SMART Objectives:
Business people in 5%
Business people from companies in 50%
General Public in 70%
Weekday Occupancy in 5%
Weekend Occupancy in 60%
- Increase Market share by 40%
- To innovate and bring up new ideas for future development of the company
- Diverse into new market segments, i.e. general public
- Develop new facilities and products, i.e. leisure facilities
- Extent to new national market regions by spring 2001.
- Increase Promotion by 400 %.
2.
SWOT Analysis:
A SWOT is a summary of the audit under the heading, internal strength and weakness as they relate to the external opportunities and threats from the Marketing audit. A SWOT Analysis shows where a business should focus its attention. One of the main uses of the SWOT analysis is to match the strengths with opportunities and to match the strategies. It is appropriate to concentrate on the more important factors when planning future activities for the organisation. ****
Strength:
Internal factors, which are likely to enhance performance, such as having a well trained sales force, efficient production and high quality product.
Weakness:
Internal factors, which are likely to inhibit performance, which can be obsolete design, long delivery schedule and other such factors.
Opportunities:
External factors, which favour the organisation, which can be effective distribution networks and presence in growing market segments.
Threats:
External factors, likely to be the organisations disadvantages, such as competitive products able to offer comparable benefits to the customers.
SWOT for Travelcorps:
Strengths:
- It is a subsidiary of a multinational drinks and retail giant
- It has a good occupancy rate with the business class on week days
- It is economical and well priced
- It has good facilities
- It is well located and is close to business and retail centres, and motorways
Weaknesses:
- It is small chain
- It has recently established itself in the hotel industry
- Only 5% of companies use them
- It mainly depends on the business market
- It has limited facilities- which are meant only for business men
Opportunities:
- It can extend to other locations, both locally and nationally
- It can deal with other segments i.e. general public
- It has already become the leader of the market in its business segment
- It can extend the market share and the market itself
- It can increase the occupancy rate- on weekends and attract more market segments
- It can take the help of technology to improve the facilities it offers
Threats:
- It carries the perception that the general public is not welcome
- It has a huge competition from a national chain, which is entering the local hotel industry with 10% less prices
- It has to move with the fast changing technological environment
- It relies on word of mouth promotion only.
- It has small weekend occupancy, which is a waste of opportunity as they have to bear the fixed costs
Marketing Audit:
The Marketing Audit is an examination of the business, in our case Travlecorps UK, marketing environment to plan action to improve marketing performance, to build the detailed objectives and strategies of a business. The marketing Audit has two parts, the internal and the external audit.
The internal audit examines the areas that are under the control of the business.
The external audit examines the macro environment and task environment of the company over which management has no control.
The marketing audit is a key determinant for the future direction of the company.
The audit helps to define the problem of a company properly and solve them. The objective of the audit is to indicate what the companies’ objectives and strategies are, and the format of the SWOT analysis will organise to major findings of the marketing audit. It analyses the critical strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats from the internal and external audit (marketing audit).
3.
Ansof’fs Matrix
Market
Present New
Present Market Market
Penetration Development
Product
New Product Diversification
Development
Market Penetration
- Reduce prices
- Increase in promotion
Market development
- Other segments
- Other local and national regions
Product Development
- Leisure facilities
- New décor
Diversification
- Other segments
- Other local and national regions
- New complexes
- New decor
- Leisure facilities
- Price variation
- Increase in promotion
4.
Diversification:
The strategy Travelcorps should implement ‘diversification’, moving into a different market by offering new products but at the same time keeping the same share of present market.
Offering new facilities such as health centre, pub, games room, which will help the organisation to attract their new market, which is the general public. This will enable them to overcome principal problems, which are dependency on one class of customers, low weekend occupancy rate and to get a new perception amongst the general public.
Product:
Hotel facilities for business people remain the same, faxes, desktop publishing, 24-hour courier service with the introduction of internet with email and health fitness centres.
Travelcorps will provide more facilities for its customers, 1 pub and 1 game room, these, with the gym, will be the major attractiveness for the general public but can be used by any customer.
Rooms will be specifically allocated between the target markets, business people will have certain rooms whilst the general public will have a specific room area for them. The interior of the rooms will not differ, they will be twin rooms and inside décor will remain the same.
Price:
Price for business people will not differ, £50 per night per room, with an extra charge for the use of the gym facilities. Price for the general public will be £50 per night per room. It is charged per room, not per person, so there is the possibility for two people sharing the room.
Place:
Travlecorps is located at the edge of city centres, its hotels are built in the area of approximately 2-3 acres.
Promotion:
Travelcorps promotes itself essentially by offering a quality service to its customers, therefore creates the best promotion tool, which is word-of-mouth.
Travelcorps will also promote by using personal selling when it comes to the business people market. Travelcorps will increase the percentage of companies using their services by better marketing. Travelcorps will make more use of advertisements on Billboards, in dailies and other medias. This will serve to promote the Travelcorps’ new message, creating a wider customer base.
Physical Evidence:
Physical evidence for Travelcorps is the ambience, which it provides. It does not have tall buildings, but has one-storey buildings, which are on the outskirts of the city centres. It creates an ambience which is small, relaxed and is full of tranquillity. Inside decor is designed in a way, which will add to the relaxation required by the businessmen.
5.
Control and Measurement systems
It is essential that controls be established along with measures to assess the
on-going implementation of strategy. There are objectives or budgets for each month or quarter. This practice allows higher management to review the results of each period and to spot why the objectives are not met. The managers of the Travelcorps will have to explain the problems and the corrective actions will be taken accordingly.
Some of the main areas Travelcorps will have to control and measure are, occupancy rate, sales force performance, turnover, expenses, and costs.
To control and evaluate sales force activities properly the sales management will need information, because it will not be able to observe the sales force daily, it will rely on call reports, customer feedback and invoices.
Travelcorps can use control charts and histograms in a monthly basis and check their occupancy rate of general public and business people and control the costs and expenses made by the company.
If the target rate of occupancy is not met by the end of a year, actions will have to be taken, starting by finding out where the problem(s) have occurred, in the strategy, the marketing mix, or any other factor that may have caused the undesired outcome. Once the root of the problem is found, then the process of choosing which strategy to implement for the future of the company will have to be done over again.
Bibliography
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S. Dibb & L. Simkin & W.M. Pride & O.C. Ferrell, Marketing concepts and strategies, Houghtton Miflfin, USA, 2001.
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P. Kotler & G. Armstrong & J. Saunders & V. Wong, Principles of Marketing, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 1999.
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D. Adcock & R. Bradfield & Al Halborg & Caroline Ross, Marketing Principles and Practice, Pitman Publishing, London, 1998.
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D. Jobber, Principles and Practice of Marketing, McGraw Hill Book Company, 1995.
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M. McDonald, Marketing Plans, Butterwoth Heinemann, Oxford, 1999.
