The United Kingdom is Made Up of England

8/6/2019 The United Kingdom is Made Up of England

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ConsumerConsumer is a person or entity buying goods and services for final usage. By finaluse I mean, purpose for which a commodity is being manufactured. For instance aretailer having RedBull in a shelf is not a consumer rather a teenager coming to hisshop, paying the price of the tin and drinking the syrup will be termed as consumer.Consumer may be an individual, a family, and organisation etc. Consumer

Behaviour can be defined as the dynamic interaction of affect and cognition,behaviour, and environmental events by which human beings conduct the exchangeaspects of their lives (Peter D. Bennett, 1989). It is an admitted fact that behaviourvaries from person to person, consumer preferences change from one person toother, and so Peter used the word dynamic in his definition. Interaction between theconsumer and producer and exchange are important in consumer behaviouraccording to this definition. Companies and enterprises adopt various marketingstrategies to attract maximum number of consumers and customers in order tomaximise their profits. Marketing strategy is a plan designed to influenceexchanges to achieve organisational objectives (Paul, Jerry, Klaus, 2008).Segmentation is an important tool used businesses use in their marketing strategy.Businesses classify their consumers in different classes and then concentrate on the

needs and demands of these classes. Market segmentation is defined as theidentification of individuals or organisations with similar characteristics that havesignificant implications for the determination of marketing strategy (Jobber, Fany,2004). Market segmentation is important because it facilitates introduction of suitablemarketing mix: Market segmentation enables a producer to understand the needs ofconsumers, their behaviour and expectations as information is collected segment-wise in an accurate manner. Such information is purposefully usable. Decisionsregarding Four Ps based on such information are always effective and beneficial toconsumers and the producers (Gaurav Akrani, 2010).Country profile of the United KingdomThe United Kingdom is made up of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.Britain, the worlds first industrialised country, one of the largest worlds economy.Facts

y Full name: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Irelandy Population: 61.9 million (UN, 2010)y Capital: Londony Area: 242,514 sq km (93,638 sq miles)y Major language: Englishy Major religion: Christianityy Life expectancy: 78 years (men), 82 years (women) (UN)y Monetary unit: 1 pound sterling = 100 pencey Main exports: Manufactured goods, chemicals, foodstuffsy GNI per capita: US $41,520 (World Bank, 2009)y Internet domain: .uk

y International dialling code: +44

(United Kingdom Country Profile, 2011)

The UK is ethnically diverse. One can easily find every nation of the world here.

Pleasant weather and one of the largest empires in the history of mankind make the

United Kingdom a dream land for the rest of the world. Before the current recession


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foreigners from almost all the parts of the world were travelling and trying to settle

here in the Great Britain. According to the World Tourism Organization (WTO)

regular folks become tourists as soon as they travel (by any transportation means) at

least 160 km in any direction for a purpose other than working or going home. This

means that, distance-wise, your passport to adventure is just a stone-throws away .

People living in the United Kingdom have prominent GNI. Here people spend asignificant portion of their earnings in travelling, exploring and refreshing themselves

by travelling to different corners around the globe (Gilles Saraillon, 2011). Now here

Cox and Kings Travel, Atlantic Holidays, Bales World Wide, EuroCamp, Himalyan

Dreams, InterHome, Intourist and The Adventure Company are few important

companies involved in travelling businesses here in the UK.

Cox and Kings A Short History

Cox and kings explains its history on its main website. This history can besummarised as follow, longest travelled company in the world celebrated its 250 thanniversary in 2008. Back into 1758 Richard Cox is considered to be the pioneer of

the company. Cox proved himself as an excellent agent working for a Britishregiment. In next few years Cox planted roots of the company by the name of Coxand Co. Cox and Co also started business in banking and s hipping. The word Kingattached with Cox and co after the world war I, when Kings & co into Cox and Co.The modern history of company starts in 1970 when ownership of Cox and Kingsagency was bought by Grindlays Bank as part of a deal with the Indian PrimeMinister, Indira Gandhi, to develop tourism into the country. Today this companycovers destinations like Indian Subcontinent, Latin America, Africa, the Midd le East,Europe and Australasia (Centuries of Experience, 2010).Segmentation profile of Cox and kingsIntroduction

For a profitable business, marketing strategy must have the power to develop

customer business relationships. Companys profile must have enough interests fortheir already customers and it should have attractive incentives for the new ones.After reading profile of the company a customer becomes ready to buy a service andstarts getting satisfaction just by making transaction then relations with the customerwill be strong. Kottler (1991, p342) explains Hierarchy-of-effects model. This modelexplains the complete phenomenon that ho w a consumer makes choice? Thesestages are,

y Awarenessy Knowledgey Likingy Preferencey Convictiony Purchase

So keeping in view these stages I would develop the profile of Cox and kings usingfor given variable.Customers of Cox and kings

