very latest in bingo technology and value for money catering and bar offerings in stylish surroundings. In addition to it the growth in both on line and off line bingo players has multiplied the opportunities for conducting business and has helped Castle Bingo to grow. The report looks to conduct a marketing research which will help to identify the manner in which Castle Bingo success has come from. This will help to evaluate whether the success of Castle Bingo can be attributed to either online players or offline players. This research will also help to find out whether the customers are the same customers or are they different section of customers and will help to find out their preference and factors which influences their decision to play bingo. This will thereby help Castle Bingo to focus on the aspect of marketing through which customer satisfaction can be maximized. Gambling Industry The gambling industry which includes both the offline and online gaming industry has grown exponentially over the past few years. The growth in online sites has been tremendous as it has grown from 30 in 1994 to over 2000 sites today. This has been backed by an increase in revenue which has increased from $30 million in 1994 to over 425 billion in 2010 (Christiansen Capital Advisors, 2011). The growth in online gaming industry has multiplied the options and today the online gaming industry accounts for over 4% of the total gaming industry (Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, 2005). The growth is primarily on the background that online gaming provides many opportunities for the different online players. With different virtual avenues available to players, strategies to attract new customers and developing mechanism to retain the old customers have become a priority. This makes it important to understand the different preferences and motives which guides the online players towards the gaming industry (Macklin, 2005). The marketers while looking to market and attract customers towards their site has to deal with different issues like gambling is considered illegal in some countries, sidestepping advertising restriction and others which requires that markets understand consumer behavior and based on it look to satisfy the customers. This will help Castle Bingo to be able to develop strategies which will guide them towards increasing their reach and increase satisfaction of customers. Customer Motivation Both the online and offline gambling customers are motivated by different factors which makes them play different type of games. It is seen that the internet gamblers are motivated and guided by the same factors which looks to attract land based gamblers. Some of the different motivations which have been identified to guide both the online and offline gamblers are relaxation, excitement, chances to win money, distraction and escape (Griffiths, Parke, Wood and Parke, 2006). Apart from it the internet gamblers are attracted towards the industry for different reasons like the comfort of playing games from their homes, the speed on online is fast compared to offline games, chances to win a higher jackpot, reduced overall cost to visit the offline site, and a change in atmosphere which provides an opportunity for the online gamers to have a totally different experience from offline gamers (Wood, Williams & Lawton, 2007) Customer Preferences To develop any marketing strategy it is important that the organization understands the customer preferences so that based on it marketing strategies can be developed. A research carried out by Media & Entertainment Consultancy Network shows the following preferences of customers towards online gaming industry in descending order to be as trust, ease in which the wins get converted into cash, tournaments, the quality of service, the graphics which the game presents, the size of the pot, clear explanation of the rules, low commission, and free to play the games (MECN, 2005) Another survey to find out the customer preference towards online gaming industry shows that customer prefer online games compared to offline games because of the additional sign up bonus which a newly recruited member gets (eCogra, 2007). This was aided by the different types of games which online gaming industry provides and helps to bring about the required opportunities through which business can be improved. Market Research To find out the manner in which customers get influenced by different factors towards different online and offline games a research was conducted. The research was conducted through a questionnaire where 1150 respondents participated. The research was carried over a period of 2 months and included 1100 interviews which were held online, 140 were direct face to face interviews and the remaining 10 were different online sites which provide different gaming opportunity to the customers. The questionnaire addressed different issues and were primarily concerned towards the current gaming industry, the lottery habits, the different online activities that were taking place, the potential the one line gaming provided, the factors which attracted customers online games and other relevant information which would help to improve the overall accuracy and finding of the research. Findings The overall findings of the research has been provided as a chart below (Griffiths, Parke, Wood and Parke, 2006) The overall findings as shown shows the manner in which online and offline players are different and are attracted towards the gambling industry because of different factors and look to play the game for different reasons. A further breakdown of the analysis is as 1. Current level of interest in online gaming The different perception of the people towards online and offline games is highlighted as below Figure 1: Customer Preference towards Online & Offline Games The analysis shows that less than 10% around 9% say that they are very eager and would play online bingo irrespective of the offering and wager that they would get; which corresponds to the fact that 32% of the people were also interested but would look at different factors like pot size, trust, ease with which the win gets converted into cash and other factors before wagering into the game. The analysis further shows that 26% of the people are not very interested in online bingo but don’t oppose it as they prefer offline mode of gaming to be better in comparison to the online model. This has been matched by the fact that 34% of the respondents were not interested in online gaming and would prefer to play offline games by visiting the different clubs and places where the game is played. This clearly brings to an important notion that the different players playing online and offline games are different and have different preferences based on which they look to decide the mode through which they would play different games. 