Marketing Plan for Buckingham Palace: External and Internal Analysis

This report presents a comprehensive marketing plan for Buckingham Palace, the official residence of the British monarch. It begins with an introduction to the palace and its significance, followed by an external market analysis using PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, and Environmental) factors to assess the country's environment and its impact on the tourism industry. An internal analysis, employing SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats), evaluates the palace's internal capabilities and challenges. The report then outlines specific marketing objectives, including increasing sales, building brand awareness, growing market share, and targeting new customers. Segmentation criteria are discussed to identify potential visitors based on demographic and psychographic factors. The report also covers market positioning, suggesting a differentiation strategy to highlight the unique experience offered by the palace. Finally, it details the marketing mix (Product, Price, Place, and Promotion), providing insights into the palace's offerings, pricing strategies, location, and promotional activities to attract visitors. The report concludes with a summary of the key findings and recommendations for future marketing efforts.

RUNNING HEAD: Marketing 0
Buckingham palace
Marketing

Marketing 1
Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................2
External analysis of Market...................................................................................................................2
Internal analysis of Buckingham palace................................................................................................3
Objectives set for Buckingham Palace..................................................................................................5
Segmentation criteria.............................................................................................................................6
Positioning.............................................................................................................................................7
Marketing Mix.......................................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................9
References...........................................................................................................................................10
Gregory, J. 2015. Buckingham Palace: The Official Residence of England's Royal Family. AV2 by
Weigl...................................................................................................................................................10
Bibliography........................................................................................................................................12
Gregory, J. 2015. Buckingham Palace: The Official Residence of England's Royal Family. AV2 by
Weigl...................................................................................................................................................12
Appendix.............................................................................................................................................13

Marketing 2
Introduction
Buckingham Palace is official and main royal London home for queens. It has been the
official residence of Britain’s empire since 1837. Queen Victoria was the first to live in the
Buckingham palace. The palace is also used for the administrative work for monarchy.
Queens carry out their official and formal duties as head of state of UK in the working
headquarter (Royal Residences: Buckingham Palace, 2018). The state banquet of
Buckingham palace is the highpoint of royal entertaining. In this report, marketing plan for
Buckingham palace is developed. When developing internal analysis, the palace need to
undertake external environmental analysis using situation analysis tools like PESTLE
analysis of country and internal analysis uses SWOT.
(Source: Royal Residences, 2018)
External analysis of Market
The external analysis of market includes PEST analysis of country.
Political factors
The political factors deal with the interference of government in the economy. The local
government and country government are present in the economy of London. London is
headquarter of the government of UK. It hosts various key departments of government. The
security in London cannot be compromised which provides good platform to the tourism
industry. It is considered that the current political stability is likely to remain more stable in
the coming years (Samiee, Chabowski & Hult, 2015). London is located in European nation
and has potential of attracting many tourists.
Economic environment

Marketing 3
Economically the country ranks as sixth city in the world. London had a GDP of $615 billion
and GDP per capita of $74,766 according to the data released by statistics in 2012. The
country has an ease of doing business in it’s environment. The country is economically
potential as pound is being one of the strongest currencies of the world. The analysis of
economic factors includes interest rate, exchange rate, inflation rate and free market analysis.
The current economic condition and future forecast of economy predicts success of
Buckingham palace if investment is made. This palace is likely to generate more revenue as
15 million tourists visit palace every year (Feng, Morgan & Rego, 2015).
Socio cultural environment
The social factors of country deal with cultural factors which affects an organisation. The
native language of country is English. It is considered as official language of doing business
on international level. The adoption of new strategies and policies face some resistance
towards organisational change due to negative approach towards organisational change. The
society is identified to have high low tolerance to uncertainty which means that people are
risk adverse.
Technological environment
Many software and hardware are being invented due to increase in the rate of scientific
innovation. It helps in solving operations of tourism industry (Ribeiro & Faloutsos, 2015).
The waiting time of customers can be reduced by making use of emails. The country has one
of the best transport networks in the world. Heathrow airport is one of the largest airports and
handles 73million passengers every year. The passengers can reach London within a very
short time (appendix).
Internal analysis of Buckingham palace
Every year more than 50,000 people come to visit palace as guests to functions, lunches,
dinners and royal parties. The internal analysis of Buckingham palace includes SWOT
analysis.
Strength
Official ceremonies: Buckingham palace has strong roots in the history of UK. It is the
administration centre of British royal family. The huge building and widespread gardens are

