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[Solved] The Influence of Consumer Behaviour on Marketing Strategy - Intercontinental Hotel

Introduction: Consumer behaviours regulate the form of marketing strategy that companies, for example, hotel businesses work, this is why they carry out researches and studies in order to decide which approaches are probable to determine most meritoriously. Hotel businesses are required to recognise the associates of their targeted spectators and their requirement, the place they are situated as well as the method they would respond to product advancements.

It has been observed that understanding consumer behaviour is tremendously crucial for the hotel 

businesses for the reason it has a straight effect on marketing strategies implemented by the business. 

Moreover, consumer behaviour is a complex area of marketing as it not an easy task to understand 

consumer behaviour in the continuously changing environment. Due to this, it is very tough to forecast 

with perfection, the way consumers would behave in a certain condition. In this paper, InterContinental 

Hotel has been selected and consumer behaviour is identified and considered within the company’s 

marketing strategy. Moreover, models & theories of consumer behaviour are demonstrated as well as 

different elements are also emphasised.

Models and Theories to Understand Consumer Behaviour

Economic model:

It can be said that the economic model gives emphasis on the impression that a consumer`s purchasing form is grounded in the knowledge of receiving the greatest advantages while diminishing costs. Consequently, it can be prophesied that consumer behaviour is centred on economic indicators for instance; the consumer`s buying power as well as the value of competitive goods. As an example, within a hotel business a consumer would acquire services of an identical hotel (a substitute) which are being obtainable at an inferior price to make the most of the advantages; an upsurge in a customer`s buying power would permit the buyer to grow the capacity of the services that are being acquired (Oliver, 2014).

Learning model: The learning model is centred on the knowledge that customer behaviour is administered by the requirement to gratify elementary as well as learned requirements. Simple requirements embrace food; clothing and shelter, though learned requirements embrace fright as well as guiltiness. Consequently, a consumer would have the propensity to purchase things that would gratify their requirements and deliver fulfilment. It can be said while looking at an example that a starving customer perhaps pass up on purchasing a good piece of jewels to purchase certain food, nonetheless would again drive back to buy the jewellery after the hunger is fulfilled.

Psychoanalytic model: This model contemplates the fact that customer behaviour is not only affected by the mind which has got awareness but is also impacted by an unconscious mind. Moreover, the 3 stages of awareness deliberated by Sigmund Freud comprise id, ego and superego (Rennison, 2015); a complete effort to affect one`s purchasing choices as well as activities. InterContinental Hotel is a well-recognised hotel having one of the biggest chains of hotels in the world. Consequently, it can be said that a hidden sign in a hotel’s name or logo perhaps have a consequence on an individual`s unconscious mind as well as it might affect an individual to purchase the service which is being offered instead of a comparable service from a different hotel.

Sociological model: It is noticed that this model principally contemplates the knowledge that a customer`s purchasing outline is grounded on his part and effect in the society. Moreover, a customer`s behaviour might likewise be affected by those a person contacts with and the principles and values that their society demonstrates. As an example, administrator, as well as an operative, might have dissimilar purchasing behaviours specified their individual roles in the business they work for, nevertheless, if they live in the similar group or be present at the same church, they might purchase products and services from the same organisation (Solomon & Russell-Bennett, 2012). While considering a hotel business, InterContinental Hotel Group is highly influenced by the sociological aspects of buying behaviour, as it has been observed that primary groups, for instance, friends and family, as well as relatives and close companions, exert the maximum effect.

The Theories of Buying Behaviour

According to Solomon & Russell-Bennett (2012), there are large numbers of speculations on the purchasing conduct of people and companies, particularly hotel businesses are always dissecting them to make sense of the way to influence the customer to acquire their products and services. In this paper, Generic and Cultural theory is considered.

Generic Theory

The methods that hospitality industry takes in making strategic selections and decisions require vigilant contemplation if they are to increase or preserve competitive advantage. By considering this model it can be said that for frequent buying, the customer would monitor a generic model of making decisions by experiencing a procedure to settle on a choice. Characteristically, the purchaser would distinguish a requirement in order to purchase that starts exploration on products and services as well as pricing (Carrington & Neville, 2010). As per this model, InterContinental Hotel Group can select the way it needs to contest, grounded on the match concerning its form of competitive advantage as well as the marketplace target followed, as the significant factor of decision.

Cultural Theory

Culture plays a vital role in consumer’s buying behaviour. It has been noticed that cultural sways can have an expressive impact on the purchasing behaviour of a person. These are the set of values and principles as well as standards and beliefs that stimulate an individual to make decisions for acquiring products and services. These principles and beliefs lead an individual to several buying behaviours (De Mooij, 2010).

Role of Consumer Behaviour within the Formulation of Marketing Strategy

It can be said that when formulating a marketing strategy for InterContinental Hotel Group, it is important to recognise and evaluate how essential is the role of consumer behaviour within it (Rahbar & Abdul Wahid, 2011). When formulating the marketing strategies for InterContinental Hotel Group the marketers are required to comprehend the sensibility and psychology of the clients about what they feel about a specific service as well as the company’s brand including the approach in which customers are affected by their instant environs, family associates, a group of friends and colleagues etc. The hotel initially requires classifying its target customers and recognising their way of life, mind-sets, income, expenditure abilities, and attitudes to propose them the accurate service. In addition to this, Solomon (2014) specified that there are certain significant aspects of giving emphasis while building a marketing plan that affects a customer.

