competitive marketing strategy

Running Head: COMPETITIVE MARKETING STRATEGY 1

Competitive Marketing Strategy of Adventure Excursions Unlimited

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COMPETITIVE MARKETING STRATEGY 2

Introduction

Marketing Research is the key to success for any organization because it helps to know

the position of the company in the market in which its operate. The company needs to plan its

marketing strategy as per the information observed from the research for providing a hard

competition to its rivals and seek success in the long run. This report is made on the Adventure

Excursions Unlimited (AEU) that is a travel or adventure sports, organizing company that

operates its business in the USA. This company was formed in the year 2001 by its founders

Jillyn Certo, Jordan Stephen and Loren Marlo (Adventuresunlimited.com, 2015). The company

provides travel packages and hard adventure sports to high profile celebrity and wealthy clients

those who are fond of adventure traveling and sports. As it is known that tourism is a growing

industry that annually grows at the rate of 4%. But the adventure sports industry is a more

rapidly growing industry that is growing at a pace of 10% annually. It is a quite different industry

that makes the organization have only a few competitors. This type of business is of different

prospect; it needs a good marketing strategy, to seek growth in the long run. Here in this report

the competitive marketing strategy of the company has been discussed to know the marketing

plans of the company that helps the company to gain the advantage over its competitors.

Market Analysis

AEU has been operating in the market for a decade and it is important for the company to

have a good marketing plan to continue its success and increase its future profitability to seek

growth in the market. As it is already known that the company is offering hard adventure trips to

wealthy people, it mainly targets people how have personal income more than $75000 per year.

It also targets people who are more health conscious. The main customers of this company are


doctors, bankers, lawyers, and executives, etc. who are health concerns, adventurous and wealthy

people. The main service users of this company are located in the urban area in the USA and are

mostly married couples. Along with the growing demand for this type of services, the market is

also becoming saturated with the competitive service providers, but AEU is differentiated from

its competitors by its unique services offered.

Market Analysis 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Potential Customers

Growth

High-income health-conscious individuals

12% 3605002 4037602 4522114 5064768 5672540

Young, active "trustafarians"

5% 775665 814448 855171 897929 942826

Other 0% 0 0 0 0 0Total 10.19% 4,380,667 4,852,050 5,377,285 5,962,697 6,615,366

It can be seen from the above table that during the last five years the company has sought

a growth of 10% of its customers. That is, the customers of the company have grown at a rate of

10% every year. It is quite more than any industry. But with the growing demand and increase in

the customers, the competition in the market has also increased that has pressurized the company

to differentiate its products and services from its competitors.


Figure: Market Analysis

That above figure shows that the customer base of the company is consumed mostly by

the high income and health conscious person that almost consumes 73% of the total database.

While the rest of the part is consumed by young and active consumers who are adventurous and

sport loving people.

Needs of Market

The company provides its customers with different hard adventure sports and activities

that attract its customers that are adventure loving people and wealthy clients. Mostly all its

competitors target at low-income level people, but AEU target high income earning people.

Therefore, it needs a good marketing strategy to attract its customers (Haluk Köksal, 2008). As it

is already known from the market research that the companies that target wealthy customers

provides soft adventure activities. But as the customers demand something different from that of

soft spots, the AEU is the best choice for this type of customers. The activities and services


provided by this company involve a high level of risk which attracts more customers and helps

the company to seek growth in the highly competitive market.

Market Trends

For developing a business, it is important to know the market trends to assess the risk for

the company and take necessary steps to minimize the risk. From the market research, it has been

seen that the market has a growth rate of 3% in the year 1999 which increased at a high pace. At

present, the industry seeks a growth rate of 10.19% that helps the company to develop its

business as per the need of the market. Adventure travel is the most growing part of the travel

industry and the recent increase in the people taking part in the extreme sports. The increased

revenue of the industry has made the segment the most successful part of the industry (Chen,

2014).

2010 2011 2012 2013 20140

1000000

2000000

3000000

4000000

5000000

6000000

High-income health-conscious individuals 12%Young, active "trustafar-ians" 5%

Figure: Market Trend


SWOT Analysis

To understand the success of the marketing strategy of the company it is important to

know the pros and cons of the company. For observing the pros and cons of the strategy of the

company SWOT analysis of the strategy has been made that helps to know about the weakness

and strengths of the company. It also helps to know about the opportunity and threats regarding

the company.

Strength:

The company has a low customer to employee ratio that reduces the cost and expense of

the company.

It has a good human resource that is highly trained and capable of handling high-profile

customers.

It has a high level of customer loyalty for its repeating customers.

It provides a high-end, unique and good quality service.

Weakness:

The biggest challenge for AUE is to find highly skilled and capable workers who have a

customer oriented attitude.

It faces a huge trouble in providing new offers and tips for its customers to meet the

needs of the competitive market.

It has most of its customer base in the US that prevents the company from globalized

communication.

