Student and Youth Travel Market: STA Travel Case Study

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PORTFOLIO
STA TRAVEL

Contents
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................................. 3
ANALYSIS........................................................................................................................................4
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR................................................................................................................5
SEGMENTATION, TARGETING AND POSITIONING.........................................................................6
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
STA Travel is one of the world's largest student and youth travel company. The company
provides holiday packages and travel services to its customers. The company provides
affordable flights and shrewd adventures to the students and youth. Currently, the company
has approx. 2000 employees who are providing them with their services, along with it the
company also has more than 200 stores in all over the world. According to the company’s
report, they had helped more than 2 million travellers in a year to start their adventure.
Reasons for carrying out this investigation
This investigation has been carried out because there are many changes taking place in the
business environment such as technological advancement, the rapid growth of the competitors,
and change in the economy etc. these are few of the factors which are responsible for the
changes in the organization.

ANALYSIS
Marketing environment
It can be defined as the amalgamation of internal and external factors of a company which are
responsible for the establishment of relations between the customers and the company. These
internal and external factors of the business also influence the working of the company (Kotler
et al., 2017).
The need for analysing the marketing environment
The company should be aware of their marketing environment as these factors are responsible
for the growth and sustainability of the organization. They are also responsible for the changes
in the company.
Benefits of the marketing environment
It is important to analyse the marketing environment because of the following factors –
 To know the current trends and demands of the market.
 To know the changes in government policies.
 To analyse the available opportunities and the risk involved in the company.
 To know the position of their competitor in the market.
Analysis of STA Travel
Strengths
 Availability of bulk of airlines and other
travel agents to deal with.
 A number of destination places to offer to
the customers.
Weaknesses
 Are not willing to adopt the new pattern
quickly.
 Difficult to find new and exciting offers and
trips for the customers regularly.
Opportunities
 Advancement in technology helps in
providing better services to customers.
 The increasing interest of youth in
Threats
 The rapid growth of the travel market and
the increasing number of competitors
 The entry of other service providers in the

experiencing the adventures. market.
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Consumer Buyer Behaviour - It can be defined as the attitude, preference and decisions of the
customer involved in purchasing any goods or services. Buyer behaviour is linked with the
needs and wants of the customers. Behaviour of the buyer or a consumer can be influenced by
various factors (Foxall, 2014).
Benefits of Consumer Behaviour To The Organization
 It helps in designing better products so that they can attract and satisfy the customers.
 It also helps the organization to know the target place i.e. to make the product available at
those places which can be easily accessed by the consumers.
 It also helps the organization to decide the prices of the products after analysing the
purchasing power of the customers.
 Helps the organization to know the promotional techniques which attract the most
customers.
Buying behaviour of consumers of STA Travel - Consumer evaluates and monitors all the
available options, and chooses the one which gives them maximum benefit.
Influences on consumer buying behaviour - Attractive promotional techniques used by the
competitor’s influences the buying behaviour of the consumers.
Current consumers of STA Travels - Mostly youths and students are the current trending
consumers of the company.
Their expectations from the company - Students and youths who decided to use the facilities
of STA Travel expect excellent experience for their trips. They want that there should be no
hurdle during their trip.
How much they are paying for the services of STA Travels - Company is providing exciting
offers for the students and youth. These targeted consumers are paying 25%less than the other
consumers of the company.

How often they look at other service providers - Since they are getting special offers for them
from the side of the company so they would rarely chose to other companies of their
experiences.
SEGMENTATION, TARGETING AND POSITIONING
Market segmentation - It is the process which determines the division of markets according to
the different factors of the target group. These multiple segments are used by the organization
to expand their product range (Wedel and Kamakura, 2012). The process of market
segmentation can be easily understood by these three factors:
Segmentation – it refers to the division of the market and the customers on the basis of their
characteristics and goals. Division of the market can be done on the basis of demographic,
purchasing power of the customer, behavioural aspects of the customers etc (Wedel and
Kamakura, 2012).
Targeting – it refers to the targeting of the segments being divided on the basis of different
factors. It should be done by analysing the revenue generation from each segment (Wedel and
Kamakura, 2012).
Positioning – it includes the process of positioning the products to the target markets. The
product should be positioned in such a way that the customers should be satisfied with the
services of the company (Wedel and Kamakura, 2012).
Importance of market segmentation - For the growth and to earn the profits the companies
should know their target customers. They should provide their services to the customers
through a channel of the network but for the effectiveness, in providing services they should be
aware of the market segmentation (Recklies, 2015).
People availing services of STA TRAVELS - Approx. 2 million customers pay for the services of
STA Travels yearly (STA Travels, 2019)
Market segment of STA Travels - Youth and students of the demographic segment are using
the products of the company.

Customers segments of STA Travels - Consumers having interests in experiencing the
adventures are willing to use and pay for the services of the STA Travels.
Competitors of STA Travels - Thomas Cook, Virgin Atlantic, and TUI group are some of the
competitors.
Positioning Techniques adopted by STA Travels - STA Travels uses different promotional
techniques and exciting offers which could attract more consumers than their competitors. For
this, they used to analyse the techniques of competitors and then develop theirs.

REFERENCES
ABCM, 2018. Discuss Importance / Need of Marketing Environment Analysis. (Online) Available
at: https://www.abcofmarketing.com/discuss-importance-need-marketing-environment-
analysis/ Last accessed on 18 August 2019.
Foxall, G.R., 2014. Consumer Behaviour (RLE Consumer Behaviour): A Practical Guide.
Routledge.
Kotler, P., Bowen, J.T., Makens, J. and Baloglu, S., 2017. Marketing for hospitality and tourism.
Recklies. D, 2015. Market Segmentation – Why is it Important? (Online) Available at:
https://www.themanager.org/2015/02/market-segmentation/ Last accessed on 18 August
2019.
STA Travel, 2019. Our story. (Online) Available at: https://www.statravel.co.uk/our-story.htm
Last accessed on 20 August 2019.
Wedel, M. and Kamakura, W.A., 2012. Market segmentation: Conceptual and methodological
foundations (Vol. 8). Springer Science & Business Media.