Marketing Management: Market Research, Airline Strategy & Home Plus

This report delves into various aspects of marketing management, starting with the objectives of market research, including market penetration, brand identity, market potentiality, and competitive scenario analysis. It addresses the challenges faced by the airline industry since 2001, focusing on factors such as oil price fluctuations, economic recession, and carbon emission regulations, highlighting Southwest Airline's strategies like budget carrier concepts and fuel-efficient aircraft. Furthermore, the report analyzes Home Plus's strategic options, suggesting a presence in both discounted and higher-end market segments to expand customer base and increase revenue, while also acknowledging potential disadvantages like business approach dilution and increased operational costs. Desklib provides students with access to this document, offering valuable insights and serving as a resource for similar solved assignments and past papers.

Running head: MARKETING MANAGEMENT
Marketing management
Name of the student
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Question: 1
The proposed market research will be initiated on the basis of a few objectives, which
will be achieved in due course of the action. One of the major issues to be explored by this
market research is the extent of the market penetration of the particular brand along with their
brand identity. This is due to the reason that high end brands are having lower market penetration
but high set of brand identity and value (Barnham 2015). Thus, it should be identified about how
much the branding of this brand in the adult segment will be beneficial in pushing the sales in the
children segment along with determining acceptance level of the brand among the target
audience. On the other hand, it is also important to have the understanding about the market
potentiality of the proposed segment. This is due to the reason that if the potentiality in the
children’s clothing segment is limited and saturated then entering in this sector will not be viable
for the clothing brand. Thus, the market opportunities for the clothing brand will be explored. In
addition, the competitive scenario should also be gauged due to the fact that the more will be the
level of competition in the market, the lower will be the chance of profitability. Determination of
competitive scenario will also involve identification of major marketing forces that are relevant
in this sector. The key objective will be to have the fair understanding about relevant factors to
be considered in having maximum viability from the new sector.
The information to be gathered from the recommended market research will be beneficial
in designing the marketing plan due to the reason that marketing strategies will be initiated on
the basis of the identified relevant factors. Moreover, the trend in the high end children clothing
segment can also be identified through the market research and it will further help in offering the
products accordingly. Thus, the budget in the market plan can be planned effectively based on
the market trend and viability. However, on the other hand, it should also be noted that the

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information to be gathered should be monitored and evaluated in periodical manner in order to
have relevance with the changing real world situation. Thus, amendments and modifications are
important for having the maximum effectiveness of the market research in the marketing plan
and strategies.
Question: 2
Since 2001, airline industry is facing a good number of issues and challenges in their
business operations and these challenges are coming from different environmental factors. One
of the major external factors is the change and fluctuations in the oil price. Different reasons
such as increase in the demand for jet fuel and diplomatic strains among the countries are
responsible for drastic increase in the price of jet fuel. Thus, Southwest airline faced increase in
the cost of operation and reduction in the average profitability. Another major challenge being
faced by Southwest airline in terms of economical factor is emergence of economic recession in
2008 (Alamdari and Fagan 2017). This caused reduction in the purchasing power of the average
customers and growing unemployment, which further led to reduction in the potential customers
for the airline industry. Airline services with their higher end pricing faced the least preferences
compared to other mode of transport among the customers. Another major environmental factor
being faced by Southwest airline is the carbon emission from their fleet. Aircrafts are one of the
biggest contributors of carbon emission and thus a number of regulations for regulating them are
being introduced. Southwest airline faced an added cost in aligning with these regulations and
staying competitive in highly saturated market.
One of the major tactics being initiated by Southwest airline is the introduction of budget
carrier concept. This refers to the trimming of the added expensive services and offering more

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competitive prices. Thus, when customers are least preferring the airline services for their
premium pricing, Southwest airline has being able to offer them more affordable prices to have
more revenue volumes. In addition, they have also inducted fuel efficient aircrafts such as
Boeing 737 in order to have lesser carbon emission and less cost of fuel. Thus, the threat of
increasing cost of jet fuel is being mitigated along with the regulating the carbon emission. It is
being identified that these factors influenced the marketing approach of Southwest airline due to
the fact that they have established as the leading budget carrier in the American market and is
considered the largest in the world. Thus, they have positioned their services accordingly and not
competing with the premium legacy carriers. In addition, trimming of added services are being
marketed as no frills services for the customers. Thus, the marketing strategy of Southwest
airline is different to that of their competitors.
Question: 3
Based on the information given in the case study, it is identified that Home Plus should
have their presence both in discounted market as well as in the higher end segments. This is due
to the reason that Home Plus is already having higher level of market penetration in the
discounted segment and competing against Walmart and Target. Thus, they should increase their
presence in the higher end segment also. Entering in the higher end segments will help Home
Plus to increase and expand their customer base and increase in the revenue level. Moreover, it
should also be noted that higher end products are having higher profit margins and thus
profitability for Home Plus will get enhanced. On the other hand, entering in the higher end
segments will also enable Home Plus to increase their brand image and exclusivity among the
customers. Thus, mass market customers will also feel the sense of availing their products for

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social value. Therefore, it can be concluded that Home Plus should enter in the higher end
segments also.
It should also be noted that the existing business of Home Plus in the discounted segment
should not be halved due to the reason that they are having their major market presence in this
sector only. In addition, the kind of acceptances to be gained by entering in the higher end
market is also not certain (Cross, Belich and Rudelius 2015). Thus, halving the discounted
product business by Home Plus will not prove viable in the long term. In addition, operating in
both the discounted and higher end segments will help Home Plus to have larger sales volume as
well as revenue. There are certain disadvantages also to be faced by Home Plus in initiating new
strategy. One of their major disadvantages will be the dilution of their business approach due to
the fact that having presence in the mass market will reduce the attractiveness among the
premium customers and offering premium products will keep away a good portion of mass
market customers fearing higher pricing. Thus, there is higher probability of getting the strategic
approach of Home Plus getting diluted. Moreover, the cost of operation will further get increased
in maintaining the separate service delivery process for premium and mass market customers. In
this case also, chances of dilution of service process will be more and this will only reduce the
brand attractiveness among the customers.

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Reference
Alamdari, F. and Fagan, S., 2017. Impact of the adherence to the original low-cost model on the
profitability of low-cost airlines. In Low Cost Carriers (pp. 73-88). Routledge.
Barnham, C., 2015. Quantitative and qualitative research: Perceptual foundations. International
Journal of Market Research, 57(6), pp.837-854.
Cross, J.C., Belich, T.J. and Rudelius, W., 2015. How marketing managers use market
segmentation: An exploratory study. In Proceedings of the 1990 Academy of Marketing Science
(AMS) Annual Conference (pp. 531-536). Springer, Cham.