Marketing Analysis of TripAdvisor: Segmentation, and Brand Positioning

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of TripAdvisor's marketing strategy, focusing on market segmentation, consumer behavior, brand positioning, and market research. It examines geographic, demographic, and psychographic segmentation strategies employed by TripAdvisor, highlighting t...Read More

Running head: MARKETING
MARKETING
Name of the Student
Name of the University
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Executive Summary
The assignment analyses the marketing strategy of TripAdvisor. This paper will explain the
market segmentation process and how the is done. The paper will also explain about the
consumer behaviour of the customer. The factors that influence the buying behaviours are
also discussed in this assignment. The assignment will also show the brand positioning and
the marketing tools that can be used to identify the need of the customer. These strategies will
help TripAdvisor in gaining a good amount of revenue in the market.

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Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................4
Discussion..................................................................................................................................5
Segmentation:.........................................................................................................................5
Customer behaviour:..............................................................................................................6
Brand positioning:..................................................................................................................8
Market research:.....................................................................................................................9
Recommendation:..................................................................................................................9
Conclusion:..............................................................................................................................11
References:...............................................................................................................................12

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Introduction:
This assignment deals with the marketing plan of the TripAdvisor. TripAdvisor is an
American website company, which provides reviews of hotels and restaurants,
accommodation bookings and various types of travel related information. This assignment
will discuss about the market segmentation strategy of TripAdvisor and how it influences the
product design of the company. The paper will also discuss about the customer behaviour.
The factors that influence the customer behaviour and the customer’s profile are discussed in
this assignment. The assignment will show the brand positioning of the product and will also
provide some recommendation how TripAdvisor can expand their business.

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Discussion
TripAdvisor is an American website company, which provides reviews of hotels and
restaurants, accommodation bookings and various types of travel related information1.
TripAdvisor is the best travelling portal of the industry and it serves the worldwide
population. Stephen Kaufer founded the company with the objective such as Flight and Hotel
Booking, Restaurants findings, travel guides and many other objectives.
Segmentation:
Market segmentation is the process of dividing the huge customer base or market into
groups or segments who share the same characteristics. The customers are divided mainly
based on their needs, interests, income, demographic profile or lifestyle2.
Geographic segmentation: Geographic segmentation means targeting the market of the
consumer of a particular region. Trip advisor mainly targets the market of United Kingdom
and United States. They target these two markets as people over there are highly interested
about travelling and this will help the organization in making a huge revenue3.
Demographic Segmentation: The demographic segmentation is based on the age, religion,
income, education, sex etc. The demographic segmentation makes the segmentation process
narrower and this helps in targeting the exact customer. TripAdvisor uses the demographic
segmentation to choose the right k\customer. The target customer of TripAdvisor is the
women ages between 35-54 years. The income group that the organization targets is
minimum of 75K.
1 'Travelers' Choice - Tripadvisor - Best Hotels, Destinations, Restaurants & Attractions' (Tripadvisor.com,
2018) <https://www.tripadvisor.com/TravelersChoice> accessed 18 July 2018.
2 Weinstein, Art. Handbook of market segmentation: Strategic targeting for business and technology
firms. Routledge, 2013.
3 Jiraporn, Pornsit, Napatsorn Jiraporn, Adisak Boeprasert, and Kiyoung Chang. "Does corporate
social responsibility (CSR) improve credit ratings? Evidence from geographic identification." Financial
Management 43, no. 3 (2014): 505-531.

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Psychographic Segmentation: The psychographic segmentation involves segmenting the
market based on different values, traits, attitudes, lifestyles and interests. Psychographic
segmentation is advantageous as it allows the organization in improving the product design.
TripAdvisor target the customer who loves travelling and is used to that type of lifestyle. This
is one of the reason behind choosing United States and United Kingdom as their target
market4.
Customer behaviour:
Customer behaviour is the process of examining the individual, groups and
organizations and the activities that are associated with the purchase decision of the customer.
It is necessary for the organization to understand the customer behaviour as this will help in
segmenting the customer’s base as well as will help in improving the product design.
The consumer behaviour highly affected by the following factors:
 Cultural factors: Culture is one of the important factors that influences a lot decisions
in the market. The culture of the society decides the wants and behaviour towards a
particular product. The influence of the cultural factors varies from countries to
countries this is why trip advisor need to be very careful in analysing the culture of
various regions, countries and groups5.
 Social factors: Social factors includes three different parts:
Reference groups: Reference groups are the groups of customers who are influenced
by another customer to be the potential customer of the product.
Family: Buying behaviour of the customer is highly influenced by the family
members. Vendors are trying hard and looking for solutions to influences anyone
4 Park, Jeong‐Yeol, and SooCheong Jang. "Psychographics: Static or dynamic?." International
Journal of Tourism Research16, no. 4 (2014): 351-354.
5 Rani, Pinki. "Factors influencing consumer behaviour." International journal of current research and
academic review2, no. 9 (2014): 52-61.

