THT2112: Website Audit & Digital Marketing Strategy for Qualia Resort

This report provides a comprehensive digital marketing audit of Qualia, a luxury resort located on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. The report evaluates the purpose of the resort's website, identifying its business model as B2C e-commerce and its target market as families, millennials, solo travelers, and business travelers from the Asia-Pacific region. It analyzes consumer behavior issues and the dynamic forces of the hospitality industry using Porter's Five Forces. The report also assesses the website's customer interface using the 7Cs framework and WebQual, examining aspects such as information quality, functional fit, and visual appeal. Finally, it discusses Qualia's e-CRM activities, including its presence on social media and its use of SEO. The report concludes that Qualia has an effective website design that helps it reach global customers and generate revenue.

Running Head: DIGITAL MARKETING OFQUALIA
Digital Marketing of Qualia
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1DIGITAL MARKETING OF QUALIA
Introduction
In the modern world, the advanced technologies and the preponderance of the Digital
Marketing are supporting the business organizations especially the enterprises in the hospitality
industry to enhance their popularity and achieve the competitive edge on the market rivals. The
organizations are either jumping to the digital marketing plans or tending to amplify their
existing strategies converting it to the digitalization. Today, most of the enterprises have realized
the importance of digital marketing which is compelling them to implement the digital
market9ng in their business operations (Järvinen & Karjaluoto, 2015). The digital marketing
open opportunity for all kinds of businesses along with the most cost-effective way than the
traditional marketing. It creates a regular bond between the organization and the customers and
also helps to generate better revenues. The present report will deal with the evaluation and
auditing of the marketing website the Qualia, Great Barrier Reef resort of Australia deals in. It
will further identify the target market and analyze it using suitable tools. The report will
conclude by giving an overview of the entire report and highlighting the main points.
Discussion
The purpose of the Site
The Qualia, Great Barrier Reef is one of the most beautiful and famous luxury resorts
situated in Whitsundays. It is considered to be a world of sensory experiences standing on the
Hamilton Island, Queensland (Australia) (Qualia.com, 2018). It is on a secluded Island and
offers the guests a splendor of the Great Barrier Reef. The Qualia resort holds the legacy of an
Australian passionate family, the Oatleys. The official site of the resort is
https://www.qualia.com.au/ and its purpose is to convince the visitors that they must have an

2DIGITAL MARKETING OF QUALIA
experience of becoming their customers. The company is placed as a trust worthy and
dependable service provider in the market and the customer should not miss the chance to try it
out. The site also consists of attractive pictures of the resor6 interiors along with the scenic
beauty one can enjoy from the terrace of the resort. It also carries the important awards and
affiliations so that customers get to trust them and gauge their superiority (Karjaluoto, Mustonen
& Ulkuniemi, 2015). The visitors/customers an also post queries or reviews on the site which
they resort management reverts back to instantly in order to retain good customer relationships.
The Web Business Model
The Qualia resort uses the B2C E-commerce model for their website. The e-commerce is
defined as the meeting point of commerce with the internet. It is the other name of the
conduction of trade globally. It is a revolutionary way to reach the target customers at every
corner of the world with just a single click. It has replaced the traditional trading methods with
something that is more cost –effective and trackable (Leeflang et al., 2014). This e-commerce
web business is purported to get access of new markets across the world. The customers are
engaged more via attractive content pages and there is scope for better conversation where
people can do the booking 24 hours for staying or dining in the resort. The B2C model enables to
keep the business between the enterprise and the end users or the customers. The customers can
also see the special discounts on their website page.
The Target Market
The Qualia resort website has targeted the countries of the Asia-Pacific regions such as
China because these regions have increased numbers of travelers which has helped to grow the
Australian hotel industry and generated significant revenues. However, the domestic market is
also among the target list of the resort. First of all, it has targeted the families because each year

3DIGITAL MARKETING OF QUALIA
the families enjoy more number of trips than others. Next, it has targeted the millennials who like
to spend bigger amounts on travel and luxury destinations. Since, the young travelers have
occupied 20% of the international tourism, they are on the target list too. It is surveyed that
almost 44 % of people aged 55 or above are interested in solo travelling and enjoying the natural
beauty the resorts like Qualia offers. It is slightly because the older travelers have more time and
money to spend on destinations and luxury hotels (Levy & Gvili, 2015). The business travelers
are also the primary targets of the resort site because they have sudden booking habits due to
business purpose and hardly care about the expenses.
Consumer Behavior issues
Since, the advancement of technologies has brought about so many opportunities for the
business organizations, the issues are also same related to it. The consumer behavior is an area
based on which an organization improves itself. However, it is the most vulnerable area that gets
easily gets distracted towards other options available in the market. The customers nowadays,
have the minimum attention span. The customers now at more power because through the help of
the websites, they have an easy access to the information and can easily compare among the
options. This issue of fluctuating decisions is related to all types of target market /customers.
Hence, like other enterprises, the Qualia resort also have to stay aware of the quality of their
service they provide and portray on the website.
The dynamic forces of the industry
The Porter’s Five Force model helps to analyze the condition of the industry and
organization deals in. It is a useful tool to understand the dynamic forces of the industry which
shapes the competition. There are five components of the Porter’s Five Force namely the power