Marketing 4
an important site of official and political affairs in UK. It is equally a major tourist attraction.
The foreign leaders are invited at Buckingham palace for celebratory events and political
meetings.
Convenient visit: It is convenient to visit Buckingham palace as it is open to visitors from 21
July until 30 September. The state rooms are used for court ceremonies. The queen at
Buckingham palace attends a large number of formal and informal guests to palace (Aspridis,
Sdrolias, Kimeris, Kyriakou & Grigoriou, 2015).
Diplomatic Relations: The diplomatic reception is the main occasion in London. It reveals the
importance of queen in the diplomatic relations of country. The diplomatic reception is the
main reception held at Buckingham palace. It takes place every year in early November
(Healey, 2012).
Weakness
Restricted entry: The entry is restricted in the Buckingham palace. General public is allowed
to visit only in the certain period from July to October. Audience is invited only on special
occasions like occasions, lunches and receptions (Visit London, 2018).
Searches less flexible: The searches on Eurostar are less flexible. There is no modifying
search option. So, a person has to adjust dates and times and have to start again from scratch.
No clear information about ticket collection: The customers can print tickets at home or at a
faster ticket machine. The customers travelling to London are advised to do this before 45
minutes of departure. But there is no third option of mailing tickets for the people who do not
have printer (Royal Collection Trust, 2018).
Opportunities
More trains: The closest station to Buckingham palace is London Victoria. More trains can be
connected to London by Eurostar. The regular service by Eurostar can create more
opportunities.
Social events: The Buckingham palace can increase number of social events. The public is
always excited to attend events at the palace. So, it is a huge opportunity for the palace to
increase share of marketing. More social events lead to more service by Eurostar.

Marketing 5
More meetings of government: More meetings of government can be arranged other than the
weekly audience with prime minister. The number of queen’s garden parties can also be
increased by three (Gregory, 2015).
Threats
Old momentum: It is seen that youngsters now a days are losing interest in old momentums.
They are more interested in visiting new places.
Less diplomatic reception: The diplomatic reception is held just once in a year. It shows
importance of queen in diplomatic relations of country (Madhavaram, Hunt & Bicen, 2017).
Porter’s five force analysis
Barriers to entry (high): To enter into industry one need to acquire different licenses. For
instance, Eurostar need a license for approval to use euro tunnel. There are various safety
laws which are required to meet. The specialised knowledge is also required to meet.
Substitutes (low to medium): There are not possible many substitutes for air and train travel.
E-commerce is good for people who love to shop online. National car holidays can be
reflected as substitutes because people can easily travel by their car to places like Butlins,
Alton towers and more. Latest technologies, TV and internet can be considered as seeing
Buckingham palace and the royal family instead of travelling.
Bargaining power of buyers (high): The buyers can bargain in many ways within the
industry. It is possible by booking early. They can avail tickets at cheap prices and at higher
discounts. There are also student discounts through which students can take visit of
Buckingham palace.
Bargaining power of suppliers (medium): Most of the companies in this industry have same
suppliers for the type of travels such as railway has the same manufacturers. Less availability
of suppliers makes it difficult to bargain.
Rivalry (high): There is rivalry in between airlines and rail in UK. There are various
competitors such as airlines and sea like British airways and P&O.
Objectives set for Buckingham Palace
Increase sales

Marketing 6
Buckingham palace allows audience to visit palace from end of July to beginning of October
every year. The palace can increase it’s sales by increasing number of visiting months. It can
increase market share by organising special and royal exhibitions (Baker, 2016).
Build brand awareness
Buckingham palace is already established and significant office accommodation. It can create
brand awareness by promoting programme of introduction to royal family.
Grow market share
The palace can increase it’s market share by delivering diversity and variety of simultaneous
functions which are critical to the scheduling of royal family programmes. The palace can
expand it’s share by increasing number of formal events and official engagements every day.
Target new customers
Buckingham palace can target new customers by offering discount coupons and special
discounts on it’s website. The customers can be attracted by giving discount to students for
the learning purpose (Fourie & Fourie, 2014).
Segmentation criteria
Segmentation starts by identifying the potential visitors. It allows dividing population into
different groups with similar characteristics. It makes to understand need and want of
customers so that services can be customised and target to groups who prefer to visit
Buckingham palace. Visitors can also be segmented on the basis of socio demographic
characteristics such as age, gender and social class (Camilleri, 2018). The other demographic
information such as age, income, employment rate, education and service preferences can
also be used for segmentation. The ArkLeisure model can be used for segmentation. It can be
divided into three elements known as aspirations, life factors and purchase scenarios.
Aspirations are made on the basis of quality results. The life factors are decided on the basis
of life stage and income. The purchase scenarios are finalised on the basis of preferences,
perceptions, satisfaction, purchase drivers, choices made and purpose of trip.

