Effects of the Rising Popularity of E-Commerce to the Travel Industry - Example

E-marketing Plan Name Date Course Introduction Harvey World travel is a travel agency company that offers travel services to the people who want to go on holiday. The company is based in Australian and it is privately owned. The company usually books the ticket and accommodation on behalf of the clients. The company is also responsible for planning for the holidays on behalf of its customers and hence making it simple for the clients to travel hustle free. The company has a website which allows the customers to compare the fare to different destinations and also hotel rates. Through the services of the company, the people planning for holidays in Australia can benefit. The company also works with other organizations like the tour guide and airline companies in order to meet the demands of the customers. The company is independently owned and it has highly qualified personnel who provide professional services (Harvey World Travel, 2014). The company also provides different services which include travel insurance and it also provides competitive prices in terms of airfares, cruise, coach travel, holiday packages and hotel accommodation. The industry is undergoing a lot of changes due to the advancement of technology and the increased use of the internet. The travel agency industry has undergone a lot of revolution over the last 15 years. The number of companies is reducing due to the internet. Cruises provide an important source of revenue for the industry. This is because most of the people still rely on the travel agency when it comes to the cruise lines (Vogel, 2012). The travel agencies are currently embracing the concepts of technology in order to survive in the industry. Social media and travel apps however offers a lot of challenges to the industry as it provide direct information to the clients with regards to their travel needs. The paper discusses the concepts of e-marketing in relation to the Harvey world travel. Situation analysis Environmental analysis The legal environment in Australia is good and it plays an essential role in providing a conducive environment for the growth and development of businesses. The legal restrictions in the industry are also being eased for the purposes of ensuring that the company can compete effectively with the international companies since little restrictions re in place oversees. This is also considering that the internet has made it easy for the clients to access the oversees companies. The company can therefore take advantage of this unique opportunity to save on costs and enhance on its operations. The technological environment has led to competition in the industry. The social media like facebook and twitter are being used by most of the travelers. On the other hand, different apps have been developed for the purpose of providing the travelers with travel information. The smartphones and tablets are also useful for providing travel information for most of the travelers. The use of technology has led to the reduction of the number of companies in the industry (Cook, 2010). However technology provides an opportunity for the companies that embrace it. Harvey World Travel can use technology for the purposes of e-marketing. The company can also be involved in the social media for marketing process and it can also develop apps that are supported by the smartphones and hence impacting positively on its ability to attract customers. The companies that have embraced technology have flourished in the industry while those that have not have been forced to close down. The market related factors indicate that the number of travel agencies has reduced by 50% by 2011. However, the trends also indicate that most of the people in Australia still prefer using the travel agencies when it comes to cruises (Castro, 2013). It is also important to note that the oversees travel agencies are also increasingly becoming popular among the local people. The agencies therefore presents a threat to the company and hence the need of using technology to counter the threat. The company also faces competition in the market from the local as well as international companies. Travel Australia and Bakpak Travel are some of the main competitors of the company in the Australian market. However, the website of the company is well developed and it enables the customers to make booking s online and hence its competitive advantage over the other competitors in the market. The website of the company also enables customers from different companies to make booking which is important in terms of competing with the oversees companies. SWOT analysis Strengths Weaknesses High level of expertise in the travel industry. Good relationship with the partners and stakeholders in the industry. Good brand image among the customers. The services of the companies are affordable. Lack of adequate funds to competed with the global brands. The company is only popular among the Australian population. Opportunities Threats Embracing the concepts of e-commerce and e-marketing. Using the social media and mobile apps for advertisement. Venturing in the international market. The presence of oversees agencies that are increasingly being used. The direct use of the internet by the travelers. E-marketing strategic planning Market segmentation and targeting In terms of the geographic segmentation, the company targets the European clients who intend to travel to Australia for holidays. The company also targets the Australian clients who intend to travel at different parts of the country for the purposes of enjoying their holiday. It is also important to note that most of the European clients are usually tourists and they do not know the different tourist destinations and hence the relevance of using the e-marketing concepts to target them. In terms of the demographic segmentation, the company targets the customers from different classes with much focus on the middle class. The rates of the company are friendly for the purposes of attracting the middle class. The young as well as the elderly are targeted by the company. This is also considering that most of the young people are using the internet and hence the relevance of using e-marketing to target them. Going online will be important t for the company in terms of targeting the youthful customers who rely heavily on the internet (Robbins, 2011). A niche marketing strategy will also be applied in the implementation of the e-market strategies. Experiencers will be targeted in terms of the psychographic segmentation. This is because the experiencers have the potential of influencing the users of social media to make decisions with regards to the use of certain services. Behavioral segmentation will also play an important role in targeting the customers who use smartphones, tables or technological equipment to search the travel agency services (Lau, 2011). Market differentiation and positioning The company intends to achieve service differentiation through the use of e-marketing concepts. A well designed website and social media that is friendly to the customers will be used for the purposes of achieving the goals of differentiation. The website will be designed to carter for the need of customers from different languages. The company therefore intends to position itself as an expert in the field of travel agency through the use of technology that