The consumer landscape
Consumer expectations and spending power continue to rise. Consumers are leading increasingly complex and busy lives. As pressure on their time grows, leisure time will become increasingly precious to them. An ageing population also means that there will be a greater number of older people with the wealth and health to travel more. There will also be growth in the affluent, younger segment.
An increasing proportion of our customers are e-literate. The development of broadband and mobile technologies will make it easier for them to access information quickly and change the way they buy goods and services. Social networks will become increasingly important with consumers relying more on peer advice than traditional advertising when making purchase decisions. Environmental concerns are moving higher up the agenda, with consumers expecting brands to be environmentally responsible.
Consumer travel and purchase behaviour
People are taking more holidays. Short breaks – many arranged independently – are growing particularly strongly. Although the package holiday is not dead, there has been a significant increase in the number of consumers creating trips and holidays for themselves.
The value of trips booked online shows the strongest growth. The internet has undoubtedly been the single biggest influence on changing the way we research and buy products, goods and services.
Changing consumer trends
Consumers are living increasingly fast, full and flexible lives. The boundaries between work and leisure are blurring and, for many people, time and personal energy have become the most valuable resources in daily life. Many of our products and services are designed to help customers make the best use of their time – whether on the ground or in the air. For example, we have smooth and fast check-in processes for all, and fastrack departures and lounges for premium customers.
Consumers are looking for ways to control their energy levels and to save time by doing tasks more quickly or by outsourcing them. That’s why, in our lounges at Heathrow and New York JFK we now offer a concierge service for customers to help them while they are on the move.
People are searching for products and services that make their lives less complex and challenging. They are also looking to punctuate their busy lifestyles by taking time out to escape their hectic routines or to reward themselves for dealing with the pressures of the day.
Award-winning britishairways.com allows customers to research, book and manage their travel whenever they need – while at home or when travelling. We are constantly developing and adapting our site to respond to the changing needs of our customers.
Health and wellbeing
There is a growing interest in health and wellbeing, a trend strongly associated with increasing affluence and with an ageing population. Good health underpins personal freedom, and is naturally a big priority as people get older.
Alongside health, people are concerned about individual safety and international security. For travellers these fears include the threat of global conflicts, terrorism, the impact of climate change, environmental disasters like the tsunami or the New Orleans floods and health threats such as bird flu and SARS.
Many people are now focusing on developing their emotional-wellbeing, contentment and quality of life. Consumers increasingly expect more basic needs to be fulfilled and thus have higher expectations of their overall wellbeing than previous generations.
Our ‘Well Being in the Air’ programme provides customers with information to help them reach their destination feeling healthy, refreshed and relaxed. We also offer a series of podcasts from our resident sleep expert ‘Dr Sleep’ to help people manage the effects of jetlag. Our wellbeing information is available on both britishairways.com and onboard through our inflight entertainment programme, Highlife.
Professional consumers
Consumers are becoming more demanding and sophisticated in their shopping patterns. As markets become more competitive and spending power increases, the balance of power is shifting from supply to demand, giving consumers the upper hand.
We offer a range of products and services to meet the differing demands of our customers. This ranges from different cabins, to choices on how customers book and manage their travel, to the service offered on board.
Despite the increasing affluence of consumers, value remains a critically important factor in their choices. Equally they are prepared to ’trade up’ and pay a premium price for better quality products. Many brands are responding to this by offering more luxurious and more expensive versions of everyday commodities. For customers who want to treat themselves, we have recently introduced attractive and popular Club Europe upgrade prices for a range of leisure destinations and will continue to look at options to extend this further.
Communication channels
The overload of available information is forcing consumers to think about the communications and the information sources they use. Increasingly they are choosing for themselves what media and communications tools suit them. Digital technology has made it easier for them to be creative in developing their own content, and in sharing their ideas with others, for instance by turning to peer networks for word-of-mouth recommendations. We are experimenting with our own ‘Google gadget’ so that customers can have the latest flight and operational news and offers built into their Google homepage. We continue to look at other ways that we can harness the knowledge and experience of our customers and staff for social networking and blogging.
People are searching for products and services that make their lives less complex and challenging. They are also looking to punctuate their busy lifestyles by taking time out to escape their hectic routines or to reward themselves for dealing with the pressures of the day.