Marketing 7
Positioning
Positioning refers to the visitor’s perception of a product or service in relation to competitive
products or services. Market positioning refers to the stage of establishing image of a brand
that visitors perceive it in a certain way. The positioning of brand involves marketing the
product or service in a way to create image within the mind set of consumers in the target
market. It requires on going marketing initiatives to reinforce target market perceptions of
product or service.
Buckingham palace can use differentiation strategy to position itself in the mind of
consumers as it provides unique service and consumers will pay more for such service. They
cannot find comparable experience anywhere else in UK. The consumers expect more from
differentiated products.
Cost leadership can also be used by palace as it attempts to position itself in the mind of
visitors as the palace provides service to visitors at a reasonable price and extra discounts can
also be provided to the students.
Marketing Mix
It is a model to boost components of marketing mix. It describes marketing options to meet
specific customers’ needs and demand. It means putting the right product at right place, right
price and right time.
Product
The product or service offered by palace is visit to state rooms, gardens, household cavalry
museum, queen’s gallery, grand stair case, paintings, audio tour, the throne room, flags,
clocks, state banquet in ball room and the special exhibition.
Price
A genuine price is charged by palace to take visit. Buckingham palace is open to public in
summers from 21 July to 30 September. The tickets can be booked in advance to visit royal
family’s palace and queen’s residence. There is always limited availability of tickets (Khan,
2014).
Place

Marketing 8
The Buckingham palace is located in central London. It is the official London residence and
administration office of British royal family. The access for public is limited. During
summers travellers can pay visit to state rooms, throne rooms, gardens and can admire the
masterpieces in Victoria picture’s gallery. The travellers can pay visit only when the queen is
on holiday in summer from late June to September in Scotland.
Promotion
The promotional coupons are provided by the website of royal collection trust. The
promotional codes and coupons are provided by website such as 15% or 10% off with any
order, discount on the adult tickets, tea and cake, special discount, special saving Charles and
special discount is given on disabled tickets and more. The visitors are always attracted to
have royal experience.
People
The persons who are attracted towards historical monuments take visit of Buckingham
palace. The palace relies on the people who conduct the daily activities in palace from
correspondence mangers to guards. It is essential to have right people because they have a
great role behind maintenance and working of palace.
Process
The head of visitor services at Buckingham palace is handled by Royal collection trust. The
workers at Royal household work closely with colleagues to maintain high standard of
presentation within the historic buildings. The royal household provides necessary facilities
to deliver day to day operations by scheduling of royal family’s programme.
Physical evidence
The services provided by palace include physical elements whereas the customers paying for
services are intangible. For instance, palace provides visit to palace with memorable
experience. Even if it does not provide physical evidence, audience is still receiving a
physical product (Choi, Liu & Kim, 2015).

Marketing 9
Conclusion
In the above report marketing plan for Buckingham Palace has been discussed. It includes the
external environment of the market of London which affects palace. Internal analysis of
Buckingham palace has been explained. The objectives set for Buckingham palace as per
marketing plan are discussed and for meeting objectives, STP (Segmentation, Targeting and
Positioning) has been set out. The marketing mix plan is also prepared to produce marketing
plan with palace’s resources and objectives.

Marketing
10
References
Aspridis, G., Sdrolias, L., Kimeris, T., Kyriakou, D. and Grigoriou, I., 2015. Visitor
Attraction Management: Is There Space for New Thinking Despite the Crisis? The Cases of
Buckingham Palace and the Museum of Acropolis. In Cultural Tourism in a Digital Era (pp.
329-347). Springer, Cham.
Baker, M.J., 2016. What is marketing?. In The Marketing Book(pp. 25-42). Routledge.
Camilleri, M.A., 2018. Market Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning. In Travel
Marketing, Tourism Economics and the Airline Product (pp. 69-83). Springer, Cham.
Choi, S., Liu, L. and Kim, D.Y., 2015. Accessing Tourists’ Unconscious Associations about
International Destinations: Data Fuzzification of Reaction Times in the Implicit Association
Test. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 32(5), pp.578-594.
Feng, H., Morgan, N.A. and Rego, L.L., 2015. Marketing department power and firm
performance. Journal of Marketing, 79(5), pp.1-20.
Fourie, I. and Fourie, H., 2014. Targeting users in information provision–more than
researchers, students and professionals. Library Hi Tech, 32(1), pp.164-172.
Gregory, J. 2015. Buckingham Palace: The Official Residence of England's Royal Family.
AV2 by Weigl.
Healey, E. 2012. The Queen’s House: A Social History of Buckingham Palace. Pegasus
Books.
Khan, M.T., 2014. The concept of'marketing mix'and its elements (a conceptual review
paper). International journal of information, business and management, 6(2), p.95.
Madhavaram, S., Hunt, S.D. and Bicen, P., 2017, May. The FREE (Firm Resources and
External Environment) Framework as an Alternative to SWOT: An Abstract. In Academy of
Marketing Science Annual Conference (pp. 49-49). Springer, Cham.
Ribeiro, B. and Faloutsos, C., 2015, February. Modeling website popularity competition in
the attention-activity marketplace. In Proceedings of the Eighth ACM International
Conference on Web Search and Data Mining (pp. 389-398). ACM.

