The importance of understanding target customer requirements for effective management
Discuss about the Perceptions of Customers on Behavioral Intentions.
It has been observed that in the last couple of decades there have been a lot of research works to find relevant models and theories to determine and evaluate the aspects that are influencing the customers’ buying decisions. Nowadays many marketers have understood the importance of this issue and therefore, the purpose of this report is to highlight various aspects that are contributing part of the decision making process.
There are numerous factors that can influence the decision making process of the customers and the personal influences take a major part in channelizing the decision making process of the customers in most cases. These factors can effectively influence the perception, motivation, attitude and the concept of the customers regarding a particular service or a product. Therefore, the managements of the business organizations and for this case, the management of Australian Heritage Hotel should consider that they will be needing to get to know the requirements and the demands of the target customers so that they can effectively manage any issues that can hamper or affect the decision making process of the clients of the organization. It can be said that the effects of these factors cannot be verbalized by the customers as he or she may not even realize how their decisions were influenced by these factors. For an example, it can be said that motivation is one of the major factor about which the traditional surveys reveal little as the customers are unable to show exact reasons behind opting for a specific choice (Jani and Han 2014).
It has been seen that the decision making process of the customers involve five major steps and those are the need of recognition and problem awareness, searching for information, evaluating the alternative options, purchase and the evaluation of the product or the services after purchase. The needs of the customers and the attitudes of the target customers play a vital role in ensuring whether the customer will opt for purchasing a particular product or service or not(Liat, Mansori and Huei 2014).
It can be said that to ensure to sell a service or a product the management of the business organizations should have a clear idea of the requirement or demands of the target customer base. For an instance it can be said that the management of Australian heritage Hotel should have a clear idea about their target customers and their demands or needs; and then only they will be able to offer them the services or the products that they need and that can effectively enhance the satisfaction of the customers (Bolfing and Cadotte 2015). If the target customers of the hotel find that the management of the hotel organization has a clear understanding of what they expect from the staffs of the hotel related to the services and the products they offer, it would be easier for them to take decisions. In this regard it will be worthwhile to mention that the Australian Heritage hotel’s target customers are the people who enjoy their stay in the hotel for recreational purpose or business purpose and the target customer base o the hotel is somewhat niche as they offer luxurious stay with 5star amenities. The pub and restaurant of the hotel is decorated with a retro theme and the management expects that a crowd will gather there who has a taste of good 80s music (Jani and Han 2014). Therefore, these services and products will definitely attract a particular segment of the market and it can be said that likeminded people who would enjoy their stay or visit to the hotel of the restaurant and the pub of the hotel would instantly choose the organization as. There lies the importance of the needs of the target customers in the decision making process while purchasing a service or a product.
The 5 major steps in the customer decision-making process
To influence the target customers’ buying preferences or choices, the managements of the business organizations need to know their personalities too. This is because, when the customers have a specific personality, that may or may not be matched with the ways of the services or the products provided by a particular business organization (Ali and Amin 2014). To define personality it can surely be said that it is the amalgamation of the internal and the external traits of an individual that makes a man unique(Jani and Han 2014). For this particular reason the products and launched in the markets should be launched after getting to know the personality of the target customer base. In this regard, it can surely be said that the relation between consumer personality and brand personality has become a much debated topic as it is looked at as the marketers of the products and services in general initiate dialogue with the consumers by personality route by establishing a brand personality that has to be aligned with the personality of the consumers so that it can have a positive impact on the purchasing decision of the consumers (Bolfing and Cadotte 2015). Therefore it can be said that the management of Australian Heritage Hotel should have a thorough knowledge of the personality traits of their target customers and then accordingly initiate the operations of the hotel so that they can experience maximized productivity along with profitability. It is a matter of fact that the consumers’ brand preferences gets influenced by the personality of the management of the organization that is providing the services or products and it can be said that if the personality traits of the management and the consumer’s gets aligned then nothing could be better than that. There lies the importance of customers’ personality in influencing the buying preferences of the customers.
