A fluctuation in the amount of money given in grants can be either a good or a bad thing for English Country Cottages. It may be a good thing if the rates go up as the company would have to spend less of their own revenue on reinvesting into the company. However if the grant fund goes down it may be a bad thing because the company would have to spend more of their own profit on reinvesting in the company.
Economic factors include the current interest rates, Exchange rates and more. As most companies will have a loan they will need to pay off that loan and on top of the total amount of money borrowed there is a commission charge (Interest) the interest will change depending on the economic situation. Take 2010 for example the economy was in a recession and so the bank of England saw it fit to put Interest rates to an all time low. At just 0.5% this would have been a good thing for English country cottages because I that year they will pay much less money to the bank and because the spending cuts did not happen until the end of the year they were getting the same amount of custom that they had previously been getting. This would put their total profits up and so provide more money to reinvest into the company.
The exchange rate is especially important to English Country Cottages because the holiday cottages can be booked from anywhere in the world using the internet. If someone in America books the holiday cottage and the dollar is $2 for every £1 then the price in dollars will be twice as much however if the exchange rate dropped down to $1.50 for every £1 then the company will be gaining less money.
Social factors include the ethnicity or the religion of the customer and the lifestyles of different customers. For instance if a customer who had 6weeks holiday a year got promoted and as a result was allowed to have 8 weeks holiday and a pay rise they may have more disposable income they may use it to book more holidays with English Country Cottages and so the company will need to try and exploit this. If a customer is a certain religion then where they go on holiday may be affected. An example of this would be a Jewish person who would need to eat and drink certain things may want somewhere with a Jewish market.
There are always new technological breakthroughs but the one that has given English Country Cottages most advancement is the Internet. If the Internet did not exist then English Country Cottages would have virtually no business at all. Their whole business is based around their advertising on the internet on their own sites and on others. Other technologies that help English Country Cottages are the method of paying. If someone books on English Country Cottages they can pay wit Credit/Debit card and PayPal. This saves time and money because the customer does not have to pay in cash and it is all done electronically.
Legal aspects of the business are one of the most important things for a business to look at. This includes things like the Data Protection Act and Health and Safety at Work Act. The data protection is important because their business is online and personal details need to be put in such as credit card details. The act states that information must be used for the purpose it was collected for, and must not been handed to third parties without the customers consent. Data must not be kept for longer than needed and must be accurate. The other big thing for English Country Cottages is the Health and Safety at Work Act. This Act states that the employer must protect their employees to the best of their ability. For example if there is a cable of the floor it is the employer’s duty to make sure that the employees do not trip over the lead and hurt themselves.
English Country Cottages try to be environmental unfortunately because the cottages are not owned by them the company cannot themselves make them environmentally friendly. However a cottage owner said “English Country Cottages do try and encourage us to make the house friendly and fuel efficient.”
The internet is essential to English Country Cottages as it is where they base their business. They use the internet to show their webpage but also they advertise on other websites. Their website can be found at www.english-country-cottages.co.uk/. They use the internet to promote the cottages and then they use the internet for the bookings of the internet. When you enter the homepage of the website you find that is sophisticated and a good layout that is easy to use. The logo is written in old style English and it reminds you of a traditional English home. The colour scheme is green and white this reminds you of the English countryside and the cloudy sky. There is also a slideshow of some of the cottages on offer and they are all traditional cottages with an air of beauty and sophistication. This is just a sample of what the site is like and I will be discussing it in more detail in Section B.
Task B
Marketing is the process of developing, Promoting, and distributing products to satisfy customer needs” If the company meets the needs of the customer then they are more likely to come back. It is then in the interest of the business to know what the demands and needs of the customers.
