Air France Marketing Strategy

standard pressure France Marketing system breed France, champion of the worlds largest airlines, has a history in aviation issue back nearly a century. As part of the Air France KLM host and a member of the SkyTeam global airline alliance, they ar able to cranny the best in-flight of steps table helper and widest choice of travel routes to clients (Staniland, 2003, p.262).As a profit presidential term, Air France must necessarily spin richly select service at all levels to its customers, and this report considers both the current state of the organisation and how it achieves this level of service fibre. The 7Ps of marketing is the main framework used and musing is also given to the benefits of relationship marketing for the organisation.7Ps of Marketing in sexual relation to Air France Its PartnershipsThe 7Ps of marketing are an extension of the traditional four Ps of marketing, i.e. product, determine, place and promotion, to take account of changes in approach that incorporate service delivery and thus adds in people, process and carnal evidence to propose an overall service marketing mix(Nargundkar, 2006, p.45).1) ProductAir France has two main strands of product inviteing on the ground services and in-flight services.The first relates to admission to major airports with appropriate parking, duty free obtain facilities and safe and competent baggage handling as soundly as good quality customer service at reservation counters, booking in desks, online booking services etc.Inflight services are less tangible and more than prone to customer perception, and include areas such as cabin cabal approachability and comfortable seating as well as in-flight shopping and entertainment/ refreshment.For Air France, delivery of a quality product in both aspects is a major element of business concern offering as they realise the importance of this to customers (Alamdari, 1999).2) PriceFor many leisure travellers, price is one of the major co nsiderations when choosing an airline, along with accessibility to airports, and flight times (Doganis, 2006, p.211). For Air France, their price structure is based on basic fares, both leisure and business plus additional costs such as taxes, and the service provided by the airline. As a strategy they claim selected value for money set (Taneja, 2004 p.166), charging the average price when compared with their competitors.3) PlacePlace in this context refers to how, where, why and when consumers purchase (Crane, 1993, p.19). For Air France this may be direct done the airline, either online or by phone, as part of a holiday mailboat or through and through a third party travel agent.4) advanceEncouraging awareness of the value provided by an airline is done through promotion. In the case of Air France this is done through a cabal of joint promotions with their strategic partners, both airline and non-airline based as well as direct advertizement and promotion through magazines and TV advertising and in holiday brochures. The companys promotional stance is heavily based in promoting its French basis, with a firebrand image based on style, annotate (blue) and positioning themselves as the representation of France in the air (Kaynak Kucukemiroglu, 1993).In addition, the companys partnerships with organisations such as Hertz Rent a Car, who are able to offer discounts and special deals to Air France customers and Allianz, who offer a digital safe-box to Air France customers, offer a further route to raising customer awareness of the brand and its offers.5) PeopleAs a service provider, the people employed by Air France are its representatives and their attitude and service delivery can be a major factor in customer loyalty (Ostrowsky et al, 1993). As such the company invests heavily in ongoing training to cover that their values and attention to customer care are demonstrated at all times, including ensuring their faculty are trained in the latest health check procedures to provide care for patients in an emergency (Bertrand, 2004)6) ProcessAs a result of the numerous ways that flights can be booked, there are various different distribution channels for Air France, such as travel agents, their own direct booking service, which is either by foretell or online, as well as their affiliations and partnerships with other airlines and flight related organisations (Shaw, 2007, p.225). These include Hertz car rental and the RATP (Regional operators of local transport in Paris) who will recommend the airline to its customers in a reciprocal arrangement.7) visible EvidenceThis aspect of the 7Ps relates to the overall operating environment and the interaction amongst this and consumers. For Air France this means the strong-arm aeroplanes, their seating layout and refreshment offerings are the physical evidence of their ability, or not, to deliver to the customers satisfaction. In addition, even before take-off the physical environment for booking in baggage, dealing with queries and customer service desk contain to be visually appealing to customers to ensure that they do not have a negative determine with the airline, its staff or its partners.Air France staff have a distinctive uniform, designed by Christian Lacroix in 2005, (Lerpold, 2007, p.174) which they share with other Skyteam Alliance partners, to encourage customers to recognise the solidarity within the industry and to engender the feeling that the service will be standardised to the highest quality throughout their interaction with Air France.Relationship Marketing and Air FranceFor Air France, relationship marketing means ensuring that customers feel that their needs are dominant throughout the whole travel experience, from the initial booking right through to their leaving the airport with their baggage intact as well as encouraging customer feedback with surveys and questionnaires. By developing relationships with frequent flyers and offering them promotions and discounts Air France can ensure that they will return to the airline once again and again (Gilbert, 1996).A further benefit of this approach, which should include incorporating opportunities for customer feedback on their flight experience with Air France and demonstrating that the feedback is listened to and acted on is the use of word of mouth (Farrugia Quigley, 2009). In a world of social networking, consumers who have had a positive experience with the airline will encourage friends and colleagues to fly with Air France rather than a cheaper, budget airline, due to the premium service offered which includes the Planete Bleue package, a service oddly designed to cater for families with young children and teenagers (www.airfrance.com, 2010)SummaryAir Frances strategic partnerships and high commitment to service quality has meant that they have a good personality with consumers and as such are able to demonstrate high levels of customer loyalty. All of these fact ors have contributed to make it one of the worlds largest airlines and an attractive partnership pickax for other airlines and customers.