Feb
9
STP in Space Tourism
Posted by: beier0816 | February 9, 2011 | 2 Comments
Space tourism might be one of the industries that target at smallest segments of consumers. Up to date, only 7 tourists all over the world have been to the space. Apparently, space tourism companies use a highly concentrated segmentation strategy. In my opinion, this concentrated strategy is reasonable since the segement consumers are very profitable and attractive despise the fact that there are not many of them.
Here are some of the segmentation variables for space travellers that I come up with.
Geographic segmentation: Mainly North America.
Demographic segmentation: Extremely high income, most male
Psychographic segmentation: risk-loving people (self image) with adventrous life style
Benefit segmentation: People who seek the benefit of exploring the nature and looking for thrills in their lives.
Although space tourism is traditionally characterized as high-end and not reachable for ordinary people, space trip providers now began to reposition themselves recently. Several year ago, it might take travellers millions of dollars to travel in space, but now some companies offer a low price of $100,000(still seems really expensive to me). I think the reason for repositioning is to gain more popularity and reach out to a wider base of customers.
Comments
2 Comments so far
Hi Haoran/Conrad 🙂
Interesting post. Good thinking on how space tourism has been repositioned. Is it really only $100K though? What do you get for that? Do you think that as technology evolves that the market will expand or will consumers become fatigued by an idea that has never really gained critical mass?
E
Oh my god, i am so surprised when I see your comment, Eliane! The 100k space trip is provided by Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic. It also reminds me of the impressive brand breadth of Virgin that we discussed in last class. As for consumers’ reactions, I never thought that consumers may become fatigued. But it is very likely to be the case. Though these companies tried so hard to reach out to the mass, it is still not affordable for most people. Undoubtedly, some will not be interested in this idea anymore and focus on whatever is practical for entertainment.