Marketing mix of tourism

The  4 Ps of tourism

According to the World Tourism Organization (WTO) “tourism comprises the activities of persons travelling to end staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes”. 

There are three main aspects to consider when we deal with marketing strategies for Tourism Industry:

1)      tourism is a very multifaceted industry

2)      tourism is a special kind of product since it is both tangible and intangible

3)      tourism activities will increase in the future more and more, especially with the development of transportations system and the information technology.

We must take into consideration the  4 Ps of tourism:

Product: in a marketing mix a product is any offering which satisfies customer’s requirement. It has to satisfy the tourist’s innate experiences.

Tourism is a complex product, since it differs from any other products. it is a mix of tangible and intangible experiences and it aims to satisfy the tourists. It covers a wide range of elements such as accommodation, food and beverages, transportation,  geographical, historical, cultural, attractions, recreation and of course the customer’s own outlook.  

Price: Price in case of tourism is the amount of money that customer pays for the package offer. Tourism products are rarely identical. The pricing varies according to the destinations and the package: uniqueness of the destination, what value added services are provided inclusive of the experience, which segment is being served (middle income/ high income/ low income) the operating costs (fixed and variable). It is market based: it depends on competitors and  on seasonality elements. Whether the package is highly priced, properly priced or is low priced is decided by the experience of the tourist.

Place: distribution is concerned with making the product available to the customer. It includes various activities. its channels are tourist operators, agents, wholesalers, Tourist Company’s website, blogs etc.  Technology has played a pivotal role in growth of travel industry and today a travel product  can be sold  either online or at  shop front.

Promotion: it means attracting potential consumers. Tourism promotion uses a great variety of media vehicles such as personal selling, advertisements in print media and electronic media, television. Internet…

The tourism business is highly competitive. It requires adaptable marketing strategies.

 

 

Marketing mix of Amazon

The 4Ps of Amazon

This is a detailed analysis of the marketing mix of Amazon.  It analyses the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion) of Amazon and explains the company’s business & marketing strategies.

Amazon (Amazon.com, Incorporation) is an American e-commerce and cloud computing company . It has its headquarter in Washington, USA. It was founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994. Today Amazon is the biggest online retailer in the world.

Amazon products

Amazon started selling books, but it now sells all types of products (clothing, shoes,  jewellery, home appliances, books, electronics, sports and outdoors, car accessories, cell phone, accessories and so on)

Even if Amazon offers products from all types of retailers and independent businesses,  it promotes its own private label brand, Amazon Basics.

Price and pricing strategiesof Amazon

Amazon uses competitive pricing strategy. It regularly evaluates its competitors’ prices as basis for its own pricing. It focuses on keeping the prices low and offering customers a wide selection. Other pricing strategies Amazon often uses are psychological pricing,and promotional pricing.

Amazon has the strength and the power of changing the prices of millions of its products on a single day. This makes it extremely difficult for the competitors to keep up with Amazon.

Place/distribution channels of Amazon

Amazon is the biggest online retailer in the world. It is a global brand and has presence around the world. Amazon’s delivery time is very rapid thanks to its excellent distribution centres.

Promotion/ Promotional strategies of Amazon

Promotion is about communication. Amazon communicates with its customers with a variety of tools and methods. For instance, it carries out regular advertising campaigns on television, newspapers, social media, and billboards.It also advertises through a great number of Amazon affiliate websites. Affiliates advertise Amazon products on their websites and blogs, and receive commissions usually per sale made.

Amazon offers sales promotions and discounts regularly.

Its email marketing campaigns are also very effective.It is worth mentioning that Amazon has a huge marketing budget. It spent $7.2billion on marketing in 2016 alone