Sara Abdalla_Unit12_Rocmn: februari 2011

zondag 6 februari 2011

D1

EasyJet is committed to providing all our customers with excellent service, and we are constantly looking at ways in which we can improve this. As an e-business internet marketing enables them to use many methods of customer services to meet customer needs.

How does internet helps EasyJet to meet customer needs.

First of all it allow the customer to make a booking 24/7 online, so whenever the customer has time and wants to. Also booking online gives the customer the opportunity to select the flight of their choice. Because EasyJet is e-business they give the opportunity to customer to book whenever they want to.This has a big hand in meeting the needs of the customers because usually people will have to go to travel agency to make a booking and they have to consider the opening and closing hours/days of the agency. But now thanks to internet marketing customers are allowed to do most of their booking through the internet, and that to when they are free with time to spend booking and relaxing at the same time.

Through the 24/7 on the easyjet.com allow the customer to choose the right holidays and takes time as much as they want to think and decide.

Also their website is easy to access and easy to understand even if you don’t speak English. But also they provide their website with different languages, they do all that to gain new customers and meet customer’s needs.

Besides that also customers could make a booking through calling the customer services, they have the opportunity to look first online for the possible flight and prices and then make a booking through phone call.

Also through the website of EasyJet it makes it very easy for the customer to make a booking for a complete holiday, because on the website you see advertisement of other websites like cheap hotels/travel insurance and car rental.

Another way internet marketing is effective in meeting the needs of customers is t allows them to be up to date with all the information about flight. This means EasyJet website is kept up to date at all times, providing customers with all the right information about services/flight/destinations and prices.

Customers always stay updated through emails or through EasyJet website. This means that the information is sent to customers always keeping them updated about anything new happening or any flight information, the customer usually choose for this option. This is helpful to the customers as they will be aware of new destinations/new offers. With the internet now becoming available to customers through their phones, they will be updated almost in real time.
Also other way of meeting customer needs through internet marketing is allow the customer to make price comparing between airlines and choose the cheapest one. This means that internet marketing saves customer money.

Also the possibility of finding FAQ online makes it easy to customer to read question they might have. This saves them as well money because they don’t need to pay for phone call to the customer services. Also they could send an email to the customer services and ask their question or give recommendations. This is also a way of meeting customer needs.

EasyJet also allow their customer to make a secure booking online and make a secure payment. This’s the most customers want to. To make feel safe when make a booking and also don’t let them worrying about the personal information they have provided online. Also they provide customers to pay in different paying methods.

You can contact the customer services 24/7, through emailing them.

Also through the use of internet EasyJet can have one-to-one relationship with their customers, through updating them about any delays or cancellation of their flights online (sending email to them).

Also each customer can register on easyjet.com and reschedule their flights if they want to or change anything.

EasyJet offers their customer to make online check in. that’s saves them a lot of time when they get to the airport.

Also EasyJet offers a customer a discount when they make an online booking. 2.5 British pound for a single faire.

Also through facebook/twitter/hyves you as a customer can give an opinion/recommendation about something EasyJet.

As above mentioned how through internet marketing EasyJet can meets their customer needs in different ways. I have never traveled with EasyJet before, but sure after the research I did for this unit about EasyJet and after seeing the possibilities they have to need their customer’s needs online then I am sure one day I will fly with EasyJet and make the booking online. Internet marketing offers customers more than they think it does and fulfils many of their needs. They can always get the best flight deals and keep themselves up-to-date about new prices/destinations. This saves them doing research and go to travel agency.

Sources

http://www.davechaffey.com/E-commerce-Internet-marketing-case-studies/easyJet-case-study

http://www.london-insider.co.uk/london-tips-for-tourists/idiots-guide-ryanair-vs-easyjet-which-airline-to-choose-better/

http://www.sitepronews.com/archives/2002/oct/11.html

http://www.learnmarketing.net/benefitsofinternetmarketing.htm

http://www.easyjet.com/en/book/regulations.html

M2 Part 2 Analyse the challenges faced by EasyJet using internet marketing

Part 2

The challenges that EasyJet must face using internet marketing are:

Ø Disintermediation and channel conflict
EasyJet sell tickets directly to the customers; they don’t have intermediations (no travel agency where you can buy the tickets from). All the tickets are sold online or through telephone (customer services) or the in check desk at the airport. This will save EasyJet a lot of money and time. But also because when you buy a EasyJet ticket online you get a discount, no other EasyJet competitor offer this to their customers.
Through the disintermediation of EasyJet and introducing an internet sales channel on their website this will threat the relationship with other business that works in the existing channels. Also EasyJet have to make sure to meet the needs and wants of their customers and try to be able to reach the needs of their customers as best as they can. For example if a customer sends an e-mail to EasyJet they have to make sure to replay him within the next 48 hours and not after a week.

