Issues in the product, price and place elements of Thomas Cook

Travel and tourism are considered as one of the fastest growing sectors in the world that are increasing due to changing preferences of the world population. In the fast-paced life, people prefer to travel in order to enjoy and relax. The travel and tourism sector contributes largely to the economy of the country due to increased tourists. Additionally, the travel and tourism industry contributes largely to the employment of the country thereby, improving the economy of the country (Roxas & Chadee, 2013). The travel and tourism sector has several business organizations that have resulted in fierce and tough competition. Thus, the business organizations in the travel and tourism sector need to implement appropriate marketing strategies in order to achieve their organizational goals and objectives as well as fight with the competitors. Appropriate and innovative marketing strategies provide an opportunity for the business organizations in the travel and tourism sector to create a unique image in the eye of the target customers thereby, ensuring business expansion and maximizing revenues (Surugiu & Surugiu, 2013).

This report introduces Thomas Cook, a travel and tourism in the UK that aim towards launching it’s summer 2018 holidays for Morocco. This report highlights the significance of the role of the marketing mix in the travel and tourism industry along with discussing the issues in the product, price and place in terms of the Thomas Cook’s 2018 holidays for Morocco. Additionally, the report also discusses the significance of service sector marketing mix and the Thomas Cook help sheet.

The key elements of the marketing mix include product, price and place that play a significant role while the business organization launches a new service product in the market. While deciding the marketing mix strategies of the particular product or service, the business organizations encounter various challenges and issues that result in the loss of valuable resources such as time and cost. Similarly, Thomas Cook also encountered various challenges in terms of product, price and place while launching the summer 2018 holidays for Morocco (Leeflang et al., 2014). 

Product

This is because the Thomas Cook provides intangible service that makes the customers think twice before using the services. Thus, in this case, product classification mainly highlights the service that Thomas Cook has built for the target customers. The product portfolio of Thomas Cook highlights all the services offered by the company in their summer 2018 holidays to Morocco. Thus, the total tourism product includes the flights fare, accommodation, meals, sightseeing and local conveyance along with tourist guide. As the services provided by Thomas Cook in the holiday package needs to be within the range of limited capital, the company encounter issues in deciding their tourism services and products. The main factors of the service include accommodation, services, ease of destination and attractiveness of the destination thereby, making it difficult to manage (Huang & Sarigollu, 2014). Selling a product or service successfully brings back money to the business organization. Thus, one of the major issues while deciding the product or service is the target customers of the organization. This is because the preferences and demands of the target customers vary to a certain extent that is difficult to include in the service. Considering the demands and needs of all the customers separately is an issue due to the vastness of target population. Additional issues while developing the service that business organization encounters include unique selling points and the competitive edge over the competitors. As the travel and tourism sector is crowded with companies with similar services, deciding unique services at times is extremely challenging (Mintz & Currim, 2013).

Assessing the significance of service sector mix elements to the travel sector

Price

In the marketing mix, the price is another factor that creates potential challenges for the travel and tourism business organizations. As commented by Fan, Lau and Zhao (2015), based on the price, the product and service of the business organizations are sold. The price of the products or services helps in attracting and creating an image in the eye of the target customers. Thomas Cook also faced issues in terms of price while launching their summer 2018 holiday to Morocco. The factors affecting pricing strategy in the travel and tourism industry includes the differences in preferences among the individuals. It has been seen that the companies use multiple pricing strategies for launching new products, as this provides an opportunity to cover the cost effective unless the company wanted to expand their customer base. Similarly, Thomas Cook has also used multiple pricing strategy for their summer offer. As mentioned by Hanssens et al., (2014), the worth of the service is determined by the amount the target customers are willing to pay. However, as argued by Helm and Gritsch (2014), the willingness to pay for a particular product vary from individuals to individuals. Thus, it is difficult for the travel and tourism business organizations to fix a price. This is because some customers prefer to pay less while considers lower price with low quality service. While launching the summer 2018 holidays to Morocco, Thomas Cook might also encounter issues in terms of the pricing of the services and products due to the difference in the preferences of the potential customers.