Cox and kings a big gun of travel and tourism industry, deal with the individuals,families and institutions.cox and kings on its official website used word independentminded traveller for individuals. For individuals Cox and kings have attractions in thelocations like Indian summer, Across the Ganges Plain, and Bhutan: Monks and


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so why should not they shop differently, too? Preferences for a man may be beauty

of the location he is going to visit; net expenditures for travel and stay, the

arrangements during the tour and security measures as well. On the other hand a

lady may think along with these things about how much time she will have for

shopping? The place she is planning to visit has shopping attractions or not. A lady

may be curious about the physical conditions of a particular are and their effects onher skin. Paco (1999, p102) narrates a very interesting study, he writes, the average

shopping time from a study we performed at one branch of national house wares

chain:

y woman shopping with a female companion: 8 minutes, 15 seconds

y woman with children: 7 minutes, 19 seconds

y woman alone:5 minutes, 2 seconds

y woman with man: 4 minutes , 41 seconds

While segmenting the customers on the basis of sex above factors must be

considered. Shopping attractions and beauty treatments can be used as importanttools to attract ladies. While explaining destinations to the customers using profile of

the company such attractions and opportunities should be explained as well.

Cultural Differences and Su Cultures

Richard, Collins (1997, p159) consider culture as most fundamental of th four

influencing forces (cultural, social, personal and psychological). Now these cultural

factors include culture, sub culture and social class. Religion, ethnic identity, caste,

creed and nationality play an important role in determining consumer preferences.

As UK is a multicultural and multi religion country with the nationals from almost all

parts of the world, so it will be beneficial for Cox and king to make segments of the

population depending upon t he religion. People with similar religion usually have

similar cultural trend and preferences. For instance a Muslim feels great pleasure in

visiting the holy places located in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran and even Syria. Cox and

Kings UK can generate lot of revenue by bringing such packages to its profile.

Similarly Pakistan does not have any place in Cox and Kind portfolio. Many holy

places for the Sikhs are located in Pakistan, every year Sikhs come to these places

so Cox and Kings should provide services in these fields as well.

Income-Social classes

On the first page GNI per capita of a British citizen is US $41,520(United Kingdom

country profile, 2011). Income is the earning of a human, here income is disposable

income. Disposable can be defined as income after paying tax. Usage of disposable

income depends upon the owner, he can deposit it into his bank account; can invest

in stock exchange or any other profitable business. Usually a part of disposable is

saved and the rest of income is consumed in making fun etc by the consumers.

People usually think that world tours and luxury journeys are for rich class of the


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society. Data (life style Data, 2010) given below shows distribution of population

according to their jobs,

%of population

A Higher managerial, administrative and professional 4

B Intermediate managerial, administrative andprofessional

22

C1 Supervisory, clerical and junior managerial,administrative and professional

29

C2 Skilled manual workers 21

D Semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers 15

E State pensioners, casual and lowest grade workers,unemployed with state benefits only 8

Each category of populations has

following income patterns; this bar chart

shows that only 4% of the population

(upper class has annual income above

3000 and 8% of the total population

(lower class) has income below 10000.

Majority of the population has income

between 10000 and 30000 so needs

and demands for this portion of thepopulation is really important for the

company. On the other hand real house

hold incomes of the Britain consumers is

going down due to inflation and high tax

rates (Graeme Leach, 2011). Keeping in

view this down turn, company should

(life style Data, 2010)

bring the expense of its tour packages down. Cox and kings can attract more

customers by taking various measures like.

y By shortening the tour duration

y By advertising seasonal tours before the season and offering customers to

save certain amounts( depending upon the pack) with the company

y Alternative transportation modes


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The main social classes (upper class, middle class and lower class) have different

preferences. It is not necessary to arrange the stay in a five star luxurious hotel when

most of the companys customers are form the middle class, if an ordinary hotel

assures the quality and satisfaction for the consumer then it should be used to

reduce financial burden of the customer.

Perceptions

Perception is actually how a consumer observes and perceives a product. A normal

man has been bestowed by God with five senses. These are sense of hearing, taste,

see, smell and identify. Man responds to any external stimulus using these five

senses. Perception in marketing is actually to overcome these senses of the humans.

Due to cut throat competition in all the markets for all the products it is not easy for a

company to create perception in the consumers mind. Consumers perceptions for

Cox and kings in UK can be made strong by huge advertisements. Today especially

youngsters spends more time on face book and other social networking sites, up till

now I have not seen and add of Cox and Kings UK on the face book, similarlymajority of our population check emails daily ads of the company should be

appearing on email sites like yahoo, hotmail and Gmail etc. not only this company

should advertise through banks and other financial institutions to send offers to the

customers with banks statements and should give broachers of the company to the

account holders, company must use other traditional options of advertisements like

television and radio. Now days YouTube is one of the most favourite site of the

whole population, before playing the main video it plays commercials, Cox and kings

commercials should be played there as well. These steps will make the customers

well aware about the company. A person who wants to travel can find Cox and Kings

the best option but if the above steps will be followed those who even dont want totravel and make tours will at least think to plan something like this.

