Marketing Plan: A Comprehensive Analysis of Thomas Cook's Strategies

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MARKETING PLAN
MARKETING PLAN OF TRAVEL AND TOURISM ORGANISATION
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MARKETING PLAN
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
LO2: Applying marketing mix to marketing planning....................................................................3
LO3: Designing an examining a new marketing plan.....................................................................5
Mission and vision of the company.............................................................................................5
Situational Analysis.....................................................................................................................6
Objectives of the company..........................................................................................................6
Marketing Strategy......................................................................................................................6
Action Plan..................................................................................................................................7
Budget allocation:........................................................................................................................7
Marketing mix.............................................................................................................................8
Measurement tools.......................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References........................................................................................................................................9
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Introduction
Thomas Cook (since 1841), is a British company well known for their services in tourism and
hospitality department. Every year the company comes up with affordable and interesting plans
for their customers. The newest plan which they have come up with includes an offer of free
lunch or dinner in special occasion of the customer like anniversary, birthday etc. This
interesting plan has already made their customer curious. (Cook T, 2011)
On the other hand Cox & Kings since 1758), a public limited company, one of the big
competitors in the tourism market have reportedly started coming up with a new plan. They are
known for their service quality and customer feedback services.
LO2: Applying marketing mix to marketing planning
Factors Thomas cook Cox & Kings
Product The first strategy, which they launched,
included discount coupon for stays and
meals. This gained popularity and started
spreading not only in UK but also in some
other countries (Anderson et al.2015).
It became one of the largest forex
exchange company. It allowed its
customers to use multiple currencies for
booking any of their services.
It involved coupon services in selective
areas like student travel, bookings for
office meeting etc. This scheme benefited
the short time user of their services.
It introduced Travel insurance program,
one of the first companies to do so. They
also provided services like ‘Students
Forex Services’ which has become
popular among the students.
Price They bring out the most reasonable and
competitive prices of their service. They
focus on the middle class family, and
provide many discount offers for old
people.
They have made possible for middle class
family to go on luxury tour with the
implementation of discount on off-season.
They mainly follow the strategy of
‘Product-Line pricing’. Under this
scheme, Cox and Kings provide discounts
on student travels whereas charging a
premium for the corporate people
(Satapathy et al.2015).
They also started giving bulk discount for
the use credit card and for women
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travelers. It aims to charge extra for
luxury whereas keeping flight pricing
competitive.
Place Thomas cook opened many physical
stores and survey report suggests that
people prefer to meet face-to-face. It has
opened many branches across the world
even spreading to Asian countries like
India, China etc.
It has over 500 locations all over the
world, by using this large network; they
come up with feedback and change their
schemes according to the taste and
preference patterns (Parks et al.2014).
Promotion In this world of internet, Thomas Cook
displayed their promotion strategies
through newspapers, TV, Internet etc.
They sponsor big events and run big
teams like Manchester City, also
sponsored the London Olympic Games.
Cox and kings have services in both
online and offline mode. They service
offering like ‘Bharat Dekho’ in India,
which create an emotional impression to
the people. They also sponsor for big
movies, global events etc. They have their
own ads with hired actors, which catch the
eyes of the people worldwide.
People People are an important part of a
company and the company relies on the
people, as they are the one who works for
the progress of the company. As known as
a famous service brand, Thomas Cook has
set its center of attention to its clients and
its workers as well. Their list of workers
starts from the trained employees
involved in the sales team and ends at the
group of tour guides who serves the
tourists.
Cox and Kings use their personnel power
delicately as they are the prime asset of
the concern. The company also has a call
center, so they put more emphasis on the
workforce (Fan, et al. 2015).
Process Datta, et al. (2017) says that, the delivery
procedure of goods and services, which is
generally completed at the presence of
customers. Thomas Cook has different
ways to follow their business process. The
prime part of customer acquisition is
Cox and kings gives importance to each
customer critically and they have
developed ‘Customer Relationship
Management’ for this purpose.
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completed through marketing.
Physical
evidence
Physical evidence is a necessity to
provide all kind of goods and services. It
is important for both the buyers and
sellers to keep physical evidence to avoid
further nuisance (Liu, et al. 2017).
Thomas Cook has a large number of
hotels, airline venture and it has opened
up a forex mobile app for international
tourists.
