Hospitality and Tourism Distribution - Qantas - Case Study Example

Topic: Hospitality and Tourism Distribution Name: Registration No: Institution: Tutor’s Name: Date of Submission: Introduction The means through which a company distributes their products has a big impact on profitability, marketing strategies, product choices and even sales (Dent 2011). The passageways from the business to the consumers/clients are referred to as distribution channels. Getting to know the theory underlying the creation and maintenance of the specific distribution channels provide a company with some authority in the way of approaching the market and how swiftly the company can move products and services to the consumers. Subsequently, the company is able to understand better the technique of timing so that products that have not yet arrived in customer areas are not offered. Being familiar with the several ways a product can be sold to the potential consumer of that specific product- both in overseas and Australia- is crucial to warranting the unrelenting viability of the business (Dent 2014). Whereas a considerable proportion of the customer will find about a brand by themselves, (either through promotional or marketing channels or by online means), it is vital to be aware of the various distribution channels and their likeliness to affect both on the costs of a company as well as the product. Case study Analysis: Qantas Holidays Company Qantas Holidays is a tourism firm located in Australia. Qantas provide its customers with a variety of products including travel arrangements, tour services as well as hotel services. Generally, the finding reflects that Qantas Holidays Company places a direct priority on distribution of their indicated tourism products to consumers “at destination”. That implies that a good number of consumers of all the businesses are independent tourists (Guan 2010). Particularly, independent visitors consist of the biggest share of customers to native tour operators in Australia. “While travelling” and “at destination”, the travel and tour company operate more actively with many intermediaries than other firms to reach tourists “in market”. Qantas receive both local and international visitors. It is important to note that whilst some of the intermediaries are exclusively domestically oriented some focus on international businesses. Comprehensively, the factors influencing the choice of distribution channel used by the company include the following: information provision cost commissions charged by intermediaries reputation and nature of intermediaries market segments availability accessibility capacity service diversity perceptions of the internet businesses attitudes towards tourism Wholesale Qantas uses whole sale as a distribution channel of its products. Wholesale involve selling of a product through retail distribution channels that are established. Qantas has a number of wholesalers who sell their products both online and at the shop front. Such wholesales subsequently elements of individual products in addition to linking such to make up package. The company under study provides content and packages that are considered to be ground-only which can subsequently be combined with airfares. Via their website (www.qantas.com.au) they produce packages that are directly sold to consumers or distributed to retail travel agents. The company is also able to directly negotiate the rates of various products with suppliers via their website. International retailers Retail travel agents that are established in foreign countries like China and the USA are in a position to sell packages from wholesale companies (such Qantas Holidays) directly to their consumers. This is done either online or through their specific shop fronts. Agency Distribution In order for the Qantas Holidays Company to improve their current state in terms of increased number of consumers who buy their products from Australia, the company has always seen it necessary to distribute their product further by seeking the services of a distribution agency. This is always achieved by contracting a distribution agency through finances and providing the agency with instructions of the exact product to be distributed (Page and Connell 2007). In this case, the company frequently provides the distribution agency with information about the kinds of products that need to be marketed and the types of consumers that need to be reached. The indicated strategy has always been successful because it has a number of advantages over other methods of improving tourism distribution. One reason for the success of this specific strategy is that the use of services of a distribution agency always ensures many people who use media are reached. In addition, it always ensures few resources are used to promote tourism products provided by Qantas Holidays Company compared to other methods of improving tourism. It is also a strategy that ensures tourists and consumers of particular demographic characteristics are reached. This strategy work based on hierarchy of effects theory which explains the manner in which tourism distribution works. It is a theory which is composed of various levels such as awareness that move successively upwards to provoke the desired change in behaviors such as relating feelings with the product and trial to use the product. It is a theory that is also composed of the levels of knowledge creation, linking the product to prospective consumers, targeting particular audience who may need the product and measuring audience preferences, building conviction among target audience that culminate in some audiences opting to purchase the product. Parting with cultures and traditions and innovating new grounds is frequently vital to the success of a distribution agency (Dent 2011). Nevertheless, all agencies share a common goal: that is to retain new clients and at the same time attract new customers by the application of concepts related to marketing. It is important to therefore note that it is these concepts that are responsible for accomplishing objectives that are pre-determined. The assessment of the performance of an agency takes into consideration a number of factors. Technology in distribution Technology has always brought success to the distribution processes of the Qantas Holidays Company. Investment in information and communication technology integrated with organizational changes together with worker skills has always led to aligned distribution channels within the company and its subsidiaries (Page and Connell 2007). Empirical evidence shows that organizational changes upgrade economic performance of organizations through mutual reinforcement with ICT. Technology is key to the facilitation of new strategies, from lean productivity all the way to team work together with customer relations. Technology has enabled the organizations to introduce very significant organizational changes in the capacities of decentralization, re-engineering, outsourcing and flexible arrangement of work. Technologies within SHG are regarded as complementary factors that have led to successful distribution systems in leading this company which has holistically embraced technology. The adoption of technology within the organization’s distribution channel has led to efficiency and effectiveness in the distribution