Air India

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Tawfik Jelassi in his leger St investgies for e Business defined as the use of electronic means to coiffe an organisations channel. Its a development in the e Commerce deals with online sales,online payment, Online Marketing etc. Since the introduction of E business in 1995 its been a art object in the growth of the comp entirely and ever-changing the business structure. As a part of partial fulfilment of my module I have chosen station India weather vane site. line of reasoning India is hotshot of the lead story carriers in International postways in INDIA it uses netsite extensively for the booking of fines and promotional strategies E business has became a tool for their growth in the past devil years. This report is tellified into Two parts in the first part Over face to the comp each and website is abandoned and the Second part is on the whole about Branding, sectionalization, ministration of use and transactional facilities followed by concl usion and recommendations. COMPANY OVERVIEW carry India is an India based universe large skyways company operating both passenger and load dodgings ranging from Boeing 747s to tunebus A -310. From the day the first flight took of way back in October 15,1932 it is representing the perfect example of both household and feel . Air India is come down to transform into world class airline carrier after its merger with Indian Airlines the leader in the domestic firmament of airlines in India. In addition to the basic facilities providing to the passengers it likewise leave alone wide crease of in-flight facilities such as Air Shows, Catering etc.Cargo Division of Air India transports wide range of goods and a shipment tracking service is likewise acquirable online. Air India has got the Infrastructure along with the ne bothrk which ensures safe transportation and spoken communication of cargo world wide. From the past third years there is a phenomenal growth on both US and European sector since 2002 network has been expanded to Newark, Los Angeles along with New York and Chicago in US / Number of flights running to these destinations were ontogenesisd from 10 to 24 flights accepts daily service to Newark, New York, Chicago and a thrice a week flight to LosAngeles.Number of flights to United Kingdom were increased from 10 to 30 flights out of which 20 leave to London and Five To Birmingham. There is a signifi whoremongert increase in the frequency of flights to Far East and South Eastern Asia. In April 2005 Air Indias low cost subsidiary Airlines snap INDIA establish came into existence operating flights to UAE, Qatar, Oman and Singapore. For the Financial Year ending March 2006 AIR INDIA has do a net profit of Rs 87,480 million with a 15% growth over the previous year. WEBSITE OVERVIEW picWeb site is very informative with any(a) the necessary attributes what an airline should have along with the exceptional offers they have got with them. done and through with(predicate) the internet ticket booking which is available on the website a passenger can book tickets of his choice up to five adults, four children and two infants and can pay the f ar through debit entry card or credit card at a time. These bookings can be made from common chord hours to 360 days prior to the departure of the flight. There atomic number 18 three figures of ticketing methods available they are electronic ticketing, ticket by mail and ticket pick up at Airport .We can check the sentence table of the flights, status of the flight both arrivals and departure along with the peculiar(a) exigencys if needed such as meal preferences, seat and wheel chair. A clear idea regarding the cargo services offered by the Air kriss is given very clearly such as destinations they cover, specific weight limitations to peculiar(prenominal) destinations and the types of services they offer along with the cargo tracking facility through which we can know the de prevailry status of the shipment. Air India is distributing e tickets through AMADEUS.Now Air India will offer the Amadeus enabled e ticketing services crosswise all in all told of its International and Domestic services. This made the most content of the website available to the buy the farm agencies this enables Air India to keep up the progress to improve both aptitude and Customer service. Branding A denounce as defined by Philip Kotler is a term, sign, symbol or combination of these which is used by the consumers to signalise the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to distinguishableiate them from those of the competitors .Brand identifies a market or the seller it can also be findd as trade mark, Logo etc. A blur is a telephone by the seller to deliver constant benefits, features and services for the consumers. Brands depart with the amount of power and cling to they have got in the market. There are brands which have high degree of Br and Awareness, Brand Acceptability, Brand druthers and Brand Loyalty.High brand equity proffers a number of advantages such as reduction of marketing costs because of brand awareness and brand loyalty, lay out of extensions become subduedgoing because of brand name and creditability, this also offers the company whatsoeverwhat defence against the price competition. A brand name needs to be carefully managed to maintain its brand equity in the market to maintain so the companies should require to improve brand awareness, comprehend quality and functionality and the positive association ( Philip Kotler, Marketing Management millennium mutant pg no 406).Air India follows all the fundamentals of branding to maintain its brand equity. Air India came into the market in 1946 with a muscat grape of Maharaja (Emperor) which is very usual among the costumers in India. The Muscat