IRCTC Marketing Mix (4Ps) & Marketing Strategy
Marketing strategy of IRCTC through marketing mix framework which covers the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion).
IRCTC Product Strategy:
IRCTC offers services that can be classified into:
a. Ticket Reservation System: IRCTC is the official website of Indian Railways which allows people to book online tickets. It offers services like I-Ticket in which the person can book ticket from IRCTC website then the ticket is printed and couriered to the respective person. IRCTC also allows service of booking E-ticket in which an electronic ticket slip is generate and mailed to the person who booked the ticket.
b. Tatkal Ticket booking: This service is generally used by people who have sudden need of travelling. The person can book ticket a day before his actual travel date but this facility comes at a cost of paying premium charges for ticket. Tatkal ticket can be booked between 10:00 am to 11:00 am a day before travel date. And any ticket can be booked under tatkal reservation.
c. Tour Packages: IRCTC offers many tour packages for both domestic and international tourists. Tour packages can be educational tours to adventure tours. It runs tour packages like Bharat darshan etc
d. PNR Checking: IRCTC allows people to check their reservation status and PNR number online.
e. Catering services: IRCTC also allows people to buy food packages online for their travel (on board catering service). IRCTC also runs many food plaza to serve food to people. IRCTC also has its own personal brand of mineral water called as ‘Rail Neer’.
f. Customer support: IRCTC also offers support service to the tourist. A person can enquire about the status of train by dialing 139.
g. Flight booking: Through IRCTC website we can also book flight tickets.
h. Hotel booking: A person can also search and book hotels trough IRCTC website.
All these are a part of the product & service strategy in its marketing mix.
Image: company website
This concludes the product strategy in IRCTC marketing mix & strategy.
Price:
Below is the pricing strategy in IRCTC marketing mix strategy:
IRCTC offers one of the cheapest price tickets to travel around. The pricing strategy of IRCTC is based to provide cheap rate tickets to lower and middle income group of people.
The pricing strategy is also dependent on class of the tickets like sleeper class tickets will cost less but AC 2 tier tickets will cost high. Some of the classes in tickets are: Sleeper class, first class, AC 2 tier, AC 3 tier, AC chair car. IRCTC has now shifted to dynamic pricing of ticket rates which means that as the ticket are getting sold out then the pricing of residual tickets also increases. Also the price of Tatkal booked ticket is much high as compared to normal rates because it caters to people who are in need to book ticket suddenly. Also the pricing policy adopted for tour packages and catering services is very economical as compared to other sources of transport.
IRCTC Place & Distribution Strategy:
Following is the distribution strategy in the IRCTC marketing mix:
IRCTC provides services to people all across the India as Indian Railways has got the largest network of Railways as compared to any other country in the world. The length of the track is about 12 laks km which is spread over a route of around 66 thousand km and total numbers of stations are 7137 in India. IRCTC has also now become the largest e-commerce website in India and it generates revenue which is more than amazon and flipkart combined. The efficiency of IRCTC has also been greatly improved as it now allows 7200 tickets to be booked simultaneously. IRCTC operates and serves 4.5 million people every day across the nation. IRCTC books tickets on 2677 trains operating in India with tatkal ticket booking for 1.7 lakh seats and 11.5 lakh normal birth seat. IRCTC also offers support service to the tourist.
Any person across India can enquire about the status of train by dialing 139.
IRCTC Promotion & Advertising Strategy:
The promotional and advertising strategy in the IRCTC marketing mix is as follows:
IRCTC is the most preferred website to book railway tickets. IRCTC has around 21 million customers registered on their website booking tickets online. IRCTC has got a diversified service portfolio which covers not only railway ticket booking but also air ticket booking, hotel booking, tour packages, catering business and many more. IRCTC is credited to be fastest growing website all over Asia beating major e-commerce giants like amazon and flipkart in terms of revenue generation and number of people visiting website daily. In the year 2014 and 2015, IRCTC was awarded by website of the year award. Also IRCTC has won ‘Best use of App’ award in Mobillion event in the year 2015. IRCTC also runs a loyality program called as Subh Yatra which provides frequent travellers discount on ticket booking and other IRCTC services. IRCTC has also collaborated with State bank of India to provide SBI rail card to people. This is a credit card which gives benefits and discount when used for booking tickets. IRCTC also has a toll free number 139 where people can enquire about status of train or other services.
Since this is a service marketing brand, here are the other three Ps to make it the 7Ps marketing mix of IRCTC.
People:
Indian Railways is one of the biggest employers around the world and comes at 8th position in terms of employees’ strength worldwide. IRCTC which is used to avail the services of Indian Railway employees around 5000 people. The various ranks in organisation structure in IRCTC is IRCTC direct employees, deputation and permanent employees, deemed deputation and deputation absorbers. The IRCTC employees enjoys many perks and benefits provided them by Indian Railways like travel benefits for family members, special discount plans for entire family, special vacation plans with family, health insurance plan, gratuity plan and many more. IRCTC has also got the widest agent network across India. These agents facilitate in booking tickets for passengers. IRCTC also employees special 24 hour customer support system to resolve queries of travellers. They can be contacted by dialling 139 which is a toll free number.
Process:
The process of booking a ticket from IRCTC is very simple. The traveller first needs to login into IRCTC website. If the user is already a existing user then he did not need to register else the user needs to fill the sign up form giving details about address and other personal details. After signing in the user can search for train by putting destination and source details, also the user needs to put the travel date. IRCTC website searches the train for that route and person can book a ticket. The system generates a PNR number at the end of booking confirmation which is sent to user’s email id. The traveller can check the PNR status to see that the ticket is confirmed or not. IRCTC also allows home delivery of tickets instead of e-tickets. IRCTC also has its own app IRCTC Rail Connect which helps to book ticket using mobiles.
Physical Evidence:
IRCTC provides services to people all across the India as Indian Railways has got the largest network of Railways as compared to any other country in the world. The length of the track is about 12 laks km which is spread over a route of around 66 thousand km and total numbers of stations are 7137 in India. IRCTC has also now become the largest e-commerce website in India and it generates revenue which is more than amazon and flipkart combined. The presence of website is a physical evidence. IRCTC also offer catering services like on board catering to travellers. Also people can book ticket for flights, hotel booking other than railway ticket through IRCTC website. IRCTC also employees special 24 hour customer support system to resolve queries of travellers. They can be contacted by dialling 139 which is a toll free number. Hence, the marketing mix of Indian railway’s IRCTC is completed.
About IRCTC:
IRCTC stands for Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd. IRCTC is a subsidiary of Indian Railways. This public sector enterprise of the Indian Government was incorporated in the year 1999 and it started its operations on 27th September 1999. All the operations of IRCTC come under Ministry of Railways, India. The headquarter of IRCTC is in Delhi, India. IRCTC operates and serves 4.5 million people every day across the nation. IRCTC is largest ecommerce website in India which is the most important revenue generator for Indian Railways. It is the sole player in Railway industry to determine ticketing and other tour packages. IRCTC website has got a maximum capacity to book 7200 tickets simultaneously. IRCTC has around 21 million customers booking tickets online.
IRCTC has got a diversified service portfolio which covers not only railway ticket booking but also air ticket booking, hotel booking, tour packages, catering business and many more. IRCTC books tickets on 2677 trains operating in India with tatkal ticket booking for 1.7 lakh seats and 11.5 lakh normal birth seat.
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