Marketing
11
Royal Collection Trust, 2018 available from https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/visit/the-
state-rooms-buckingham-palace/practical-information#/ [accessed on 21/03/2018]
Royal Collection Trust, 2018. The State Rooms. Available from
https://tickets.royalcollection.org.uk/state-rooms-buckingham-palace/state-rooms/2018
[accessed on 21/03/2018]
Royal Residences: Buckingham Palace, 2018 available from https://www.royal.uk/royal-
residences-buckingham-palace [accessed on 21/03/2018]
Samiee, S., Chabowski, B.R. and Hult, G.T.M., 2015. International relationship marketing:
Intellectual foundations and avenues for further research. Journal of International
Marketing, 23(4), pp.1-21.
Visit London, 2018 available from https://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/place/427311-
buckingham-palace [accessed on 21/03/2018]

Marketing
12
Bibliography
Aspridis, G., Sdrolias, L., Kimeris, T., Kyriakou, D. and Grigoriou, I., 2015. Visitor
Attraction Management: Is There Space for New Thinking Despite the Crisis? The Cases of
Buckingham Palace and the Museum of Acropolis. In Cultural Tourism in a Digital Era (pp.
329-347). Springer, Cham.
Baker, M.J., 2016. What is marketing?. In The Marketing Book(pp. 25-42). Routledge.
Camilleri, M.A., 2018. Market Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning. In Travel
Marketing, Tourism Economics and the Airline Product (pp. 69-83). Springer, Cham.
Choi, S., Liu, L. and Kim, D.Y., 2015. Accessing Tourists’ Unconscious Associations about
International Destinations: Data Fuzzification of Reaction Times in the Implicit Association
Test. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 32(5), pp.578-594.
Feng, H., Morgan, N.A. and Rego, L.L., 2015. Marketing department power and firm
performance. Journal of Marketing, 79(5), pp.1-20.
Fourie, I. and Fourie, H., 2014. Targeting users in information provision–more than
researchers, students and professionals. Library Hi Tech, 32(1), pp.164-172.
Gregory, J. 2015. Buckingham Palace: The Official Residence of England's Royal Family.
AV2 by Weigl.
Healey, E. 2012. The Queen’s House: A Social History of Buckingham Palace. Pegasus
Books.
http://www.itv.com/news/topic/buckingham-palace/
https://buckinghampalace.londonpass.com/buckingham-palace-tour.html
https://buckinghampalace.londonpass.com/tickets.html
https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/buckingham-palace-tour/index.html
Khan, M.T., 2014. The concept of'marketing mix'and its elements (a conceptual review
paper). International journal of information, business and management, 6(2), p.95.

Marketing
13
Madhavaram, S., Hunt, S.D. and Bicen, P., 2017, May. The FREE (Firm Resources and
External Environment) Framework as an Alternative to SWOT: An Abstract. In Academy of
Marketing Science Annual Conference (pp. 49-49). Springer, Cham.
Ribeiro, B. and Faloutsos, C., 2015, February. Modeling website popularity competition in
the attention-activity marketplace. In Proceedings of the Eighth ACM International
Conference on Web Search and Data Mining (pp. 389-398). ACM.
Royal Collection Trust, 2018 available from https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/visit/the-
state-rooms-buckingham-palace/practical-information#/
Royal Collection Trust, 2018. The State Rooms. Available from
https://tickets.royalcollection.org.uk/state-rooms-buckingham-palace/state-rooms/2018
Royal Residences: Buckingham Palace, 2018 available from https://www.royal.uk/royal-
residences-buckingham-palace
Samiee, S., Chabowski, B.R. and Hult, G.T.M., 2015. International relationship marketing:
Intellectual foundations and avenues for further research. Journal of International
Marketing, 23(4), pp.1-21.
Visit London, 2018 available from https://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/place/427311-
buckingham-palace
Appendix
(Source: London Metropolitan University, 2018)

Marketing
14