WestJet Airlines Marketing Mix (4Ps) & Marketing Strategy
Marketing strategy of WestJet Airlines through marketing mix framework which covers the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion).
WestJet Airlines Product Strategy:
WestJet Airlines is one of the most prominent airlines based out of Canada. The product is something which earns capital for the company while offering something to the customers which they value. WestJet Airlines' product is its flights and travel assistance it provides to the customers. The product of WestJet Airlines also follows the principal of 4 I's of a service - Inseparability, Intangibility, Inconsistency and Inventory which are crucial for the understanding of any service provider. It has more than 350 flights daily between many different cities, countries and regions as a part of its marketing mix product portfolio. It mainly operates in Mexico, the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean countries like the Jamaica, etc. It also has flights connecting these countries. It offers two types of flights - non-stop flights and flights with multiple stoppages in between destinations. WestJet's competitors lack behind in this regard in some regions where they offer only non-stop flights. Its flights as most flights do have 2 categories - business category and economic category hence catering to all kinds of audiences. Its flights are accompanied with various different services like different kinds of cuisines for people of different ethnicities, special care for the elderly, physically weak and blind customers are also provided, etc.
Image: flickr.com/photos/suckamc
This concludes the product strategy in WestJet Airlines marketing mix & strategy.
WestJet Airlines Price/Pricing Strategy:
Below is the pricing strategy in WestJet Airlines marketing mix strategy:
WestJet Airlines follows a competitive pricing strategy. The region in which WestJet operates is highly saturated with many different airlines.
Hence WestJet while offering its services has to keep them in mind and has to constantly update its prices according to the market sentiments. Determination of the price of a flight ticket has many different considerations. One consideration is the overall cost of buying or renting the airbuses. Other considerations are the fuel costs, the salaries of the employees, the profit margins the company wants to achieve, the objectives both short and long term set by the upper management, the competition, etc. One more factor which largely impacts the prices of WestJet Airlines is the various seasons and their different demands. During high demand seasons the industry experiences surge pricing and WestJet also increases its prices shortly. Another important factor is how many number of days is the booking is prior to the flight date. The more close its to the flight's date the higher the price of the flight ticket for the customer. Incentive pricing is also used ie the company occasionally also uses discounts and offers to incentivize customers during short demand seasons.
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WestJet Airlines Place & Distribution Strategy:
Following is the distribution strategy in the WestJet Airlines marketing mix:
WestJet Airlines has a stable supply and network throughout its region, it ensures this by hiring the best operations manager both from the country and from outside Canada. WestJet believes in using the best of technologies to optimize its operations for example it has a collaboration with IBM analytics and uses their software to analyze their company’s performance. One of the major differentiations of WestJet Airlines’ procurement is that rather than only focusing on the product to be bought it builds key strategic ties and this takes care of most of its procurement. It flies to more than 95 destinations in more than 19 countries all across the globe but its main presence is in Canada where it covers more than 30 destinations, the U.S. where it covers more than 20 destinations, the Caribbean islands and Mexico while it is yet to spread out to more countries.
It has a robust network in wherever it is present.
WestJet Airlines Promotion & Advertising Strategy:
The promotional and advertising strategy in the WestJet Airlines marketing mix is as follows:
WestJet Airlines uses multiple channels to promote the airlines which includes both the traditional channels like television ads, radio ads, magazines, etc. It also uses relatively newer methods of promotion like social media marketing and promotion via its social media handles like Facebook handle, Instagram, YouTube, etc. It has a very strong relationship with its customers and as a company has one of the lowest complaints or negative reviews by the customers. It uses innovative marketing by giving special gifts and surprises to its customers. In Christmas it gave a special one of a kind surprise to its customers and called it the Christmas Miracle in which it united loved ones to each other with free tickets of premium flying seats. WestJet has earned a lot of goodwill by being constantly involved in CSR projects and activities like when it helped the wildfire victims. It uses extensive marketing by continuous campaigns on YouTube where it launches videos regularly to stay connected to its customers and reach a wider audience.
Since this is a service marketing brand, here are the other three Ps to make it the 7Ps marketing mix of WestJet Airlines.
People:
People or the stakeholders involved here are the employees and the customers. WestJet has a very integrated HR network with some of the best Aviation institutions in Canada and hires only after carefully verifying the employees and after each one passes specific tests. It treats its employees in the best ways with it being one of the highest paying Airlines. It also offers many other benefits to its employees. Due to these benefits and good relationships it has a relatively low Employee turnover. It has a dedicated CRM program to manage good relationships with the customers and to address their problems proactively.
Process:
WestJet Airlines has one of the most robust process and systems in the airlines and aviation industry of their native country. Its major focus on customer satisfaction and low employee turnover. It ensures this by maintaining a highly efficient system with proper planning of scheduling of the flights, the number of flights between each destinations based on the demand and availability. It uses many analytical and statistical tools for achieving best processing practices in the industry. It ensures that its customer helpline is easily accessible to the customers. It also keeps in focus that customers don’t face any hassle when booking tickets, asking for refunds, asking for some special services, etc.
Physical Evidence:
The physical evidence for WestJet Airlines like any other airlines are its fleet of aircrafts and airbuses. WestJet has a large fleet of aircrafts at more than 100 the fleet size is quite large. Its offices are sprawling and large with comfortable sofas, cushions and other amenities also of the highest standard like the washrooms, etc. Its customer touch points like the customer helpline desks are also having a good design and a welcoming outlook. Other visibility points are its banners, its ads and its employees wearing the WestJet merchandise. This completes the marketing mix of WestJet Airlines.
About WestJet Airlines:
WestJet Airlines is one of the largest Airlines in Canada. It was started in 1996 in Alberta, Canada. It is a public limited company with more than 12000 employees globally. It operates in more than 18 countries all across the world with its flights covering more than 95 destinations between different various regions. Its presence is more prominent in Canada and the U.S.
Its subsidiaries are WestJet Encore, WestJet Link and Swoop. WestJet Airlines has a fleet size of more than 170 and had a revenue of more than US$ 4.5 Billion.
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