The complex conditions of modern business and increase in almost all aspects of services operation have compelled the management of every service industry to place emphasis on the efficient and effective method of presenting its service.
The need for marketing in service industry cannot be overemphasized, the degree of marketing activities in a company depends on the size of the market. Traditionally, executives in service industries have not been market driven.
They have lagged behind sellers of products in accepting the marketing concept and have generally been slow in adopting promotional methods “product” strategy and other marketing techniques. We shall discuss the impact and importance of marketing applications in different service industries as follows:
Hospitality Services Search giant Google reported last year that mobile searches for hotels had risen by an astonishing 7,000 per cent on a yearly basis.
Here is another staggering figure: 11.3 million consumers accessed hospitality and travel services via mobile in EU5 countries (France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the UK) alone in February 2011. Indeed, a quick trawl through hospitality and travel-related sites will present numerous write-ups and reports that feature incredible statistics that bring to light the amazingly fast growing mobile platform in the industry, with experts projecting that the mobile web will surpass the traditional web in size by 2013.
The Term Paper on Service Marketing
We have always had service industries, and indeed there are numerous biblical references to services as diverse as inn keeping, money lending and market trading. Over time, the service sector has grown in volume andin the importance attributed to it. According to Baker J.M et al, The Marketing Book 5th Ed, (2003), early economists saw services as being totally unproductive, adding nothing of value ...
The main reasons for hospitality, and on a larger-scale, travel brands and consumers alike to target mobile-based initiatives include location-based marketing, optimising consumer loyalty programmes and last minutes bookings. US-based Hilton Grand Vacations has stated that a study of their consumers’ research and planning habits show that 70 to 77 per cent of travellers book just a week prior to travel and 40 per cent on the day of travelling itself, numbers which were unheard of, just a few years ago.
For hoteliers and their consumers, mobile applications provide price ranges of nearby hotels, restaurant rates, as well as on-demand navigation. Mobile devices integrate various facets of customer service such as seamless exchange of information, payment of goods and services, check-in facilities and most notably, personalised marketing messages, through a simple swipe of a device against an interface.
This not only brings about competence of mobile-based service but also is a viable option for personalised interaction with the supplier. In short, the mobile platform works as a connective tissue between the online and offline entities and rightly, should not be considered as a separate platform, necessitating a different marketing strategy. Instead, the platform should be used as a mean to bring together the brand experience, showcasing stability and uniformity to the consumer, as recommended by Google earlier.
With mobile usage outnumbering desktop computer usage world-wide, and particularly in the Asian countries, it is becoming imperative for companies to invest in smartphones and tablets.
This trend is coupled with the fact that consumers are turning away from hotel chain websites, as reported in an eDigital Research study, adding to the importance of the mobile platform. The study reviewed hotel chains, agents airlines, holiday camps, self catering accommodation, cruises, tour operators and travel agencies. Citing insufficient accommodation and destination information and lack of customer feedback, hotel chain websites were deemed as ‘too corporate’ and thus, scored low for online customer usability.
The Research paper on The influence of airline service quality on passenger satisfaction and loyalty
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/1754-2731.htm TQM 25,5 The influence of airline service quality on passenger satisfaction and loyalty 520 The case of Uganda airline industry Juliet Namukasa Makerere University Business School, Kampala, Uganda Abstract Purpose – The general objective of this study was to examine the influence of airline ...
Airline Industry Traditional airline business models are evolving rapidly to exploit the growth of mobility, and many airlines are beginning to experiment with mobility-enabled personalized services.
According to an annual survey5 on airline IT trends, co-conducted by SITA, a global provider of aviation technologies and services, adoption of specialized mobile aviation applications rose dramatically over the past two years. Solutions such as websites optimized for mobile access and bar-coded boarding passes sent to smartphones are seeing double-digit growth.
Based on the survey, SITA forecasts that by the end of 2010, mobility optimization for websites will grow from 15 percent currently to 51 percent. Mobile phone-based boarding will increase from 7 percent today to 31 percent, and other paper- and card-based applications such as baggage receipts, card access to premium lounges, and cash and credit card payments are also expected to be replaced by mobile applications. In the meantime, use of wireless devices by airport staff to support aircraft maintenance will grow from 17 percent currently to 31 percent by the end of 2010.