Place

The place is another significant factor in the marketing mix while launching the new product and the service. As commented by Davari and Strutton (2014), the place in the marketing mix determined the place where the product was developed or the service offered to the customer. Thus, the product is developed at a place but transported to other places thereby, increasing the sales. The business organizations in the travel and tourism industry need to consider the wide range of demands and needs of the customers (Chen & Chang, 2013). The objectives of place in the marketing mix is to ensure that the product or service reaches the customers without hindrances. As Thomas Cook sells service, the impact of physical distribution channel and logistics are negligible. However, Thomas Cook implements vertical marketing, as this provided an opportunity for the producer, wholesaler and retailer to work together and fulfil the demand of the customers. Thus, Thomas Cook needs to consider the place the target customers want to visit in Morocco for developing and launching summer 2018 holidays. This is often an issue because the travel and tourism companies have to develop more than one holiday packages. This is because it is difficult for the companies to provide travel plan that includes all the spots within a particular destination due to budget and resource locations (Krause et al., 2016). Similarly, Thomas Cook also encountered issues while deciding the places in the package within limited budget and resources and fulfilling the needs and demands of the customers.

Applying the concept of the total tourism product to Thomas Cook

The marketing mix elements in the service sector are important, relevant and pertinent in the travel and tourism industry. Physical evidence, people and process play a crucial role in travel and tourism sector apart from the 4 Ps of the marketing mix that includes product, price, place and promotions (Sreenivas, Srinivasarao & Srinivasa, 2013). Thus, physical evidence, process and people play a significant role in ensuring the delivery of best service in the travel and tourism industry. Thomas Cook needs to ensure the successful implementation of physical evidence, process and people while launching it’s summer 2018 holidays to Morocco. 

Process

In the travel and tourism sector, the process of service is worshipped as this allows the business organizations to provide service to the target customers. As commented by Magnusson et al., (2013), developing hassle free service for the customers is necessary that can be ensured by the confident and robust processes followed by the companies. Thus, Thomas Cook needs to aim towards developed finely processed and hassle free services for the target customers in their summer 2018 holidays to Morocco. Thomas Cook can achieve this by using their robust and confident business processes in the travel and tourism sector. However, as argued by Nufer (2013), the customers prefer availing services that do not force them to compromise with their demands, needs and expectations. Thomas Cook needs to deliver the services that do not compromise with the quality of the package. This will help Thomas Cook to attract more customers and maximize the sales of summer 2018 holidays to Morocco. Another significant aspect of the process service mix is that the service consists of the blueprint before establishing the service offerings (Tyagi et al., 2015). This provides an opportunity for the business organization in the travel and tourism industry to outline the way the company will provide the service to the target customers. Thus, Thomas Cook needs to outline the way they are going to provide the service in summer 2018 holidays to Morocco to the target customers.

People

People are another significant aspect of the service marketing mix, as this determines the quality of the people working in the company. As commented by Gilaninia, Taleghani and Azizi (2013), the employees are the backbone of the company, as they help in creating an impact on the target customers and expand the customer base gradually. It can be said that the quality of the service marketing mix is largely dependent on the employees such as the front-end executives and managers working for the company (Benur & Bramwell, 2015). This is because these employees interact with the target customers on behalf of the company and sell their service packages. Additionally, the behaviour of the employees with the customers helps in defining the probability of developing the loyal customer base for the business organizations (Mihai, 2013). Thus, Thomas Cook needs to ensure that the employees working for them are well trained, well behaved, disciplined and empathetic while communicating with the target customers. This will help in creating a loyal customer base by Thomas Cook and maximize the sale of summer 2018 holidays to Morocco. Thus, people is one of the significant factors in the service marketing mix, as the employees largely determine the likeability and reputation of the business organization in the eye of the target customers (Sreenivas, Srinivasarao & Srinivasa, 2013).