Cox & Kings has branches in many cities
and has a good number of franchised
shops in different parts of the world.
Table 1: 7P’s of marketing mix
(Source: Learner)
LO3: Designing an examining a new marketing plan
A marketing plan of any company contains all the details regarding the company overview and
the type of services the company is providing at present. The organisation, Thomas Cook is
planning to launch a new scheme where it will provide the clients with special benefits if their
birthday or anniversaries fall within the period in which they are travelling. For this, a new
marketing plan is essential to be devised.
Mission and vision of the company
The vision of the organisation is to be the most loved holiday company by means of their
services to the customers as well as to their employees and shareholders as well. The mission of
the company is to offer superior quality services and provide unique holiday experiences so that
they gain loyalty from the existing customers and at the same time attract the new customers
(Bhasin, 2019).
Situational Analysis
To conduct situational analysis effectively, SWOT analysis has been done as follows:
Strengths Weaknesses
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MARKETING PLAN
 Oldest and largest travel company
 Easily affordable
 Huge customer base
 Global presence
 Huge competition from Cox and Kings
 Long term debt burden
Opportunities Threats
 Growth prospects
 Can be expanded to more locations
 Use digital media
 Problem in airline sector
 Strict government regulations (Value
Walk, 2018)
Table 2: SWOT Analysis
(Source: Learner)
Objectives of the company
Based on the designed marketing plan, the following objectives can be framed:
 To enhance the number of consumers and attract new customers
 To find out new consumers by extensive research
 To increase the revenue of the organisation by 20% in the current financial year
 To enhance the market share by 10% by the end of 2020
Marketing Strategy
Segmentation: The strategies of demographic and psychographic segmentation strategies will be
used so that they can target their consumers. The likings and preferences of the consumers will
be analysed so that the organisation can understand the behavioural segmentation and design
their schemes accordingly. They have more than 5000 outlets situated all over the countries,
which follow the concept of geographical segmentation, and they are planning to expand their
schemes all over to these places (Young, 2018).
Target market: The organisation is planning to talk with each customer personally and convert
him to loyal customer. They are targeting both upper middle class and rich customers who love
travelling and will love to opt for this scheme. This scheme is especially for customers who want
to spend their special day in a unique way.
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MARKETING PLAN
Positioning: They are planning to design and place their scheme in such a way so that they can
observe the market changes and meet the needs of the consumers in time. They are designing
their new scheme in a way that it easily catches the attention of the customers (Cook, 2019).
Action Plan
Objectives Tasks Success quotient Evaluation Time
Make the
customers aware
of the new scheme
Engage customers Connecting
personally or
online
Develop brand
image
3 weeks
Enhance the
consumer base
Enhancing
consumers
Attracting more
customers
Aid in customer
engagement
12 weeks
Make people
attracted towards
their new scheme
Encouraging new
design of scheme
Reducing the cost
of travel
Enhancing the
brand image
100 weeks
Table 3: Action Plan
(Source: Learner)
Budget allocation:
The total amount of revenue earned in the current financial year is $98.32 million, from where
around $8.32 billion has been kept aside in order to design the new scheme for the customers.
Marketing mix
Product: The organisation is planning to launch a new scheme where it will provide the clients
with special benefits if their birthdays or anniversaries fall during the time while they are
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MARKETING PLAN
travelling. They are also planning to provide special foods and unique gifts to them on their
special days.
Price: They will keep the strategy of pricing in such a way that it is affordable by every
individual willing to go for the scheme. They are planning to provide discounts to the first 100
customers who are deciding to opt for this plan (www.researchgate.net. 2019).
Promotion: They are planning to undertake both online and offline modes in order to promote
their new scheme in the market. Social media, digital and print media will be used in both
national and international countries so that the consumers can know about the new scheme
(Thomascookairlines.com. 2017)
Place: The brand image of the organisation is aiding to make it popular among the customers. It
has widespread presence both nationally and internationally. This is helping them to expand their
bases and they are planning to make the people of even areas of Africa and South America be
aware of the newly launched scheme (International and International, 2019).