It is necessary of any organization to study their consumer behaviors in different groups and individually while they select, buy, use these services, products or experiences. The consumers only seek the products for satisfying their fundamental desires and needs. As the idea of consumer behavior refers to the study of what are bought by the customers. Therefore it also attempts in understanding the process of decision making and its impact on the buying behavior of consumers (Liat, Mansori and Huei 2014). It is important for the marketers and organizations to identify the behavioral pattern of the consumers however; it is not easy to crack as it is generally locked up into the minds of customers. Individual customers buy products or avail services in order to satisfy their needs. The needs are mostly considered as the psychological factor influencing the perception and beliefs of the customers while buying a product or any service. It is important for the organizations to understand that one individual consumer can have various types of needs (Ali and Amin 2014). These can be biological such as mere liking or thirst or the mental arising coming from the need of belonging or social recognition. A need of product or service can be stimulated to a particular intensity level while it is being altered with a specific motive. In this regard, it is noteworthy to mention that a motive can also be referred as a need which is the driver while an individual is seeking satisfaction(Jani and Han 2014). In this regard, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs models can be discussed. This model shows the hierarchical need of an individual in a pyramid structure where the fundamental rule is to satisfy the most basic requirements firstly before leading towards the next one. When a need is entirely fulfilled, it stops acting like a motivator to an individual therefore he or she focuses to the next significant needs. Maslow’s model includes five fundamental needs of an individual: psychological needs that refers to the basic need of survival such as food, clothing, sleep etc.; safety needs that refer to the need of feeling protected or secured; belonging needs that refer to the need of feeling accepted or loved by others in the society; ego needs that refer to accomplishing goals in life and having a status in life; and self-actualization needs that refer to the need of having enriched experiences and self-fulfillment(Liat, Mansori and Huei 2014). In the backdrop of this model, it can be said that an individual will only act according to their need and perception. They will focus on the stimulus that is associated with their recent need and act accordingly. Therefore it can be said that the need of the consumers play a major role in consumer decision making(Karatepe and Karadas 2015). As a result to that it is necessary for the hospitality organization like Australian Heritage Hotel to find out the specific needs of their targeted customer base and shape their organizational operations in that way(Bolfing and Cadotte 2015).
The impact of individual personalities on buying preferences
An individual’s personality is another important factor that influences the buying behavior of consumers(Ali and Amin 2014). While making a decision, an individual is always influenced by various personal factors such as their occupation, financial situation, age, lifestyle, self-concept and personality. Personality is a major factor that tends to distinguish one individual from another by few particular traits(Jani and Han 2014). These personal characteristics include sociability, self-confidence, adaptability and dominance attitude of an individual. This helps people to shape their personality which determines their worldview and how they perceive what is going on around them and what other individuals think of them. The values and attitudes play a significant role in shaping personality, however it is worthwhile to mention that personality tend to alter during different phases of life while an individual is growing up and there are numerous changes in the surroundings (Liat, Mansori and Huei 2014). In this regard it can also be said personality is shaped by the idea of a self-concept that define an individual’s feelings and thoughts about himself or herself as a mere object. It can be considered as an image of what a person has about own self which is primarily created by individual beliefs and attitudes. The consumer decision making process is strongly influenced by these psychological factors as it is responsible for developing an interest within an individual(Karatepe and Karadas 2015). The personality of an individual is also a major feature in creating the lifestyle which is considered to be a major psychological variable influencing the buying decision. In the black box model, it can be seen that there are few marketing stimuli that are processed and planned by the organization where environmental stimulus exist on the basis of political, economic and cultural dimension of a particular society(Bolfing and Cadotte 2015). This model indicates that the black box of a consumer includes various features of a buyer such as personality; lifestyle, self-perception and motivation along with the decision making process that tend to determine the response of a consumer within the market (Ali and Amin 2014). Therefore it can be said that the response or the final decision of a consumer is an outcome of a rational and conscious decision making process where the consumer identifies a particular problem and remains a decision to solve it. The behavioral theory refers that an individual’s personality is the outcome of the interaction between the environment and the individual. Therefore it can be understood that the buying behavior can be scientifically and objectively measured by considering the human thinking and emotion. Therefore the researchers suggest that there is a profound relationship between the consumer decision making process and individual personality as it works as a measure predictive criterion which is also accountable for the variation in product or service preference of consumers(Karatepe and Karadas 2015). It can be indicated that personality influences the brand choice of consumers as studies have indicated that the buyers who show a conscientious personality tend to prefer trusted brands. Therefore, it can be indicated that the organizations should consider their target customers’ personality as a major trait in defining the brand choice and service preferences especially in the hospitality organizations like Australian Heritage Hotel(Liat, Mansori and Huei 2014).
Consumer behavior and the psychological factors that influence it
It has been seen that there are numerous factors that can effectively influence the decision making process of the customers and these factors include variety of cognitive biases along with economic status, Belief in personal relevance individual differences and many more. There are numerous behavioral factors that can effectively influence on the process of decision making and some of them affect only certain aspect of the whole process and the other behavioral factors can influence the entire process of the decision making(Ali and Amin 2014). As there are many stages in the process of decision making like come across an object and then comparing it with other possible objects or services that the customer can get enough fair deal and finally the purchasing process and therefore in the whole process the individual influences play a vital role to channelize the process of decision making (Jani and Han 2014). It is a matter of fact that these personal influences include specific requirement personality traits experiences and many more but in this particular case of Australian Heritage Hotel it can be said that the personality of the customers of the hotel and the requirements of the visitors should be the major elements that are influencing the customers buying decisions (Liat, Mansori and Huei 2014). It has been seen that as Australian Heritage Hotel offers luxurious stay a proper Ambience for business meetings and also a place where people can enjoy music with good food and dining experiences the management of the organization had to provide 5 star services to their customers and therefore they were compelled to keep the pricing in a bit of higher end (Karatepe and Karadas 2015). The target customers are the privilege population of Australia and almost 20% of the population of that particular state where the hotel is located whose age group is between 20 to 45. In this case it has been observed that though the managements aim is to provide five star services and facilities to their VIP customers and they have a vision to be one of the most luxurious hotels in the market of Australia but due to lack of professional skills of their front desk staffs are causing some serious problems (Ali and Amin 2014). As the target customer base of the organization is a niche population of Australia and the business organization operates in the hospitality industry therefore the management has to make sure that the behavior of their employees and specially the front desk staff has to be friendly and positive and surely the organizations employees were not executing the same and therefore that has caused a serious issue among the target customers of the organization as they are paying a fortune and if they do not get proper services they would not visit the organization again and would not recommend the organization to anyone(Bolfing and Cadotte 2015). Not only that in this particular context it can easily be seen that the needs or requirements of the customers are also not getting full field due to ineffectiveness of the workforce of the hotel organization. Therefore initially the management has to stress on training and development procedure for the entire workforce of the company and should deploy a team who would identifies the area of improvement and can possibility device new ideas and take innovative initiatives in order to appease the customers and try to satisfy their needs and provide services that could be matched with their personality(Karatepe and Karadas 2015).
