Table of Contents
Executive Summary
In this paper it can be witnessed that Indonesia has been chosen as one of the most feasible territory to entice the customers. The nation is quite fortified because of several aspects. For instance, the economic growth of Indonesia is actually quite more and that is why investors find it a lucrative place. Most importantly tourism industry is growing exponentially not only in Indonesia but also globally. If the relationship with the government becomes strong then at least the company will be able to reach the target sector of customers easily. In most cases the hindrances of success in foreign lands is nothing but stringent policies, regulations and rules. Contradictorily, other two options were not chosen because the saturation point has already been reached by them. Apart from this, customers of Indonesia are nevertheless welcoming even though they adapt the products in later days. Major problems that can be witnessed are permits and licenses along with instability in the political arena. IT labour market is hardly rosy in Indonesia and that is why the customers cannot be reached via different online media. Online marketing zone of the company is slippery because residents of the nation hardly stay online for more than few hours. Thus, advertising through the organisation’s website and search engine optimisation can actually help the company to tap Indonesian tourists.
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Analysis
Research
The research questions for this paper are mentioned below:
- Who are the primary customers of Australia Zoo?
- How can the technological and country specific elements largely influence a firm’s performance and marketing activities of the same?
- What technological marketing strategies can be effective for the company for future use?
- How culture and international customer behaviour are influenced by the internet itself?
Firm’s opportunity in the chosen company
The country chosen is Indonesia. It is evident that the country has gone through a lot of natural calamities in past years yet achieved stable economy recently. Other markets which could have been chosen are Japan and South Korea. Both have grown largely in the previous decade to a large extent. In fact, these two markets are actually saturated where business have less scope to witness continuous development (Mathews, Healy and Wickramasekera, 2012). On the other hand, tourism industry is surging in Indonesia. Both tourism businesses are exported and imported by Indonesia. Indonesia is one of the easiest places for rolling out businesses. However, potential pitfalls in the business environment of Indonesia are problematic license and permits and political economic instability (Cavusgil and Cavusgil, 2012). As a result, these can actually be expensive affairs and time consuming at the same time. Moreover, it is crucial to formulate a good network for establishing the business (Mathews, Bianchi, Perks, Healy and Wickramasekera, 2016). On the contrary, government circles also play major role in this case of business expansion in Indonesia. Foreign entrepreneurs must realise developmental efforts that the government of this nation is actually exerting (Rapoza, 2013). Furthermore, open trade and foreign direct investment in different venues have actually played substantial role to instigate the businesses of overseas nations for entering the country. The nation is definitely suitable to invest because of abundance of commodities. Economic growth of the company cannot be avoided, which is indicated by the GDP growth. Indonesian population is also quite welcoming in nature thereby helping the businesses to enter its territory easily; thus, favourable demographic is definitely a core reason in such scenario. The work force of Indonesia is aged between 20-65 years thereby deciphering spree to work under unavoidable circumstances (Runde, 2016). Purchasing power of the Indonesian population is not very high but they are likely to spend adequately when money is available. Customer sector of the nation is actually thriving. Almost 91 percent of the customers are ready to buy products, which is more than EU, United States and even Japan. Like other developing nations Indonesia’s infrastructural improvement is evident with passing time (Gruber, 2014). For instance, one of the most tourists visited places in Indonesia is Bali. Due to improvement and robust policy enforcement in the tourism sector of the country Indonesia is facing large number of visitors from various parts of the world. It is not only a revenue generating sector of the nation but also helps to boost other industries as well (Tan and Sousa, 2013). For example, when tourists’ numbers are surging at least the airlines industry is growing alongside as well in Indonesia (Jennings, 2017). Thus, it can be witnessed how one industry is dependent on another. In return of airlines’ industry growth the hotel and resort sector is also surging in many folds. However, everything cannot go smoothly and thus during economic downturn all these sectors get affected all together.