The company is an advertising agency that specialises in holiday cottages in England. Like all other businesses, English Country Cottages use the four P’s. The first “P” stands for Product; the product provided by English Country Cottages is for two types of clients. The first type of client is the holiday cottage owner. They advertise on the holiday cottage website for a commission of 25%. The second type of customer is the people who stay in the holiday cottage. The customers are the most important part of the business. If there were no holiday cottage owners then there would be nothing for the company to advertise. However if there was no one to rent the holiday cottages there would be no money from commissions for the company to keep going. The second P stands for Place. English Country Cottages are not geographically based in the usual way they are mainly on the Internet and that is where most of their business is. However, their main geographic location is in Lancashire. The third P stands for Price the price is individual for each cottage and is worked out by the facilities available, the amount of space there is and the location of the cottage. The fourth P stands for Promotion English Country Cottages promote in many ways. They promote on other websites on the internet to do this they have Google advertising this is where they pay Google to advertise for them. Google do this by the previous searches that people have done so for instance if they have searched “Holiday Cottages” then they may appear on the adverts.
They also promote using brochures that you can order by phone or on their website.
To successfully target the customers then a company must segment their market into groups. These groups may be Age, Gender, Religion or purpose of travel. The groups of English Country Cottages are Couples, Families with toddlers, Elderly people and Students. The couples will want to be close to towns, as they will want to go clubbing or for meals in the evening etc. However, families with toddlers may want a rural location with an enclosed garden so that the toddlers will not have to be watched as much. Families with teenagers may want to be in a rural location with attractions so that the teens had things to do in the day. Elderly people will want a holiday cottage where they could stay inside because they will not feel like going out every day and so would be better than a hotel. Students will want somewhere to sleep in a city where they can get to easily because they will be out most of the time. They will also want somewhere that is affordable.
The product is one of the most important elements of a business. If there were not a product then none of the other aspects of a business would not need to be performed. When deciding on a product and designing it the company needs to know that it is demand. If it is in demand the business must make a pricing strategy and do market research into their competitors.
Price is a very important element to any business as it will say wheather or not the company makes a profit. The first pricing strategy that will be used by a company is Price Penetration this is where they put a product cheap so that it can easily break into the market but this does not apply to English Country Cottages. The second is Market Skimming this is when a new product is sold at a high price and decreases over a periods of time. However this is only viable if you have a completely new product. The main type of pricing stratergy that English country cottages use is cost plus pricing. They work this out by how much money needs to be used for marketing and the running of their business and it turns out as25% commission on all cottages and bookings. English country cottages also have a unique pricing strategy developed by them. It takes many factors into consideration when deciding a price this include the facilities, the number of people able to sleep there and its location. A house in Oxford that sleeps two costs £556 for a week in August whereas a house at the same time in the same area that sleeps 10 costs £2840. If you stay for a different amount of time then the price will vary. The location is also another large factor if 5 people wanty to go to bath for a week it would cost £1225 however if the same party wanted to go to Wales for the same week in August it would cost £859 for the week. If you go to Bethyn Coed Hywel in Febuary however at off peak time it will only cost you £369 unless they have a sale then it will cost less.
All businesses must have a plan on how they are going to reach customers. This falls into four main groups Direct Selling. This is where you can go into a shop, buy a product, and leave with it. However, this does not apply to English country cottages. The second way of reaching customers is through Telephoned selling. This is where a sales staff attempts to entice someone into buying a product. This also does not affect English Country Cottages. The third type of selling is Mail Order this does affect English Country Cottages. This is where a company will send things in the post to customers with English Country Cottages it is a brochure. The last type of selling is on the internet. This applies to most companies that are large and is the main one used by English Country Cottages.
This is the home page and it is the first thing you see when you enter their website and so is the most important page because it gives you an impression of what the company and the website is like. It is green this reminds us of the English countryside. There is also the name written in the old English writing and reminds us of the nature of the cottages advertised. Then there is the picture of the cottages this is of a traditional English cottage and is a slideshow. The next thing on the home page is a circle with a sale on because of the New Year. Then there is a quick search option so that you can search for a holiday cottage with enough room for however many in your party. There are also links to the holiday cottages in the other 5 countries. Under the pictures they also say what the provide ijt says “we specialise in 4 and 5 star holiday cottages with interiors as idyllic as the English Countryside.
