Emirates is an airline group based in Dubai, UAE. It was founded by the Dubai government. Emirates was started with just two aircraft and now it has expanded its empire with almost 263 aircraft.

In this Marketing Strategy of Emirates Airlines, we will talk about the marketing strategies of Emirates, Emirates marketing mix, competitor’s analysis, Emirates market segmentation, and also their digital marketing presence.

About Emirates Airlines

 

Emirates the company was founded by the Dubai government in the year 1985. Their initial operations started with just two aircraft and now it is one of the largest airlines in the Middle East.  The first flight of the airlines was operated from Dubai to Karachi; since then the airlines continued to expand. By the early 1990s  Emirates started to become a part of the world’s fastest-growing airline industry. Currently, it serves 153 airports in 80 countries from its hub Dubai, UAE. It hails one of the largest numbers of the cabin crew.

We already know Emirates has a great brand value and brand name. It can maintain such a brand name due to its excellent service and high-class travel. Due to such a brand name, it is suitable to make partnerships with brands with such positions. Emirates chose Apple as a part of their advertisement for advertising their Wi-Fi service on the flight. Apple is also such a company that is loved and valued by many people.

 

 

Now that we know the company, let’s see the Marketing segmentation of emirates which also has its own importance in marketing.

 

Marketing Strategy of Emirates Airlines

 

Emirates Market Segmentation

 

Every customer has different needs so market segmentation is used to help to divide customers into groups according to their requirements. Segmentation into such groups helps the organization to satisfy the groups according to their need by developing such strategies.

Emirates follows the traditional approach in segmenting its customers. Market segmentation of Emirates is as follow:

• It divides based on business travellers and price-sensitive travellers
• They also segment based on customer loyalty.
• Emirates also uses psychographic segmentation to divide the customers based on their interests, lifestyle, behaviour, attitude, opinions of customers.

 

– Emirates Target Market:

Upper-class and upper-middle fliers, Value-seeking fliers, non-price sensitive fliers who are seeking a comfortable flying experience are the target users for Emirates.

– Preferences:

Preference Strategy is used by Emirates where there are two major groups of business and leisure fliers. They both have various preferences of services. In this business, fliers are given more or additional importance as compared to leisure fliers.

– Demand Future:

Based on demand, customers are also divided. Leisure travellers demand entertainment features whereas business ones are provided more space and services such as telephone connections, internet, and workspace.

 

Basically, Emirates has managed to come a great way from 1985 till now. Further, we will study the Marketing Mix of Emirates.

 

Marketing Mix of Emirates Airlines

 

The marketing mix is the study of a set of actions that an organization takes to promote a brand or its product or services. It consists of 4P’s Product, Place, Price, and, promotion.

 

1. Emirates Products Strategy

 

• Emirates offers a customer with brand new aircrafts such as Airbus A380s and Boeing 777s.
•  Emirates offers 3 different classes to their customers:

1. Diamond First Class – It includes all the luxurious and extraordinary services. It provides all the comforts a customer could dream of like comfortable seats that can be converted into a bed, in-seat mini-bar, chauffeur service, Bulgari amenities kit, private suites.
2. Pearl Business Class- Second class is planned especially for business executives which provides them with divisions for privacy, USB ports and sockets, massage functions, winged headrest.
3. Coral Economy Class – It is for people who are looking for economic travel. The seats here are of standard size. It provides basic facilities like internet, the option of entertainment, headrests.

• 70% of the aircraft provides you Wifi.
•  Emirates was the first airline to provide:

1. Invite Entertainment screens for all class
2. Showers
3. Private suite

 

Emirates has very well bifurcated their services according to their customer’s wants. Emirates provides their customers best product service according to their needs.

 

2. Emirates Distribution and Place Strategy

 

Emirates currently operates 3500 flights every week. A global network of Emirates is spread in 6 continents, 80 counties, and 153 destinations from its hub in Dubai, UAE. Emirates also has the longest non-stop flight from Dubai to Auckland. Emirates has used its hub as a strategic location for its maximum benefits to occupy the position of global transporter.

 It has also come up with short route flights that have benefited customers and services that have benefited customers and the company.

Tickets for Emirates can be booked through travel agents or tour operators. The distribution strategy for it also includes their websites where you can book your tickets, cancel your tickets, seek information about price, available discounts, and packages offered. 

 

3. Emirates Pricing Strategy

 

Dubai is a major link between East and West which has helped Emirates a lot. As it can provide short route flights to customers and without a layover. Due to this Emirates provides tickets at reasonable rates as compared to other flights. It can maintain an effective pricing policy because of the direct flights it offers. 

Emirates has also adopted a premium pricing policy, which is charging a higher price as compared to other airlines for customers who ask for luxurious services. 

The pricing policy of Emirates is diversified. As the price also depends on cabin class and the seasonality of flights and holidays. Emirates is not based on a single pricing strategy whereas it uses different pricing strategies.

 

4. Emirates Promotion Strategy

 

Emirates has adopted various promotion strategies such as:

• Advertising 
• Social Media 
• Sponsorship
• Events and Exhibitions 
• Public Relation
• Digital Marketing

 

Other than that it also offers discounts on flight tickets at off-seasons. Emirates has also sponsored many events like ICC Worldcup in 2011 and 2015 and are official sponsors of football club Arsenal. The tagline for Emirates is “Hello, Tomorrow” which is about inspiring people about tomorrow with unlimited potential. While hello is a greeting and invitation to a person or place or an experience.

Emirates Airline Foundation is a non-profit entity that provides aid to countries at difficult times such as natural disasters or tragedies. Hence, Emirates has done a great job in promoting the brand this year by promoting it at various places.

 

Emirates Competitor Analysis

 

With more than 35 years of experience, Emirates has come a long way in establishing its brand image. It has also reached the maturity stage in the product life cycle, and in this stage, competition is also high.

Etihad and Qatar Airlines are considered as biggest competitors of Emirates Airlines as all three have the same philosophies and core values. Also, all three have the same target audience – the Corporate/Middle and Upper Middle class. Also, all three are airlines from the Gulf.

Other than Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways Emirates competitors are:

• Singapore Airlines
• Skywest
• Air Asia
• Fly Dubai and many more

 

Other things that also affect are the rise in fuel prices, changes in government policies. 

 

Emirates Success Factors

 

• It gets strong financial support from the Dubai government
• Heavy sponsorships and marketing in the world
• Strong and recalling brand
• Diversified culture and
• The loyalty of their employees and customers

 

 

Conclusion

 

Emirates has a strong brand name. There are certain things or strategies that they can adopt such as they should expand their authorized offices so that customers can comfortably buy physical tickets from nearby. They should also move towards a price leadership strategy to gain lower-class price-sensitive customers.

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