7P’s OF MARKETING &SWOT ANALYSIS OF

THE T & HSECTOR…

Priyojit Das Sujeet Sinha Pooja Rani Shivali Oswal

TRAVEL & HOSPITALITY SECTOR

INTRODUCTION..

According to the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2011 brought out by World Economic Forum, India is ranked 11th in the Asia-Pacific region and 62nd overall in a list of 133 assessed countries in 2008.

In terms of travel, India stands 9th in the index of relative cost of access(ticket taxes and airport charges) to international air transport services, having almost the lowest costs in the world.

The contribution of travel and tourism to gross domestic product (GDP)is expected to be at 6.0 per cent (US$ 67.3 billion) in 2009 rising to US$187.3 billion by 2019.

The ministry is planning to develop three niche products – wellness tourism, caravan tourism and helipad tourism this year.

According to the Tourism Ministry of India, foreign tourist arrivals(FTAs) during June 2011 were 341,000 as compared to FTAs of 340,000 during the month of June 2010. There has been an improvement in the growth rate of FTAs in June 2011 (+0.2 per cent) as compared to May2011 (-1.9 per cent), in fact, a positive growth has been witnessed for the first time in 2011.

About Irctc…

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) is a public sector company set up and fully owned by the Ministry of Railways. The IRCTC has been incorporated under the Companies Act 1956, has its Registered Office at 9th Floor, Bank of Baroda Building, Sansad Marg, New Delhi 110001. This company has been formed to function as an extended arm of the Indian Railways to upgrade, professionalize and manage the catering and hospitality services at stations, on trains and other locations and to promote domestic and international tourism through development of budget hotels, special tour packages, information, commercial publicity and global reservation systems. the objective of upgrading and managing rail catering and hospitality.

About Make My Trip…

MakeMyTrip.com, India’s leading online travel company was founded in the year 2000 by Deep Kalra. Created to empower the Indian traveller with instant booking and comprehensive choices, the company began its journey in the US-India travel market. It aimed to offer a range of best-value products and services along with cutting-edge technology and dedicated round-the-clock customer support.

About Yatra.…

Yatra Online Pvt. Ltd. is a smart travel company providing information, pricing, availability and booking facility for air travel, hotels, buses and car rentals across 5000 large cities ands mall rural areas around the globe. As an online travel company, Yatra.com acts as a complete tour planner for travelers and is a one-stop shop for every travel need. Established in August 2006, Yatra.com has grown fast to become India’s leading travel company, serving over 1 million customers With an employee base of more than 700. In April 2012, it was the second largest online travel website, with 30 per cent share of the 37,000 crore (US$6.99 billion) market for all online travel-related transactions., it also launched a "holiday-cum-shopping card" with State Bank of India (SBI), India's largest bank .

About GoIBIBO.…

Goibibo.com is one of the leading online travel sites in India that enables travelers to buy air and bus tickets, hotels and holidays. It is a part of the MIH India Group and was launched in September 2009. Within a short span of time, GoIBIBO has trounced hundreds of travel sites. GoIBIBO has a very strong technology enabling it to serve its customers fastest in the market. Speed and service are the core value differentiators of GoIBIBO. The platform enables a customer to search and buy in the fastest manner. GoIBIBO also has the quickest processes for rescheduling, cancellation and refunds, thereby making it an unmatched consumer experience.

What are 7 Ps in Marketing Mix??

IN TERMS Of 7 P’s Of SERVICE MARKETING

7 P’S IRCTC MAKE MY TRIP YATRA IBIBO

PEOPLE At present IRCTC have 4453 employees. The employees comprise of IRCTC Direct Employees, Deemed Deputation absorbers, Deemed Deputations, deputations and fixed term employees.

MakeMyTrip.com has over 450 employees on board and offers 24x7 customer service.

Over 700 employees. 24x7 call center and 15 retail Holiday Lounges spread across the country

At Present IBIBO have 201-500 employees. (Privately Held)

PLACE Five Zonal Offices are working at Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Secunderabad.

MMT has created a network of offices in New Delhi, Mumbai, New York and Sydney.Appointed franchise in all major cities of US, UK, Australia, UAE and India

Headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana. Over 10 offices in 10 metro cities.

Headquartered in Gurgaon,& other offices in Bangalore and Mumbai

PRICE Low cost as per Government in case of railway and others are cheaper than compared to the other competitors.

Cost are higher than compared to IRCTC.

Costlier than compared to other competitors.

Pricing is most aggressive in the market

IN TERMS Of 7 P’s Of SERVICE MARKETING

7 P’S IRCTC MAKE MY TRIP YATRA IBIBO

PROMOTION

Advertisement, Subh Yatra Card, SBI Railway Card.

Corporate agents , Advisors. Corporate agents , Advisors. offer coupon codes or promotional codes, Standard Chartered bank Card, Airtel Money

PROCESS Online processing, counter , Home Delivery facility available

Online processing, , Home Delivery facility available

Online processing, Yatra.com has a toll-free customer care number

Online B2C transaction Processing

PRODUCT Tour packages, Flight, Hotels, Tourist Train, Cab and Loyalty Program.

Tour packages, Flight, Hotels, Tourist Train, Cab and Loyalty Program except railway & bus.

Airline, Railway and Bus tickets and Reserve hotel rooms and Car rentals

Flights, Holidays packages, Hotels, Bus Ticket Booking

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE

Well developed web site with whole lots of information, Counters.

Two blinking bright colored links “We are hiring” & “Corporate level” ( seems they’ve used Java Script.)

