For ADNOC, a leading oil and gas company operating in transportation, shipping, marketing and distribution (ADNOC official website), it is crucial that its customers to be highly satisfied for the services delivered. In the changing economy that defines the United Arab Emirates’ economy, the trend that indicates that “consumer expectations grow for luxury products and services” (Euromonitor International) implies increased organizational requirements for aligning the consumers’ expectations with qualitative services. Providing gas and oil for various industries, ADNOC needs to assure constant business in the increasingly competitive market in which it activates and improving the quality of its services is mandatory for achieving a competitive advantage. High qualitative standards imply a high end positioning strategy for ADNOC. Consumers in United Arab Emirates, expats and local residents are becoming increasingly dependent on luxury products and services, as they strive to obtain the best quality for the goods and commodities that they purchase.
Recommendations
Investing in its customer services by hiring external occidental consultants to implement refined services in the emerging UAE market that is becoming more and more dependent on luxury products and services that deliver excellent customer service is mandatory for ADNOC. The company also needs to adjust to the social trend according to which consumers develop preferences for the online purchases. In this sense, while still maintaining its physical operations, ADNOC needs to develop online applications that would allow customers to shop online their oil and gas commodities. Attentive to the spending or saving trend, the company’s interest should maximize the fact that expats are spending more than they can afford, encouraging spending by developing various yearly packages that would assure the consumers’ gas and oil consumption for a yearly subscription. As expats want to feel at home, according to the trend “a locally made taste of home”, ADNOC needs to investigate its foreign consumers shopping behaviors and deliver the expected customized experience. Finally, aligned with “affordable health care for all” trend, the company should consider offering sensitive deals to elder population, based on their retirement coupons.
This course taught me that marketing is all about finding the competitive advantage for delivering enhanced services to consumers. ADNOC’s need of improving the quality of the customer service in a market wherein the customer services are rather poor compared with the high request for luxury (that demands high quality for customer service) indicates the acknowledgement of a competitive edge. In a country wherein the request for high quality is high but the offer is low, delivering high quality means increased market share, translated hence in increased business performances. Value for money is what consumers expect in the nowadays economy, wherein clients have become very experienced. Providing additional value for what consumers expect to receive for what they pay would generate customer loyalty but also a top positioning in the consumers’ minds. Offering something extra to the customers will result in recognition from the customers’ side, which will develop a more personal relationship with the brand that offers value for money.
Local market research and global market research should be combined for identifying viable marketing strategies for responding both to the needs of local consumers and to expats while in a foreign country. This approach on consumer, learned during this course, taught me that ADNOC should permanently incorporate consumer trends in its marketing strategy. Not only consumer trends tell companies about what their targeted consumer need now, but they can also inform businesses about the future needs of consumers, which they can anticipate with the help of the existent consumer trends.
A positive consumer experience generates positive word of mouth, which attracts new consumers, increasing the company’s brand awareness and implicitly its market share, as it creates the opportunity of gaining more consumers. Applying these marketing strategies, learned during this course, within ADNOC will improve the company’s overall operations and performances.
Works Cited
ADNOC. ADNOC official website. Available at http://www.adnoc.ae/content.aspx?mid=22, retrieved on 8 June 2014. N.d. Online.
Euromonitor International. Consumer Lifestyle in the United Arab Emirates. Euromonitor. 2014. Print.
