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Orbitz Targets Mac Users for Pricier Hotels

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Marketers have always been working diligently to better understand consumers and their behaviors. Using cellphone signals to track consumers’ shopping routines is a great example.

Now, Orbitz has found some interesting statistics by comparing the spending habits of Mac users and PC users. And because of that, Orbitz will display pricier options on top of the search results for Mac users than those for PC users.

As suggested in this news video @WSJ (Wall Street Journal), however, it does not mean that Orbitz is offering higher price for the same product to Mac users than to PC users. In other words, there is no price discrimination. What Orbitz does is to simply display different search results for Mac users because:  

  • As compared to PC users, Mac users spend $20 - $30 more per night on hotels.
  • They are more likely to stay in a four- or five-star hotel.
  • They are more likely to upgrade to a bigger room.

Similar results are also found in e-commerce sites. Retailers have found that people using tablets, iPads in particular, spend more on online shopping than PC users.

Do you think Orbitz is making a smart move by differentiating Mac users and PC users? How so? Will other online travel agents (OTAs) and retailers follow Orbitz soon?



References:
The picture was downloaded from http://orbitz.com.
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Comments

  1. Linchi KwokJune 29, 2012 at 11:58 AM

    A similar report at MSNBC.com via http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/47970026

    ReplyDelete
  2. Linchi KwokJune 30, 2012 at 7:17 PM

    Orbitz CEO responded to CNN via http://cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/bestoftv/2012/06/26/exp-orbitz-ceo-addresses-claim-website-steers-mac-users-to-pricier-hotels.cnn.html

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jihee HanNovember 30, 2012 at 12:41 PM

    Orbits' marketing sounds smart. It was nice try to grasp the tendencies of mac users and PC users and the differences between those two groups. Displaying higher prices for mac users is appropriate to market them who spend more money compare to PC users. That doesn't even discriminating mac users with the prices, so I think this is a good idea.

    ReplyDelete

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