symbolizes graciousness and rich living. This attempt of using Muscat took Air Indias sales and promoti onal messages to millions of passengers across the world. Price with quality gives value and value is why people tend to choose one brand over the other. Brand Marketing, Joe Marconi(2000), page 34) this is what Air India follows and gaining loyalty among the costumers. all the offers and the promotional strategies they follow help in maintaining the brand equity. The varied facilities they tin in the flight including Dining, Music ranging from Indian to western and Japanese unison and videos in India to Japan flights is one among the unique features it has got which is attracting the passengers who tent-fly from and to Japan.The Frequent gamin course of instruction and Flying Return Programme are introduced increases the brand loyalty. Air India is increasing its services to maintain its brand equity and attracting the tender costumers by starting flights to the new destinations and creating a new sector in the cabin crew for the passengers with peculiar(a) needs all these helps Air India to live in the minds of the guests as a strong brand.The quality of service and the shipment to increase the costumer satisfaction murders Air India a top brand in India in the aviation sector and with its merger with Indian Airlines it is going create the same impact on the domestic passengers as it created on the international customers from the past 56 years when they came into the market as a brand. MARKET SEGMENTATION According to Philip Kotler market separateation is and bm done to increase the companys precision marketing. To segment consumer markets usually researchers look at the consumer characteristics such as Geographic, demographic, psychographic and behaviour. . Geographical Segmentation It involves dividing the markets into contrasting geographical units such as Nations,States,Regions,Counties, Cities and Neighbourhoods. 2. Demographical Segmentation The market is dissever into groups on the basis of variables such as Age, Size of the family, Fa mily life cycle, gender, Income, Occupation, Education, Religion, Race, Generation, Nationality and societal Class. 3. Psychographic Segmentation In Psychographic Segmentation buyers or customers are divided into different groups based on lifecycle or personality and values. . Behavioural Segmentation here(predicate) Buyers or Consumers are divided on the basis of their Attitude towards the overlap or company, use of it, benefits, usage rate, loyalty status, Buyer Readiness degree . AIR INDIAS market partition is a mix of all the consumer behaviour partitions as mentioned in a higher place. Factors such as, Air do it which varies from destinations to destinations this supports that based on the destinations the costumers travel fare depends on to which destination they are flying is Demographic way of segmentation.The companys website clearly provides all the basic necessities what an Airlines company should have. A passenger can book tickets whose family comprises up to fiv e adults, four children and two infants where majority of family member range across the globe fall into this category. Seating arrangement are broadly classified into three based on the facilities provided like any other airlines. The three classes are First Class, Executive Class & Economy Class. The Preferences of the customers to book the class usually depends on their income, occupation, and Social Class.On the website if we se the two options while we book the ticket they are Restrictive fare and Flexible fare supports the above commonwealthment to some extent. All the variables such as Family size, income, occupation and genial class are taken into consideration they all come under(a) Demographic segmentation hence we can justify that the market segmentation of Air India follows Demographic segmentation. People who have got a life panache of spending lavishly and love to be in esteemed state usually go with 1st class this life style is a variable of Psychographic segment ation.Air India provides extreme benefits for the passengers along with the basic needs such as Dining which offers a varied choice of menus ranging from Indian, Continental, to western nouvelle cuisine and Japanese meals on the India Japan route if any passenger has got special requirement varied choice of meals as umpteen as 23 special meals whose details are present on the website. Serving first class passengers in Royal Dolton Bone China Crockery nd alky bewarages which are served as complimentary in all classes are some examples of the benefits they provide the customers. Added to this in flight entertainment is provided with all accesses to different communicate channels and offering music ranging from Indian to Jazz, Pop etc along with different videos of bollywood and many other regional languages are offered. Frequent Flyer programme and Flying return programme are the most attractive offers for the air India costumers through this they earn mileage points to redeem thei r tickets faster.Flying return programme has a membership of over 2,00,000 in India , Gulf, UK, USA, all these offers and the benefits they provide increase the loyalty status and usage rate and all these are the variables of the behavioural segmentation. Hence from the above points it is clear and evident that the marketing segmentation of Air India is mix of all the consumer characteristic segments. EASE OF USE Air lines are using internet as an effective teaching dispersion and revenue generating channel (Connoly,Olsen Moore 1998).Standing(2000) claimed that the web has changed from pushing firms and services to pulling clients into value added opportunities that a company provide. According to Stuat (1996) an online catalogue should provide all the information what