Abstract
Although mobile technologies have been rapidly developing over the past decades, their application in the field of airline services is a relatively new problem. Nowadays, numerous airline companies search for an efficient approach to the integration of the latest innovative products in their activity in order to improve general corporate performance and the clients’ loyalty in particular. The perspectives of mobile technologies implement are still not fully discovered. The most widely-spread application of apps today is the planning platforms. One such platform is the Emirates Group app that enables a customer to book flights, download the boarding pass, and handle the general process with the help of a mobile phone. However, little research has been carried out yet that would estimate the interconnection between the introduction of such services and the customer’s loyalty.
This study examines the extent of the influence the introduction of the Emirates apps might have on travelers’ loyalty. The statistical analysis bases on an experimental survey conducted on 50 anonymous travelers that use the Emirates Group. The travelers were required to estimate four statements about the Emirates Group app issue. The statistical analysis showed that the majority of travelers consider the introduction of this platform to be a sufficient reason for.giving precedence to the relevant airline company. Therefore, this study claims that the introduction of such apps as the Emirates Group app can serve as a determining factor for the maintenance of the clients’ loyalty and thus, constitute a sufficient competitive advantage of an airline company.
Introduction
The development of mobile technologies has interfered in all the social spheres, and air traveling is not an exception. Airline companies mainly use mobile innovation products to improve their performance. Hence, smartphone apps can be used in order to maintain a close connection with a client; to provide a better collaboration within the staff; to improve the services’ quality with the help of the relevant feedback (Okazaki 2005).
Nowadays, the Emirates Group is one of the most competitive airline companies in the traveling market. According to the corporate annual report, the company pays a lot of attention to the integration of the latest technologies, the mobile apps, in particular, in its performance (The Emirates Group, 2014). The Emirates Group has recently launched a new app enabling its customers to take part in all the flight procedures with the help of a mobile phone. The developers claim that the following program is compatible with both the iPhone and Android platforms; thus, one might say it is available for the majority of mobile phones’ owners.
Whereas the benefits of any service’s improvements have already been thoroughly estimated by the sociologists and analysts, the introduction of the new mobile technologies is considered to be advantageous only intuitively, as the little study has been performed in the relevant field. However, the example of the Emirates Group shows that airline companies keep contributing to the development of new mobile apps in order to please their customers even though this interconnection has not been widely proved.
Therefore, the primary target of this research is to assess the extent of the impact the introduction of progressive mobile apps has on the clients’ loyalty. In other words, one is determined to find out whether it is worth investing in mobile technologies or these kinds of facilities make no significant difference to a client. An experiment was conducted on a travelers’ group who agreed to share their opinion on the Emirates Group app. The results proved to be highly positive that can serve as extra motivation for potential investors.
Problem Definition
Despite the fact that a lot of research has been conducted regarding the employment of mobile technologies in different social services, the question of its influence on the clients’ loyalty has hardly been raised. Most of the previous studies suggest focusing on the examination of the possible ways of mobile technology integration, such as efficient baggage tracking and the facilitation of the board pass procedures (DeVries 2008). On the other hand, other specialists consider the impact of the mobile technologies’ integration from the side of the inner performance of an airline company, implying its logistics opportunities and marketing strategies (Biedermann & Levy 2015).
Contrary to the previous research, this paper focuses on the analysis of the client’s perception of the introduction of new mobile apps. Thus, the principal concern of the study is represented by the clients’ attitude to the development of innovative mobile facilities for air traveling. One is particularly interested in the estimation of the extent of the Emirates Group app’s benefit. The study, moreover, aims to find out whether such a mobile facility can become the determining factor for a client’s loyalty. The input of the study will be the figures gathered during the survey. The output of the research will be represented by the statistics processed after the survey. The key question that the study puts forward is as follows:
To which extent has the introduction of the Emirates Group App has influenced the clients’ loyalty?
Proposed Solution
The following study suggests that an active integration of various mobile technologies can play a significant role in the company client’s relationships. Today, when a smartphone has become more popular than a PC or a laptop, an average client wants to have as many opportunities inside his phone as possible. One firmly believes that corporate Web platforms do not only contribute to the client’s comfort but also create a closer psychological connection between a company and a traveler.
Therefore, one believes, that the introduction of the Emirates Group App enabling clients to plan and handle their journeys has helped the company increase customer’ loyalty significantly. On this basis, one can make a hypothesis that the introduction of efficient apps can serve as a determining factor for the maintenance of the clients’ loyalty.
As a consequence, in case the relevant hypothesis is valid, one might recommend that airline companies should contribute to the development of various mobile apps and platforms in order to remain a competitive player in the air tourism market.
Related Work
The importance of the integration of innovative mobile technologies in the tourism field has been widely discussed throughout the past years. Thus, the report from the Australian national conference on mobile technologies shows that the modern tourism environment cannot exist beyond the context of technological progress. The mobile phone has become one of the most powerful tools to maintain the connection between an airline company and a traveler (Cantoni & Xiang 2013). Nevertheless, one should necessarily note that few studies have been previously performed in order to measure the extent of the influence of mobile facilities’ introduction on the clients’ loyalty. Although the Emirate Group’s reports annually emphasize the benefits of their innovation policy by providing high sales rates, this argument seems to be too general (The Emirates Group, 2014). One can perfectly understand that the sales rates initially depend on an entire series of factors, and it is very problematic to distinguish the technologies’ role from the common facilities’ list.