You can use the quick search to find a property to suit your needs. If you search for a property in all regions to accommodate two people then this is what comes up. It gives you a picture of the property and a few lines to tell you a bit about the property. It also has a price guide. The more pound signs that there are in the price guide the more expensive it is to rent out the property. There is also a “More details” button this will take you on to a page to see all details of the property that it is listed under. The cottages are listed in order of price. The cheapest being listed first and the more expensive are listed after. You can also take a virtual tour of the property to view all of the rooms; however, this is only available on some properties. If you click on the “more Details” button you come to a page that shows you all of the information that is held by English Country Cottages. It shows pictures of the cottage. It also has a map to show the location of the cottage and information on the right to tell you of the facilities in the cottage. It also has a button to take you to a link to book the holiday cottage. Before booking your holiday cottage, you have to choose dates to go on your holiday and then it will tell you the price. The prices vary according to the time of year that you go to the cottage. If you go to the at peak time it is more expensive however if you go at off peak it is less expensive.
However if you want to know more about the company before you book you can look at the ‘About us’ page. This will tell you how to use the website and a bit of information about the company. It also gives you their aim, which is to “provide superior cottages to rent, in all the best parts of the country”.
There is also a “letting your property” page, this is a page for potential owners who may want to use English country cottages to rent out their cottage. It takes you through how you can let your property and the preparations needed to be completed. It also explains their marketing strategy and to explain in more detail you can order an owner information pack or contact them for any queries you may have regarding letting out your property.
Section C
In this section, I will be analysing whether or not the company is using the internet well to market its product and meets the marketing mix. I will also be looking to see if they are attracting their target market. To do this I will hand out questionnaires to customers and analyse to see whether they are pleasing the majority of their target market.
According to Chris Studman, a local website designer, a good website should meet certain criteria. I intend to use these criteria and the results of the questionnaire to analyse ECC’s website.
To make a good website many factors need to be taken into account this includes the fact that you have to know the purpose of the website. I believe that from the home page you can derived the purpose of the website as it says “We aim to provide superior cottages to rent, in all the best parts of the country”
The fundamental purpose of all websites is to appeal to its target market. English Country Cottages have a The main thing wanted by all age groups is that the website is easy to use. This includes having call to action buttons so for instance English Country Cottages has a large Check Availability & Pricing button this is good as it tells a customer the way to go if you would like to book.
All key points should be seen as soon as you open the page in your browser because if there is not enough information there then people may leave. It also has to be a clean webpage so that it is fast to load as people will give up if it takes too long to load the page. The website also has to be informative so that people know enough about the product before they pay as well as all the information being up to date. Contact details should be easily accessible and should only be landlines not mobile numbers as it puts people off. This is good because the webpage of English Country Cottages are fast to load. The contact details are on the bottom of every page and so are very easily accessible.
There should be no mistakes and all links should be working. If possible, it is a good idea to have an easy web address to remember especially staff, as it is a bad thing if the staff do not know the web address. Another thing that a business can do on the web is converse with their customers via E-mail. If a company receives mail they should reply as soon as possible, otherwise potential customers may be lost.
To help me when I was researching the use of the internet by the company I conducted a questionnaire to see what the customers thought about their webpage and the company here are the results:-
The first question that I asked when I conducted my questionnaire was “How did you find English Country Cottages?” 90%(18) of the people asked said that they had found the company through a search engine. 5% of people found out about the company through word of mouth and the remaining 5% said that they found out about the company through another internet site. This shows us that it is very important for the company to make sure that they are at the top of the search engines. This means updating their website often and make sure it is working completely.
The next question that I asked them was how easy was it to find the website. I rated this Easy Medium and Hard. The majority of people found it easy to use 80% (16) said it was easy to use the remaining 20% said that it was medium difficult to use. No one said that it was hard so this is a strength of English Country Cottages. This also shows us that they need to try and make it easier for everyone who said medium to find.
Next, I asked them how they knew what the webadress of English Country Cottages was and where they found it. There were three answers that I received the first was Using a search engine 80% of all surveyed said that this was how they found it. A further 10% said that they got it off a brochure and the remaining 10% said that they found it on an ad on other internet sites. This shows us that search engines are really important for English Country Cottages so they must target them.
The question that was next asked applied to only those who used a search engine and was a closed question. I asked “If a search engine was used was is at the top of the list?” The answers that were available were “Yes”, “No” and “Search engine not used” Out of all that were asked 80% of those who were asked said that the company had appeared at the top of the list when searched. The remaining 20% said that they did not use a search engine. This is a good thing and means that they do not need to change anything.
