Marketing Strategy and Competitive Positioning pdf ebook

CHAPTER 4
Amadeus, the Spanish company that pro-
vides the technology behind airline flight 
bookings, is set to report results in stark 
contrast to the airlines it serves, as it ben-
efits from a 40 per cent share of a growing 
air travel market.
On Friday, the group’s full-year results are 
expected to show the effect of its expansion 
from flights into hotel reservations and the 
growth of its IT solutions business. Its share 
price has been charting a sustained upwards 
trajectory for much of the last five years, hit-
ting an all-time high on Monday this week, for 
a market capitalisation of more than €16bn.
Amadeus makes most of its money 
through its global flight distribution system, 
which manages transactions between cus-
tomers and about 120 of the world’s airlines, many 
of which take place on online price comparison web-
sites. Its growth is therefore linked directly to an 
increase in global air traffic.
But despite Amadeus being recognised by Bloomb-
erg as the eleventh-largest software company in the 
world, and second in Europe, Luis Maroto, group 
chief executive, struck a cautious tone when asked 
about his company’s future prospects.
‘It’s nothing new’, he said. ‘Travel is very much 
linked to economy. . . This is coming more from 
Asia due to the size of the populations there’, he 
adds.
However, analysts suggest that much of Ama-
deus’ value lies in what it can glean from the billions 
of transactions it processes: a perspective on the pur-
chasing habits of consumers.
Improved personalisation – from the interroga-
tion of ‘big data’ – enables airlines to tailor their 
products and services to the personal whims of indi-
vidual consumers.
Amadeus set to soar on airline data sales
By Thomas Hale in Madrid
Source
: Greg Balfour Evans/Alamy Stock Photo.

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95
WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CUSTOMERS
Introduction 
Information is the raw material of decision making. Effective marketing decisions are based 
on sound information; the decisions themselves can be no better than the information on 
which they are based. Marketing research is concerned with the provision of information 
that can be used to reduce the level of uncertainty in decision making. Uncertainty can never 
be eliminated completely in marketing decisions, but by the careful application of tried-and-
tested research techniques it can be reduced. 
The first section of this chapter looks at the information needed about customers in order 
to make effective marketing decisions. This is followed by a brief discussion of the various 
research techniques available for collecting data from the marketing environment. The use 
of these techniques in a typical marketing research study aimed at creatively segmenting a 
market and identifying current and potential product/service positions is then discussed. The 
chapter concludes with a discussion of how marketing-related information can be arranged 
within an organisation and the development of marketing decision support systems (MDSS).
4.1 
What we need to know about customers 
Information needed about customers can be broadly grouped into current and future infor-
mation. The critical issues concerning current customers are: (1) Who are the prime market 
targets?; (2) What gives them value?; (3) How can they be brought closer?; and (4) How can 
they be better served?. 
For the future, however, we also need to know: (1) How will customers and their needs 
and requirements change?; (2) Which new customers should we pursue?; and (3) How 
should we pursue them?. 
4.1.1 Information on current customers 
The starting point is to define who the current customers are. The answer is not always obvi-
ous as there may be many actors in the purchase and use of a particular product or service. 
Customers are not necessarily the same as consumers. A useful way to approach customer 
Amadeus has already begun to sell aggregated 
user information to airlines, revealing customers’ 
search habits. It provides a growing revenue stream 
for the company. Mr Maroto has said this will form