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among the wife, husband and children. If anyone in the family is influenced then the
organization will target them6.
Status: Status plays an important role in influencing the consumer behaviour. Each
individual has different status and roles in the society.
 Personal factors: Personal factors may have an impact on the consumer behaviour.
Some of the vital factors that affect the personal buying behaviour are economic
status, age, p ersonality, self-esteem etc. The personal factors will have a huge impact
on the TripAdvisor. A teenage boy/girl will have different tastes than the consumer
who is of around the age of 60 years. The economic situation of an individual will
also affect the buying decision of the consumer. A customer with a high-income level
will have spent a lot of money in traveling compared to the customer with low-income
range.
 Psychological factors: the four major psychological factors that affects the buying
habit of the customer is the motivation, perception, learnings and beliefs and attitudes.
The company is basically a website that provides services like hotel booking, flight
bookings and etc. Based on this the main customer base of their product is the
customers who are in the age between 25-60 years. The target market is UK and US,
however TripAdvisor is expanding its business in the Asian countries as well.
6 Sigala, Marianna. "Introduction to Part 1." In Social Media in Travel, Tourism and Hospitality, pp. 29-
32. Routledge, 2016.

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Brand positioning:
Brand positioning is also known as the positioning strategy7. Brand positioning helps
in understanding the quality and the price of the product of one or many brands with the help
of one diagram.
Fig. Brand positioning
The above figure shows the brand positioning of make my trip and TripAdvisor. The
figure consists of x and y axis. The X axis shows the price and the Y axis shows the quality.
Make my trip and TripAdvisor is positioned according to the price and the quality of their
own products.
7 Maarit Jalkala, Anne, and Joona Keränen. "Brand positioning strategies for industrial firms providing
customer solutions." Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing 29, no. 3 (2014): 253-264.
High price
High quality
Low price
Low quality
TripAdvisor
Make my trip

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Market research:
Market research is necessary, as it will help to understand what the customer wants
from them. The market research is necessary to identify the change of preferences and trends
in the market. There are many tools available in the market that can help TripAdvisor to
understand what their target market is seeking from them with respect to their service or
product.
Online survey is one of the many tools that TripAdvisor can use in order to
understand what their customer is seeking from them. Online survey is an advanced method
of surveying. This gives immediate feedback of the customer8.
Online surveys are mainly shown before any YouTube videos or in any social media
websites. The Online surveys will be the perfect tool as the consumer who will be doing this
survey are the ones that the organization targets9.
Recommendation:
TripAdvisor is operating their business in United Kingdom and United States but they
can expand their area of operation in other countries as well. The developing nations like
India is in the radar of many organizations. As they will provide a huge revenue in the future.
Make my trip has already gained a huge market share of India but TripAdvisor can penetrate
the market and earn revenue in that competitive environment with the help of proper strategy.
According to the marketing mix of the company, the Price of the product or service that the
company is offering is in the expensive sides. The prices of their products and services if
comes down to a certain level then can get a better market share.
8 Merolli, Mark, Fernando Jose Martin Sanchez, and Kathleen Gray. "Social media and online survey:
tools for knowledge management in health research." In Proceedings of the Seventh Australasian
Workshop on Health Informatics and Knowledge Management-Volume 153, pp. 21-29. Australian
Computer Society, Inc., 2014.
9 Yakin, Ilker, and Ilke Evin Gencel. "The utilization of social media tools for informal learning activities:
A survey study." Mevlana International Journal of Education 3, no. 4 (2013): 108-117.

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Conclusion:
This paper analyses the marketing plan of TripAdvisor. This paper explained about
how the demographic, geographic and psychographic segmentation will help the organization
in improving their product design. The assignment will also identified the consumer
behaviours that affects the buying behaviour of the customer. The factors that affects the
buying behaviours are the social, psychological, cultural and the personal factors. The paper
also examines the brand positioning of the products, which is shown with the help of a graph.
The paper contains the tool for doing the market research. The paper also contain some of the
recommendations that the company can use in order to get competitive advantage in the
market.

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References:
Jiraporn, Pornsit, Napatsorn Jiraporn, Adisak Boeprasert, and Kiyoung Chang. "Does
corporate social responsibility (CSR) improve credit ratings? Evidence from geographic
identification." Financial Management 43, no. 3 (2014): 505-531.
Maarit Jalkala, Anne, and Joona Keränen. "Brand positioning strategies for industrial firms
providing customer solutions." Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing 29, no. 3 (2014):
253-264.
Merolli, Mark, Fernando Jose Martin Sanchez, and Kathleen Gray. "Social media and online
survey: tools for knowledge management in health research." In Proceedings of the Seventh
Australasian Workshop on Health Informatics and Knowledge Management-Volume 153, pp.
21-29. Australian Computer Society, Inc., 2014.
Park, Jeong‐Yeol, and SooCheong Jang. "Psychographics: Static or dynamic?." International
Journal of Tourism Research16, no. 4 (2014): 351-354.
Rani, Pinki. "Factors influencing consumer behaviour." International journal of current
research and academic review2, no. 9 (2014): 52-61.
Sigala, Marianna. "Introduction to Part 1." In Social Media in Travel, Tourism and
Hospitality, pp. 29-32. Routledge, 2016.
'Travelers' Choice - Tripadvisor - Best Hotels, Destinations, Restaurants & Attractions'
(Tripadvisor.com, 2018) <https://www.tripadvisor.com/TravelersChoice> accessed 18 July
2018
Weinstein, Art. Handbook of market segmentation: Strategic targeting for business and
technology firms. Routledge, 2013.

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Yakin, Ilker, and Ilke Evin Gencel. "The utilization of social media tools for informal
learning activities: A survey study." Mevlana International Journal of Education 3, no. 4
(2013): 108-117.