Southwest Marketing Strategy Essay -- essays research papers

Southwest Airlines is the industry leader in down(p) cost airf ar. They began its operation in 1971 with three Texas based travel plans and began interstate highway routes in 1978. When Southwest entered the market in 1971 they employed a market penetration determine approach. They wanted to provide the outgo service for the last(a) possible price. They saw that if they cut out certain unnecessary benefits they could overturn their ticket price to a level far below that of the competition. They do non have in flying movies, meals, or first menage sections. This strategy has been very cost effective and Southwest passes the savings on to the node. They chose to focus on pleasure travelers and low-income travelers opposed to business travelers. This anyowed them to take reinforcement of a market, which was often ignored by other airlines. Southwest is not concerned with the prices of other airlines. They do not engage in pricing to meet competition, or pricing below comp etition. CEO Herb Kelleher stated, Were not competing with other airlines. Were competing with ground transportation. This philosophy has led them to be very successful because they are priced below the competition, but dont raise their prices when the competition does.Cost controlling is very important in the airline industry. Southwest is very good at controlling their costs. They unfold a no frills service for people who want to get to their reference for as little as possible, and are not concerned roughly the bells and whistles like in-flight movies. Southwest also realized that when their planes are on the ground, they arent making m bingley. They decided to keep their planes in the air as lots as possible and have worked hard to keep a low turnaround time. They manage to unload passengers and load new passengers for the next flight within twenty minutes, which is shorter than the industry average. Southwest also uses only one kind of plane, the Boeing 737, in order to redu ce costs of parts and prep employees to use different types of planes. All of these methods have lowered the cost of trading operations for Southwest and allowed them to have a profit of $4.7 billion, which is twice that of join Airlines. And because they are so efficient they can pass the savings on to customers. on that point is no first class at Southwest and therefore all the customers are treated the same. They all receive the same level of atte... ...ly demoralise Southwests inexpensive tickets. College students also arent concerned well-nigh in-flight movies, meals, or other perks. Southwest would crush the competition in that route and make a large profit. Even families going on holiday would fly Southwest Airlines to Mexico. It is cheaper than other major airlines and it is a respected airline, opposed some no name airlines that run flights to Mexico. Advertising would be best done on television because America has become lazy and watches in addition much TV. They should advertise their great customer service by having customer testimonials and pictures of smiling customers and employees. They should also advertise during family oriented shows, because they are a work on of inexpensive travel that a family could take advantage of. In conclusion, I feel that Southwest has taken advantage of its inexpensive flights and family oriented automated teller machine to prevail despite the September 11th tragedy. Southwest has been a bankable business for 26 consecutive years and has twice the profits of United Airlines. They have been doing a great job providing customer service and give protract to be successful as long as they continue with their current plan.