Question:
Analyze the Five Stages of Consumer Purchase Decision of Qatar Airways.
Consumer behavior is a study which is related to the individuals or groups using, buying or disposing a product to fulfill the wants and needs. Customers usually spend a lot of time to choose a product or a service. This paper will highlight the consumer buying decision process of Qatar Airways. Qatar Airways is the one of the leading airline operator linking more than 150 destinations across South Asia, Central Asia, Africa, Middle East, South America and many other countries. It is necessary to understand the customer’s buying decision. This paper will also carry out further investigation as to how the Qatar airways try to fulfill the needs of the potential customers and interact with them accordingly (Rezaei 2015). It is also necessary to find out important ways as to how the organization will improve its profitability by attracting more customers. In case of Qatar Airways, it is the consumer buying behavior which determines the services that are generated by the company. Moreover, it is also necessary that the company will provide the correct information to the customers and thus this will improve the profitability of the company. Consumer behavior is straight forward decision making process. However, in case of choosing an airline industry, as the process is expensive and it involves high amount of risk, the complex buying behavior of the passengers is involved. The customers also evaluate the possible alternatives and they put more emphasis on searching the information and then applying it to the buying behavior (Horner and Swarbrooke 2016).
Five steps of consumer buying process of Qatar airways and their interaction with the customer
There are five steps of the consumer decision making process. The end result will lead to the purchase of the service. However, every consumer will not end in purchasing or preferring the service provided by Qatar Airways due to its high price. The middle class consumers cannot afford to travel in the premium class of Qatar Airways and hence they will prefer to choose cheaper airline. But the services which are provided by Qatar Airways will not be provided by other airline industry (Oppewal et al. 2015).
The first stage is associated with the need recognition of the customers so that it becomes easier for Qatar Airways to understand the demands of the customers and accordingly provide them the desired service. The customers will be looking for such service where they will get all the service in an affordable cost. The consumers will also be facing problem if the ticket rates are very high. The price of tickets of Qatar Airways is comparatively higher because of its premium service. However, the customers will be attracted towards Qatar Airways because of the facilities which they receive from them. The customers can enjoy a comfortable journey and the management committee of Qatar Airways will also help the customers in every possible way (Mithas et al. 2013).
The second stage of consumer buying decision is information search. In this stage, customers will review the benefits and the facilities that are provided by the airline industry. A good information research will help the customers to find out other alternatives of Qatar Airways. Consumers will get more information of Qatar Airways in their official websites or they will also be attracted by the different kinds of advertisements which are published in social media or other advertisement modes. Another leading form of advertisement that will be effective is through the opinion leaders where the consumers try to buy the tickets after gathering the experience from the customers who have travelled in Qatar Airways. These customers try to deliver their wonderful experience in the airway and thus they attract other customers or refer their friends and family for travelling through Qatar Airways (Bowie et al. 2016).
The third stage of consumer buying behavior is the evaluation of alternatives in which the consumers tries to evaluate all the alternatives and compares the price, quality and the service. The customers try to compare all the possible alternatives and choose the airline which will fulfill their needs in an affordable cost. Moreover, the consumers also want to compare the facilities and the service quality rather than the price. There are many other alternatives of Qatar Airways such as Emirates, Ethiad where the consumers can get the tickets at an affordable price and they can also avail some services similar to Qatar airways. The management committee of Qatar Airways will try to attract more customers by showing its premium service and the classic lounge service provided to the customers (Bruce 2016).
The fourth stage is the purchase decision and the purchase of the service by the consumers. In this stage, the consumers decide whether they will be willing to purchase the service of Qatar Airways. The customers of Qatar Airways can purchase the ticket through online mode where they can set their preference for seat. The customer’s area also provided with the option to choose various meals, beverages, snacks and many other facilities while they are on board. The customers can also purchase the ticket from their nearest Qatar booking office or they are even provided support from the salesperson. The amount of the ticket is paid either in cash or in card. Most consumers prefer to pay through their cards. There is also a provision of purchasing the tickets ahead of the date and getting attractive discounts (Shaw 2016).
The final stage is the post evaluation purchase which is associated with the outcome of the purchase of a service or a product by the customer. The customers will be satisfied after travelling through Qatar airways. They will be happy with the meals that are provided in their journey. This helps the consumer in making their journey satisfactory and they will also get the desired comfort and pleasure while travelling through Qatar Airways (Lerrthaitrakul and Panjakajornsak 2014.).
In the present world of a geared up pace, which is maintained in each sector of the market relying on customer base, among all is the sales segment surrounding any organization. It becomes an utter difficulty for the organization to gain the customer attention as in a blink of the eye, brand new competitors, surface in the horizon of the target market. Contemporaries in this case are a major challenge to deal with to maintain the pace in the race. The most important methodology involved in the enhancement of the customer base is the improvement of the customer relationship through developing the customer service in a better way. The quality of the product is important but is not the only factor that influences the purchase rate for the organization. The major pointer that the customer links with any organization is the interaction power and the quality provided to them. In reference to the literature review provided there are mentioned steps for the enhancement in the same in a relative way. The literature provides behavioral aspects linked with the purchasing procedures involved in the system. This brings forward five relevant steps in scenario` the recognition of needs, relevant field research, the anticipation of alternatives, the purchasing decision and the post purchase communication, the customer is subjected to. Every start up requires a strong customer relationship and loyalty from their end, to develop as grand stature. Two major aspects as is queried, exists in the realm of recommendations for the organization to increase the purchase rates for the selected organization, namely, new bookings and Customer Loyalty (Yeoman 2016). The opportunities and the solutions relative to these are presented in the upcoming sections of the report.