fulfils the needs of the customers. E-marketing objectives The e-market objectives will be based on a two year period as this will be enough to ensure that all the measures have been put in place. The main objective of using e-marketing will be to increase the number of online customer by 22%. The e-marketing concepts also intend to attract the youth who are mainly the internet users by 15%. This is considering that the youth form an important customer base and attracting them will improve on the profitability of the company. Marketing mix strategies The 4ps strategies will be used for the purposes of developing a marketing mix strategy. The product strategy will mainly focus on the improvement of the existing products. This will involve upgrading the existing service s provided by the company for the purposes of increasing its efficiency. The website of the company will be upgraded for the purposes of enabling the clients to navigate easily and obtain information or make bookings online. On the other hand, the staff members of the company will also undergo further training for the purposes of equipping them with more knowledge on customer service and use of e-marketing concepts. E-marketing concepts will also be used for the purposes of rebranding the services of the company. The pricing strategy is also an important factor of the marketing mix (Huang, 2012). The e-marketing strategies will be used for the purposes of ensuring that the prices of the services of the company are affordable. This is considering that the current rates are flexible and attractive to the customers although more needs to be done in terms of pricing. Segmented providing strategy will also be used by the company for the purposes of ensuring that it meets the needs of the customers. This is considering that the company provides different services to different segments of the customers. The promotional pricing strategy will also be used by the company for the purposes of attracting more online customers. This will be useful in terms of creating a competitive advantage over the competitors in the local and international scene. The distribution strategy plays an important role in ensuring that the clients are able to receive the products and services at the right place whenever they want the products or services. The e-commerce platform that will be used by the company will play an important role in ensuring that the direct distribution model is enhanced. The use of e-commerce will enable the customers to make their booking online. Payments can also be made online and hence ensuring that the access to the services is enhanced. The use of e-commerce will enable the customers to access the services of the company at any part of the world and hence impacting positively on its ability to compete with the global brands. The promotion strategy is important as it determines the ability of the clients to know about the products of the company (Gokhan, 2014). The use of social media and blogs will be used for the purposes of promoting the services of the company. A social media page will be established in different languages for the purposes of promoting the services of the company among a diverse group of people. The social media will be useful in promoting the services of the company among the youth who are popular with the social media. This is also considering that the youth are potential customers and their main source of information is the social media and the internet (Verma, 2011). E-marketing will thus impact positively on the ability of the company to attract more customers. Implementation Strategy Description Responsibility Schedule Product Website improvement. Brand improvement. Installation of online support features Improving the information technology infrastructure. The information technology department of the company will work with the external experts. Jan 2015-March 2015 Price Applying the segmented pricing strategy. Applying the promotional pricing strategy. Carrying out market research to ensure that the segment prices are convenient to the different segments. Setting process depending on the promotional period. The IT, marketing and accounting will be responsible for implementation of the pricing. Continuous process from March 2015 Promotion Utilization of the social media. Creation of the blog. Utilizing smartphones and tablets. Utilizing mobile apps. Creation of a social media page and establishing a web blog. Creation of apps supported by the smartphones and tablets. The information technology with the support of the corporate affairs and marketing department will be responsible for the implementation. A continuous process starting January 2015 Distribution Use of direct distribution model. The IT department as well as the customer care personnel will be involved in the implementation process. Continuous process from March 2015 Evaluation and budgeting Strategy Description Evaluation criteria after 2 years Budget Product Website improvement. Brand improvement. Installation of online support features Improving the information technology infrastructure. An increase of clients below 10% will be considered poor performance. An increase of above 10-20% will be considered an average performance. An increase of 22% will mean that the objectives have been met. An increase above 22% will be considered excellent performance. An increase in the number of online bookings and visitors by 50% will be considered successful. Once off budget of $ 20,000 and $250 monthly. Price Applying the segmented pricing strategy. Applying the promotional pricing strategy. An online profit of above 20% will be considered to have met the target. Profit below 20% will be below the target. Profit above 20% will be considered excellent. The sales should increase by 50% during the promotional period to be considered successful. - Promotion Utilization of the social media. Creation of the blog. Utilizing smartphones and tablets. Utilizing mobile apps. A total of at least 3,000 likes should be obtained on the social network page of the company. - Distribution Use of direct distribution model. Responding to the customer query within 1 hour and confirming the payments have been received will be 2 hours. - References Harvey World Travel. 2014. About us. Retrieved on 13 September 2014 from, Vogel, Harold L. Travel industry economics: A guide for financial analysis. Cambridge University Press, 2012. Cook, Roy A. "Tourism: The business of travel." (2010). Castro, Carl Francis. "Effects of the Rising Popularity of E-Commerce to the Travel Industry as Perceived by Selected Travel Agency Managers in Quezon City." Fatima University Research Journal 5, no. 1 (2013). Robbins, Derek, "Planning Approaches to Achieve a More Sustainable Travel Industry for Tourism in the UK-a Case Study." European Journal of Transport and Infrastructure Research 11, no. 3 (2011). Lau, Dolly Yuin Yuin. "Information technology and the travel industry." (2011). Verma, R. "2011 travel industry benchmarking: Marketing ROI, opportunities, and challenges in online and social media channels for destination and marketing firms." Cornell Hospitality Report, 11 (9) (2011). Huang, Rong, "How brand awareness relates to market outcome, brand equity, and the marketing mix." Journal of Business Research 65, no. 1 (2012): 92-99. Gokhan Yildirim. "Consumer attitude metrics for guiding marketing mix decisions." Marketing Science (2014). Read More