The majority of the preceding works have been concentrated either on the suggestion of particular mobile apps or the analysis of the general performance’s benefits. Hence, Professor of CIS, DeVries, in his article, puts a particular emphasis on the introduction of an innovative app that will facilitate the baggage tracking procedure for travelers. According to the author, such an app is likely to improve the cooperation between the airports and airline companies; thus it will improve the clients’ service (DeVries 2008). Meanwhile, a more thorough analysis of the impact that the introduction of mobile technologies has on clients’ attitude is represented by Biedermann and Levy, who have devoted their paper to the examination of the mobile technologies’ influence on an airline company’s performance. The authors state that the integration of such innovations is apt to increase the efficiency of a team’s performance and to improve the corporate service in general. Thus, according to Biedermann and Levy, a company can optimize its operation with the help of the new monitoring tools and the feedback gathered from various mobile platforms (Biedermann & Levy 2015).
The issue of the Emirates Group app is poorly enlightened in the framework of the literature sources available. However, according to the periodic online edition, Travolution, the app has been launched in 2015 and is aimed at improving the customer’s service via the introduction of a personalized approach. Thus, with the help of this app, one can not just book and cancel flights, choose the proper prices and destinations, but also inform the company about its preferences concerning the seats’ location and the preferred press (Emirates reveals Android app 2015).
Therefore, one might suggest that the little data on the advantages of the Emirates Group app can be connected with a recent date of its appearance. As a consequence, the following research will make one of the first attempts to evaluate the benefits of the relevant technology critically.
Research Methodology
Sample
The research methodology of the study was initially determined by its qualitative design. Therefore, the data collection tool is the performed survey, and the employed data analysis is of a statistical character. One has applied a histogram as the most appropriate data analysis tool. The experimental group of the study is represented by 50 anonymous travelers that have had experience of using the services of the Emirates Group and their new app.
Claim and Hypothesis
This paper claims that the introduction of mobile technology like the Emirates Group app is likely to have a significant positive influence on the clients’ loyalty. Therefore, the hypothesis of the relevant research can be put as follows:
The application of such mobile apps as the Emirates Group App can serve as a determining factor for the maintenance of the clients’ loyalty and hence, constitute a considerable competitive advantage of any airline company.
Data Analysis Procedure
The group of 50 anonymous travelers has been selected to take part in the relevant research. The principal requirement was that every participant has had at least one trip with the Emirates Group and has tried its new app. The subjects of the survey were asked to estimate the truthfulness of the four statements that were put as follows:
- My trip has improved significantly with the introduction of the Emirates Group app.
- I would not like to travel with the company that does not have an app enabling me to control the trip via a mobile phone.
- I would like to try traveling with other companies that offer a similar mobile facility.
- My general opinion about the Emirates Group has changed for the better after I tried their new app.
The participants were asked to use a 1-5 estimation scale, where 1 stood for “absolutely wrong,” 5 – for “absolutely true.” The final results of the survey are represented in the histogram. The percentage represents the extent of the “5” rates for each statement.
Discussion
The results of the relevant survey have shown that the majority of the participants provide positive estimations of the Emirates Group app. One should necessarily note that it is the client’s loyalty to the company that is particularly influenced according to the research. Thus, whereas the attitude to the company’s image, in general, has not changed significantly, the overwhelming majority is decisive to stay with the company particularly because of the convenience of the new app. It is essential to point out that most of the participants have agreed to try another company with a similar mobile platform and, at the same time, expressed reluctance to use the services of an airline firm that lack the relevant facility. Basing on the thorough analysis of the collected data, one might come to a series of conclusions.
First of all, the introduction of the Emirates Group app has increased the clients’ loyalty. Secondly, the relevant app might constitute a competitive advantage of any airline company.
Therefore, the following research has proved the initially established hypothesis that the employment of the mobile apps similar to the Emirates Group App can present a determining factor for the preservation of the clients’ loyalty and is able to constitute a considerable competitive benefit of any airline company.
Conclusion & Future work
The relevant study has not only proved the efficiency of the mobile apps’ application but also helped to evaluate its role in clients’ assessment. Thus, one can be firmly convinced that the introduction of such apps as the Emirates Group app can become one of the determining factors for a customer to choose the relevant company.
The main limitation of the study is the size of the experimental group. Thus, in order to prove the existing results and to receive more objective data, one can further extend the experimental group and even include the inner differentiation into the steady customers and the newcomers.
Once the competitive advantage of the mobile platforms is proved, the relevant data can be useful for an airline company that is in the search for a reasonable HR policy. One can, furthermore, continue the research in order to find out the most demanded directions in which the mobile integration should be performed. In other words, it will be important to find out what kind of apps a company should consider beneficial.
Reference List
Biedermann, M & Levy, D 2015, The Impact of Mobile Services on the Interaction between Airlines and Passengers, GRIN Verlag, Munich.
Cantoni, L & Xiang, ZF 2013, Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2013: Proceedings of the International Conference in Innsbruck, Austria, January 22-25, 2013, Springer Science & Business Media, Berlin.
DeVries, PD 2008, ‘The state of RFID for effective baggage tracking in the airline industry’, International Journal of Mobile Communications, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 151-164.
Emirates reveals Android app 2015, Web.
Okazaki, S 2005, ‘New perspective on M-Commerce Research’, Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 160-164.
The Emirates Group 2014, The Emirates Group Annual Report, Zawya, Dubai.