Attitude

David, Abert (1993. p423) gives two points while explaining the term attitude,

1. Persons beliefs about various aspects of the object

2. Evaluation a consumer gives to each belief as it relates to the object

This definition shows that attitude of a person is for an obj ect; here ethical behaviour

and tangible items both are being considered as object. Solomon ( 2002, p198) saysit is important for a marketer to know why an attitude is held before attempting it to

change. He explains four functions of attitude given by Kat z,

1. Utilitarian function: consumer thinks the product he is using provides him

pleasure or pain. For a group of consumer travelling would be an happy and

they feel themselves happy even after facing problems during tours, on the

other hand lot of people think travelling a dangerous and pain full activity, Cox


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and kings in its ads and advertisements tell the customers that travelling

under the guidance of Cox and kings will be free from any hardship and

danger. Company should advertise all the measures to safeguard such needs

of the consumers. This will bring those customers towards the company who

even never thought to travel.

2. Value Expressive Function: This function how attitude develops due to lifestyle of a consumer. Cox and kings should facilitate the expression of the

persons centrally held values. Consumers select certain options to express

their values practically for example a Muslim resident of UK may want to go

to the holy places located in Syria, Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia to express his

love to the holy places and personalities practically, Cox and kings should

bring these destinations to its profile.

3. Ego defensive function: this behaviour becomes part of human mentality to

protect man from external threats (emotional) or internal feelings. Such

customers usually do transactions to prove themselves rich and with high

standards of livings. To attract such customers, luxurious options should be

offered in advertisements and profiles of the company. These customers

should realise that they are somewhat better than their fellows after the trips.

4. Knowledge Function: attitude of the consumers developed due to their love to

the knowledge and learning. Now all the locations in the Cox and kings profile

have lot of learning opportunities. For example a major portion of our

population has huge interest in discovering Egyptian secrets, strange

constructions ofLudakh and Tibet etc.

Complete population of UK can be distributed using these four characteristics, now

marketing strategy should be for all these sectors, such commercials should be

designed which talk to the above all categories.

Motivation

Motivation refers to the processes that leads to behave as they do. It occurs when a

need is aroused, which leads to the state of tension that derives the consumer to

attempt to reduce or eliminate it (Solomon, 2009). Motivation is anotherpsychological factor effecting consumers preferences. It is the hidden force that

enables a person to do something. A customer can enjoy a tour using Cox and king

on the other hand there may be a lot of travel and tour companies, then it is the

motivation, the attracting force for the customers towards the business. As every

business wants more and more customers so they have to motivate more and more

customers. People usually make tours in the summer season or during holidays. Cox

and Kings should motivate more and more customers especially in holiday seasons

by advertising fascinating place , using mottos like say good bye to your dull life and


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enjoy the natural beauties etc. not only this I would suggest that company should

reduce its profit margin to bring the cost beard by the customers down. Company

should work for marginal profit techniques instead of total profits. These messages

should also be delivered to the customers.


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References

David Jobber, John Fahy., 2004. Foundations of Marketing. 2 nd Ed. McGraw

Hill Education

David L. Loudon & Albert J. Della Bitta., 1993. Consumer Behaviour. 4th Ed.

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[Accessed on 24th June 2011]

Gaurav Akrani,2010.kalyan City Life, sharing wisdom and vivid memories of

life[online]Availableat:< http://kalyan-city.blogspot.com/2010/07/market-

segmentation-importance-in.html > [Accessed on 20th June 2011]

Graeme Leach, 2011.UK economic outlook Five dragging anchors theUKeconomyin2011[pdf]Availableat: [Accessed on 26th June 2011]

J.Paul Peter, Jerry C. Olson and Klaus G. Grunert., 2008. Consumer Behaviour and

Marketing strategy. European edition. McGraw -Hill Publishing Company

Kotler Philip., 1991.Marketing Management.7 th Ed. Englewood Cliffs, Prentice -Hall

International, Inc Michael R. Solomon., 2002.Consumer Behaviour. 5 th Ed. Prentice-Hall International,

Inc

Nation Master, 2003.[online] Available at:< http://www.nationmaster.com/country/uk -

united-kingdom/Age-_distribution> [Accessed on 25 th June 2011]

Paco Underhill., (1999). Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping. New York: Simon &

Schuster

Peter D. Bennet., 1989. Dictionary of Marketing Terms. Chicago, IL: Marketing

Association

Private Tours[online]Available at:< http://www.coxandkings.co.uk/private-tours>

[Accessed on 22nd June 2011]

Private Groups[online]Available at:< http://www.coxandkings.co.uk/privategroup.aspx>[Accessed on 22nd June 2011]

http://gillessaraillon.files.wordpress.com/2011/0 6/segmentation_analysis.pdf

http://www.coxandkings.co.uk/aboutus-history.aspx

(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/country_profiles/1038 758.stm )

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The United Kingdom is Made Up of England