system, it has allowed the company to design process and market their products in a more efficient way than the potential competitors. This has in turn reduced the cost of running or doing business and at the same time accelerating the distribution speed. Technology consequently has enhanced flexibility within the organization’s distribution system thus led to the achievement of economies of scale which are regarded as the key characteristics of efficiency and production practices. All these activities work hand in hand to attain an improved productivity performance, lower production cost, better customer service and high quality. In practical terms, technology has often been associated with making the processes of distribution lean and extra responsive to the market dynamism. Technology has influenced firm to re-engineer the distribution processes so as to attain efficiencies in terms of lower better customer service and high product quality at a very lower cost. The organizational re-engineering includes the whole range of organization’s activities which includes improved or Just In Time manufacturing, lower cost of procurement, better service to customers, value-added inventory management, manufacturing and distribution coordination, condensed time to market, extended business networking and reduced errors during processing. It is in order to state that more extensive application of technology within the organization assists it to reach the potential earnings of re-engineering. Technology has always supported individual workers within the organization. Knowledge work can be determined precisely as human activity, divergent from physical labor which can be automated. Technology increases the capability to tackle complex job situations, increase comprehension to fit organizational needs and to develop solutions to trending problems. Technology has increased the ease with which the company communicates with both within and outside the organization. Applications such as facsimile transmission, voice messaging and the electronic mail have facilitated the distribution process and coordination of information is a basic necessity for organizational processing. Technology can change the place and time of work, in general by altering boundaries on where job are accomplished and doing away with constraints on times when tasks are done. Being that the organization is a complex system there is the need to do away with unnecessary boundaries of time and place and technology has taken care of that. Technology has made the organization move to a virtual perspective where task are accomplished at an individual comfort zone. Technology has also had influence on the pace of task as in most situations it has sped up information processing. Technology has done away with the constraints of both place in time in the decision making process. It has deleted away the organizational boundaries through empowering stress-free asynchronous communication concerning diverse localities so that times of the day together with time zone are not a limitation. Technology has hastened the processing of data and information in regard to distribution thus leading to decision making which is timely thus tasks are done faster so as to take advantage of upcoming opportunities and the organization can easily respond to the changing demand and needs of the clients. Technology has concentrated on reducing time cycles. Role of the social media To make its distribution more efficient and effective Qantas Holidays Company is intensively investing in the online platform. The Qantas Holidays Company owns a Social media room which is the consumer’s portal to stay connected with Qantas Holidays Company and all of their related brands. The company has greatly invested in online distribution whereby they have been able to reach targeted customer base through Facebook, linked in, Twitter, You tube, RSS, etc. and through this they have been able to effectively and efficiently sell their products to thousands of clients. The online marketing is a platform whereby all groups of people including the youth, professionals, aged are targeted depending on the brand which suites them and the social site they use. As the world's prevalent hospitality company, Qantas Holidays Company has abundantly great news to share and individuals do join the conversation on their social pages. All the stakeholders in the distribution channel are also free to use social media that is personal to them and may, on occasion, be invited or approved to contribute to Qantas Holidays Company social media sites Through this the brand has been able to carry out its distribution processes with less effort.Qantas Holidays Company has always used responses from customers and other stakeholders to review analyze and evaluate their distribution channels. During their chatting sessions at the social sites they get responses from employers, customers and even professionals who update their status and wait for consequent reactions from the company. Recommendations Though Qantas Holidays Company has striven to stay on the top through its distribution channels it should still take additional precautionary measures to make sure they do not succumb to the environmental factors which have always proven to be harsh. Their place at the market will be guaranteed depending on how fast and effectively they handle the environmental factors these precautionary measures on how to cope with the business environmental changes may include: The company should strive to introduce new and superior channels of distribution that are even more technology oriented. The company should resolve to adopting new technological innovations in their distribution plans so as to be able to introduce new and superior models in the market and hence stay on top of their market and also stay on top of their potential competitors. This will help them change the ways in which they convince their clients in the competitive market as they also look to extend their target markets and find new ways of attracting key employees. The company should take defensive action in advance so as to embrace diversification. This is the best defense against the change impact and relates to two key areas which are the product and the marketing activities. The basic reason that may prompt the company to embrace diversification is to maximize income but also the changing market climate and the aggressive competition will not be devastating if a variety of products and services continue to get stable. The same technique should be applied to their distribution so as to reach a wide market and realize more sales through utilization of diverse distribution styles. The system also promises to safeguard the company from losing sizable volumes of business because one of the strategic marketing methods stopped generating results. References Dent, J. 2011. Distribution channels: Understanding and managing channels to market. London: Kogan Page. Dent, J. 2014. Technology distribution channels: Understanding and managing channels to market. Guan, W. 2010. Developments in distribution channels: A case study of a timber product distribution channel. Linköping: Department of Management and Engineering, Linköping University. Page, S., & Connell, J. 2007. Tourism: A modern synthesis. London [u.a.: Thomson. Read More