Case of Ben Ohau Lodge

Q1). Identify the likely characteristics of the market segment being targeted by the company.
Ben Ohau Lodge is a high-class vacationland, its location is in the high country of New Zealand, and its customers are kind of the world’s most exclusive clients. This luxury resort was founded by a New Zealander and his Indonesian friend, it provides every accommodation a particular segment of wealthy clientele could ever ask for. Understanding the market led Ben Ohau Lodge to the success.
Ben Ohau Lodge using a plenty parts of market segment to ensure its success. The geographic location is quite different with other resorts since it is located on a high high country of New Zealand’s South Island. The small population would make it a perfect vacation paradise from the outside world. It is said that the 28,000 hectares of original farmland which has been converted into a big-game reserve. This kind of serenity is more attractive for those wealthy people who want to escape from the paparazzi or just everyday life. The company is aiming on bringing in wealthy foreigners who would most likely be male. The company prefer older people than young people. And those people have plenty of money to spend around on the variety kind of activities and accommodation. Demographic segment would be used on the income and social status area. A number of activities are available for those people who are regarded as high classed people in society, meaning the majority of customers fall into the top 1% of the income bracket. The wealthy people such as presidents, playboys will find a series of packages as something they would rather enjoy since it is a very smart way of bringing in wealthy customer from outside country. Benefit sought segment will be used on analyze the motivation of those upper class people who are willing to come to Ben Ohau Lodge. Those upper class people could escape from pressure at a hunting retreat designed specifically with their needs in mind. They will feel convient, safe.
Q2). Why are most target customers likely to be foreigners rather than New Zealanders?
The reason why customers are more likely to be foreigners rather than New Zealanders is rather simple. According to Forbes website, there are only 3 New Zealanders on the list of world’s top 1500 richest people. Everyday life and see it as a place where people could have fun, relax and socialize. There may not too many middle class and low class New Zealanders would be able to experience this activities since it is not very affordable for those middle class and low class people. Also the leader of the company are not interest in setting the target market to middle and low class people because it may hard to gain enough revenue to keep the business running at a high operation cost level. Thus, the sort of people who would be coming in would be much wealthy and would have a lot of money to spend; this kind of location, weather, atmosphere, and environment may attract those rich people and may be something that they don’t have in their own country. So when those rich people hear about such a fairyland on the earth, they would willing to explore more fun stuffs there.

Q3). What expectations will most target customers have regarding the quality, reliability, and range of services offered by Ben Ohau Lodge? How does this impact the Lodge?
According to the case. The customers would be rich people who are more likely going to be foreigners traveling outside, or those people who want have a relax time after having a stressful business meeting in New Zealand. These people are seeking for the wonderful vacation destination. Ben Ohau Lodge are gather those rich people and provide them the highest quality of products and services in order to let the customers feel secure, comfortable, excited. Majority of customers’ demand are much high since they have all have the rich background. The Ben Ohau Lodge makes good use of its land and develop a plenty of entertainment facilities and provide many high level recreation ground, such as horse-trekking, golfing on a nearby rural course, helicopter trips around nearby Lake Tekapo, nature walks and other such activities formed part of the exclusive package. With respect to service the company has hired ten full time staff and two seasonal guides to ensure the quality of service to customers. Good customer service is the lifeblood of any business. Those well trained staff could Help the customer by directly addressing the customer's request/solving the customer's problem.
In service marketing, because there is no tangible product, relationships are key. Service marketers must listen to and understand the needs of customers and prospective customers to build loyalty and trust. Ultimately, effective relationships in service marketing will lead to repeat sales and positive word of mouth. Since it is said that the Ben Ohau Lodge’s manager has relied solely one positive world of mouth, publicity, and public relations to draw in new customers. The quality of activities and service have a direct impact on Ben Ohau Lodge’s business.

4). Discuss how difficult is it for Ben Ohau Lodge to undertake market research. Because majority of customers are from outside countries, it is kind hard for Ben Ohau Lodge to gather information for their potential customers. To take research in many countries is cost much high and hard. If Ben Ohau Lodge solve the problem of high research cost. It may have a big success in its field.

References:
Fripp, Geoff. (2012). Market Segmentation Study Guide. In Segmentation Bases. Retrieved February 10, 2014, from http://www.segmentationstudyguide.com/segmentation-bases/.

The World's Billionaires. In Forbes. (n,d). Retrieved February 10, 2014, from http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/list/#page:1_sort:0_direction:asc_search:new%20zealand_filter:All%20industries_filter:All%20countries_filter:All%20states. Susan Ward. (n.d.). Tips for Better Customer Service: How to Help a Customer. In Small Business: Canada. Retrieved February 10, 2014, from http://sbinfocanada.about.com/od/customerservice/a/customerservicehowtohelp.htm. Zeithaml, V.A. and Bitner, M.J. (1996). Services Marketing, New York, New York: McGraw Hill.

Leigh Richards, Demand Media. (n.d.). Importance of Service Marketing. In small business. Retrieved February 10, 2014, from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/importance-service-marketing-43273.html.