4DIGITAL MARKETING OF QUALIA
of buyers, the power of suppliers, threat of substitutes, threat of new entrants and the
competitors. The Qualia resort operates in the hospitality industry and the analysis is as follows
Threat of New
Entrants
Threat of
Substitutes
Rivalry/
competition
Bargaining
power of the
buyers
Bargaining
power of the
Suppliers
It is medium
because
although there
are less barriers
to get entry and
exit, the scaling
up is highly
difficult.
Moreover, the
requirement of
capital is high
whereas the
digital marketing
has made it cost
–efficient.
It is Low
because there is
no direct kind of
competition in
the hospitality
sector and it is
true that people
do spend a lot in
this industry to
experience
superior
standards of
luxury (Tiago &
Veríssimo,
2014).
It is high
because the
hospitality
enterprises
especially the
hotels and the
resorts have
increased the
advertisings in
order to attract
the customers.
Among the
market giants of
this industry
Longitude
131degree ,
Capella Lodge ,
Park Hyatt
It is high
because there are
so many similar
operators in this
industry and the
switching cost is
low. Price and
service plays a
key role.
It is Low
because there are
multiple
suppliers in the
industry. Since
quality is most
important, the
enterprises in
this industry can
easily switch to
others if
necessary.

5DIGITAL MARKETING OF QUALIA
Sydney are
important.
Image 1- Porter’s Five Force
Source – (Ryan, 2016)
Analysis of the Site
7Cs of Customers Interface
Image 2- WebQual
Source – (Royle & Laing, 2014)
WebQual
Customization- It is user
customizable, priority
items only here and
prompts information
Commerce- There is
no inventories and
plays role of
facilitator
Communication-
Highly interactive site
and there is no mass
communication
Community- Active
travelers, young
people and families
too.
Connection- Ultimate
destination and have
links with other content
sites
Context-Functional
layout, effectively
designed and text based
with few photos
Content – Transaction
enabled, rule setter and
toll taker

6DIGITAL MARKETING OF QUALIA
1.Information Quality – The resort ensures that information provided is accurate, updated and
appropriate.
2. Functional Fit to Task – users believe that the website meets their needs evident through the
reviews
3. Tailored Communications – The user’s needs are met with tailored communication by the
executives
4. Trust –Information privacy is the primary concern and protected by the end-to end encryption.
5. Response Time – They respond within 24 hours.
6. Ease of Understanding – The content language is easy to read and understand.
7. Intuitive Operations – Easy to operate and navigate.
8. Visual Appeal – There is appropriate use of color, font and graphics.
9. Innovativeness – The uniqueness of the website rests on the communication strategies.
10. Emotional Appeal – The emotional intelligence of the site attracts the customers more.
11. Consistent Image – The website does not create dissonance for the user by incompatible
images with that projected by the firm through other media (Todor, 2016).
12. Online Completeness – It allows all or most necessary transactions to be completed online
13. Relative Advantage – It is better than other means of interacting with the company.
14. Customer Service – It has better customer service that interacts with the customers at
regular intervals and addresses the queries of the customers.

7DIGITAL MARKETING OF QUALIA
E-CRM Activities
The Qualia resort has its website presence as well as other social media presence like
Facebook, Instagram. The site is designed to manage the customer profiles and maintain the
quality of the email list. It has multichannel customer experience and engages in data mining and
mass customization. The resort is easy to navigate because website comes on the front page of
the search engine optimization (SEO) (Rowley & Keegan, 2017). The E-CRM benefits the
targets most –effectively. It has improved the relationship with the customers. It helps to deliver
the loyalty programs and lowered the cost. It has enabled in-depth customer understanding.
Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion it can be said that, digital marketing has opened
opportunities for all kinds of businesses along with the most cost-effective way than the
traditional marketing. The present report has dealt with the evaluation and auditing of the
marketing website the Qualia, Great Barrier Reef resort of Australia deals in. It has identified the
target market and analyzed it using suitable tools. On a concluding note, the Qualia resort has an
ideal design of its website that helps it to reach the global customers and generate better
revenues.

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Reference
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Retrieved from https://www.qualia.com.au/
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