This was the end of the questions about how they found the website the next questions that I asked were question relating to the webpage.
The first question on the website that I asked was “What did you think of the homepage of the website?” 100% of those asked had positive feedback about the homepage of the website.
I then asked the customer if the homepage was too busy again there was a 100% positive feedback rate. This was a closed question with the only answers available being Yes and No. The next question that I asked was “Could it be made any different?” The answers varied as 60% of answers said no and the rest said things like the name could be different and a new search system could be introduced.
I then asked them if they thought that the colour scheme was suitable the answers were all that it was a good and suitable for the company. This is a good thing for the company as it shows us that they are conveying a good image to their customers.
I then asked them a question about the content of the website. This was “Was there enough information?” again good for the company 100% of the customers asked said that yes there was enough information. The next question naturally had the same rate as the previous question as it was “What else could be added?” and they all said that there was enough information.
I then asked the customers what sort of impression they had of the business from seeing what they had. Again 100% of the customers had good opinions saying things like “Good” and “Successful”.
The next thing that a customer would do on the webpage would be to seach for a property that they wanted to rent out. “How did you find searching for the property was it hard?” I put a scale on this question with one being easy and five being hard. 100% of the customers chose Easy-Medium (1-3). This shows us that the company could make searcing for a property easier.
“Did you find an appropriate cottage?” This was the question that I asked the customers next and I had an 80% positive answer rates and the other 20% said that they did but it took a long time to find them. I then asked if they felt that there was enough variety of cottages on the website and I got a 100% positive answer rate. This is a good thing as it shows us that the company is targeting all of their customers effectively.
The next question I asked was “Was there enough information on the cottages that you were interested in?” again I had a 100% positive response rate which shows that they are effectively marketing the cottages on their website.
I then asked them if they found booking for the cottage easy and how many steps there were before they had booked the cottage. All of the responses said that they found the booking process easy and had four steps before having successfully booked their cottage.
I then wanted to know if the cottager that they wanted was available when they wanted it. There was an 80% positive feedback rate. The people who said that the cottage was not available said that they thought that there should be links to similar cottages on the page for availability.
I then asked a question about the pricing of the cottages I asked “Do you feel that the pricing was appropriate and fair?” I again had a 100% positive feedback rate with everyone thinking that it was appropriate and fair.
I asked the people if they had a satisfactory internet connection and access. I had a 95% positive feedback rate with one person not having internet access. Although this is a problem there is nothing that English country cottages can do about this apart from advertise their number.
100% of the people questioned said that they found the website easy to use this is a good thing as it shows us that they do not need to change their website and everyone finds it easy to use so it is effectively doing its job.
When asked why they thought it was easy/hard to use the answers were things like “Easy navigation links” and “Clear layout”. I then asked them how they found the website overall with a scale of 1-10 with 1 being excellent and ten being terrible all of the answers were under 3 so this shows us that they have a good website.
The last question that I asked was can you think of any improvements to the website. The suggestion that I got back were “Email could be provided with other contact details at the bottom of the page” “live chat online” “Name could be changed as it is misleading”. I will discuss these in section D.
The information that is ion the questionnaires may not be reliable as people may not do it accurately and not all of the questionnaires were returned. However the information from Chris Studman is effective and also likely to be up to date as it his job to advise companies.
Bibliography:-
Notes from Chris Studman
Questionairre
Holiday Cottage Owner
Appendix-
Notes from Chris Studman (CWN)
What makes a good website?
To make a good website many factors need to be taken into account this includes the fact that you have to know the purpose of the website. The fundamental purpose of all websites is to appeal to its target market. The main things wanted by all age groups is that the website is easy to use. This includes having call to action buttons so for instance English Country Cottages has a large Check Availability & Pricing button this is good as it tells a customer the way to go if you would like to book. All key points should be seen as soon as you open the page in your browser because if there is not enough information there then people may leave. It also has to be a clean webpage so that it is fast to load as people will give up if it takes too long to load the page. The website also has to be informative so that people know enough about the product before they pay as well as all the information being up to date. Contact details should be easily accessible and should only be landlines not mobile numbers as it puts people off. There should be no mistakes and all links should be working. If possible, it is a good idea to have an easy web address to remember especially staff as it is a bad thing if the staff do not know the web address. Another thing that a business can do on the web is converse with their customers via E-mail. If a company receives mail they should reply as soon as possible, otherwise potential customers may be lost.
