Discuss about the Strategic Destination Marketing and Management.
Understanding consumer behavior is an essential aspect of any business. This helps organizations in gaining a deeper insight regarding the buying preferences and attitudes of customers (Horner & Swarbrooke, 2016). There are several ways of understanding consumer buying behavior including questionnaire, surveys or observation. There are several factors that impact consumer’s buying behavior. This includes their cultural backgrounds, economic and financial status, age, previous shopping experiences and several personalities attributes (Jankingthong & Gonejanart, 2012). This report aims to understand the consumer buying behavior of three individuals who are deciding between six holiday destination options. The three people come from different backgrounds, financial conditions, personal responsibilities and age groups. The first respondent is a 19 year old male from Australia. The second respondent is a 43 year old female from Canada. Lastly, the third respondent is a 51 year old male from China.
The six holiday destinations that have been mentioned include European countries (Spain, Italy and France), Las Vegas, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Gold Coast and Barossa Valley. All the six destinations are offering a different experience to its customers. The six options are even priced differently.
Personality of an individual has a large impact on their buying behavior (Li, Li & Hudson, 2013). Personality is a combination of characteristics or qualities that form an individual’s distinct character. Before understanding their behavior towards the holiday package, let us understand their personality in detail. The first respondent is young, full of life, open to new experiences and predominantly an extrovert. The second respondent is a married woman who is careful, efficient and feels highly for the need for uniqueness. Her husband is the predominant decision maker in the family and hence her need for power is high. She is very well educated and can make informed decisions. The last respondent is an old male in his early fifties from China. He is highly careful and very efficient. He tends to make careful decisions. He is a bit of an introvert. The decisions in his family regarding holidays are made by his wife and sometimes himself.
There are various factors that impact the travel decision of an individual. Cost is one of the most important factors for people while planning their travel (Mahika, 2011). Personality of an individual decides the kind of role that cost can play in understanding consumer behavior (Mullen & Johnson, 2013). For the third respondent, the cost of the package is very important. What we understand from his personality is that he is very sensible and efficient. Therefore he tries to manage his budget in an effective manner.
The travel itinerary of people may include activities which will offer a different experience to customers. Personality plays a strong role in defining the importance of these activities. Someone with an extrovert personality who is open to new experiences would be largely influenced by the activities that he or she will get to experience during the travel. In fact, for a customer who is open to new experiences will surely value new and fun activities in their travel itinerary. On the other hand, for an introvert who is planning a holiday in order to be at peace and observe the nature, these activities will be of little importance.
An individual’s personality widely impacts their buying behavior while planning their travel (Rucker & Galinsky, 2012). The second respondent who is a 19 year old male preferred to go to Las Vegas. This is because the city is active and renowned as the city of sin. For someone that age, partying at Las Vegas is fun idea of travel. On the other hand, the 43 year old lady preferred to travel to Barossa Valley. With its wine tasting and stay in four star hotels, the trip is an elegant choice. Since she is an extrovert, she will be able to have good time and probably meet some likeminded people in the process. The third respondent preferred to visit Hong Kong because of the food safari tour, sightseeing and shopping experience. This kind of an experience is best suited for families who wish to travel together and wish to explore the local culture of a new place.
Personality of individuals influences decision making too. People with a pompous personality would focus on luxury and travel by business class. Here all the three respondents have selected options where they would have to travel by economy class. This suggests that the travel is a very small and insignificant part of their journey. This depicts the down to earth and grounded part of their personality. Moreover, the difference in personality is clearly evident in respondent choices too. The second respondent would prefer to visit Barossa Valley for Wine tasting. However, the first respondent who is much younger and has a very energetic personality has considered this option as his last.
Demographical factors of an individual’s personality also impact individual buying behavior. This includes their age, cultural background, country of origin, income and ethnicity (De & Hofstede, 2011). Age specifically determines various consumer behavior patterns (Cantallops, 2014). There are a number responsibilities and life choices that come with age. Elders have more roles to play while children have relatively less disposable income and decision making.
As discussed before cost of the entire travel package significantly impacts individual buying behavior. Age for that matter largely impacts the weightage that individuals put to cost of the package as a deciding factor. For example, the first respondent has expressed a high weightage carried by cost of the entire package in his travelling decision. This is probably because he is young and his pretax income is also not much. Hence it becomes important for him to factor in the cost of the entire package. On the other hand, the lady in her early forties is probably at the peak of her career with a high disposable income. Therefore she will consider other factors a lot more than cost.
Another important factor that is largely impacted by the age of customers is the duration of travel. This is an important factor that must be considered while making a travel plan. Every individual has their own set of responsibilities. The packages for any holiday must be designed in a manner that the duration of the holiday is appropriately defined. This duration of travel will hold a different value for different customers. The first respondent does not consider the duration of the travel as an essentially deciding factor. However, for the other two respondents, duration of the travel is very important. This is because with increasing age, people have increased responsibilities and hence they will probably plan a holiday for a small break in the midst of their busy lifestyles.
Conclusion
Understanding of consumer behavior pattern is critical to the success of a business. If any service is unable to identify or analyze its target market’s buying behavior then the business is bound to fail (Goh & Heng, 2013). In the survey, option 3 which is a 15 day cruise in New Zealand has been the least preferred package yet. There are several factors that impact a customer’s buying behavior or patter.
Identification of target market is highly important for the success of any business (Wilson & Gilligan, 2012). The New Zealand package does not have a well defined target market. The activities have not been defined effectively and hence do not cater to a specific market. Therefore the first recommendation to this package would be to gain a clear understanding of the target market. Once target market is identified, efforts must be put to attract this market. In order to do so, activities and other details of the travel should be specified. Every target market would have different preferences (Zhao et. al., 2014). Hence it is important that their needs are identified in order to change the offering.
Pricing strategies are also critical to influencing the consumer behavior pattern (Solomon et. al., 2014). A fifteen night cruise is priced at $1633 which includes accommodation and food. It is unclear exactly what the travelers would be doing at the cruise for fifteen days and how will these facilities be charged. Once the person is on a cruise, they have no other option but to avail services from the cruise itself. Therefore the prices of other activities must also be specified. Transparency in pricing strategy and lack of hidden costs influence customers positively by building trust (Godey et. al., 2016). The second recommendation would be to introduce a more transparent and detailed pricing strategy.
The duration of the entire travel package is also very long. Most of the people do not plan such long holidays on a cruise. A cruise can ideally be for three to four days. The third recommendation would be to reduce the duration of the stay.
Value added services have a positive impact on customer buying behavior (Xiang et. al., 2015). It has been noted that this cruise package is not offering any value added services. Since it is the least preferred option, offering certain value added service will help in attracting customers.
Effective research towards understanding consumer behavior patterns is highly important for any business (Cantallops & Salvi, 2014). A deeper insight about customer preferences and buying patterns can help businesses mold their product offerings in an effective manner so as to attract the right customers (Wang & Pizam, 2011). The sample size of 3 people is relatively small and it is difficult to understand a defining pattern. However, the aim of the report was to throw light on the importance of understanding customer behavior. A detailed understanding will not only assist businesses in attracting customers but their offerings can also be customized for enhanced customer affinity and loyalty.
References
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