Measurement tools
The business performance can be measured using the following tools:
Sales analysis:
 Aid in decision making process whether to continue or reject the plan
 Analyse the areas where improvement can be done and examine growth opportunities
(Marketing Week, 2018)
Market share analysis:
 To compare financial data of more than two years
 The new scheme has no previous market share, therefore total market share of the
company is considered
Cost profitability analysis:
 Net profit and gross profit aids to compare profit with expenses incurred
 Tallied with expenses to minimise risk (Cook, 2019)
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MARKETING PLAN
Efficiency ratios:
 Working capital ratio analyses asset management capacity to pay away debts
 Total asset turnover ratio analyses total asset holding of the company compared to
revenue earned
Conclusion
Marketing mix of Thomas Cook has been designed and comparison with the marketing mix of
Cox and Kings has been done. The comparison of such marketing mix with the other company
will help Thomas Cook to attain competitive advantage when competing with others. The new
marketing plan that has been designed for the new scheme, which the organisation is planning to
launch, will help Thomas Cook to succeed in the course of time.
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MARKETING PLAN
References
Anderson, D.R., Sweeney, D.J., Williams, T.A., Camm, J.D. and Cochran, J.J., 2015. An
introduction to management science: quantitative approaches to decision making. Cengage
learning.
Bhasin, H. (2019). Marketing Mix Of Thomas Cook - Thomas Cook Marketing Mix. [online]
Marketing91. Available at: https://www.marketing91.com/marketing-mix-thomas-cook/
[Accessed 30 Aug. 2019].
Cook, T. (2019). Thomas Cook | Our Strategy. [online] Thomascookgroup.com. Available at:
https://www.thomascookgroup.com/strategy [Accessed 23 Aug. 2019].
Cook, T., 2011. Thomas Cook History.
Datta, H., Ailawadi, K.L. and Van Heerde, H.J., 2017. How well does consumer-based brand
equity align with sales-based brand equity and marketing-mix response?. Journal of
Marketing, 81(3), pp.1-20.
Fan, S., Lau, R.Y. and Zhao, J.L., 2015. Demystifying big data analytics for business intelligence
through the lens of marketing mix. Big Data Research, 2(1), pp.28-32.
International, E. and International, E. (2019). Thomas Cook Group Plc in Travel | Market
Research Report | Euromonitor. [online] Euromonitor.com. Available at:
https://www.euromonitor.com/thomas-cook-group-plc-in-travel/report [Accessed 30 Aug. 2019].
Liu, Y., Li, K.J., Chen, H. and Balachander, S., 2017. The effects of products’ aesthetic design
on demand and marketing-mix effectiveness: The role of segment prototypicality and brand
consistency. Journal of Marketing, 81(1), pp.83-102.
Marketing Week. (2018). Thomas Cook Marketing Strategy | Marketing Week. [online]
Available at: https://www.marketingweek.com/thomas-cook/ [Accessed 30 Aug. 2019].
Parks, B.C., 2014. Facts and Figures. Retrieved March, 7, p.2014.
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Satapathy, D.P. and Koushik, K.P., 2015. Stock Price Reaction to Acquisitions Announcement:
An Empirical Analysis to Indian Service Industry. Advances in Economics and Business
Management, 2(6), pp.598-603.
Thomascookairlines.com. (2017). Manage my booking. [online] Available at:
https://www.thomascookairlines.com/tcibe/tcauk/en/mybooking/login [Accessed 30 Aug. 2019].
ValueWalk. (2018). Thomas Cook Valuation: Case Study. [online] Available at:
https://www.valuewalk.com/2013/12/thomas-cook-valuation-case-study/ [Accessed 30 Aug.
2019].
www.researchgate.net. [online] Available at:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anthony_Ayodele/publication/273347465_STRATEGY_A
ND_TACTICS_FOR_THOMAS_COOK_IN_THE_NEW_YEAR/links/
54ff00c20cf2eaf210b47458/STRATEGY-AND-TACTICS-FOR-THOMAS-COOK-IN-THE-
NEW-YEAR.pdf [Accessed 30 Aug. 2019].
Young, L. (2018). Excellent trip to Dalaman – Evaluation of Thomas Cook Airlines – Cybernetic
Systems. [online] Cybernetic-systems.co.uk. Available at: https://www.cybernetic-
systems.co.uk/thomas-cook-flights-dalaman-to-uk/ [Accessed 30 Aug. 2019].
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