1. Define the term ‘consumer service’. [2] 

Consumer service is intangible provision of an activity to end users (consumers). 

2. Explain why small hotels need to ‘make booking seamless’ to make the standard of consumer service as high as possible. [4] 

- Booking seamless makes customers’ first impression good on the hotel. This indicates that the customers’ service provided by the hotel is better than the large hotels. Easier way to book the rooms will make the customers feel more comfortable and satisfied.

- Booking through the online websites let the customers book in an easier and faster way. This is because the customer doesn’t have to go physically to the hotel and book. This way, the customers can book earlier, and avoid hotels that are fully booked. This can also avoid customers from wasting their time coming to the hotel.

- Customers’ satisfaction with the hotel can lead to higher chances of customers’ loyalty towards the hotel.

3. Analyze the importance of social media in promoting small hotels. [4] 

- By promoting the hotel through social media, the exposure for the hotel to the society will be higher, thus the potential customers for the hotel will be higher too. This is also because social media is big and can be spread wider and faster, therefore, the advertisement of the hotel can be seen by many people.

- Since small hotels might not have a high budget, social media is a very suitable platform for the hotels to promote themselves, because they only need to pay a small amount of money compared to physical advertisement, or the official advertisements (such as the ones in the television). 

- In social media, the customers can do their own good reviews easily, and the reviews can also be seen from the people in that social media. Hotel management can control social media, therefore they can see the bad reviews and so, they can use them to improve their services.  

4. Compare and contrast the marketing of consumer services like hotels with the marketing of consumer goods. [10]

Similarities:

- The marketing of both goods and services benefits from creating trust and building brand recognition into the marketing activities. Therefore, if both goods and services provided by the hotel are good and satisfying the customers, it will attract more customers to come to their hotel.

- The objective of marketing both goods and services is to attract more people to be interested in their hotels, which can lead to them getting higher profits.

Differences:

1. Services are consumed immediately – they cannot be stored – so empty hotel bedrooms during the off-peak season may have to be filled by charging much lower prices.

Goods can be either consumed immediately or stored, depending on the goods. For example, the towels provided can be used whenever we want as long as we’re staying there. Another example is the soaps and shampoos. Customers usually bring these goods home.

2. Services cannot be taken back to be repaired or replaced – so the service quality must be right first time or the consumer will not return. For example, after the customers’ have received their spa treatment, they cannot take the service back, even if they are not satisfied. 

Goods can be taken back to be repaired or replaced. The quantity of the goods can be depended on the customers. For example, if the shampoo given is not enough, the customers can always ask for the room service to give them more.

3. Promotion of services must be informative and detailed about the precise nature of the range and quality of services offered. For example, the hotel service needs to advertise the details of their services that they provide to the customers, such as the size of the rooms or beds, and etc.

Goods can be promoted easier than the services. This is because goods are tangible and can be seen clearly. Therefore, the customers can understand easier. For example, the customers can clearly see the buffet provided by the amount that they paid.

4. People (trained, approachable and helpful employees) are very important to the successful marketing of services. When the customer service is good, customers will be very satisfied and happy, leading to customers’ loyalty to the hotel. For example, when the employees treat the customers nicely, the customers will be happy.

The goods themselves often need to ‘sell themselves’ due to their innovative features. For example, the appearance of the food provided will affect the interest of the customers towards that food. So, if the food looks very delicious, more customers will consume that food, and vice versa.

Consumer products or referred as final goods are the goods that are bought for consumption by the average consumer. It is goods that are sold to the end user. Consumer behavior reveals how to appeal to people with different habits.

The success of this company depends on the increased demand of their products,as almost every company, so if the government takes these alternatives, PepsiCo,being a company that sells a product that directly affects obesity, is going to have a big decrease in product demand. Usually, children are the one that buy soft drinks.If the price of the Pepsico’s soft drinks increase because of the tax imposed on it, the children will not be able to buy it and the demand of the soft drinks will decrease. Other than that, changing the makeup of the drinks, in terms of their packaging or drink content, will adversely affect the taste. Therefore, demand for PepsiCo's soft drinks will decrease in time.

3. Analyse how Pepsico might develop a new product to deal with rising health concerns over its soft drink

PepsiCo used product oriented which they developed the new product to meet the needs of the consumers. As they uses product orientation marketing, they must firstly go through research and development (RnD) process. This process is crucial to find out what is the global health concern nowadays and solutions to solve these problems. For example, due to excessive amount of sugar in a normal can of sugar drink, people scared of getting diabetes which can also lead to death. Pepsico could develop diet coke and also sugar free coke in order to deal with rising health concerns.

4. Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages for PepsiCo of changing its marketing strategy in response to changes in consumer preferences

The advantages of PepsiCo for changing their marketing strategy in response to consumer preferences is they can satisfy their consumers’ needs in the short run. When they are able to meet their consumers’ needs, their revenue might increase and this will help them to gain higher market shares hence helping them in being the market leader. In the long run, their brand will have a strong position in the market and can be the dominant player in the industry of food and beverages. So, the owners and investors may receive high dividend payment as their company is performing well.

Other than promoting their new product to satisfied consumers preferences, PepsiCo also encourages a healthy lifestyle to all of their consumers. This can help them to gain new consumers based on the strategy they do and also will attract people from all ages because of the healthy product since many people are concerned about their health. In the long run, they will have a good image. It is profitable for them if they are always aware of the change of people preference. The shareholder also can have more trust in the company and willing to buy more shares in it. pepsiCo will become the market leader if they stay understanding their consumers preference in the future.

Next, they have a change to increase the price of the new product that they make because they become the price taker. They can control the price without losing any consumer that supports them. It is because they are the only firm that makes the new product in that market and customers will only buy the product from PepsiCo. Other consumers don't have any reason for not buying the product if the new product made by PepsiCo can raise the awareness of healthy life. because of the awareness of the health,  customers didn't care about the increases of the price as long as it meet their preferences. 

The disadvantage for Pepsico when they change their marketing strategy in response to changes in consumer preferences is, they will face a higher risk of failure if the product is not accepted in the market. For example, Pepsico makes diet coke and sugar free coke because the people nowadays are trying to practice a healthy lifestyle. Maybe the diet coke and the sugar free coke will attract the consumers at first, but as the time goes by, they will be less interested in the diet coke and sugar free coke as the taste is slightly different and less tasty from the original coke. If this change fails to attract consumers, the sale of the diet coke and the sugar free coke will decrease and it will affect the demand and the revenue received by the company. When the revenue and the profit of the company decrease, it will affect the wages and salaries of the employees as they need to cover back the investment that they make to the diet coke and the sugar free coke. 

The next disadvantage is, the cost of production to produce a new product is high. For example, the company need to spend money on research and development (R&D) before they produce a new product. R&D is an important means for achieving future growth and maintaining a relevant product in the market. For example, they need to make research about the customer preferences. The company need to give the customers a product that they would really commit to and appreciate and the most important is, when they sell it or launch the product, it will capture the audience’s attention. If the customers see what they like they will end up buying the product. Other than that, if the company wishes to change the sugar that they use in the production of the coke with a healthier sweetener which is stevia, they need to invest more because stevia is more expensive than sugar and it is calorie free.
The last disadvantage is, probability to not accurately forecasting changes in consumer preferences. Business forecasting consists of tools and techniques used to predict changes in business, such as sales, expenditures, profits and losses. The goal of business forecasting is to develop better strategies based on these informed predictions and helping to eliminate potential failure or losses before they happen. Forecasting changes in consumer preferences may be not accurate if the consumers change their taste. This will lead to decrease of demand of the product if the consumers change their taste.