So off I go searching for promotional airfares to my favorite city. That's what we've all been conditioned to do nowadays since the entrance of the Low Cost Carriers fueling cut-throat price competitions.
Jetstar has a sales which will ends when tickets are sold out. It has been two weeks and the sale is still available. Looks like the fares are not attractive. and not many people buying.
I tried to do a booking during the Songkran period and it costs $194 (all inclusive) per person. Singapore Airlines has a promotion during the same period for only $198. For $4 more, you get wider and more comfortable seat, inflight meal and entertainment and services that even other airlines talk about.
Unfortunately, the maximum stay is for 5 days. As I plan to go outside of Bangkok, it's too short for me.
Shortly, Tigerair came out with a "Fly-Back-For-Free" for travel from 6 May. Not what I wanted.
Flyscoot did not run their weekly Tuesday Morning Glory Promotion due to Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 missing incident.
I waited to see if there's any promotion this week and went as far as chatting with Jetstar's staff online to check if there will be any promotion on Friday (Friday Frenzy Sale) for the dates and destination.
I guess it's due to the sensitivity and competition in the industry, they were unable to provide any information.
On Monday, I booked Jetstar and opted for offline payment (which allows payment within 48 hours) so I can fall back on this in case there's no suitable promotions from other airlines.
Four days back, Flyscoot promotion is back for travel till end May 2014. I did a check and the dates I wanted were not on promotions. They've probably block out this period due to the Songkran festival. After all, there's no need to offer promotion fares when there's demand.
Thinking that there won't be any sale anytime soon, I paid for my Jetstar tickets.
Now, technology is so advanced nowadays. Flyscoot detected that I did not complete my transaction and sent an email urging me to finish it. Of course, this doesn't mean anything to me since I've paid for Jetstar. Out of curiosity, I went to check out if I can still book at the promotional fares as indicated on the email as the sale period is over. The prices were no longer on promotion.
Then I received another follow up email asking for my feedback why I did not complete the transaction.
Yesterday, Flyscoot came out with a Flash Sale for travel by end April 2014. I also received their email on this Flash sale and a third email asking me to complete my transaction.
Actually, their first follow up email is a little too late for me.
Was the response to their Tuesday sale lousy that they have to quickly run another promotion on Thursday to fill up the seats quickly? Was it too early (7am to 9am)?
When you run a fare promotion on Tuesday from 7am to 9am for travel till end May 2014 and then the same fare promotion on Thursday for 2 days for travel till end April 2014, it tells me that nobody is buying which further confirms their sales not that fantastic. It also tells me they have a lot of seats that needed to be filled in April urgently. After all, some people will not be able to travel within such short notice. Sometimes it's a nightmare to travel within such short notice period or during festivals. People may not be ready to travel there as political situation is still unclear.
I remember scrambling at the last minute looking for a hotel in Chiang Mai during the Loy Krathong period where many were fully booked, even the expensive ones. Perhaps it won't be a problem in Bangkok this time as tourists are avoiding it due to the political situation. Anyway, it's a valid consideration for a traveler.
Plane seats that are not filled is a cost to an airline. Even if they sell the seats at cost price, at least they do not make a loss. Not just products, services that are not consumed are perishable.
I'm not an expert in the airline industry and I'm sure they have their considerations when running a airfare promotion. Things like public holidays, peak and off peak travel seasons, environmental and political situation, competitors' actions, etc.
What's their real reason for running two promotions with same fare prices with different travel dates? Is it their strategy? Or is it their reaction strategy?
No doubt their tickets will be sold out. There are enough people around looking for cheap airfares every day.
Take a step further, I wonder did the airline consider those customers who might have booked tickets on Wednesday? Have they a plan or process in place if customers complain?
Well, you can argue that the customers make the choice themselves and the airline cannot be responsible for each and every customer's action. But customers are irrational. By running the promotion just one day apart, it makes those who booked between these two window period at normal fares frustrated.
You want to make customers who booked your promotional fares happy. You also have to make sure that those who booked at higher prices do not feel shortchanged.
So how do you run your promotions?
1. Make sure the timing of your promotions are spaced out if you are running same promotion.
By running two same promotions a day apart, will you risk frustrating those who have bought at normal price in between?
You will have to consider your price point, the discount given, product or service you are selling, your target customers and how sensitive are competitors to your discount.
If you are selling normal or gourmet coffee and you run a 1-for-1 promotion one day apart, your customers are less likely to get upset knowing they've paid full price.
If you are selling woman clothing in price range of $20 to $30 targeting office ladies and you give a 50% discount one day apart, your customers may be less likely to feel shortchanged. But if you are selling same product in same price range and offer same promotion but to housewives, you'll probably get a lot of frustrated customers. If you offer 10% discount instead of 50% discount, then the housewives may not feel anything. But you could offended them as well.
If Flyscoot runs the same promotion one week apart, it gives customers who have bought fares at higher prices a valid reason to validate their action. But I guess they are in urgent need to fill up their seats and cannot afford to wait.
2. If you have to run promotions so close to each other, make sure they are different.
As mentioned above, Flyscoot probably has no choice but to run another promotion to fill up their seats. But that does not mean they cannot do something different. Can they add $10 to the promotion fares to the Thursday promotion but give a discount for those who opt for 25kg check in luggage?
Which brings me to the third point.
3. If your product or service is perishable or time sensitive, offer the best deal first.
When you run promotions, it's easy to think that if your discount price is attractive enough, people will buy. That's true to a certain extend. People can be sway to buy if the discount is good. But there are even more reasons why customers will not buy. Do you know all of them?
For air travel, what will they be? Can you take leave within such short notice? Are there rooms available at your regular hotel? Did you just came back from a trip?
Most people run their promotion this way. Let's say you are selling fruits. You see that your avocado is not moving off the shelves. So two days later, you offer a 10% discount. Still it's not moving, then two days later you offer a 20% discount. Before you know it, you're offering it at half price and by this time, nobody buys because they're rotting.
For the airlines, they'll offer promotions for certain flights at certain timings and certain dates. When they see sales is not moving, they run another promotion offering more flights, timings and dates. When the flight dates get nearer, some have no choice but to offer deep discounts to fill seats or risks flying at a loss.
If you are selling non-perishable items like clothings, toys or furnitures, it's ok to offer a smaller discount first. If it's not moving, then you can offer a bigger discount. But you also have to consider other factors like trend, etc. If something goes out of fashion, nobody is going to buy even if it's heavily discounted. Even the act of looking through outdated dresses makes a person looks outdated.
4. Offer something more than just a discount.
The last thing you want is to have customers buying only when there's a discount. Turn your promotion into something more than just a discount. Can you make your regulars feel privileged or special?