Airport and airline operations are also seeing innovative mobility enhancements in the areas of “operational messaging” (between the aircraft and airline headquarters), maintenance, pre- and in-flight services, flight planning, and asset and spare parts management. Let’s take a closer look at how mobile capabilities for airlines have evolved. Mobility 1.0: Foundational Services
Mobility 1.0 represents mobility’s most basic and foundational capabilities. These include airlines disseminating essential operational messaging for flight plans, and “irregular” operations, such as emergency situations.
Short message service (SMS) and other text messaging applications have been used extensively by airlines and widely adopted by passengers. Email has also been a staple for transmitting flight details, gate information, and rudimentary attempts at upselling and cross-selling of ancillary products and services. While useful, SMS, email, and basic messaging fell short of the rich interaction one can enjoy while accessing the Internet using a PC with broadband connectivity. Mobility 2.0: Rich Media and Mobile Web
The Essay on Airline Deregulation Passenger Mile
Give credit where credit is due. Twenty years ago, the Carter Administration and Congress, behind the ceaseless efforts of Alfred E. Kahn, former chairman of the now defunct CAB (Civil Aeronautics Board), deregulated the airlines, a move that has saved consumers billions of dollars. Drinking large dipper fulls from the Conservative/Libertarian intellectual well, the Carter Administration acted on ...
Higher adoption rates of smartphones with faster processors and richer operating systems/applications, coupled with faster communications speeds, paved the way for Mobility
2.0. Smartphones untether users from PCs and are changing the game for passengers; checking flight status and length of security lines, for instance, is only a few phone buttons away. Subscribers of social media sites such as Facebook and MySpace are using these platforms to alert people about flight disruptions and airport ground holds. Usage of mobile phones to shop for best-value flights, upgrade seats, book hotels, and order taxis also has become mainstream. In many cases, passengers have faster, better, and more accurate information than the airline and its employees.
The smartphone has greatly enhanced the passenger’s ability to request and acquire useful information and run rich third-party applications that deliver real-time information about the operator’s environment on a relatively seamless basis. Among the many Mobility 2.0 applications, the following solutions are commonly used via mobile phones:
● Booking—flight booking and rebooking; onboard food selection prior to boarding ● Mobile check-in and boarding passes—boarding pass sent to mobile phone as bar code; passenger holds phone up to bar-code reader upon boarding plane ● Website optimization—websites designed to accommodate various mobile device footprints (smaller displays, different font sizes)
● Messaging—targeted messages and advertisements sent to passengers’ mobile phones based on their unique profiles
While many airlines and passengers are enjoying the power of smart mobile technology, the overall percentage of passengers using their smartphones to access travel information or perform sophisticated transactions is still relatively small.
According to 2009 data from Forrester Research, roughly 10 percent to 15 percent of travelers used their smartphones to look up addresses, directions, flight schedules, and hotel room availability. Frequent business travelers—the most profitable customer segment—used their mobile phones an average of two to three times more than non-business travelers. Notwithstanding current usage rates, airlines are increasingly developing innovative strategies to take advantage of Mobility 2.0
The Essay on Mobile Phones Phone Million People
In the UK alone twenty seven to forty million people own mobile 'phones and the number is growing each day. Eight million of these are school-aged children. It is expected that four hundred and eighty three million mobile 'phones will be sold worldwide in 2003. The first cellular phone was tested in 1978 and since then mobile 'phones have become hugely popular and a controversial issue. How can ...
American Airlines’ Multichannel Mobile Web Capabilities By offering a range of communication choices, American Airlines (AA) is in contact with its passengers throughout their journey, empowering them to take greater control of their travel. Passengers can select specific services such as mobile check-in via iPhone and BlackBerry devices, along with a range of delivery options, including 1) voice; 2) SMS—a cell phone feature AA says is used by 59 percent of its passengers; and 3) an AA website optimized to take advantage of the most advanced mobile phone capabilities.
