MARKETING MANAGEMENT IN THE TOURISM INDUSTRY
TOC
Q.1: Week 2 – Question 2
Creative Decisions
Given the current situation, the tourism industry has been entirely shattered, financially drained, and most probably affected in the worst way possible. Slowly, but gradually the industry is trying to put themself back up on the marketing game and grinding to get the potential progress they wish to retain.
Following Health guideline and making the industry COVID-Proof
Some of the most important and yet effective decisions that the industry can implement to resume their services and do it successfully would be following a proper health guideline to make it COVID-Proof. To achieve that, the industry and the people involved in it would require to be extremely thorough and consistent with the provided guideline by the WHO (World Health Organisation). The tourists will be guided safely, taking all the necessary medical precautions, and by providing them all the health guideline manuals in the form of demonstration and booklets, the industry would be successful in creating awareness before they commence their journey. The involved vehicles and equipment will have the required medical kit specialized in treating the virus or anybody affected by it. The workers involved would always require to be updated about anything alarming and new. This way, the tourists’ safety will be in the hands of the travel orchestrators and would convincingly attract the clients to make the trip without any hesitation (Camilleri, 2018).
Tourism Recovery Plans
Apart from restoring the traveler’s confidence and reviving the demand with necessary new safety measures and health preventives, the ‘new normal’ in the industry would require making comprehensible tourism recovery plans. By making effective tourism plans, the industry would be able to see the desired success by rebuilding the destination, encouraging their clients in the investment money, and with proper tourism strategy, the industry would certainly re-secure their place by putting themselves back up on the map.
Changes in Business Tactics
Making Business Prediction
Being an interdependent service, the tourism industry would certainly be required to look ahead and make the business predictions to reinforce their coordinating mechanism to accompany their strategies and business tactics. This would ensure a successful venture when planning and programming for the tourism plans and would guide the industry to take the necessary measures to have a more successful and safe journey in the given scenario (Williams, 2020).
Revision of the Scenarios
In the wake of the pandemic, the global shock factor has affected the industry in the worst way possible. This caused a huge decline in the international tourism economy. Since the government’s restriction on the tourism industry has slowly been cut back and the ban has been lifted, the industry would require to make a sincere revision in their existing policies and plans and bring in the necessary changes to adapt to the current situation. This would ensure that the tourists’ faith is slowly being restored, and the entire industry is working collaboratively to ensure that the service after it has resumed is even better and much more refined, adapting the current pandemic situation.
Q.2: Week 6 – Question 2
Discussion on the Concept of Lovemarks
In his TEDx speech, Kevin Roberts quite impactfully describes the concept of love and its investment in today’s business. The idea is to have a more thoughtful and impactful implementation of ideas and genuine involvement instead of an investment. The shift of the attention economy towards the participation economy and the concept of information is slowly transforming into inspiration. According to the successful entrepreneur, the world is nearly ‘unreal’ and ‘crazy.’ And in this extremely ‘volatile’ world, the concept of uncertainty is quite consistent. The world has almost run out of its ways of making predictions. Nothing is predictable in the land of the unsure. This brings him to the concept of VUCA, an acronym for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous. He explains the current world in two terms. VUCA and Super VUCA are in immense need of the implementation of the concept of ‘Love.’
In the marketing and business world where the return on investments used to be an important aspect, creating movements is more important now than ever. To make a difference in the current world, the concept of ‘idea’ is the new sense of currency that Kevin Roberts eccentrically talks about. Instead of optimal production and execution, the current world prioritizes on ideas and innovative methods. The world is ever-evolving and in a requirement for the constant adaptation of the newly emerging situations. In this sense, infusing business with ‘love’ and ‘inspiration’ would be the necessary step according to Mr. Roberts and the idea of “narrowing the gap between have and have not” is the ultimate focus of the infusion. Living in “the age of now” coming from “the era of new” is the ultimate transition that sincerely requires the lovemarks concept to have more thoughtful and understanding policies and idea implementation. Keeping the requirements of active participation in mind, the marketing and business world is certainly attempting to change into an industry that would be the brand for people who would establish loyalty beyond reason and not brand for the managerial administration to create loyalty for reason (Barry, 2017).
Q.3: Week 4 – Question 1
Benefits of Understanding Consumer Behaviour
Improve Operational Efficiency
Understanding consumers and their behavioural aspects generally improves the way the entire business would progress and all the other business operations involved makes it much more efficient. Understanding the way shoppers interact and react with the items and while making the purchase and the way they generally approach the product, their concentration on a specific product, the understanding of these areas massively benefit the business and financial operations to run smoothly and efficiently (Sharma, 2020).
Enrich Consumer Research
A close and precise observation of the consumers would also ensure their loyalty with the company or the organisation. How frequently they make purchases and what are the primary essentials they usually get every month and all these information essentially help the organisation to enhance the research process and for the betterment of the customers.
Improving the Retail experience
With a clear and practical understanding of the consumers and their behaviour would also help the organisation to improve the retail experience for their consumers. By having the necessary data and information on the shopping analysis of the consumers the company would have a guideline to follow and to further improve the service.
Anticipation of Shoppers’ need
An existing understanding of consumer behaviour would potentially help the retail organisation or any organisation in general to make necessary predictions that can improve the entire business quality. This would guide the organisation to anticipate customers’ needs before their purchase and can navigate them into the right thing they would want to spend their money on.