2. Information Necessary to Inform Judgment The break up of the customer segment based on the different information which customer needs to identify the different strategy is as Figure 2: Information Necessary to Make Judgment A break up of the customer response to the different requirements that determine the effect of online games influences customers towards it shows contrasting effects. The analysis shows that 31% of the respondents looks forward for gaming information, 29% looks to find out the payment method, 28% look forward for wagering security and 12% of the people look for the type of games. The analysis shows that different motives and options have a different influence on the customers which thereby makes them attracted towards different games. To be able to attract and retain the customers the focus has to be laid on the different requirements and steps have to be developed through which better efficiency will be gained and the overall mechanism through which business process is handled will be developed. 3. Expanding Current Games to New Platform The analysis over the type of games which gamers look to play online highlights a preference towards old games which the customer knows. Slowly when the customer becomes aware about the different games, the rules, the win money and other factor the customer is guided towards it. This results in a shift in customer preference towards the product and makes the customer play the new version of the games. 4. Sharing of Personal Information The analysis showed that people who played offline games were interested because online games require a lot of personal information. This helps in the generation of Social Security number which the user has to feed while looking to enter the site of the game. This at times results in the personal information to be shared which thereby raises question on the personal image of the person. This has thereby made many people to stay away from online games and prefer offline games A look at the percentage break up shows that when no personal information was to be provided for the Social Security number than the percentage of people who might look towards online games was around 80%. Similarly, when the customers had to provide personal information to generate the Social Security number than the percentage of people who might look towards online games dropped significantly and was around 50%. This shows that personal information had a role in shaping the manner in which person chooses offline or online games. This clearly brings to an important notion that the different players playing online and offline games are different and have different preferences based on which they look to decide the mode through which they would play different games. Recommendations The analysis shows that the customer playing online and offline games are different and have a different preference and motivation towards the game. Castle Bingo needs to understand the fact that the growth of online games has helped to multiply the revenues and is continuously increasing. The marketing team needs to lay emphasis and develop strategies through which they are able to increase the penetration rate and will thereby help to bring about the required changes and ensure proper development of the process through which they are able to grow. Both the online and offline gambling customers are motivated by different factors which makes them play different type of games. It is seen that the internet gamblers are motivated and guided by the same factors which looks to attract land based gamblers. Some of the different motivations which have been identified to guide both the online and offline gamblers are relaxation, excitement, chances to win money, distraction and escape (Griffiths, Parke, Wood and Parke, 2006). Apart from it the internet gamblers are attracted towards the industry for different reasons like the comfort of playing games from their homes, the speed on online is fast compared to offline games, chances to win a higher jackpot, reduced overall cost to visit the offline site, and a change in atmosphere which provides an opportunity for the online gamers to have a totally different experience from offline gamers. This thereby brings to an important point that Castle Bingo has to look forward towards catering to both the segment of the customers as it provides an opportunity through which a larger base of the customer can avail the services and play games. This clearly brings to an important notion that the different players playing online and offline games are different and have different preferences based on which they look to decide the mode through which they would play different games. Thus this will magnify the working style of Castle Bingo and increase their revenues. Conclusion The report shows that both offline and online customers are different as seen through a marketing research which helps to identify the manner in which Castle Bingo success comes from. This research will also helps to find out their preference and factors which influences their decision to play bingo. This will thereby help Castle Bingo to focus on the aspect of marketing through which customer satisfaction can be maximized. References Christiansen Capital Advisors, (2011) Global Internet Gambling Revenue Estimates and Projections (2001-2010), Retrieved on April 25, 2013 from www.ccai.com/Primary%20Navigation/Online%20Data%20Store/Internet_gambling_data.htm Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (March 2005). The Business of Gambling: The Poker Phenomenon – Tip of the Iceberg? London, England: Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein Securities Limited eCogra (2007). An Exploratory Investigation into the Attitudes and Behaviours of Internet Casino and Poker Players. January 2007. Chief Investigator: J. Parke. Principal Investigators: J. Rigbye, A. Parke, L. Williams. Study commissioned by eCOGRA. Retrieved on April 25, 2013 from www.ecogra.org/Downloads/eCOGRA_Global_Online_Gambler_REport.pdf Griffiths, M., Parke, A., Wood, R. & Parke, J. (2006). Internet gambling: An overview of psychosocial impacts. UNLV Gaming Research and Review Journal, 10, 27-39 Macklin, (2005). Marketing lessons from big gamblers. Consumer Acquisition. Retrieved on April 25, 2013 from http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/7318.asp MECN (2006). Online Poker- Driving Gambling to New Heights. Report published by Media & Entertainment Consulting Network. London/Munich. Retrieved on April 25, 2013 from http://www.poker.mecn.net Wood, R., Williams, R., & Lawton, P. (2007). Why do Internet gamblers prefer online versus land-based venues? Some preliminary findings and implications. Journal of Gambling Issues, 20, 235-252 Read More