Change Management Assessment of Travel Industry
Company Background
Lastminute.com is considered as one premier travel and lifestyle companies in Europe. It focuses on delighting customers with great-value inspiration and solutions. It was recently acquired Travelocity Europe, the company which also operates in 36 other industry-relevant sites under the umbrella of lastminute.com (Omniture.com, n.d.).
Lastminute.com was co-founded by Brent Hoberman and Martha Lane-Fox in 1998 based on the idea of matching supply and demand. It offers services such as airline tickets, hotel rooms, package holidays, entertainment tickets, restaurant reservations, home delivery, specialty services and gifts and auctions. The company operates in 11 countries: UK, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Australia, South Africa and Japan. On March 14, 2000, the company was floated on the London Stock Exchange and new AND New York’s NASDAQ. After its first day as a public company, according to justpeople.com (2000) Lastminute was valued at £733m, which place the company ahead of its major competitors, Debenhams and Iceland. The company continued to run and expand, and was considered as the second most famous e-retailer after Amazon (Bawa n.d.).
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
- Strong brand image
- Offer first wide range of services;
- Great timing;
- Strong strategic partnership;
strong innovation or R&D.
Weaknesses
- Lack of customer service;
- Slow and not so user-friendly website.
Opportunities
- Internet;
- Mobile Internet;
- Cheap travel packages.
Threats
- Global financial crisis;
- Health and travel threats.
Strengths
Having a strong brand image is an important strength for any company. Lastminute.com is considered as to be the second most recognized e-retailer in the UK after Amazon. This is the result of extensive very old-media advertising and promotion campaign (Burns n.d.). The company was developed to create a niche market by offering last minute opportunities for holidays, flights, hotels, car rental, restaurant bookings, entertainment and gifts. As a result, the main customer groups of the company are young, trendy, adventurous and willing to embrace spontaneity and take different chances in life (Anonymous 2005). The company is also offering a wide range of products which enables them to target larger market. Aside from that, the company also exhibits a great timing. In 2005, the company still continues to have aggressive acquisition strategy, taking over potential competition and consolidating its brand across Europe such as the acquisition of Med Hotels, First Option, Gemstone and Lastminute.de in Germany (Burns n.d.). Furthermore, the products/services that the company is offering are all tailored for the Internet, particularly for those customers who are looking for discounted products and services to create a last minute marketplace.
Weaknesses
On the other hand, the company also shares it own disadvantages, particularly the aspect of the customers service which is considered as the most important aspect in any online service. This is because it enables the customers to be connected to the business in a sense that their inquiries will be answered. Aside from that, the company is also having a problem on its website, in terms of usability. There are different customers and website’s visitors who are giving feedback.
Opportunities
Internet offers a wide range of opportunities for the company, because it can help the company to expand its market, and be connected to their current and possible customers 24 hours a day. On the other hand, mobile Internet also gives another channel for the company. According to the study of Tellabs, up to 71% of consumer in the UK and 41% in parts of Western Europe anticipate that they will use the mobile Internet and other mobile data services on a daily basis over the next two years (Market Charts n.d.).
Threats
Global financial crisis will have a negative impact over the performance of different industry industry-related business, together with the threats that are related to social, environmental and political factors.
Strategic Position of the Company in Relation to Market
The strategic position of the company focuses on offering wide range of products and services in affordable prices for those people who have last minute chances and choices. All of the products and services it offers are all tailored made for the Internet. Aside from that, its partner are not only eager and willing to sell off their products at cheap prices towards the customer who have forgotten to buy it in the first place, but it also attempt to create a last minute marketplace, when people can leave decisions regarding holidays until a time that suits them. Thus, making its partners offer a sufficient supply which make buying at the last minute, a viable and reliable option. All of the hotel chains and airlines were receptive of the idea as it was a low risk venture for them because there were no investment requirements for which enables the company to establish its supply chain in quick manner, which enables the company to expand down its supply chain through different strategic acquisitions (Burns n.d.).
Future Directions
Lastminute.com focuses on expanding its business, by establishing further relationship with its other strategic partners, particularly with different hotels, airline companies, resorts, car rentals in different parts of the world which will enable the offer more products and services to different demands and preferences of their customers and other possible customers. Broad strategic partner group demonstrates the wide-ranging appeal and possible business model. Furthermore, these partners will also support the company in the development of its rapidly growing business, both in the UK and internally (M2Presswire 2003).
Another important factor to consider is offering mobile Internet offering which will launch a mobile Internet website which will cater to greater number customers.
Information Systems Strategy
The company is implementing on-site behavioral targeting using the TouchClarity Targeting which help to maximize the revenue of the company using their website. It focus on ensuring that most of the relevant and engaging content is being served to each customer to achieve a specific goal of increased revenue for the most valuable homepage real estate of the company. Furthermore, it also allows the user to directly measure and quantify the resulting lift in terms of sales from the targeted content versus the concurrent control group (Omniture n.d.).
Recommendations
In order to maintain the current competitive advantage of the company, it will be important to focus on improving the performance of its current website, by making it more users friendly and faster. It can also help if the company will focus on improving its customer services by building and installing a feature in the website which will answer different inquiries in real time manner.
Above all, it will be important for the company to take advantage of the different factors that is connected to mobile Internet, by designing and launching a website which can be browses using the mobile phones.
References
Anonymous 2005, ‘Reputation: A Resource More Valuable than Gold in E-Commerce’, Strategic Direction, vol. 21, no. 5, pp. 31 – 33
Bawa, S, Lastminute.com – Company History, Website Appraisal, viewed 20 April 2009, <http://www.websitearchitecture.co.uk/bawa/slideshows/week6.ppt>
Burns, P, Case Studies in Entrepreneurship: Lastminute.com, viewed 20 April 2009, <https://www.palgrave.com/business/burns/students/pdf/17%20Lastminute.com.pdf>
Marketing Charts, Mobile Internet Poised for Dramatic Growth, viewed 20 April 2009, < http://www.marketingcharts.com/interactive/mobile-internet-poised-for-dramatic-growth-8539/>
M2 Presswire 2000, Lastminute.com Announces Funding From Major New Strategic Partners, HighBeam, viewed 20 April 2009, < http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-58584797.html>
Omniture.com, Lastminute.com Targets Customer Preferences with Omniture TouchClarity, viewed 20 April 2009, <http://www.omniture.com/downloads/07_casestudy_tc_lastminute.pdf>
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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