Bman73991 Marketing Management : Ryanair Assessment Answers

Answer:

Summary situation analysis

Ryanair is a flight company established in 1985 with an aim to transport passengers. It started with a 15-seater aircraft and 25 personnel working for the company. Within a period of one year, they added two new aircraft to help counter the increasing demand by clients. This saw an increase in the number of passengers they ferried during the year 1986. One year later they procured three BAC1-11 aircraft from TAROM. This enabled them to increase the number of routes they were serving to 15. As a consequence, the number of passengers also increased and the Ryanair Company began to cut off some of the incentives they were offering their clients before. This includes closing business class product and frequent flyer club; instead, they tried to reduce their fares as much as possible while also abolishing free drinks and board meals. The fares were lowered from 99 pounds to about 59 pounds. It is noted that in 1993, almost 1 million passengers used their aircrafts for the first time.

In order to market its operations to many people, Ryanair held its 10^th anniversary in Lansdowne Rugby Club where many people joined them in celebrations and this gave them an opportunity meet several other people as well as their clients. By this time they had acquired 11 aircraft and all of these were Boeing 737s. The next 5 years saw an increase in the number of employees to approximately 1,262 and above seven million passengers using their flights per year (Portus, 2014). Consequently, there were an increasing number of passengers being carried per month, for instance, in 2001; the number of people that used their services reached 1 million in a month. This popularity urged them to add other new Boeing 737s to their gallery so that they could meet the increasing demand. To meet the demands of their clients that were in Europe, they decided to secure another office which acted as their base in Brussels Charleroi Airport. This was their first continental European base. It is interesting to see an increasing number of passengers which was carried in the year 2002, for example, the number went up to 13 million, at this time they also introduced a big Irish airline. With the continued expansion, they were able to beat 30 million passengers in a year and being able to overtake the British Airways. In the year 2006, they managed to reach 100 aircraft and carried 42.5 million passengers in the same year. The company also opened several other bases to take care of the increasing number of passengers.

There was a continued rise in the number of passengers in 2010 and 2011, which saw an increase of passengers from 72.1 million to 75 million. In 2011, their fare stood at 45 pounds despite an increase in fuel prices.  In 2012, the client demand increased by 5 per cent to hit 79.3 million with an average fare of 48 pounds. Consequently, this increase saw the opening of other seven new bases. Interesting enough, there are no reported accidents that have been realized so far (Ruffus, 2009).

Objectives set for Ryanair

Ryanair has targeted to be the leading fleet provider in the entire Europe. They have been able to have a large number of aircraft that are on the verge of constant increase almost every year. The company also aspires to provide fair charges to its clients despite inflation in fuel and oil prices which keep on changing frequently (Robert, 2013). They have tried to charge the lowest prices in the market with only a slight increase each year. This has made it be so popular among other flight companies. In addition, the company looks forward to offering cheap on board services to its passengers. This can be derived from the fact that at the start, they offered meals and free drinks to its clients. However, this was withdrawn later after it has acquired positive recommendation from its customers. Ryanair also strives to be accessible to many people in and outside Europe. This can be seen when they constantly open several bases and offices to ensure they accessibility is raised.  Finally, another objective for Ryanair is to be a world leading fleet provider with its connections in most countries around the world. It has also been seen that the number of its employees are on the verge of growing (Paul, 2010). It is an equal opportunity provider seen from the manner it is opening its bases in many places, which means it must also employ personnel to work in those places.

Identification of market segmentation, key target audiences, and brand positioning

As seen in the case study, Ryanair targeted people with low earnings and gave them an opportunity to travel on aircraft with affordable rates compared to other fleet charges. The company chooses Brussels Charleroi Airport as its first continental European base. This was done to ensure it reaches many people and be accessible enough (Alexis, 2012). And it also went ahead to open many other bases elsewhere. In addition, there they managed to use several types and sizes of aircraft to ensure each and every person gets an opportunity and is satisfied with the kind of services they offer, for instance, different Boeing types were introduced.

Marketing Mix (4 Ps) for Ryanair

Marketing is a continuous process that must be practiced by every company to ensure its products and services are sold or known to the customers (Woodall, 2014). The 4 Ps marketing mix involves product, place, price, and promotion. For Ryanair, the product is the services of transportation they offer to the passengers. These services should be accessible by the target consumer so that it can be found easily. This involves the issue of place, and this is the reason why Ryanair Company is seen to be opening its bases in various airports (Clark, 2015). The services that are offered by the company should be able to represent good value for money. One thing that is important for marketing is that clients will be ready to pay more so long as proper services are delivered to them. In terms of promotion, Ryanair Company organized and celebrated its 10^th anniversary which they invited the public to know about their services and the steps they have made to ensure that people understand what they offer. They, therefore, need to devise a proper communication channel and tools that can enable them to reach as many people as possible (Luke, 2011).

References

Alexis. (2012). Marketing Laws and Marketing Strategy. Business Fundamentals, V (8), 50-53.

Clark. (2015). Marketing Research. Marketing Marketing, VI (4), 10-14.

Luke. (2011). Marketing Courses and Marketing Research. Business Monthly, III (10), 8-12.

Paul. (2010). Human Resource and Man- power relations. Human Capital, VII (5), 30-40.

Portus. (2014). Management Practices. Management Insight , II (5), 10-15.

Robert. (2013). Business Objectives. Business Daily, IV (20), 20-30.

Ruffus. (2009). Business improvement factors. Good ventures, IV (1), 17-22.

Woodall. (2014). New marketing, improved marketing. Business Adventure, IV (6), 30-35.