Mr.

A Retail Analysis for

Focusing on Economic and Business Class Trips

Executive summary

Flight Centre Limited is a public company that specializes in the sale of travel services and solutions. The Firm as created an umbrella under which specialized brands, target specific groups of customers with individual needs and wants.

Flight Centre Limited is a service provider of travel solutions and packages offering flights, hotels, holidays, car hire, insurance, cruises, rail passes, travel insurance, coach tours, visas, traveller’s cheques and frequent flyer points redemption. The travel services are tailored to the specific needs of the customer, either personal or corporate. The company has developed several brands to cater more accurately to different sectors of the market. This paper will focus on business, leisure and student trips. To target this sector of the market Flight Centre’s has divided travel tickets into two major categories: Economic class and Business class packages.

The company operates in a difficult market, with several players and little or no barriers to entry. Suppliers such as airlines, hotels and tour operator have a huge bargaining power, not only because they ultimately provide the service that that customer is after, but because the income of the company depends on the sale commission. Due to the nature of the market, the customer also has a lot of bargaining power and competition is fierce. How has Flight Centre limited been able to battle all this and take a leadership position? A conspicuous analysis of Merchandising, Customer Service and attractive store layout will be the key factors that maintains Flight Centre in a sustainable leadership position

Table of Contents

1.0. Introduction 1

2.0. Merchandising and Pricing 2

3.0. Advertising and Promotions 4

4.0. Customer Service and Retail Selling 7

5.0. Store Layout and Design 9

6.0 Recommendations 10

7.0 Conclution 11

8.0 Reference List 12

1. Introduction

The way firms do business has changed dramatically over the years. Initially, firms were product and service oriented; Firms had little interest for knowing the demographics and no feedback was generated from the customers.

With increased competition and choice, power was no longer in the hands of a few supplier services. Customers now have a wide choice of suppliers competing for their dollars, and then, concepts such as brand, differentiation, price, merchandising, advertising, promotion, store layout and customer service management became vital factors to maintain customer’s loyalty. The analysis of these factors enabled the firm to better understand its customer and his or her needs and in turn, provide better products and services that meet the quality and specifications of its customer

This report aims to conduct a detailed field assessment of a well known travel agency called Flight Centre focusing on areas such as Merchandising and Pricing, Advertising, Promotions, Store Layout, Design, Customer Service and Retail Selling. The following report outlines the topics previously mentioned in order to identify weaknesses and provide possible improvements in different key areas.

2. Merchandising and Pricing

Flight Centre is a store that provides the cheapest fares guaranteed by their price beat promise. Flight Centre is heavily advertised on TV and print media and a saturation strategy is used to flood the market with travel outlet stores. The firm aims to provide good quality, at the lowest price focusing on both price and brand image. Internet is a strong advertisement measure, as well as a main interface between the customer and the company.

�Demand pricing policy considers the customer’s price-quality association and gives option to the consumers’ As Flight Centre Limited is a service provider of travel solutions, offering flights, hotels, holidays, car hire, insurance, cruises, rail passes, travel insurance, coach tours, visas, traveler’s cheques and frequent flyer points redemption, the travel services are tailored to the specific needs of the customer, either personal or corporate and provide them with options. The company has also developed diverse types of services to cater more accurately to different sectors of the market. Flight Centre’s services are grouped into two major categories: Economy class and business class

Economic Class

Student Flights is an Economy service, in the sense that the main driver for the customers is low price; the customers are willing to scarify quality over price. Promotion for the brand is done in print media. Because of its strategic location in the heart of Sydney, it targets many surrounding colleges, Universities and Student Agencies.

Business Class

This is the absolute premium service in the Retail Travel sector of Flight Centre Limited. Customers expect high quality and also expect to pay a higher price for it. However, corporate packages are available to diverse entity in order to make business class flight cheaper and keep on going with its remarkable campaign of best prices in the market. The amount of extra services and the focus on luxury and indulgence, target this brand to the elite travelers. This store counts with a strategic location as it is surrounded by large corporations that in one way or another requires Flight Centre services for their employs. In the majority of the cases business people are the main target of this type service.

According to Flight Centre Limited (2007):

“Flight Centre is designed to cater to the frequent and more discerning travellers in search