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Located in the picturesque Berkshire Mountains of Western Massachusetts, Ski Butternut has been a family-owned, family-oriented ski destination for more than 50 years. The resort includes 22 trails for downhill skiing and snowboarding, two terrain parks for riding, and a dedicated area for snow tubing. Although Ski Butternut hosts some non-ski events during summer and fall, its business goes into high gear when snowy weather arrives, bringing skiers and riders from across Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey.
Matt Sawyer, Ski Butternut’s director of marketing, says the primary target market has always been families with young children who are seeking affordable skiing. Everything from the snack-bar menus to the ski-shop merchandise is presented with families in mind. So that parents can have fun in the snow without worry, the resort has a Children’s Center for children who are too young to ski or have no interest. Fifth-graders are invited to ski for free when accompanied by an adult who buys an adult lift ticket. The resort also created two terrain parks for young snowboarders who were clamoring for a more exciting riding experience. Without the terrain parks, Sawyer says, these boarders would have asked their parents to take them to competing mountains in Vermont.
Ski Butternut’s research shows that first-timers are a particularly important segment, because they tend to have a strong allegiance to the resort where they learn to ski. First-timers typically visit the resort seven times before seeking out more challenging mountains. As a result, Ski Butternut has made teaching first-timers to ski or snowboard one of its specialties. For this market, the resort bundles ski or board rentals, lift tickets, and also offers a wide range of individual and group lessons for all ages and abilities at a value price. Because Ski Butternut has trails for different skill levels, beginners can challenge themselves by changing trails within the resort once they feel confident.
Ski Butternut also targets seniors and college students. Knowing that weekends are the busiest period, the resort offers special midweek prices to attract seniors who have free time to ski on weekdays. College students are particularly value-conscious, and they often travel to ski resorts as a group. As a result, Ski Butternut offers weekend and holiday discounts to bring in large numbers of students who would otherwise ski elsewhere. Thanks to Facebook, Twitter, and other social media, students quickly spread the word about special pricing, which enhances Ski Butternut’s ability to reach this key segment. In addition, the resort highlights discount pricing for families when targeting specific segments, such as scout troops, military personnel, emergency services personnel, and members of local ski clubs.
Another segment Ski Butternut has selected for marketing attention is ski racers. The resort features professional coaching, lessons, and programs for ski racers in the age group of 8 to 20. Sawyer notes that these ski racers are extremely dedicated to training, which means they’re on the slopes as often as possible, a positive for the resort’s attendance and revenue. To stay in touch with racers, Ski Butternut has a special website and a dedicated Facebook page.
Sawyer conducts up to 1,200 customer surveys every year to better understand who his customers are and what they need. He also compares the results with skiers who visit mountains of a similar size in other areas. Digging deeper, he analyzes data drawn from the ski shop’s rental business to build a detailed picture of customers’ demographics, abilities, and preferences. Based on this research, he knows that the typical family at Ski Butternut consists of two children under age 18 who ski or ride, and at least one parent who skis.
Because they can obtain so much information from and about their customers, Sawyer and his team are able to make better decisions about the marketing mix for each segment. By better matching the media with the audience, they get a better response from advertising, e-mail messages, and other marketing communications. As one example, they found that 15 percent of the visitors to Ski Butternut’s website were using a smartphone to access the site. Sawyer has now created a special version of the site specifically for mobile use and created a text-message contest to engage skiers who have smartphones.16
What role do geographic variables play in Ski Butternut’s segmentation and targeting?
