To what extent the smartbox concept might hit the bull’s eye in Tourism Marketing?
1. Tourism Marketing
1.1. Definition and characteristics
Services marketing have four key characteristics:
Intangibility
A service cannot be seen, touched, held or put on a shelf. Difficulty of ownership
Simultaneity
(Inseparability of production + consumption) Mostly, the production and consumption of the service performance occur simultaneously
Heterogeneity
(Variability)It is hard for a service organization to standardize the quality of its service performance
Perishability
Most services cannot be produced or stored before consumption, they exist only at the time of their production
1.2. Stakes and limits
“7P’s of Services Marketing”
– Product- Services : There are offered by companies and retailers so the realisation is not sure and not under the smart box company power.
– Price : find a good price and compromise with the retailers in order to offer a good relation between the good, quality and the price
– Place: There is different possibilities for SME, join a network of similar companies (such as Logis de France or Best Western) or stay independent but the necessity to work with a distributor is more and more present.
– Promotion : “Techniques used to stimulate the short term demand, improving the rhythm or the purchase level of a product or a service by customers or intermediaries”, (Wendy Spinks, University of the sunshine coast, Australia).
The competition is more and more important so the companies need to differentiate themselves. Due to the crisis, the customer is more and more exigent.
Two different ways can be used:
– Psychological: motivate the client by the promise of specific advantages
– Tangibles/ Materials: give information to the clients thanks to visual and physical supports (flyers, brochures, stickers…)
– People: Employees here are from every distribution channel, retailer and the Smartbox company, that is why it is really hard to be sure about their performance.
– Process :
– Physical Evidence : boxes are giving tangibility and evidence to the goods and services proposed, for that the fact that these boxes are available in the different channel is a good point.
1.3. Evolution and development
According to Philippe Callot, in Tourism there is a continual improvement of what is done and offered. It is important to innovate and bring out new applications to make the most of it and be successful. (“Tourisme et PME” p23, Philippe Callot. Edition Lavoisier, 2006. ESCEM)
Tourism is a sector really important in our society and always moving, however because of the crisis and the fear of people, new tools, goods or services must be developed and bring out in order to push on this market. For instance, the development of the smart box concept is innovative and trying to touch a new market. Moreover, one of the key factor of the success in this market is the loyalty of the customer. Preventivi gratuiti