• Understanding of the way customers sense and chose services for their usage
• In what way customers are affected by their surroundings, culture and norms
• The behaviour of the customer at the time of spending
• Service significance for the customer or position

It is said that consumer behaviour is very multifaceted for the reason that every customer has a dissimilar mind and perceptions when purchasing, intake and discarding of product or service (Kang et al., 2012). Comprehending the theories and perceptions of customer behaviour effectively will support InterContinental Hotel to market the products and services efficaciously. Additionally, learning customer behaviour would assist in numerous features. The continuous alteration in the standard of living, fashion, approaches and the transformation in technology; customer`s attitude of buying of a product or service differs essentially (Gursoy & Uysal, 2015). By knowing and recognising these influences is of greatest prominence for the reason that the marketing of products and services are fundamentally reliant on these aspects. As a result, customer behaviour helps as a fruitful tool for advertisers in meeting their business targets. Therefore it is imperative for InterContinental Hotel to understand the purchasing behaviour of customers for their services to do well. Correspondingly, it is tremendously critical for the hotel to realise what stimulates a customer to acquire a specific product or service as well as what stopovers the buyer from purchasing.

Influential Factors on Customer Behaviour

There are more than a few central sorts of elements prompting customer behaviour, which comprise cultural, personal, psychological, social and sometimes technological as well.

Cultural Factors

Comprise a customer’s culture, subgroup as well as social class. In addition to this, these features are frequently intrinsic in the standards and decision procedures.

Social Factors

Social factors include the groups and subgroups which comprise family, characters and position. Moreover, it elucidates the external impacts of others on the buying choices either unswervingly or ramblingly.

Individual Factors

These factors embrace elements for instance as age as well as development phase, profession, financial conditions, way of life (actions, interests, feelings and demographics), behaviour as well as self-concept. Furthermore, these might enlighten the reason of predilections frequently change as the condition modifies.

Psychological Factors

These factors influence the buying choice to integrate motivation, Maslow`s hierarchy of needs, reflection, knowledge, principles and states of mind. In addition, certain individuals frequently affect a purchaser`s procurement choice. InterContinental Hotel requires knowing which folks are encompassed in the acquiring choice as well as what part every single person plays, as a result, that marketing processes can equally be gone for these persons (Salazar & Oerlemans, 2013).

Identifying and Analysing Customers’ Needs

Customer satisfaction is the primary unequivocal variable for choosing the quality and standard which is truly passed on to the customer through the thing, advantage or by the running with updating. Therefore in order to satisfy customers, identifying their needs is an essential part of any business’s marketing program. In identifying the needs it is essential to recognise the spending habits of customers. However, it has been stated by Goffin & Lemke (2010) that premium quality products and services with finest surroundings enforce and bounds the customer to spend as it is an important need of a customer to attain high-quality product and service. Consequently, InterContinental Hotel Groups make sure they deliver outstanding products and services to retain the potential customers. It can be said that understanding buyer needs refine item advancement ventures, promoting correspondence projects and conveyance decisions. Organisations particularly in the hospitality industry that dispatch their services without looking into and making note of purchaser needs run a high danger of dissatisfaction. Therefore, InterContinental Hotel initially researches, take regular customer’s feedback and build friendly relationships which play a key part in identifying customers’ needs and requirements (Ro & Chen, 2011).

Consumer Profiling & Market Segmentation

A buyer profile is a method for portraying a customer completely with the goal that they can be assembled for marketing and publicising purposes. In addition, it has been appeared to be more beneficial to target publicising to a particular market segment. In addition to this, as a temporary method for discussing customers, market segments are frequently spoken to by buyer profiles. Besides, in InterContinental Hotel Group customers can be recognised by various inclination, a way of life, and life stage, quality, and also attribute classes. It is also observed that client profiling plans to portray classes (personality) of the clients (PARENTE & Ares, 2010). As needs be, these sorts than can be utilised as an apparatus to recognise the best prospects taking into account certain ascribes or to enhance administrations. Regularly, diverse statistics is consolidated in client profiling, for example, demographics, in any case additionally behavioural information or data on the way of life. Client profiling helps InterContinental to comprehend clients and can be utilised to enhance consumer loyalty.

Additionally, the fundamental thought behind client segmentation is to break the client base into one of a kind gathering that shares particular qualities. Such attributes can be founded on demographics, for instance, age or sex. In addition, segmentation permits organisations to distinguish applicable however for instance underserved bunches or to target particular gatherings relevantly. In addition, when all is said in done, segmentation can be accomplished in various ways and a simple way is the use of essential demographic parts if the lodging needs to gather their clients by a solitary demographic variable. In addition, more perplexing segmentation strategies incorporate additional variables into the bunching procedure (Moussaoui & Varela, 2010).