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Chapter 6 Solutions
MARKETING 2018
- Located in the picturesque Berkshire Mountains of Western Massachusetts, Ski Butternut has been a family-owned, family-oriented ski destination for more than 50 years. The resort includes 22 trails for downhill skiing and snowboarding, two terrain parks for riding, and a dedicated area for snow tubing. Although Ski Butternut hosts some non-ski events during summer and fall, its business goes into high gear when snowy weather arrives, bringing skiers and riders from across Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey. Matt Sawyer, Ski Butternuts director of marketing, says the primary target market has always been families with young children who are seeking affordable skiing. Everything from the snack-bar menus to the ski-shop merchandise is presented with families in mind. So that parents can have fun in the snow without worry, the resort has a Childrens Center for children who are too young to ski or have no interest. Fifth-graders are invited to ski for free when accompanied by an adult who buys an adult lift ticket. The resort also created two terrain parks for young snowboarders who were clamoring for a more exciting riding experience. Without the terrain parks, Sawyer says, these boarders would have asked their parents to take them to competing mountains in Vermont. Ski Butternuts research shows that first-timers are a particularly important segment, because they tend to have a strong allegiance to the resort where they learn to ski. First-timers typically visit the resort seven times before seeking out more challenging mountains. As a result, Ski Butternut has made teaching first-timers to ski or snowboard one of its specialties. For this market, the resort bundles ski or board rentals, lift tickets, and also offers a wide range of individual and group lessons for all ages and abilities at a value price. Because Ski Butternut has trails for different skill levels, beginners can challenge themselves by changing trails within the resort once they feel confident. Ski Butternut also targets seniors and college students. Knowing that weekends are the busiest period, the resort offers special midweek prices to attract seniors who have free time to ski on weekdays. College students are particularly value-conscious, and they often travel to ski resorts as a group. As a result, Ski Butternut offers weekend and holiday discounts to bring in large numbers of students who would otherwise ski elsewhere. Thanks to Facebook, Twitter, and other social media, students quickly spread the word about special pricing, which enhances Ski Butternuts ability to reach this key segment. In addition, the resort highlights discount pricing for families when targeting specific segments, such as scout troops, military personnel, emergency services personnel, and members of local ski clubs. Another segment Ski Butternut has selected for marketing attention is ski racers. The resort features professional coaching, lessons, and programs for ski racers in the age group of 8 to 20. Sawyer notes that these ski racers are extremely dedicated to training, which means theyre on the slopes as often as possible, a positive for the resorts attendance and revenue. To stay in touch with racers, Ski Butternut has a special website and a dedicated Facebook page. Sawyer conducts up to 1,200 customer surveys every year to better understand who his customers are and what they need. He also compares the results with skiers who visit mountains of a similar size in other areas. Digging deeper, he analyzes data drawn from the ski shops rental business to build a detailed picture of customers demographics, abilities, and preferences. Based on this research, he knows that the typical family at Ski Butternut consists of two children under age 18 who ski or ride, and at least one parent who skis. Because they can obtain so much information from and about their customers, Sawyer and his team are able to make better decisions about the marketing mix for each segment. By better matching the media with the audience, they get a better response from advertising, e-mail messages, and other marketing communications. As one example, they found that 15 percent of the visitors to Ski Butternuts website were using a smartphone to access the site. Sawyer has now created a special version of the site specifically for mobile use and created a text-message contest to engage skiers who have smartphones.16 How is Ski Butternut applying behavioristic variables in its segmentation strategy? Explain your answer.arrow_forwardLogistics Consultants Inc. (LCI) provides various logistics analysis services to other firms, including facility location decisions. 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- Mary and Son known as MS was founded in 1996 as an autonomous training school. It has adequate financial resources to provide educational programs and services. It offers specialized training to many different sectors in Mauritius (mostly on-site); Transport, Manufacturing, Hospitality & Tourism, Construction, Health, Food, Education, Waste Management, Governments Industrial & Marine industries. Customers from these sectors are mostly offered by an IT consulting business with which MS has worked closely over the last five years due to the increasing number of competitors in the training and education industry. MS is managed by a Managing Director (MD) to whom a secretary, a Customer Service Officer and 5 full-time trainers report to. MS is dependent on these full-time trainers who are highly qualified and experienced in their domain of expertise. Employee turnover rate is very low and not much time is spent on induction as there are no needs to employ new staffs. This gives the…arrow_forwardSmall Potatoes is a family-operated seed business that has grown rapidly. It specializes in supplying home gardeners with the finest seeds and gardening supplies. Until now, the firm has done all its business by placing ads in gardening and health magazines and taking orders using a toll-free telephone number. Now, the family has decided to establish a website and sell online, but there is some disagreement about the best way to proceed. Some say it would be better to develop the site on their own, and one of the employees, who is a recent computer science graduate, believes she can handle the task. Others feel it would be better to outsource the site and focus on the business itself. Suppose the family asked for your opinion. What would you say? What additional questions would you ask?arrow_forwardMary and Son known as MS was founded in 2000 as an autonomous training school. It has adequate financial resources to provide educational programs and services. It offers specialized training to many different sectors in Mauritius (mostly on-site); Transport, Manufacturing, Hospitality & Tourism, Construction, Health, Food, Education, Waste Management, Governments Industrial & Marine industries. Customers from these sectors are mostly offered by an IT consulting business with which MS has worked closely over the last five years due to the increasing number of competitors in the training and education industry. MS is managed by a Managing Director (MD) to whom a secretary, a Customer Service Officer and 5 full-time trainers report to. MS is dependent on these full-time trainers who are highly qualified and experienced in their domain of expertise. Employee turnover rate is very low and not much time is spent on induction as there are no needs to employ new staffs. This gives the…arrow_forward
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