MARKETING CASE STUDY

Gomez Executive Bus

Service
Group 2

 R/TT-19-02: Alonny
 R/TT-19-12: Frazer
 R/TT-19-22: Melstroy
 R/TT-19-28: Pratiksha
 R/TT-19-32: Risa
 R/TT-19-38: Shevon
 R/TT-19-42: Swanza
Content

 Summary
 Problems faced by Gomez executive bus service
 Advantages for Gomez Executive bus service
 Question and Answers
Case study

 Gomez Executive bus provides bus service. The bus

service was established to provide a new type of
service between two principal cities of Tegucigalpa
and san Pedro Sula
 The service consisted a nonstop trip and took three-
and-a-half hour to complete. The busses left from
hotel Maya in Tegucigalpa and the hotel Sula in san
pedru
 Hotel Maya and Sula were considered to be the best
hotels. The busses were made by Mercedes Benz
and was considered to be the most comfortable and
luxurious and had a bar.
 The bus consisted of young air hostess that accompanied the people. Also
the passengers were served free alcoholic beverages, cold drinks, coffee,
tea and sad witches.
 The passengers had an advantage as the passengers did not have to wait in
lines to purchase tickets as they could purchase them in the hotel lobby.
 The buses had a capacity to take 36 passengers, yet they took 7 to 8
people for each trip
 To obtain permission for a new bus service from Honduran government,
Gomez was required to charge twice the regular fare charged by other
existing buses.
 A series of newspaper advertisements were used in two cities.
These were later discontinued and television advertisements
were used.
 The theme of the ads were directed to people who drove
between the two cities. A total of fifty free tickets were sent to
the members of the press even though a grand opening was
never held.
 It was not known if any of theses tickets had been used. A
free ticket was also sent to the minister of tourism but no
reply was received.
 A total of 400 letters were also sent to the companies. The
typical customer who had been using the executive bus
service came from the Honduran upper classes.
 The primary problem was a lack of advertising and
publicity. None of the passengers were tourists. Very few
tourists came to simply wander.
 Most had planned itinerary and pre-purchased tickets for
airline travel. The aid of an ad agency in helping to plan
strategy had been dismissed.
 To obtain permission for a new bus service from Honduran
government, Gomez was required to charge twice the regular
fare charged by other existing buses.
 Four companies offered regular bus services between the two
cities that is San Juan, El Sol, Colombo and Gomez
 Commercial airline travel between the two cities was provided
by SAHSA airlines.
 The cost of single-class round trip travel was five times the
price of travel by Gomez Executive Bus Service.
 Flights were sometimes overbooked and cancelled due to mechanical or weather
problems.
 Certain number of people were afraid to fly due to the difficult airport at
Tegucigalpa.
 It appeared that most of the customers of Gomez paid for their tickets with their
own funds.
 Those who flew with SAHSA tickets were purchased by their employers.
 It was observed that SAHSA had ignored them because new bus service wasn’t
considered a threat by the management of SAHSA.
 Sr. Gomez believed that SAHSA was wrong and he just needed time and marketing
formula to experience success.
Problems faced by Gomez executive bus
service

Despite the fact that each bus had a capacity of

thirty six passengers, they would only take seven or
eight passengers on each trip.
According to the Gomez manager and owner there
was a lack of advertisement and publicity.
There was also other mode of transport such as bus
service company and airline which gave
competition to the Gomez executive bus service.
To obtain permission for the new bus service from
the government they had to charge twice the regular
price.
Advantages for Gomez Executive bus
service

 The bus provide services between two cities

which was a non stop trip hence the passengers
could directly purchase the ticket at the counter
in the hotel lobby, also the tickets were sold on
the commission bases by the company.
 The company provided luxurious services to
their passengers like the buses were air
conditioning, they provided food services, also
they had hostesses that accompanied the
passengers.
 Although SAHSA airlines provided air
transport between this two cities yet
Gomez exclusive buses faced advantages.
i. people didn’t prefer to travel by the
airline because sometimes the flights
were cancelled due to over booking or
climatic factors.
ii. Also the airport at Tegucigalpa had short
run ways and was not safe at times.
1) What Market was Gomez Executive bus
service trying to reach?

 Gomez Executive bus services made many advertisements through

newspaper and television basically to attract those people who drove their
cars between the two cities.
 The company choose to target the upper class people of Honduran as these
people could avail their services.
 They wanted to provide the best, comfortable and luxurious services to their
passengers and wanted stand out as the best as compared to sahsa airlines,
other bus service companies and trains.
2) From a consumer behaviour start point, why do you
think tourists were not using the bus service? How could
this be corrected?

 As the bus left from hotel Maya in Tegucigalpa and the

hotel Sula in San Pedro Sula, the tourist staying little
far from those two hotels were finding it difficult to
travel at the hotel to get the bus.
 As the tickets were sold on commission basis by a
company, the tourist were finding it more expensive.
 The service was not well advertised which showed
dullness and most of the people were unaware.
 Because of less popularity people did not choose to
travel by that bus. Hotel Maya
 To obtain permission for a new bus service from the Honduran
government, Gomez was required to charge twice the regular
fair by existing bus line on that route.
 There were already two bus services between those two cities.
So tourist chose the other buses as Gomez was charging
double:
o El sol , this company offered bus service which had stops at
small towns along the way, whereas Gomez did not have.
 3) Why do you think this service might not
appeal to local business executives?
 Gomez executive bus service offered high luxurious services. They had
young hostesses that accompanied the passengers and also served
beverages, soft drinks, tea coffee to their passengers. The expense to
establish such services is high.
 Local executive businesses cannot spend so much on such services as
Gomez executive bus company did.
 Even they cannot invest on busses with air conditioner & other luxurious
services as it would increase the price of the ticket & local people will not
be able to avail such services.