According to Ahuja & Medury (2011), it is virtuous to consider important criteria for the segments, so that InterContinental Hotel can get significance out of the information. Additionally, other than the last outline of the segmentation the initial step is to consider which information sources should be broke down and how the information will be accumulated. In addition, utilising online surveys is obviously a decent approach to gather client`s input, by and by likewise CRM information or Social Media information is important in more comprehensive methodologies. It can be said that market segmentation has been broadly utilised to give hoteliers understanding, distinguish alluring target segments and build up a marketing offer redid to needs of buyers.

Analysis of stakeholders

It has been watched that InterContinental Hotel Group is a settled chain of hotels with various hotels and resorts around the world. Notwithstanding this, the span of business demonstrates the quantity of stakeholders they have. It can be said that a man, gathering or association that has an immediate or aberrant stake in an association as it can influence or be influenced by association`s activities, destinations and approaches is known as a stakeholder. The key stakeholders of the InterContinental Hotel are its customers, workers, its suppliers, the owners, government and etc. Levy and Park (2011) expressed that it is imperative to do stakeholder administration to satisfy desires of stakeholders since they are the general population that impact or can get influenced by the venture.

As a feature of partner’s examination, it is essential to recognise who are the stakeholders of InterContinental Hotel Company. In addition, in the wake of recognising stakeholders, the following step is to organise the stakeholders for the hotel organisation as potential stakeholders. What`s more, it is likewise imperative to concentrate on the stakeholders with a specific end goal to comprehend their advantage and desires from the organisation. InterContinental Hotel utilises various business techniques as a part of a request to fulfil stakeholder`s desires (Gursoy & Uysal, 2015).

Ethics & Responsibilities

The target of the organisation is to work as finest hotels, resorts and private properties. Additionally, the objective is to make a utilising predominant outline and upgrade them with a profoundly imparted ethic of individual administration. In addition, contingent upon administrative prerequisites the substance of ethical approach shifts. Moreover, all in all, the ethical strategy ought to contain rules on; record keeping, data security and protection, blessing and neighbourliness, collaboration with examinations and reviews, irreconcilable situations and obviously, a "shriek blower" procurement, sets up systems for reporting any suspected unlawful or unethical exercises by others inside of the association (De Mooij, 2010). InterContinental Hotel trusts that fusing societal and natural components in their business methodology and operations will assume a basic part in the long haul feasibility of their business and the travel and tourism segment.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

IHG is upgrading its capacity to find out about individuals and subsequently use this data through another Customer Relationship Management (CRM) framework. In addition, this framework will empower hotels to react to individuals` inclinations at each phase of the visitor adventure and offer administrations and encounters that are by and by significant to them. From perceiving stay inclinations, for example, room area or pad sort and customising their booking alternatives, to important post stay offers.

According to Oliver (2014), CRM is an idea that makes, creates and improves the individualised relationship by focusing on customers (bunches) painstakingly to exploit the customers` lifetime esteem. Thus, CRM might be utilised to make a customised, modified, individualised, coordinated experience that will give the customer the feeling of being looked after. In this way, it is vital to comprehend the normal for business execution that influence customers to wind up rehash buyer as to contend in the market and to increase upper hands by esteeming customers` need and desire. In any case, it is critical to comprehend the method of reasoning of business execution that impact customers to wind up rehash buyer and to display dependability. In addition, however, the opposition is for the most part seen as negative powers and danger yet these rivalries in marketplace enhances gauges and give more solid administrations which are genuine worth for cash as far as a long run.

Unique selling proposition

A unique selling proposition is a thing that your business remains for. Moreover, it is what separates the business from others in view of what the business holds fast about. Rather than endeavouring to be known for everything, organisations with a unique selling proposition stand for something particular, and zit gets to be what the company is known for (Ahuja & Medury, 2011).

Marketing, Planning and Strategy

InterContinental Hotel Management comprehend and they decipher the marketing arrange unmistakably and they additionally acknowledge the way that marketing is a regular movement, not an action to be "experienced" quarterly or every year (Solomon & Russell-Bennett, 2012). In addition, the administration of the hotel screens the execution of offers, to roll out essential improvements, to animate discourse in the middle of offers and administration furthermore set a continual challenge for the business office.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that the hospitality business` fundamental capacity is to offer voyagers homes far 

from homes and give cordial gathering and heartfelt welcome. What`s more, it is comprised of 

organisations that give cabin, sustenance and different administrations to voyagers. Buyer is the lord in 

the market and all marketing choices depend on the presumptions about customer conduct. In addition, 

with a specific end goal to make esteem for purchasers and benefits for associations, marketers need to 

comprehend why buyers carry on in specific approaches to an assortment of items and administrations 

advertised. Moreover, the shopper conduct alludes to those activities and related exercises of persons 

included particularly in purchasing and utilising financial products and administrations. In addition, a 

comprehension of the purchaser conduct will offer us in comprehension diverse market some assistance 

with segmenting and advanced systems to impact entrance with these markets.