Introduction

This paper explains the strategic marketing planning process illustrating the discussion with examples from the low cost airline, Easyjet. The paper proceeds in five parts. In the next section of the paper, the concept of market segmentation is described and discussed. Next, the concept is located in the overall positioning, segmentation, targeting (PST) organisational strategy. Porters’ Generic Strategy is then outlined, as a supplementary paradigm to market segmentation. The concept of the marketing mix is discussed and applied to the case study company. A brief conclusion closes the paper.

Before examining the marketing process, however, it is necessary to provide an overview of the case study company. Easyjet is an airline company that has been operating in the United Kingdom since 1995 (Easyjet, 2014). Like many other low-cost carriers, the company initially modeled itself on the business model of a successful American carrier, Southwestern Airlines (Yip, 2004). That airline had experienced unprecedented success by cultivating and exploiting a low cost operating model – Easyjet sought to implement this model in the European context, launching a flight between London and Amsterdam that was half the cost of the fare at the time offered by national carrier British Airways (Sull, 1999). In the years that followed, Easyjet rapidly expanded its route network to include hubs in some of the major British cities: Glasgow, Manchester and Liverpool, and routes to popular European destinations including Rome, Brussels, Milan, Barcelona, Frankfurt, Oslo and Stockholm. Today, Easyjet is “Europe’s leading airline”, specialising in short haul, point-to-point flights between Great Britain and Europe (Easyjet, 2014, online). The carrier operates some 600 routes serving 30 countries, and had firm plans to expand its network further afield in the future.

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