Online Shopping Sites
Online shopping sites should be trustworthy and so should not have association with Russia or Romania, as this increases the perception of risks. It also must not have too many steps, as this will aggravate customers who then may decide not to shop with you and leave your site meaning you turnover less money and resulting in a lower profit. All the details must be clear including the delivery charges and all of the ownership details as this will build an element of trust between you and your consumer. One of the most important things for the business is the accuracy of prices as if you advertise for a price you must sell for a price. If a product is advertised too cheap then the business will make a loss however if it is too high then you may find that custom is lost.
Promoting a website
Google is the biggest search engine on the internet today. It accounts for 90% of internet searches so you want to make sure that your website is on the first page, as this will increase chances of people clicking on your links. Google currently have over 200 search parameters or criteria to rank websites these include the relevance and in-formativeness of your website. It is important to get links to your website and this may include online-offsite advertising so that users of other sites know you are there. Google is the biggest online advertiser and so paying for that advertising space may mean potential customers. E-mail marketing is another good option as it is very cheap but you need people to opt in and many don’t as it clutters their inbox. Another way to advertise is to put your web address on things you don’t throw away as they may be curious as to what you do for example on mugs. Billboards are another good place to advertise as millions of people may read them every year. Social media is the next big thing with over ½ a billion people on Facebook 1/14 of the worlds people. Having a page on social networks is often free and so is a cheap way to advertise and tell your consumers what you are doing as well as getting feedback. Mobile advertising is also a relatively new thing with companies like Tesco making apps to help people compile shopping lists etc.
Questionnaire
Questionnaire
This questionnaire is for us to get an idea of what customers of English Country Cottages think of the company and if they are fulfilling their role as a provider.
How did you hear about English country cottages? ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Did you find the website easy to find? 1…..........................2…..........................3…..........................4............................5
(EASY) (HARD)
What did you think of the homepage of the website?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Was it too busy?
[]Yes []No
Could it be made any different?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
What did you think about the colour scheme?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Was there enough information?
[]Yes []No
What else could be added?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
What impression did you get of the company?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
How did you find searching for the property was it hard?
1…..........................2…..........................3…..........................4............................5
(EASY) (HARD)
Did you find an appropriate cottage?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Was there a suitable variety of cottages on the website?
[]Yes []No
Was there enough information on the cottages that you were interested in?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Was it easy to book? How many steps were there?
1…..........................2…..........................3…..........................4............................5
(EASY) (HARD)
………Steps
Was the cottage available when you needed it?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Did you feel that the pricing was appropriate and fair? ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………................................................................................................................................
Did you have satisfactory internet access?
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Did you find the website easy to use?
[]Yes []No
Why?
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Section D
In this section I will be analysing the results of the questionnaires and use my own research to suggest any improvements for the company to better target its customers.
Overall, I think that English Country Cottages have a very strong internet marketing strategy to sell its service. The homepage has all the information you need and is uncluttered and fast to use. It has all the necessary things needed for a business including a branded logo and a mission statement. All of the information is above the fold on all web pages and is clear and easy to understand.
However, at the bottom of the page there is contact information and the e-mail is missing from here this was said about in the questionnaire. If you want to find the email address, you need to go into the help page and people get frustrated with this.
Another thing that was said about in the questionnaire was the misleading nature of the name as it says English Country Cottages however, they also provide in Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France and Italy. This may be losing them custom, as people who want to go to another country (E.g. France) may not look on their website. To resolve this I propose to have the name changed to European Country Cottages. This would allow customers to discover the other countries in which they provide.
If a customer wants to ask a question, they must email or phone them up. This will take time and the customer may not be able to use a phone. Emailing them will mean that you will need to wait for a reply to the question. To resolve this they could have a live Instant Message chat to help you through your booking and to ask any questions that you may have.
If they make these changes I believe that they will have a more effective and stronger internet marketing policy.