Ø Payment security
EasyJet offers the client the opportunity to purchase tickets online and to pay online. It is very secure website and you can easily pay the tickets.
You can pay with your master/visa/America express and other cards sorts all these payment methods are safe.
Because EasyJet uses a save payment systems this will make the customer feel safely and purchase online. Nowadays most of the travel agencies offer payment online. So for this part EasyJet got competitors.

Ø Meeting customer expectations
Focusing on competition through global website visibility, describe in detail, the challenges faced by EasyJet using internet marketing (P4)

Online customer expectations are higher than offline environment. Customers are expecting one-to-one online attentions, EasyJet is doing that through giving the customers the opportunity to ask questions through the customers services, but also through letting them have their own page (when they have to sign in and manage their travel).

Also they deliver what the customers expect from EasyJet, because in comparing to other low budget airlines EasyJet does charge for a whole travel, but for example Ryanair does charge for everything separate (for the bags you have to pay separate). That all the information I gathered from my own experience and also from what I found on their website. But after doing research in other websites I found: Top travel websites including EasyJet and Lastminute.com are failing to meet customer expectations; according to a study by Global Reviews. Below you find a link for the article.

http://www.hotelmarketing.com/index.php/content/article/uk_travel_sites_fail_to_meet_consumer_expectation/

Ø Overload of market feedback
EasyJet is an online business that can successfully acquire a lot of market data. However, this has to be sorted and prioritized before being acted on. Also on the website of EasyJet you can contact the customer service and you read the FAQ. Because they have provide a lot of information to the customer, but they can’t put everything on their website, because it might get overloaded and no one can enter easyjet.com, and so the customers will go and book on competitors website. So it is important to sort out the important information and puts them on the website, this is what EasyJet does.

Ø Keeping pace with technological change

Through the constantly changing of the technology gave EasyJet the opportunity to sell tickets online, because before that they did all that through calling customer services, but each customer can book online. Their website is accessible to everyone, and make a booking is very easy. So through this they are ahead of airline that don’t have website. EasyJet is busy with innovating new way to be ahead of the competitors and also providing better services to customers they do that through the knowledge-based economy.

They have a lot of competition like Ryan air and Transavia, but they have to make sure they stay ahead of their competitors, and not that their competitors are copying them or using same colours or text on their websites. For example what I found out is: everyone knows that EasyJet has the colour orange it’s a striking colours. After that Transavia come up with colour green! But still EasyJet is ahead.

Ø Ensuring maximum exposure through ISP and search engines

ISP offers business and private household internet connections, their primary function to provide a link to the internet and mostly they also host websites on their own servers. Through ISP makes it easy for the customers and EasyJet to find each other and make bookings, because it allows customer to have internet and from there the customer can visit EasyJet website and make a booking, but also EasyJet can through the internet send email/offers to their customers.

Search engines make it easy for EasyJet to be found on the internet. For example as mentioned in P3 if you write flight tickets London Gatwick in Google then you will get EasyJet.

Ø security and payment system

EasyJet plans for security when customer booking online and paying online, because nowadays it is very easy to hack a website and steal all customers information. EasyJet uses the authentication methods for security and payment methods, before you want to enter anything or want to book you should have a password and username. Competitors might have used other security methods that are less secured than the one EasyJet uses.

Ø legal complexity

They meet the legal requirement, because they have to sell tickets all over the world. So they have to make sure to cover all the legal requirements.

There are many rules and regulation EasyJet has to meet all the time when designing their website or when they update it. The most laws are sets to make things easy for the customers but also for EasyJet. This also make it secure for the customers to give their personal information to EasyJet.

In the UK on line businesses have to keep in mind when they are designing their website is to ensure they put certain information on their websites and in their emails. Minimum information is: name, registered office address, telephone number, email address, VAT number, prices must be clear and easy to understand (unambiguous), and delivery charges. This is an advantage for on line businesses because they will have to make sure all these little bits are included in their website, otherwise action can be taken against them. All these information are found on EasyJet website.

Ø linguistic and cultural sensitivity

For sure EasyJet did look up for the meaning of their business before choosing it; I couldn’t find information about it and what it does mean in other languages. As mentioned before they did looked up for the meaning, because otherwise they won’t be popular like how they are now. No competitors has chosen a name that means a bad things if you translate it to other languages.

On easyjet.com you only can pay with visa/master/airplus/dinner club and American express, but other online travel website, does offers IDEAL/PayPal, so there competitors are ahead in this case, because not all the students have got visa/master card, but most of them are having IDEAL/PayPal.

