Car Rental Industry & Elasticity

Blockbuster implemented a new strategy for customers to access their rentals in “five channels of distribution: in-store, by mail, through vending machines and kiosks, online, and at home (direct to the TV)” (DATAMONITOR, 2009). However, this strategy was a reactive approach to the problem produced ten years behind schedule. Wooldridge et al., (2007) stated that Blockbuster should select and adapt their strategy to respond to the fast changing market and maintain a competitive position. This was an obvious failure for Blockbuster. The changes in the market produced a decline in profit at a faster pace than the strategies that Blockbuster implemented to combat these losses.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car has started its operations in 1962 by establishing and successfully developing a new niche in the car renting industry. The business had strictly focused on replacing local citizens’ cars due to repairs. Later on Enterprise started to serve two additional segments, leisure & discretionally rentals and business rentals. Newly launched segments were successful; however the main focus of Enterprise continued to be the initial business stream – the Replacement Rentals. This business section takes up 78% of Enterprise’s resources, which enables the company to capture approximately 55% of the US replacement rentals market share. Yet, the total replacement Rent-A-Car

Marriott decided to enhance travelers’ value by segmenting the market and then targeting selected segments, each with a different brand. Then as now, Marriott was the flagship brand. Each new brand would support Marriott’s overall brand identity — a commitment to superior customer service — and train employees to have a passion for service.

Determine and discuss a pricing strategy (penetration or skimming). Determine and discuss pricing tactics (product line pricing, value pricing, differential pricing, or competing against private brands) to be used for your product. Identify any legal and ethical issues related to the pricing tactics. Prepare a marketing distribution channel analysis identifying the wholesaler, distributor, and retailer relationships. Discuss how the distribution strategy fits the product/service, target market, and overall marketing objectives for the company.

For instance, in the hospitality industry, the Hilton brand symbolises high-end properties, elevated quality of service and a unique guest experience. Brand name and brand image are essentially two factors that differentiate companies which operate in the same industry and market. Therefore, the brand name must be unique. Hotel companies like the Hilton have established strong national brands and seek to use them globally with an intention of increasing profits. Once its established as a global brand, the company has successfully created an international image that can lead to increased efficiency through branded marketing efforts and cost savings on a much larger scale. Nowadays with an increase in international travel, the competition among international hotel corporations is becoming a lot more competetive. Those tourists that travel to foreign countries tend to stay in one of the known hotel brands and their standardised quality of service. Hotel chains are motivated to maintain a high rate of global expansion as a key marketing strategy of creating brand loyalty (King,

Operating under an intensely competitive environment, Southwest Airlines carefully projects its image so customers can differentiate its product from its competitors. Southwest positions itself in all its marketing communications as the only low-fare, short-haul, high-frequency, point-to-point carrier in America that is fun to fly (Cheng, 2010). Its low-priced fares are a brand equity which it "owns" in the mathematical sense of being the only major airline with a strong score on this attribute based on consumer research. Southwest’s brand exudes an element of fun: a down-home attitude which it leverages to present the consequences of low fares in a positive light. This is great

Consumers have certain types of perceptions of price in correlation to the product quality and service; therefore, company should base their price on the customer’s perceived value (K&K). Some consumers are price sensitive, while others are quality or both. “The key to perceived-value pricing is to deliver more unique value than competitors and to demonstrate this to prospective buyers” (p.183). For example, Dish Network has introductory price for a year or two, then it bounces back to regular price. Also, the company offers different TV packages, which can be customized according to the station most watched or one can pick one of the package the company provides. I have been with Dish Network for more than 5 years and one thing that kept

Virgin Mobile is looking to launch a new cell phone service in the US marketplace, which is already a highly saturated industry. This analysis will help select a pricing strategy that attracts and retains subscribers, while still maintaining a competitive edge within the industry. The cell phone industry has many sources of customer dissatisfaction. For instance, customers’ distrust in pricing plans due to confusing usage rates; companies’ inconvenient and inconsistent off-peak hours; service provider’s hidden fees that include taxes and higher rates after minutes are used up, universal service charges, and one-time costs; and binding contracts by the service

Pepsi’s has a large number of product lines and brands and thus the prices are considerably varied. Their main pricing strategy is based on the Market-Oriented pricing strategy to ensure that its prices are competitive as compared to the competitor’s prices and market conditions. Pepsi also used

Market structure can be defined as patterns of behaviour by enterprises in an effort to adjust to the markets in which they operate (buy or sell). Pricing strategies and collusive behaviour mergers are a few dimensions of market conduct. It is the industry norm for a legacy carrier to offer service to most popular destinations; Delta reducing routes to a similar schedule as the low-cost airlines is not an option in the multi-billion dollar industry. In order to gain market share from low-cost airlines, Delta must create a value proposition that differentiates itself from its competitors. Many customers will pay a premium if the level of service provided is higher than the low-cost, no-frills

When trying to find the Enterprise Value for Hertz, the sponsor group took a couple key assumptions. First off, management had projected transaction volume to grow 6.9% in 2005, which according to the case is one of the key drivers of the rental car business. This seems to be a reasonable assumption considering that travel was starting to rebound from the lows post 9/11. Also, the Bidding group believed $400-$600 million in annual EBITDA savings was attainable by 2009 (confirmed by external industry advisors). Hertz was behind in EBITDA margins, increasing operating expenses outpacing revenue growth, the off-airport growth strategy had significant losses, higher nonfleet capital expenditures, Europe’s RAC SG&A was 3 times higher than those in the U.S., and return on assets lagged competitors. The bidding group thought by targeting these problem areas, and others, they could generate higher profits. Another assumption

Moving on towards the various pricing strategies, the first pricing strategy is the differential pricing. This is to charge different prices to different target markets, which is usually not considered illegal in the case of services. The prices charged differ according to the types of customers being served for example children and disabled people usually get a discount on ticket prices.

carrier; the worst all-around carrier charges for every ancillary product. Established under Airline Segmentation, Spirit targets price sensitive, business-class, middle-class, students and solo travelers within psychographics (Zigu, 2017). Consequently, this paper will discuss the carrier; ticket distribution channels, pricing strategy, and product promotion.

In April 1992, American Airlines launched "Value Pricing" -- a radical simplification of the complex pricing structure that had evolved over more than a decade following deregulation of the U.S. domestic airline industry. American expected that the new pricing structure would benefit consumers and restore profitability to both American and the industry as a whole. The critical issue raised is: Would American's bold initiative work?

In order to achieve its strategic goals, Maverick Lodging’s strategic plan is to differentiate its services with the application of a balanced scorecard. In a differentiation strategy, value is added to a product by differentiating the product from those offered by competitors along one or more dimensions (Hill & Jones, 1995). The strategy of creating value by differentiation means that the company must focus more on creating a higher quality product rather than offering the lowest price (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, & Wright, 2009).