Stupendously sarcastic to competition & a saintly saviour to the sector – that’s Kingfisher…B&E’s Steven Philip Warner analyses...
Tactic #2: Outside-flight customer experience!
Though most of the airlines have ignored this factor (assuming it to be non-critical), Kingfisher has very intelligently used this to its positioning advantage. In which other airline have you had a visibly excited valet greeting you on your arrival at the airport? Well, Kingfisher’s valet even lugs your luggage (many a time courteously refusing the tip you might have had up your sleeve), and would walk you right through getting a boarding pass till you enter the boarding area. But it is not just about the valet, but about almost every other aspect. Customers waste minimal time waiting at the classy Kingfisher check-in counters; and if it is a question about tele check-in (a facility that other airlines give only to frequent flyer card holders), at Kingfisher, any passenger across the country can use their toll-free telephone service to check-in! Not to forget that Kingfisher now has India’s best record of an airline being on-time, and that too with minimum flight cancellations, As due credit, Kingfisher has won the ET Avaya 2006 Award for “Customer Responsiveness”, India’s Favourite Airline Award and The Best Airline Award by The Times of India, the most coveted PATWA’s Best New Airline Award for Excellent Services and Cuisine, and innumerable other awards in quality benchmarks.
Tactic #3: Defying industry dynamics & bringing in a unique pricing method
Well, where on one hand there were launches after launches of low-cost champions dreaming to rule the Indian skies by slowly climbing the stairs to the skies, this mercurial liquor baron actually decided to take the elevator. And lucky for him, his plan seems to be working! Kingfisher realized that the Indian aviation market was too small and thin (footfalls being just an annual 14.3 million when Kingfisher was launched; and this figure too was high only because of LCCs in the market selling tickets for irrational prices) for the LCC concept to profitably work, even over the forthcoming decade! By focusing on the ‘profit giving’ high-end customer over the ‘favour-expecting’ masses, Mallya has adopted an innovative model of rational pricing. Not only has Mallya slowly increased the price of the economy class tickets (charging a visible premium for the quality differentiation), but has also ensured that if any one wishes to fly business class, as their branding goes, Kingfisher is first! As Binit Somaia, Regional Director, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) asserts, “The airline, along with its superior service, has adopted a very effective branding and public relations strategy and has become increasingly focused on the corporate market. Kingfisher has achieved a very positive reputation in the market place and can easily win recognition as the ‘radical’ element in the airline industry.”
Noted airline analyst, Madeline Cross, Elan Corp., remarked, “Kingfisher can be called a disruptive force, and a necessary one at that. The manner in which it has baptized the sector through better pricing policies and improved services gives the domestic aviation giants some reason to cheer about.” And what has been the critical wedge on which Mallya is betting? That’s brings us to the next tactic!
Though most of the airlines have ignored this factor (assuming it to be non-critical), Kingfisher has very intelligently used this to its positioning advantage. In which other airline have you had a visibly excited valet greeting you on your arrival at the airport? Well, Kingfisher’s valet even lugs your luggage (many a time courteously refusing the tip you might have had up your sleeve), and would walk you right through getting a boarding pass till you enter the boarding area. But it is not just about the valet, but about almost every other aspect. Customers waste minimal time waiting at the classy Kingfisher check-in counters; and if it is a question about tele check-in (a facility that other airlines give only to frequent flyer card holders), at Kingfisher, any passenger across the country can use their toll-free telephone service to check-in! Not to forget that Kingfisher now has India’s best record of an airline being on-time, and that too with minimum flight cancellations, As due credit, Kingfisher has won the ET Avaya 2006 Award for “Customer Responsiveness”, India’s Favourite Airline Award and The Best Airline Award by The Times of India, the most coveted PATWA’s Best New Airline Award for Excellent Services and Cuisine, and innumerable other awards in quality benchmarks.
Tactic #3: Defying industry dynamics & bringing in a unique pricing method
Well, where on one hand there were launches after launches of low-cost champions dreaming to rule the Indian skies by slowly climbing the stairs to the skies, this mercurial liquor baron actually decided to take the elevator. And lucky for him, his plan seems to be working! Kingfisher realized that the Indian aviation market was too small and thin (footfalls being just an annual 14.3 million when Kingfisher was launched; and this figure too was high only because of LCCs in the market selling tickets for irrational prices) for the LCC concept to profitably work, even over the forthcoming decade! By focusing on the ‘profit giving’ high-end customer over the ‘favour-expecting’ masses, Mallya has adopted an innovative model of rational pricing. Not only has Mallya slowly increased the price of the economy class tickets (charging a visible premium for the quality differentiation), but has also ensured that if any one wishes to fly business class, as their branding goes, Kingfisher is first! As Binit Somaia, Regional Director, Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) asserts, “The airline, along with its superior service, has adopted a very effective branding and public relations strategy and has become increasingly focused on the corporate market. Kingfisher has achieved a very positive reputation in the market place and can easily win recognition as the ‘radical’ element in the airline industry.”
Noted airline analyst, Madeline Cross, Elan Corp., remarked, “Kingfisher can be called a disruptive force, and a necessary one at that. The manner in which it has baptized the sector through better pricing policies and improved services gives the domestic aviation giants some reason to cheer about.” And what has been the critical wedge on which Mallya is betting? That’s brings us to the next tactic!
Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012. An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
and Arindam Chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
Zee Business Best B-School Survey 2012
Prof. Arindam Chaudhuri’s Session at IMA Indore
IIPM IN FINANCIAL TIMES, UK. FEATURE OF THE WEEK
IIPM strong hold on Placement : 10000 Students Placed in last 5 year
IIPM’s Management Consulting Arm-Planman Consulting
Professor Arindam Chaudhuri – A Man For The Society….
IIPM: Indian Institute of Planning and Management
IIPM makes business education truly global
Management Guru Arindam Chaudhuri
Rajita Chaudhuri-The New Age Woman
IIPM B-School Facebook Page
IIPM Global Exposure
IIPM Best B School India
IIPM B-School Detail
IIPM Links
IIPM : The B-School with a Human Face
