“Women segment in aerospace”, inspired by Yasser Al Yousuf, Aerospace MBA Alumni 2016

In his project research dated September 2016, Yasser Al Yousuf*, back then a Delegate of the TBS Aerospace MBA program, put forward the question of setting up a market offer specifically for women. According to his study results, this approach could gain wide acceptance.

In 2016, 3.7 billion earthlings took to the air – a record number, up 6.3% from the previous year, which is expected to continue to grow over the next decade. Ironically, individual airlines would not benefit the most from this favorable context, given their increasing number and the tough competition they face on offering the best services and lowest rates. Therefore, this all boils down to the same question: how to differentiate their offer?

Business, tourism, medical travel, alone or with the family, women are traveling more and more. Could this entail a specific market? Would gender segmentation be relevant in marketing programs? “Yes”, Yasser Al Yousuf answers, “in 2016, 30% of all bookings were made by women. Travel experts say that women represent the most important and fastest growing segment of the market, in terms of leisure and business.”

According to the author, this target population, comprising women willing to pay for dedicated services, would expect adapted products and services from airlines.

It is not a matter of developing a mass marketing deployment strategy, which the author says would be a “waste of money as not the same message will attract different people (…) making the results of a mass segment campaign poor due to the results in comparison to the spend and the audience the message was targeted to.”

On the contrary, the author considers a segmentation strategy quite appropriate, consisting of:

• Segmentation: Dissecting the marketplace into submarkets with similar needs and requirements
• Targeting: Process of reviewing markets segments and deciding which one(s) to pursue
• Positioning: Establishing a differentiating image for a product or service in relation to its competition

Based on the findings from the data, “data is a key factor”, the author believes, “not every company can cater to every segment” – companies can build “a niche market by further understanding their market segmentation and identifying areas of growth to continue their success.”

By applying his research to the case of Etihad Airways, the author explores the possibilities of implementing such a market segmentation strategy. The analysis of data collected by the company deems that there is “a huge opportunity in increasing the number of female passengers from United Arab Emirates to fly with the airline.” Furthermore, “the female segment is growing and has a strong potential to spend more, and this is an untapped opportunity. To increase our brand awareness with this segment, we need to strengthen our communication with this segment and provide them with benefits and products based on their requirements and likes. The first quick step to achieve this is through establishing a platform to attract them and be able to communicate with them”.

Yasser Al Yousuf’s research then goes on to envision the sequence of actions, before, during and after the flight to attract female clients and build their customer loyalty. The estimated cost of developing such a program would cost the airline $4 million over 3 years, which in turn would bring in $13.5 million over the same period.