Physical evidence

Physical evidence highlights the tangible products that are offered to the customers while selling them the product or service. The services provided by the business organizations in the travel and tourism industry are mostly intangible in nature (Astuti, Silalahi & Wijaya, 2015). Thus, it is essential for the service sector to add different tangible factors in terms of the physical evidence while providing service to the target customers. For instance, in the travel tourism sector, the various physical evidence offering includes the accommodation selected by the company and type of meals offered arranged by the company for the customers (Sreenivas, Srinivasarao & Srinivasa, 2013). Thus, Thomas Cook can use physical evidence as the major differentiator while launching their summer 2018 holidays to Morocco by providing unique and innovative service offerings to the target customers. The physical evidence also provides an opportunity for the business organizations in the travel and tourism industry to gain a competitive advantage over the competitors in the market (Fuchs & Unger, 2013). Therefore, by offering unique service in terms of accommodation, meals and activities in the summer 2018 holidays to Morocco, Thomas Cook can create a unique eye in the eye of the target customers and stand out from their rivals in the market.

Total tourism product is defined as the group of elements and products that the business organizations in the travel and tourism industry offer in a bundle that aims towards satisfying the needs of the customers. As commented by Srinvasan, Rutz and Pauwels (2016), the tourism product is the entire experience of the visitors that are influenced by the attraction, consumption and acquisitions offered by the companies. The needs of the customers are satisfied when business organizations in the travel and tourism industry tend to fulfil their needs and demands. 

The main features of individual tourism product include:

Primary need of the tourists

Primary tourist need is considered as an individual tourist product that encourages a person to for taking a holiday trip in order to relax and enjoy away from the fast paced life.

Secondary need of the tourists

The secondary needs of the tourist rise when the individuals make the decision of going for a trip (Phan & Vu, 2015). As known, the total tourism product constitutes the entire needs of the target customers that are included in a single package such as accommodation, meals, transports, and sightseeing and leisure activities. Thus, the specific tourism product for summer 2018 holidays to Morocco by Thomas Cook includes the accommodation along with the meals, sightseeing, and transport and leisure activities offered by the company to the target customers.

The various offerings provided in the summer 2018 holidays to Morocco is influenced by the following characteristics:  

Combination of intangible and tangible products: The total tourism product offered by Thomas Cook in summer 2018 holidays to Morocco includes both tangible and intangible product mix (Sreenivas, Srinivasarao & Srinivasa, 2013). The tangible features of the offer include the meals, transports and accommodation whereas the intangible features include the sightseeing and leisure activities offered in the package by Thomas Cook in summer 2018 holidays to Morocco.

Core product: The duration of the package and the places to be visited forms the core product of the summer 2018 holidays to Morocco by Thomas Cook. 

Product development: The product development is crucial for the business organizations in the travel and tourism industry. This is because the development of the product determines the success of the new tourism package developed by the business organizations. Thus, Thomas Cook needs to develop their summer 2018 holidays to Morocco appropriately that will determine the success of the tourism package. One of the methods of efficient product development includes considering the feedback of the customers. As commented by Gmelin and Seuring (2014), considering the customer’s feedback provides an opportunity for the business organizations to develop products that fulfil the needs and demand of the customers. As a result, the target customers feel valued and significant for the business organization thereby, ensuring customer loyalty. Additionally, considering the feedback from the customers also allows the business organizations to develop products that the customers want at an affordable price (Sreenivas, Srinivasarao & Srinivasa, 2013). Thus, while developing summer 2018 holidays to Morocco Thomas Cook needs to consider the customer feedbacks that will help in maximising the sales of the service package.

Conclusion

In this report, it can be concluded that travel and tourism is one of the growing business sectors of the country that contributes largely towards the economic growth of the country. As a result, tough competition among the business organizations in the travel and tourism is prevalent. Thus, marketing is the key factor that provides an opportunity for the business organizations to create a unique image in the eye of the customers. In this report, Thomas Cook is planning to launch summer 2018 holidays to Morocco. Thus, implementing the service marketing mix is essential for Thomas Cook for attracting the customers and maximizing the sales of the service. However, Thomas Cook encounters challenges while developing the service due to the difference in product, price and place in the service package. This is due to the varied expectations, needs and demands of the individual customers in the target market segment. Additionally, the significance of the service marketing mix is also analysed in the report that Thomas Cook needs to follow to attract more customers. People, physical evidence and process are the significant service marketing mix that Thomas Cook needs to follow for the successful launch of summer 2018 holidays to Morocco. Additionally, Thomas Cook has to provide both tangible and intangible features in the single package that fulfil the needs and demands of the customers thereby, making it successful. 

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