Airline lounge war could prove futile for Qantas and Virgin
In this crossposting from The Conversation, former Ansett marketer Maxwell Winchester argues that Qantas and Virgin are risking alienating ordinary customers by concentrating too much on those who turn left.
Recently Qantas and Virgin have been fighting a war for “high value” corporate contracts by refurbishing their Chairmans’ lounges. But is this a wise strategy?
The airline industry has long been stuck in the mindset of Pareto’s Law: that 80% of your profit comes from 20% of your customers. Qantas and Virgin are no different, going head to head to refurbish their lounges in order to attract lucrative corporate accounts.
The Qantas lounge in Singapore
I’ve spent around $32,000 on air travel in the past 14 months, almost all with BA and Qantas by association through One World.
I get the argument here but it’s not about the lounge – it’s the seat on the plane.
not sure status as an ‘ex Ansett Marketer’ should carry too much credence
Qantas has Jetstar and Virgin has Tiger.
Seriously…….most people who read this digital piece would even know what Ansett was…….Don’t know if the resume adds credence to the authority expressed in argument….That airline failed badly in marketing, reliability and service for business customers. The saying around the office in the old days was “Chance it with Ansett”
Bloody excellent piece.
More like this please!
Fascinating, too, how our industry (Adland) responds to actual data and evidence about purchasing trends and behaviours with anonymous comments about how the data is bullshit… (all while pretending to know WTF “big data” is).
Sucking our way towards oblivion.
I’m a ‘low yield’ customer who is happy to piggy back on the service which rubs off from service providers who can manage services across all levels.
I base many of my purchase decisions on this idea.
I know that if they can service the higher end of the market, then simply through that ability, the overall offering is better because their staff and systems have the capacity to deliver at a higher level.
For businesses who only have the capacity to deliver a low-cost option you often see a trend towards ‘take it or leave it’ service.
Max makes some great points, but from a consumer perspective, I want to see that you have the capacity to deliver to people with higher standards than I do. I don’t aspire to be them, but I know if they choose you there’s a few good reasons why.
ps – sorry , I’ll never use the words service or capacity again in any comment on Mumbrella as my penance for the above
Many thanks for comments above, particularly those by Tom Donald. Precisely what I was thinking. When marketers see something outside of the crap peddled in marketing MBA textbooks, rather than challenging their own stance they make personal attacks. Here’s one for you. If you have never heard of the Duplication of Purchase Law, how can you call yourself a marketing professional?