Opportunity:


The market is growing and still yet not saturated. There are only a few competitors of the

company that provides the same type of services and, therefore, provide the company a

great opportunity to expand.

As most of its customers are high income earning people or a younger generation person.

These people are addicted to the use of the internet provides the company an opportunity

to promote its business through the internet as all around the globe.

The company has an opportunity to spread its overhead costs by increasing the number of

trips offered.

Threat:

Change in the economy affects the industry.

As it is an open market, there is a threat of entrance of new service provider in the market

that increases the level of competition.

The increase in the terrorist attacks affects the number of customers.

Services offered by the company

AEU Company provides hard adventure sports services to its customers. It ranks the top

most in the industry because of its high-quality package of traveling for extreme adventurous

sports trips that makes it unique in the industry. From the beginning, the company offered mainly

six different trips of Heli-skiing in Canada, New Zealand, and India, water rafting trip to Costa

Rica and New Zealand. It also provides mountain biking trips from New Mexico to Montana

(Adventuresunlimited.com, 2015). As it has been seen that the target customers of the company

are young generation people who like hard sports and adventurous journey. The company offer

them with the service of their choice and charge them with a monopoly amount because of their


unique service. AEU serve the market as unique and top quality service provider that allows the

customers with custom services as per the choice of the consumers. The company provides all

services starting from booking to the final satisfaction of the customers. The company is a

customer oriented company that believes in the satisfaction of the customers as its main motto.

They provide luxury accommodations, celebrity exposure, gourmet food and entertainment to its

customers. The main tours provided by the company are the mountain bike tours and helicopter

skiing tours. At present, the company also provides many different unique trips that differentiate

the company from its competitors.

Competition in the market

Pros and cons of the competitors

AEU has two different primary types of competitors in the market. The first type o0f

competitors for the company are the adventure sports providers who are specialized in providing

one type of hard sport adventure trips like water rafting or helicopter skiing. These types of

competitor possess strength because of providing only one type of sports activity in which they

are expertise. They provide the same trip at a low cost because of their expertise in the field.

Though this type of competitors has few weaknesses of providing an indifferent activity that is

already provided by the company. This type of competitors does not have resources to support

the extra desires of the customers that make the competitors lag behind AEU. They cannot serve

their customers in the way AEU provide their service. But the most competitive approach of the

rival companies is the cheap price charged for the service. This issue is of high concern, and the

company loses its customer base because of the high price charge.


The company that charges a high price mainly provides soft sports packages to its

customers that also strengthen up the services provided by the company. The trips offered by

these type of competitors, mainly include low-risk activities and sightseeing. The main

advantages of this type of competitors are the goodwill and huge knowledge of the industry.

They mainly hire key management staffs for providing services to their customers. Some of these

types of competitors have experience of more than twenty years in this field. Therefore, they are

capable of offering trips at a lower rate.

Main difficulties for the company:

It becomes difficult for the company to decide the price of their services because of the

high competition in the market.

Most of the activities provided by AEU are seasonal. Therefore, for earning recurring

revenue, the company depends on few services and need to develop those services for

ongoing revenue earning in the off seasons.

As most of the services provided by the company are seasonal, it becomes difficult for

the company to predict the weather for the areas. Here the trips are conducted to make the

trip successful to earn the satisfaction of the customers. Here the second type of

competitors wins the game because of their simple service offers and good reputations.

Substitute or competing products:

There are different substitute products or services that are offered by the competitors to

gain a competitive advantage over the company. Motor trips, theme parks, and cruises are some

of the alternates of the services offered by the company. Some of the substitutes are less

expensive and more attractive than the services offered by the company. Therefore, the company


needs better promotion and advertising strategy to attract more customers and earn better

revenue.

Marketing strategy

The company uses different communication techniques to develop the marketing strategy

for the gaining competitive advantages over its competitors. The company mainly depends on the

internet for promoting its business. AEU uses a website to deal all its marketing operations and

believes in the continuous development of the website for the welfare of the company. Another

media for marketing is the magazine advertising that helps the company to aim its target

consumers. Magazine advertisement helps the company to promote its services of high and hard

adventure sports. It makes the business of the company visualized before the customers. The

company also promotes its activities and new schemes through email letters to its loyal customer

base. The newsletter helps the company to serve its old and loyal customers in a better way

(Czepiel, 1992). As the company progress in the industry, it targets to aim new segments of the

industry to expand the business. As the products and strategy of the company are planned

keeping in mind the competitive pressure in the market. The company wants to expand the

business by introducing new products to meet the increasing competition in the market.

Mission of the Company

The mission of the AEU is to provide the best service to its customer to get the

satisfaction of the customers. It wants its customers to be happy with the services it provides to

retain its old customers and attract new people. The main aim of the AEU is to maintain and

attract the customers. They aim to maximize their customer base.

Marketing Objectives


To maintain growth for the company that will positively affect the revenue earning of the

company.