Yatra’s homepage seems more dominate by text/content. Perhaps Salman khan is Yatra’s brand ambassador. Yatra.com’s navigation menu are better from the usability perspective.

Well Developed Websites with lots of information

SWOT ANALYSIS OF IRCTC

STRENGTHS

Subsidiary of Ministry of Railways. Full back up by the Govt Excellent Faith & Goodwill Largest e-commerce website Monopoly in Rail tour packages& Rail Ticketing Concession on booking of charters

WEAKNESSES

Lack of motivation in employee Poor Promotional activities & public relation Limitations in decision making process Delayed decision making. “Not my work’’ attitude of the employees Non existence of full fledge Marketing team.

SWOT ANALYSIS OF IRCTC

OPPURTUNITY

Buoyancy in the Tourism Sector Increase in Individual disposable income. Air Packages &Road Transport Packages. Booming Hotels &Resorts Industry Bids for Contract Strategic Tie-ups for better

&improved performance.

THREATS

Leading web portals like Make My Trip, Cox & Kings, Clear trip, Thomas cook, Yatra etc.

Terrorists Attacks& Naxalites Attacks Withdrawal of parental support from the Ministry

of Railways, Govt. of India Low fare Airlines Private Small Tour operators Increasing Inflation rate

SWOT ANALYSIS OF MAKE MY TRIP

STRENGTHS IIM A insurance Work experience Easy capital Family support Personal savings Great timing Adaptive Belief

WEAKNESSES

Ill-informed High airfares Less number of travel options Lack of trust among Indian consumers

SWOT ANALYSIS OF MAKE MY TRIP

OPPORTUNITIES

The NRI market Sale of other services/products Ride along with cheap airlines

THREATS

The Dotcom bubble burst Bigger players VC moving out

SWOT ANALYSIS OF Yatra

STRENGTHS Partnerships with reputed and renowned

companies Presence in the international business scenario Secure and trusted channel for facilitating

payments Provides maximum options in budget hotels,

targeting middle class Provides reservation facility for more than 3,800

hotels across 300 cities in India and over 90,000 hotels around the world

Salman Khan as Brand Endorser/ Ambassador

WEAKNESSES

Unable to attract customers who are not internet savvy

Reluctance in customers to avail bookings through online payments

SWOT ANALYSIS OF Yatra

OPPURTUNITIES

Customers currently using traditional methods of bookings

Offer better travel packages in line with customer expectation

Untapped sections of international tourism market

THREATS

Possible lack of co-ordination with tourism entities

Present competitors having substantial market share

Newly emerging online booking portals with better offerings

SWOT ANALYSIS OF GoIBIBO

STRENGTHS offers a variety of applications travel booking simpler add fun in booking experience create travel community best deals to the community members. Gifts a family spiritual holidays

WEAKNESSES

authentication error received from payment gateway

Lack Of customer support very poor service Poor Transaction system

SWOT ANALYSIS OF GoIBIBO

OPPURTUNITIES

top online travel websites largest revenue sources with the user response high usage of social media Whole business model is based on low cost of

user acquisition Travel Technology platforms, integration and

selling platform

THREATS

Change in business travel plans Terrorists Attacks & Naxalites Attacks Travellers health issues Personal or family emergency Change in flight timings’ by the airlines. Increasing Inflation rate

WEAK PLAYER

As per above data & information that we collected through internet as well as from customer complaints blogs, make my trip is the weak player or least among the all.

We compared it on the basis of their SWOT analysis and 7 P’s of service marketing. As we know that trust among the customer is very important in every kind of activity in

the business but the make my trip has low% of trust among the consumers due to lack of customer support & poor services.

Also they charge high airfares from the customers & less number of travel options as compared to the YATRA, GoIBIBO & IRCTC.

Strategies to develop IRCTC into a strong player Marginal cost pricing strategies are difficult to implement, but generally yield better results than full

cost pricing. They are characterized by a market-facing approach that tries to estimate and influence demand for a service product.

To generate awareness, about a product or a service offered to a customer through Repetition of advertisements ,Strategic placement of advertisements (including time) & Quality of advertisements.

Also Making a good public relation with customer by Maintaining a rapport with the public, Generating repeat buyers etc.

Decision-making is a key skill in the workplace, Whether you're deciding which person to hire, which supplier to use, or which strategy to pursue, the ability to make a good decision with available information is vital.

Motivation focus on an employee's drive to satisfy a variety of needs through their work. These needs range from basic physiological needs for survival to higher psych emotional needs like belonging and self-actualization.

Strategies to develop Yatra into a strong player

Improving the coordination with tourism entities by comprehensive plan to expand and align skills training programs with economic opportunities to the employees.

Today’s Internet-savvy buyers are hungry for content. And not just any content … valuable, relevant content that offers solutions to their problems.

you need to communicate differently by creating strong brand relationships by providing good, authoritative, even leadership-type content.

The company may improve it substantial market share, needed to represent its unique value proposition in a new and more engaging way that also reflected its local presence.

Strategies to develop MAKE MY TRIP into a strong player

Setting a price for business products without proper direction can be a problematic affair. The best way to approach the problem of setting prices is to examine the overall market for the product or services or class of product or services you are selling.

Necessary to know your competitive advantage or unique selling proposition. Being consistent is more important than having the “best” product. This includes the look of your collateral materials, the message you deliver, the level of customer service, & the quality of the service product.

CONCLUSION

From the analysis conducted we have reached to a conclusion that Make my Trip is the weak player among all the three competitors – IRCTC, Make My Trip, Yatra in terms of their services, strategies, market share, revenue & profits over a period of time.