The design of their website is standard like all other website. You also can choose other languages when you enter the website, but on Ryanair.com they provide more languages than EasyJet. When you enter EasyJet website it is easy to know where to go even if you don’t understand the language.

Also they have to make sure that their website doesn’t have any virus or sends virus to customers. So they have always to scan websites and prevent virus/Trojan or worms.

EasyJet is an e-business and e-business is expanding these days also customer’s needs are expanding. This is a challenge for EasyJet to meet their customer’s needs and customer satisfaction.

So above you read the challenge that EasyJet faced by using internet marketing. They do have a lot of competitors like Ryanair, because it is also low-cost airline, but still EasyJet is one of the famous low-cost airlines in Europe.

All the above mentioned challenges for EasyJet foe using internet marketing are related to each other. Because all of the above mentioned points are important for an e-business to stay in the market. Although they get a lot of complains (airline program on TV (net 5) shows that), but they are still ahead of the competitors, because they satisfying the majority of their customers’ and they know how to gain new customers.

sources:http://www.davechaffey.com/E-commerce-Internet-marketing-case-studies/easyJet-case-study

http://www.london-insider.co.uk/london-tips-for-tourists/idiots-guide-ryanair-vs-easyjet-which-airline-to-choose-better/
easyjet.com
google.com

BTEC Business Book

M2 part 1 analysing internet marketing oppertunity to EasyJet!

M2 part 1

The different opportunities that are offered for EasyJet in using internet marketing in relation with the 7p’s are:

Communication opportunity

Through internet communication EasyJet has the opportunity to present their services in details together with substance supporting information. Once all this is done, then they will be able through this opportunity to collect information about their customers and get database about their clients. So it helped them to promote their services online.

Through the use of their own website www.easyjet.com they will be able to let customers make online booking. Also to let them know all offers they have. In addition to that they also let them know if they are flying now to new destinations. Through the website all the customer can contact EasyJet through mailing. Also if customers make online booking then it will be cheaper than booking the ticket somewhere else, this will safe EasyJet a lot of costs, like employee costs. They also use internet communication to build relationships with their customers, competitors and everyone. They also keep track of their CRM records: customer’s visits, sales responses, respond to customers and manage e-mails.

As a customer you will be able to register/log in on the website of EasyJet to get a clear overview of your booking and also if you need any further information. So they actually personalise their page. Through this way Easyjet makes it easy for customers to book and so they attract customers

You can very easy notify their website, because of the orange colour, also from the easy name: EasyJet (Domain name, through this you can identify the website). EasyJet is having easy short domain name and that is very easy for customer to remember. Also EasyJet have used its own business name in the domain name. Furthermore a domain name is professional to EasyJet and it is a way of marketing themselves. As mentioned before EasyJet is only based online so having a domain name is it very important for them. Choosing for a domain name is important because you can find it in a search engines. Also because you will protect you name, so no competition/ no one will steal you name and use it.

Below you read some examples of how EasyJet uses their website for communication:

Ø Customers are given a PIN number for each order on the web site which they give when they get to the airport.

Ø The Internet is important to EasyJet since it helps it to reduce running costs, important for a company where each passenger generates a profit of only £1.50. Savings to EasyJet made through customers booking online enable it to offer at least £1 off to passengers who book online – this is part of the online proposition. Online buyers also benefit from paying the price of a local call, instead of the standard national rate of easy Jet’s booking line.

Ø A later five-week promotion within The Times and The Sunday Times newspapers offered cheap flights to a choice of all EasyJet destinations when 18 tokens were collected. In total, 100,000 seats were sold during the promotion, which was worth more than £2m to the airline. Thirty per cent of the seats were sold online, with the rest of the transactions being completed by phone; 13,000 orders were taken over the Internet in the first day alone with over 15,000 people on the site at one point.

Also EasyJet communicate through the use of facebook/twitter. If you look at the facebook page you see they send all information and offers through the wall of their page to customers/visitors. And those visitors/customers can forward this to their friends/family, all this is for free.

The web site also acts as a PR tool. Haji-Ioannou uses its immediacy to keep newspapers informed about new promotions and offers by phoning and e-mailing journalists and referring them to the web site rather than faxing.

Product development opportunity

Through online product development the customer no longer need to waste their time and go to travel agencies to book. Also EasyJet through this strategy will be able to get more customers and increase their sales. So they are making it easy for the customer and so the customer will choose to book through EasyJet easily, because they are making a booking easy, this is in their advantage to gain more customers and keep existing customers happy.

EasyJet is an online based website so product development is really important to them, because it helps them to achieve customer’s targets and their aims&objectives and also to meet the customer needs.

EasyJet website is available 24/7 anywhere and anytime, all what you need is internet connection. And it gives you the opportunity to make a booing from their website quickly and easy.