As a business owner, the prior need is to enhance the client base as that is the lifeline for Qatar Airways. Consistent streaming of new customers is healthy for the steady growth of the organization. This helps to achieve the set objectives and build a profound foundation. There are certain approaches that can in a way enhance the budding of new customers and attract them to purchase the products and henceforth, the purchase rates would increase. These are presented as follows in this section. Firstly, discovering the ideal customers is a priority for strategically setting the target base for Qatar Airways. With knowledge of the type of customers, the product is apt for; a composite plan can be strategized for the further marketing of the product. A little amount of thinking is important be it relatively emotional or logical to have a streamlined focus towards the service areas possible for the targeting market. Secondly, the research relative to the market and the customers is extremely beneficial and important for the further conquests. A vivid understanding of the business model and goals is important to build a firm knowledge about the products and the nature of the service that should be practiced to attract the new budding client stream. The background of the product and the service provides the details that need to be strategized. Thirdly, approach with direct response marketing: this would help the service providers to reach the customers for through the digital set up and hence providing the target base with more information about the product. The advertisement through emails and social platforms is effective in this era of business. Creating ideas that will compel the idea of the product towards the target base is an ideal approach in this case. It is very important to display that the organization understands the necessities of its clients. Fourthly, developing attitudes towards the customer is very important to convince the customers to avail the services. Finally, never forget to maintain a follow up with the customers; this is organization’s responsibility to close the loop. The detailing as well as the finishing quality of the execution is very important to maintain with the clients (Sharma et al. 2014).
Brand loyalty is one of the most important aspects for any organization to achieve. Working hard to achieve success is extremely important while customer retention and brand loyalty are comparatively more valuable, as further studies and researches show that 30 to 40% of revenue for the organizations is based on the returning clients for the services. Some approaches towards increment of the customer loyalty is vividly presented in the following: firstly, the customer service is a priority for any organization even maintain on the social grounds is equally valuable. The need for loyal customers will be rewarded only if the services provided gains a score following their evaluation based on the staff interactions even after the purchase of the product. The staff in charge of the purchase segment should be friendly and understanding enough towards their needs and feedback about the service and any product related details. Secondly, a rewarding system should exist for the customers to feel interested towards repetitive availing of the services. set up an infrastructure or model relative to the sales, which would offer discounts, gifts and exclusive vouchers for a certain amount of purchasing level. Thirdly, as mentioned customer feedback system is equally important, wherein, the organization should set up communication to gather advices and information about the product performance from the customers to improve the future sales. Fourthly, offer some relevant conveniences for the customers in terms of delivery time and venue, and the raised queries from the customers. Finally, your approach should not only be based on money, conducting an appreciation event is important for the long haul (Epstein and Buhovac 2014).
Conclusion
Customer relationship management (CRM), as found via researches and studies is solely responsible for the interlinking of global market and the target client base to develop a sustainable purchasing rate for the big and small organizations. Major factor contributing to this system of management is the understanding of the preferences lead forward by the customer base, which helps develop the detailing of the product and services offered by the organization. The relevant measures as set in the recommendation segment should be channelized to develop a sustained customer base as well as an efficient CRM, benefiting the organization. As CRM is based on the existing marketing beliefs to prioritize and know the customers like an individual. This is a system to integrate the strategies set to achieve the objectives and goals of the organization. Innovative initiatives regarding the improvement of customer communication with the support of the available technologies might prove to be efficiently beneficial.
References
Bowie, D., Buttle, F., Brookes, M. and Mariussen, A., 2016. Hospitality marketing. Taylor & Francis
Bruce, P.J., 2016. Understanding decision-making processes in airline operations control. Routledge.
Epstein, M.J. and Buhovac, A.R., 2014. Making sustainability work: Best practices in managing and measuring corporate social, environmental, and economic impacts. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Horner, S. and Swarbrooke, J., 2016. Consumer behaviour in tourism. Routledge.
Lerrthaitrakul, W. and Panjakajornsak, V., 2014. The impact of electronic word-of-mouth factors on consumers’ buying decision-making processes in the low cost carriers: a conceptual framework. International Journal of Trade, Economics and Finance, 5(2), p.142.
Mithas, S., Krishnan, M.S. and Fornell, C., 2013, May. Why do customer relationship management applications affect customer satisfaction?. American Marketing Association.
Oppewal, H., Huybers, T. and Crouch, G.I., 2015. Tourist destination and experience choice: A choice experimental analysis of decision sequence effects. Tourism Management, 48, pp.467-476.
Rezaei, S., 2015. Segmenting consumer decision-making styles (CDMS) toward marketing practice: A partial least squares (PLS) path modeling approach. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 22, pp.1-15.
Sharma, R., Mithas, S. and Kankanhalli, A., 2014. Transforming decision-making processes: a research agenda for understanding the impact of business analytics on organisations. European Journal of Information Systems, 23(4), pp.433-441.
Shaw, S., 2016. Airline marketing and management. Routledge.
Yeoman, I., 2016. The history of revenue and pricing management–15 years and more. Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, 15(3-4), pp.185-196
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