Use of Tools to comprehend Consumer Behaviour
Use of UPC Scanner
The idea of having the primary information of the shoppers’ items and the consistency of shopping they usually have gives a major rise to the use of this particular technology in the shopping experience. The use of UPC scanner has been revolutionised by MARSH Supermarket, Indianapolis. They have implemented this method nearly 40 years ago to make sure they have the required information of the customers to develop the shopping experience.
Special Glass to improve Shopping Experience
In certain stores, the customers are requested to put on a special type of glass that has an activated camera in it which would eventually record the concentration of visual representation of the consumers. This provides a thermal representation of the customers’ concentration based on the items they generally look at or grab.
Store camera and the security camera
These improved forms of cameras record the actual facial experiences of the consumers while grabbing items from the aisle and making purchases for the company to have to improve the shopping experience even better. It records their gestures, body language and skeletal position to recognise and comprehend the consumer behaviour even better.
3D image
Finally the 3D image of the consumers help the retail organisation to keep a tracking method of recognising any visual changes in their consumers to improve the shopping experience.
Q.4: Week 5 – Question 3
Definition of “Target Market” with relation to the noodle company ‘Amazing Thai’
The concept target market generally suggests the kind of demographics the company kept in mind while manufacturing a certain type of product. This generally involves a heavy sense of marketing research, practical understanding of the consumers and the type of taste pallets they generally have etc. In understanding the target market, the given scenario would be the best reference to explain what the target market consists of. It generally deals with a certain type of customers or consumers keeping their needs and the limitations in mind while constantly trying for an improvement. Given the ‘thai noodle’ market is newly formed and relatively a small business it would keep its target on their aim almost all time while focusing on the basic requirements. The idea is to keep the important aspects in mind and develop the business within the restrictions (Ogundele, et al 2017).
Suggestion on the potential target market for the company
A thorough Research of the Marketing Strategy
To achieve success based on the potential target market, the company would require a thorough research of the marketing strategy. This way the company, “Thai Noodle” in this case would certainly have a clear understanding of what are the things that the target customers expect from the products and the kind of taste or flavour they would prefer. This also includes a clear research of the culture, since a specific hint of the thai flavour would certainly draw a wide range of attraction and would maximize the product selling.
Targeting the Young Customer
Since the company is relatively a small business organisation and newly developed, targeting the young generation would ensure a business success relatively faster. By looking at the current customer base and understanding the existing competition in the area of the same kind of product manufacturing, the organisation would be able to specify the demographics of their target and would be able to evaluate their decisions that they are willing to take.
Q.5: Week 7 – Question 2
Zara’s Product Strategy
Focusing on “fast” rather than “first”
The retail clothing line sincerely focuses on the quantitative aspect of manufacturing and production. The concept of “fast fashion” is predominantly taking the control over the market that retail line up like ZARA is significantly optimizing the manufacturing aspect of the organisation. They are exclusively focusing on how fast they can reach out to their clients with the latest products instead of being first in line of the choices the consumers would have.
Monitoring Customers’ Feedback
Receiving the customer’s response and collecting them as a database system to understand and monitor their needs and requirements is another aspect of the business choices the company makes. This helps them understand the specific areas they would require improvement on and the diversity they would require to bring in their products line up.
Non-marketing Approach
By implementing a policy of almost no marketing and advertising, the company goes against the general idea of product strategy. In the time of presentation and appearances, many companies do take the help of marketing and advertising to generate customer traffic. But ZARA as an organisation that does not spend a lot of unnecessary financial amount on advertising focuses on the product improvement and logistics (Rahman and Mannan, 2018).
Marketing dominance of ZARA by using “fast fashion”
By Skipping Storage Process
Unlike other retail stores or products line-up, ZARA generally stays in their A game almost all the time by making it fast and effective. An average clothing company, a high-end preferably would take at least 6 months to make design from the scratch and bring it into a physical fruition. Zara takes only about 4 weeks to complete this entire process by simply skipping the storage part and making a straight attempt at the delivery (Shen, et al 2017).
Stimulating the Shoppers
By creating effective and modern pieces of clothing the customers tend to get stimulated to make the purchase immediately after visiting a store, this way they continue to keep a consistent control on the market by doing shopping stimulation with their effective designs and products (Lang and Armstrong, 2018).
Making high-end trends more affordable and accessible
Generally the company was initially started with an effort of making knock offs of the high end fashion pieces cheap and affordable. But with the massive emergence of the other streetwear lines, Zara has significantly implemented a change in their choices. They take the latest trend in the market and make effective and affordable pieces of clothing accessible nearly to everybody.
Q.6: Week 11 – Question 1
Steps in the selling process for a Surgical Equipment Manufacturing Company
Wide range of high quality surgical equipments
As a company that manufactures surgical equipment, it requires to make sure to have a wide range of variety of products for the medical institutions to choose from. This would certainly generally increase sales of the company and expand their network and increase the integrity of the company as an organisation that manufactures effective and high quality products and spreads them in the market (Oosting, et al 2018).
Worldwide supply
To make sure there is massive reachability and reputation, the company would require to have their ways pre-planned to supply the products worldwide, This would enhance the way they communicate with different kinds of client base and market. This would increase the efficiency of the interaction of the company and make sure they have chains and networks almost all over the globe to reach different demographics.
Keeping the products updated
By doing a routine revision, the company would be able to improve on their designs and based on the current market scenarios they would be able to have their products updated almost on a daily basis (Auer, 2019).
The importance of the selected steps
The implementation of updated products would bring a massive reputation amongst the medical institutions and would generate more sales. This would also help the company to expand on a bigger level. By providing the surgical equipment all over the globe would make a diverse networking/client base and would help the company to put themselves on the global map businesswise.