Challenges in Indonesia in relation to technology
Technological platform in the nation is not that robust and the reason is nothing but lack of adequate skilled professionals. The country is actually facing challenge in regards to new technology, increasing globalisation and lastly, changing work patterns. Tech companies such as Facebook and Twitter also faced several difficulties pertaining to Indonesian expansion (Vinerean, Cetina, Dumitrescu and Tichindelean, 2013). The large number of population size is definitely a glorious platform for the foreign businesses but on the other hand investment required for advertising to this vast population is also more compared to that of other developed nations. One of the biggest problems that are still persisting in Indonesia is talent pool inadequacy (Armstrong, Kotler, Harker and Brennan, 2012). When there is hardly any qualified IT engineer unlike United States it is not possible for the industry to surge. However, these days the government is trying to initiate several creative organisations and provide digital solutions for the same (Lambrecht and Tucker, 2013). Without secondary cities’ development it is crucial for the e-commerce opportunities to increase in number. Moreover, the nation needs to become literate in technology before implementing all the IT projects successfully (Riasi and Pourmiri, 2015). The companies which thrive on technology will feel reluctant to increase their investment in Indonesia. Middle income groups are not yet integrated in Indonesia via ICT technology. It is nothing but the failure of the Indonesian decision and policy makers to understand and identify the need to develop secondary cities as overall economic development of the nation will depend on building of IT infrastructure building. Technological development demand high educational degrees pertaining to Information Technology. On the other hand, a part of the population is ageing fast and that is why IT labour market is facing insufficient talent pool. Moreover, in this field a sophisticated training is required instead of technical (Talpau, 2014). Opportunities are not available in large quantity as well in Indonesia in IT field. The internet privacy issues in Indonesia are not that robust and that is why stringent laws and regulations are required adequately for the customers to feel safe and secure. Customers’ demand for internet security may not be met by the businesses without the technological development. Internet usage has become widespread and thus contacting with the customers is possible via the same (Lu, Ba Huang and Feng, 2013). It is not likely for the customers to go through and navigate the pages of a company without adequate security. As per the local research companies it can be deduced how most of the citizens of Indonesia spend very less amount of time online and thus they can be regarded in the slippery customer zone. Internet users of the residents are actually less in number because due to lack of broadband connection. In fact, the nation witnesses that the price of internet connections varies high along with its slow and disappointing speed (Sullivan Mort, Weerawardena and Liesch, 2012). The practice of home internet usage will not become high until and unless high speed connections will be circulated throughout the nation (Roberts and Zahay, 2012). Even though the spree to adapt is more and the customers remain optimistic yet they fall under the category of later-adopter of products and services. The domestic firms do not find internet or online advertisement as such effective and that is why practice of the same is extremely low.
Recommendations and evaluations
Customer insight
It is important to understand that the customers’ approach can be better understood from natural environment and also watch the products’ buying pattern of the customers. When the customers are interviewed with the help of questionnaires on the online platform they provide insightful information about various aspects. On the contrary, biasness can also be seen during online interviewing procedure. In case of target customers’ external perspective both the company and consumers will be taken into account. The interview can thus be conducted to dissect weaknesses and strengths of the customers via the social media platform (Wu, Wen Dou and Chen, 2015). Tourists who want to travel in Australia Zoo can be made to participate in the online feedback filling forms in order to get customer insight.
Customers’ demand
The demand of the customers can actually be fulfilled when their demands are addressed in online or social media platforms. For instance, most of the people want leisure trip (Ellis-Chadwick and Doherty, 2012). However, it is important to understand that affordability is a concern in this case which cannot be negated. In such scenario customers’ demand for low priced visits should be fulfilled by advertising in the online platform.
Consumer behaviour
In international marketing consumer behaviour of the consumers play an integral role. For instance, the products or services that require high involvement actually consume a hefty amount of time from the Indonesian consumers. As a result, they will start spending time online if services and products are innovative in nature. Thus, the company should at least roll out and market its services in such a way that all the customers remain engaged to the same largely. Moreover, tourism services actually involve everyone as they will spend their leisure time over there. As a result, the customers will definitely remain engaged via social media (Okazaki and Taylor, 2013). It is not possible to for the customers to stay away from alluring online contents.
Labelling and branding
The branding of any product or service can be witnessed anytime online or large scale promotion. In the digital age branding has become popular (Hays, Page and Buhalis, 2013). The techniques that are used for online branding are online marketplace, online press releases, social media, search engine, etc. As a result, the company will definitely take the path of online branding and opt for search engine optimisation so that the target audience can be addressed at any cost.
Distribution
The entire distribution system can be integrated via internet itself. For instance, the suppliers can actually be hired by the online platform. There are two ways for communicating with the target audience. For example, target visitors include marketing and making the supply chain via websites, brochure distribution, client referrals, website and others. Third party contracting can also be done via distribution channel of tourism. A separate page will be allotted for them so as to mitigate confusion online.
Positioning
The positioning of the brand in digital platform can be witnessed in forums and blogs along with various social communities. Personal networks can be converted to banner ads and then the same will transform into website for promoting tourism which can ultimately be used in social network; finally, target audience of the network can be reached on time (Berger and Milkman, 2012). Sharing valuable content is definitely important because in online platform. Thus, the same must be considered extremely important for successfully positioning the brand.
Price
In tourism industry it is substantial to have pricing strategy aligned with the local population’s requirements. For instance, setting prices higher than that of other players in the market can not only jeopardise the company’s reputation but also disrupt its positioning as well. In the website of the company prices must be mentioned vividly. On the contrary, the pricing strategy can be similar to that of airlines industry as well. Alternatively, tie ups with the market players of Indonesia may actually get help the company to flourish largely (Saravanakumar and SuganthaLakshmi, 2012). It is important to understand that in case of online marketing three types of pricing strategies can be implemented such as psychological pricing, relative pricing and contextual pricing.
Promotions
The company needs to promote its service or product via IC, i.e., integrated communication strategy. There are certain factors though which the company must considered before integrating the same. For example, while promoting in the company’s website it should at least take care of the culture of Indonesia (Tiago and Veríssimo, 2014). Indonesian people are not much accustomed with internet promotion and complicated messages (high context messages). As a result, social media and company’s website are actually the perfect places to communicate the company’s messages to Indonesian target audience.
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