Improving the effectiveness of the workforce is a important aspect of the business organization but at the same time the management of the Australian Heritage Hotel should consider improving their marketing policies and marketing strategies also in order to attract more people to their organization which is vital to sustain the business for any hospitality business (Jani and Han 2014).
For the marketing mix of Australia and Heritage Hotel product please promotion and people are four most important elements and the management of the organization should emphasize on improving these four aspects of their marketing strategy.
Australian Heritage Hotel can be looked at as one of the most luxurious full-service hotel and the range of the services it offers are like Business meetings restaurants and lounges food and beverages swimming pools retail facilities gymnasium and many more. These products can be divided into three parts and those are core, facilitating and the supporting products. It can be said that the court products are the basic form of the products and these are the main reasons for which the visitors come and stay in the hotels. Therefore it can be said that for this case the Court products are the visitors wish to stay in the hotel enjoy the food music and all the other facilities that the organization is offering to them(Ali and Amin 2014). On the other hand facilitating products include the services that can assist the visitors of the hotel to consume the court products and Australian Heritage Hotel provides a range of popular facilitating products like bars restaurants Customer services valet parking and pre booking facilities. Supporting products involve additional goods and services that can be offered to the customers of the hotel in order to gain competitive advantage in the market full of rivalries to increase the value of the core products and the services offered by the business organization. In the form of supporting products Australian Heritage Hotel offers 24* 7 room service complimentary breakfast newspapers and magazines and free cab services to their VIP customers(Liat, Mansori and Huei 2014).
The final target of the distribution strategy of a hotel organization can be explained as making the goods and services to the consumers where when and how they prefer them to have. The business organization serves guests operating more than 700 rooms in two branches which are located in Australia and that too in the central region of New South Wales and Queensland. It has been seen that the management’s distribution strategy immensely depends on the information technology and internet in numerous formats. First of all it can be said that the official websites of the organization serves as an effective platform for distribution of the services as it is supplied with a variety of features and capabilities that can provide practical assistance to the visitors of the organization for purposes like booking planning events scheduling meetings and booking airport pickups(Ali and Amin 2014). The distribution of Australian Heritage hotels products and the services are also facilitated by mobile applications which are available for IOS and Android platforms. Social media is another tool that is helping the management of the organization to attract more customers effectively and to reach up to their target customer base by conveying them what are the products and the services that they are offering in which particular pricing(Liat, Mansori and Huei 2014). On the social media websites the management of the organization has also initiated distributing coupons that can reduce the expenditure and provide discounts to the customers which is becoming popular among the target customers of the organization and that has brought in many visitors in the last few months in the organization giving a major boost to its profitability.
The management of Australian Heritage Hotel emphasizes on the promotion of the hotel in digital media sources and in billboards and newspapers(Jani and Han 2014). It has been observed that the management of the business organization has been extensively focusing on increasing their digital marketing and they have opted social media websites to promote their Organization in order to attract younger target customer base to their organization. In social media websites the management has initiated to distribute coupons and heavy discounts to their customers in order to attract more customers and to experience or serve repeat customers. It is a matter of fact that in hospitality business the repeat customers significantly helps to increase the profitability of the organization and therefore the management is focusing on making people to visit there hotels again and again(Ali and Amin 2014). The directors of the organization believe in word of mouth publicity and therefore they try to provide Quality Services to the customers so that the satisfied customers can do the word of mouth advertising for them and recommend others to visit their hotel.
People are the most important factors to insured the profitability of the business organization as by increasing customers visit to the hotel the management can only expect to increase their profitability. It has been seen that the management of the business organization should focus on satisfying the requirements and needs of the customers so that the customers become loyal to the organization and then only the organization will be able to gain a huge reputation in their market of operation which is essential to sustain the growth and development of a business in today’s world in the market full of rivalries (Liat, Mansori and Huei 2014).
Conclusion
Thus to conclude, it can be said that customers’ decision making process is a complex matter and it can be said that the leaders should emphasize on this issue in order to sustain the profitability of their businesses in the most odd times.
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