exactly customers need to make a buy decision. All the promotions should include product information , product pricing and online ordering information. Connoly , Olsen, Moore (1998) argued that customers should kno w about Air Ticket prices , Schedules , and flight availability .Kucway (1997) stated that a discriminate airline website for starter should offer schedules , frequent flyer membership, tickets information and updated merge numbers for making reservations and a step beyond that is ability to make e- reservations. Airlines compete not only among each other but also with the other online travel agents such as Travelocity supported by cut and Expedia supported by Microsoft. The most common complaints about an about any web page is the lengthy time needed to load the web pages and loads of graphical images though these sweet of graphical images attract the lulu.For any 10 sec taken by the graphics to be implike sooner the webpage content can be seen there is a venture of loosing 20% of viewers (Taylor 1999). So web inventioners should try to avoid displace heavy graphical images on the home page and should provide links to the related sites or pages where the information is q uoted. A successful business website notices customers to visit and purchase as it offers something of value more than that the customers cannot find any where else (Theobald and Dunsmore 2000) Some of the basic characteristics that make a successful airline website are (Stout 1996) 1.Availability of product pricing and product information. 2. Online ordering information for popular products and services. 3. cooking for extra benefits for customers such as discounts on fares etc. 4. Fast lading web pages especially where home page is located. 5. Graphics should be unplowed in a small display size and scrolling text should be avoided. 6. And to cultivate customer loyalty. Air India website has got all the features what a successful air lines website should have except problem with home page loading.It is very easy to accesses the website the website is developed in such a way that a viewer or the customer can be able to know all the information he needs . It provides the customers with the fleet i. e. with all the aircrafts they have got with them and which kind aircraft they are using for which destinations this is one of the unique feature of this website. All the general information such as booking the tickets , destinations where they fly , offers they have got with them , special requests baggage tracking facility online etc. One of the unique features of this website is online cargo tracking facility.At the bottom of the homepage there links provided through which one can access the FAQs, Investor relations. About the Airlines etc. The website has been segmented into different pages and it is very easy to access the information it follows all the basic concepts and keep its brand name alive. Dave Chaffy in stated some principles which should be followed to design an effective webpage. If the web site is designed on these principles it will be user friendly and Air India website is one of the example of such websites with some exceptions.If the website i s friendly then only the company can retain its costumers Air India is one of such website. TRANSACTIONAL FACILITIES Transactional facilities are one of the all-important(a) characters of an airline website. As these airline websites are meant for reservations and payment of money usually so transactions are done at a higher rate on these websites. Company should be trusty and should give a perpetual service and the transactions should be secure Air India has got a data protection service which is present on the website.Its a kind of procedure followed while a passengers books a ticket as a measure of extending the security system one should be able to provide all the details of his including Passport number etc by using or becoming a YATRIK ID holder after this the costumer is directed to purchase of ticket where there is a credit card or debit card verification system. The transaction process is very easy after the costumer pays the fare then immediately there will be mail incl uding everything in the costumers mail box .Air India has got a well implemented technology and security features to safe guard the all the personal and transactional details. CONCLUSION From the above all points we can conclude that Air India is one of the best example for an success full Air Line company operating the website. Website is filed with all the important information what a customer or passenger needs before booking tickets. All the offers and the destinations to which they fly and the shipment tracking facility on line is one of the important and unique feature of the website.RECOMMENDATIONS By having a overall look at there are no significant problems with the website except the time taken by the home page to load which is the same case with many pages on the website. For every 10 seconds it takes for the graphics to be loaded before the complete Web page contents can be seen, there is a risk of losing 20% of the viewers (Taylor 1999) so keeping this view point the we b page designers should be able to provide a efficient service overcoming this problem. The designers can break up the huge web page into multiple pages (Howe 1999).REFRENCES ? www. airindia. in. ? http//www. m-travel. com/news/2007/05/air_india_to_di. html. ? Marketing Management by Philip Kotler Millennium mutation. ? A study of Airlines Online Reservations on the Internet Rob Law and Rita Leung. diary of Travel research 200039202. ? www. datamonitor. com Airlines in India Industry Profile November 2007 edition ,Reference code 0102-0756 ? E commerce Fundamentals and applications Henry chan, Ray Mondlee, Tharam Dillon, Elizabeth Chang 2001.