Want to increase the base of new customers and turn them into long-term revenue

providers.

To get the recognition as the best hard sports adventure trip organizing company.

Financial Objectives

Reduce the fixed overhead cost to increase the profitability of the company.

Decreasing the variable cost, by gaining more experience and expertise in the best fields

from where the company can earn more revenue.

Seek growth in double digits to expand the business.

Target Market

The AEU Company targets two different types of population:

Young and active people: These types of people are younger generation people who have

a lot of disposable income that attracts them to adventure trips. They mainly live in urban areas

and are a regular user of the internet. These people like to take part in outdoor activities that help

the company to earn revenue for this target group.

Health conscious and high income earning people: These are mainly health conscious

people and high income earning people who are fond of extreme sports trips. The individual

income of this group is minimum $75000. This type of people works hard in their daily life and

loves to spend their vacations on adventurous trips (Hooley, Saunders & Piercy, 2004).

Positioning in the Market


The company wants to promote itself and consume the position of the best luxurious hard

adventure trip organization company. It priced its products as per the requirement of the

consumers to meet the increasing competition in the market. The position of the company brings

in front the competitive edge of the company. The company provides the best extreme sports

trips to its customers without any budget limitations. They serve the customers in a better way by

providing exclusive trips. The service provided by the company and the trips organized by the

company is better than any other company that provides the company a competitive advantage.

Marketing Mix

The marketing mix of the company is divided into the following four P’s that are as

follows (Kelley, 1972):

Product: The Company tends to develop new products to attract more customers to

increase the customer base of the company. To seek growth and operate in the highly

competitive market, the company needs to develop new products and services to differentiate

from its competitors.

Pricing: The Company charges a higher price for the services provided by them because

of the unique trips and best quality offers. It does not compete with the price of its product

because its products and services are different and superior from its competitors.

Promotion: The Company promotes its products and services through internet and

magazine advertisements. The company mainly targets young, and high income earning people

who are regular users of the internet. The company operates its maximum workings through the

official websites that make the work of promotion easier for the company. It believes in

customer’s satisfaction that helps the company to retain its customers and promote the business.


Place: the company is concerned about the position of the business in the market. It tends

to develop its products and promote its business to maximize the position of the company. The

company operates throughout the world, but its maximum customer base is in the USA. The

company aims to expand its customer base throughout the world.

Marketing Research

Marketing research is important to understand the success rate of the company with the

prevailing market strategy. The company focuses on developing its marketing plans to develop

its business and expand the operations across the globe. But for doing that the company needs to

research the market and know the demand of the customers from the company. It is important for

the company to research the market to know the exact position of the company in the competitive

niche (Walker, 2004). The company needs to observe the customer feedback and develop the

products and services as per their need. It helps to use the ideas and information gather from the

customers in further decision making of the company. The company constantly looks into the

working of its competitors to observe the changes made by them in their business model and

offerings to meet the growing competition in the market. As the success of the company depends

on the customer’s attention, hence it mainly aims at attaining the attention of the customers with

new and exciting offers. The company still needs for growth because there is no end when the

sky is the limit. Therefore, for further growth the company needs to keep in mind some critical

issues that are as follows (Adventuresunlimited.com, 2015):

Building brand awareness among the target customers that will help to increase the

customer base.

Better fiscal planning for expansion and long run success.


Expansion at a proper rate and take a wise decision to reduce the expansion cost.

Conclusion

Adventure Excursions Unlimited is one of the best hard sports, a travel organizing

company of the USA that focus on customer satisfactions as their main aim. It differentiates its

products and services from its competitors by providing extreme sports trips and the best quality

of accommodation. The company plans its marketing strategy to get a competitive advantage

over its competitors. It is the top service provider in its field and target high-income customers

who are fond of extreme sports and are health concerned. The company plans and designs its

products and services as per the demand of the customers which makes it unique among the

market niche. Hence, the marketing strategy planned by the company is the source of

competitive edge for the company.


References

Adventuresunlimited.com,. (2015). Florida Panhandle Adventure, Canoe Pensacola, Florida

Cabin Rentals, Overnight Canoe Trip - Adventures Unlimited. Retrieved March 2015, from

http://www.adventuresunlimited.com/

Chen, Z. (2014). The Research on Development of Sports Tourism and Sports Marketing

Model. AMR,926-930, 4049-4052. doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.926-930.4049

Czepiel, J. (1992). Competitive marketing strategy. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Haluk Köksal, M. (2008). How export marketing research affects company export

performance.Mrkting Intelligence & Plan, 26(4), 416-430.

doi:10.1108/02634500810879313

Hooley, G., Saunders, J., & Piercy, N. (2004). Marketing strategy and competitive positioning.

Harlow, England: Prentice Hall Financial Times.

Kelley, E. (1972). Marketing planning and competitive strategy. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:

Prentice-Hall.

Walker, G. (2004). Modern competitive strategy. Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

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