Positioning Your Product to Showcase Experiences
The ‘commodity mind-set’ means thinking that a business is merely performing a function – eg offering a particular product or service at the lowest possible price. Making the shift towards thinking about selling experiences rather than just a commodity might sound complex, however to work out how to identify the experience you are selling it’s important to ask yourself the following questions:
- Can I go beyond the function and compete on the basis of providing an experience?
- How can I engage my consumers in a memorable way
- Do i offer an experience or just a place to stay/thing to do?
- What do my customers say about my product?
- How would my product or business compare to other operators?
- What assets or unique selling points do I have?
- How does my promotional material represent my product?
- What would it cost to change my product to provide a compelling experience?
- How will I ‘sell’ these changes?
Tourism Australia provides the following process for moving from offering just individual commodities, products and services, to offering compelling experiences:
| Offering | Characteristics |
|---|---|
| Commodities | Perishable Substitutable |
| Products | Tangible Standardised |
| Services | Intangible Customised |
| Experiences | Memorable Personal |
Example
Tour operator (Outback Australia/Aboriginal Australia)
Commodity – Bus and a driver. Images showing the bus driver and fleet of buses lined up ready for customers to board the tour.
Product – Specific touring company with driver commentary, offering same equipment, itinerary, basic meals and accommodation. Images showing a bus driver or tour guide enroute with a microphone giving commentary.
Service – Touring company with a detailed destination information guide with customised itineraries. Images showing a tour guide pointing to a landmark on the tour providing interpretation.
Experience – Providing customers with an interpretive and interactive experience with locals and experts in unique outback locations, such as an Aboriginal storyteller around a campfire. Images showing a group of travellers sharing a campfire with an Aboriginal storyteller in an outback location.
Tips for enticing the Experience Seeker
- Maximise your location. Think about the experiences you have in your backyard – eg spectacular view and scenery, historic buildings or background, unusual nature, accessibility, outback/reef activities etc
- Strive to deliver something unexpected and personal and impart skills, not just knowledge, by sharing an interactive learning experience.
- Get local. Provide tips on other attractions, things to do, restaurants, tours and places to see in region. Think of your ‘competitor’ as your ally. Create opportunities to get involved with local events or showcase local produce.
- Provide ‘new news’. Keep your product offering fresh by offering specialised products or unique selling points.
- Offer visitors the opportunity to become involved in various aspects of your business or advise them of activities that are available through your or near you. Eg on a farm stay offer the opportunity to shear a sheep or muster cattle.
- Encourage word of mouth (the ‘braggability’ factor) by offering immersive, interactive, active and adventurous experiences that offer a contrast to normal life. Allow opportunities for visitors to meet and learn from local experts.
- Offer value for money. Aim to exceed your customers’ expectations and think about adding personal touches. Offer only what you can promise to deliver.
