Airlines
Hawk Air
Business model type:
E-Tailer
Content:
Testimonials, The Hawk Air News, Security Practices, maps, aircraft specs, picture galleries, Web Day coming soon?
Commerce:
Revenue is earned from selling tickets online, No advertising
Community:
No organized community
Customization:
The ability to choose when and where you fly and how you pay, but that’s all
CRM:
E-mail and telephone contact mediums on site
Competition:
Air Canada
Corporate Governance:
Website and company are synonymous
Cost:
Very low cost vs only other regional competitor in Air Canada
Design:
Unattractive, Functional, low technicality of site, Simple pictures mostly text
Target Market:
Business people in the Terrace/ Rupert area, Travelers to and from the Terrace Rupert area that are looking to save money
Partnerships/Affiliates:
None
Pure Play or B&M:
Clicks and mortor
Strengths:
-Simple Website with fast load time
-Functional and easy to use
-Ability to purchase online
-Testimonials
Weaknesses:
-Unattractive
-Not a lot of information
Opportunities:
-Improve look of website
-Show seating, ability to book seating
Threats:
-People could be turned off the site from unattractive layout, may then not purchase
-the location is .net not .com, some who are aware of the company may assume that it’s .com and not find the site
Air Canada
Business model type:
E-tailer
Content:
Loads of information, how the company is run; mechanical, technical, specialized services, marketing, sales, mission statement, you can plan your vacation on the website, Investor and career relations, Privacy policy, Environmental responsibility, Companies and organizations that they sponsor
Commerce:
Sales revenue from tickets, and Air Canada merchandise, some affiliates
Community:
None
Customization:
Advanced seat selection
CRM:
Mail outs, E-mail contact, Baggage and flight trackers
Competition: Technically no competition, but all international airlines, and small regional airlines within their respective area
Corporate Governance:
Company and site are integrated
Cost:
High cost relative to competitors
Design:
Appealing and functional design, Pull down menu design that is easy to use, colours are integrated with company colours,
Target Market:
Business and Vacation travelers especially going long distance, also investors,
Partnerships/Affiliates:
Star alliance, Destina, also sponsors numerous events, sports teams and the like, Air miles,
Pure Play or B&M:
Clicks and mortor
Strengths:
-Appealing and functional website
-Easy to use
-Lot’s of information
-Strong CRM
-Merchandise offerings
-Walks customer through not only the purchasing process but also product use
-With the exception of the home page the website has little clutter
Weaknesses:
-Home page is very cluttered
-May have long load time for some pages for people with slow servers
Opportunities:
-Advertising revenue
Threats
West Jet
Business model type:
E-tailer for B2B and B2C
Content:
Information about the company and its planes, how the company operates, Jobs, fairs, flight schedules, Ability to book cars and hotels through site, Student information, travel tips, Weird facts about Canada
Commerce:
Sales revenue through ticket sales, has links to sites such as budget car rental and hotels (likely gets a click through fee), also you can book some right on the site they may or may not receive a commission. Has listings of planes for sales, and charter rates for businesses
Community:
No community
Customization:
Other than arrival and departure dates I couldn’t find any available customization for the site.
CRM:
Contact info phone and snail mail, site navigation help, E-mail, testimonials for the different stages of product purchase and usage, West Jet membership
Competition:
Air Canada
Corporate Governance:
Site and company are fully integrated
Cost:
Lower cost than Air Canada
Design:
Visually appealing, Ease of use and navigation is o.k. (the home page is a little confusing but once you start to make a purchase it breaks things down step by step)
Target Market: Short distance travellers looking to fly in Western Canada but would like to save some money, Includes both business and recreational travelers,
Partnerships/Affiliates:
Budget, Ramada, Delta, Travel lodge, Air miles, membership rewards programs
Pure Play or B&M:
Clicks and Mortor
Strengths:
-Can book hotels and car rentals right on the site
-Offers B2B sales as well as B2C, but does a good job of separating them on the site.
-Attractive and appealing web site
-Testimonials for each step of the product purchase and usage process
-Site map for easy navigation
Weaknesses:
-Supposedly has an interactive feedback corner but it won’t load
-Lots of white space on the site
Opportunities:
-Offer merchandise on the Website
-Offer more product customization (Advanced seating booking, choice of meal)
Threats:
-People could really get mad that the interactive feedback corner isn’t working
Summary
Generally speaking all the above sites are good sites. The are all fairly simple yet attractive. They all have the ability to purchase tickets online and they show alternative ways to purchase tickets through other various mediums. All of the sites were easy to use. Air Canada did the best job of maximizing the amount of information, while minimizing the confusion of finding and using that information. All of the sites were very sleek looking, but load times were minimal.
West Jet was the only site that I found with B2B sales other than investor information. They all contained company information such as mission statements and history.
The two larger companies offered baggage and flight tracking which I thought was a good idea, but other than that I thought that the CRM was weak for the sites. Air Canada was the best at walking the customer through the purchasing process and even the product usage process but they didn’t have the ability to book hotels or car rentals through the site, which is something that West Jet did well.
One consistent thing that all the sites did well was provide testimonials to different stages in the purchasing process.