Southwest Marketing Mstakes

1. Airline Customers could be segmented by dividing up the market so that services can then be developed for each part of the market. This could be done in any of the following ways:

a) Demographics: Age, Income, Marital Status

b) Geographic Basis: Location, Market Size

c) Behavior: Flying Behavior, lifestyles

d) Attitudes: Awareness/ Involvement(Flown once, frequent flyer), price sensitivity, convenience

Southwest’s prime targets would be people

a) With Less Income- Low fares would be very attractive

b) Travelling short distance to meet family/friends – No one wants to spend a lot to attend a family funeral or a cousin’s house warming

c) On low budget for business purpose- Companies urging their employees to reduce air fare.

d) Travelling for Sightseeing- tend to shop around for reasonable prices

e) Who are ready to forego amenities and convenience for low fare

f) Who need to travel on a short notice- with 11 flights per day leaving every hour, it would be very lucrative to a customer who needs to travel urgently(not a big market, though)

Segments that are not likely to be Southwest’s main target:

a) People who travel long distance

b) International travelers

c) People who want comfort, food & entertainment

d) Status conscious people

e) People with small kids- such people do not want to travel in cramped spaces and prefer large, comfortable flights.

2. Pros for expansion of Southwest:

a) Growth Opportunity

b) Attract new customers

c) Should embark on flying international

d) Eliminate under performing flights to focus on long haul

Cons of Southwest Expansion:

a) Will have to upgrade to newer aircrafts. Purchase of new planes could be costly.

b) Air fares may have to go up. Lose its price competitiveness.

c) May have trouble expanding into new markets because people chose convenience over small price difference in long haul flights

The objective of every company is to...