On their website you can find pictures of their airplanes. Also on www.google.com you can find pictures about EasyJet and employees outfit.

Below you find a podcast of EasyJet
http://www.tipsfromthetlist.com/33250.html

Through market development EasyJet launched their website and start making sales all over Europe.

EasyJet sale tickets immediately. It is very easy to make a booking on their website, but you need to register before that. That way gives the customer a feel of secure.

Also EasyJet uses market development, because they allow weblink from other organisation (hotel/car rental) to be placed on their website. So they advertise for other business on their website.

Also through facebook they give the customers the opportunity to give their opinion or react on something on the wall (this is a B2c way).

They can reach a lot of customers the world,
It is not expensive for them, cheaper than having own travel agency, because they will have less expenses, like less employees and that will safe them more money.

It is cheaper to set up an online business than setting up an offline business; this gives the opportunity to EasyJet to offer more flies/destination to their customers online.

Also internet allowed EasyJet to e-mail customers and provide them with holiday deals and gives them information’s about it. Also they answers customer’s e-mails and complain.

Business efficiency opportunity

Through the increasing availability in web gives business of all kinds of opportunity to speed up their interactions with suppliers and customers.

EasyJet doesn’t really have a complete supply chain, because they are the one who supply seats to their customers and there’s a disintermediation, because they don’t have travel agency and they don’t plan to have or to sell their tickets through travel agencies. Because they will save more if customers will book online or through calling EasyJet. This supply chain is much shorter, because when the payment is made the seat is mostly guaranteed, all the booking can be made in a short time, from you home.

Also through the use of internet marketing strategy they improve sales and enter completely new service. With new services I mean flying to new destinations. Through the internet strategy they improve their sales, because if you book online they will give you a discount of 2.5 British pound for a single faire. This way will attract customers and let them book online. And so they will sale more sales[1] and make profit.

And EasyJet is a secure website where you can make secure booking from. This you can see from the https:easyjet.com. This gives the customer a feeling of secure to make the booking online and provide EasyJet with payment method. Easy jet has also data protection (see picture below).

Also through internet they are able to monitor the activity of their competitors, they can buy researches and information about them (all those information are available online). But EasyJet is ahead of their competitors (ryanair), they provide better services although EasyJet flight prices are bit higher than Ryanair prices. Better most customers are willing to pay more pounds in return to get better services.

As mentioned in the beginning of P3 EasyJet also promotes online.

They also use the Links methods. The used method is the Affiliate links, because when I enter www.easyjet.com I see on the right side of the website some companies (insurance companies/hotel agency), when I click on the advertisement I be transferred to their website. When I search on the website I can’t find any information about EasyJet. So I think EasyJet placed those links so when customers click on it they receive money.

Also they promote through Search Engines. Try to type flight tickets London Gatwick.

All the above mentioned opportunity offered to EasyJet by internet marketing are related to each other, because without ways of communication to customers then there will be not product development. If there will be product development then the customers wont know about it if there’s no use of communication and so this will reduce the business efficiency.

[1] In March 2000 EasyJet increased its online discount to £2.50 for a single trip – a higher level of permanent discount than any other airline. By September 2000, Internet sales reached 85% of total sales. Since this time, the growth in proportion of online sales has decreased. By 2003, over 90% of all Sales were online.

REDO:

Redo:

In addition to what is mentioned above:

The 7p’s are:

Products: They sell tickets to customer. They do that online, through their website. So they don’t need to have their own travel agency and so they will save a lot of money (rent, bills and more employees).
Price: EasyJet is known as a low-budget airline, so their prices are lower than other airlines or similar to them, but not expensive than the rest. They do a lot of offers. Through the use of internet they can send their offers to their customers.
Place: www.easyjet.com is the website of EasyJet where you can book on. This is also their domain name. It is very easy website and everyone can remember it.
Promotion: Also special offers are great way. Through promotion they get the opportunity to attract customers to choose for them and book online. EasyJet does a lot on the internet to promote themselves, they do that through Facebook, twitter and Hyves. But also through making their website looks good.
People: the customer service of EasyJet. You can contact them through the website or you can call them and they will help you with your questions.
Processes: EasyJet does have a good customer service; because they answer all the questions of a customer also you can reach them through telephone. If you send them an e-mail with your question, then it won’t take them too long to answer your questions.
Physical evidence: Their website is designed in orange colour and so the customer will notice it and this will be printed in their head.

All the mentioned 7p’s are related to each other and all this contributes to the opportunity for internet marketing, because so it makes it easy for EasyJet to gain new customer and also to keep their customers happy! But this also gives them the opportunity to deliver a good service for lower prices.

Sources:

Easyjet.com
Facebook.com
BTEC Business Book
Google.com

donderdag 3 februari 2011