Comparative Analysis of Mattress Types and Airline Services in the US Market

Constant quality indicators are used to describe the competing products in each industry. By compete we mean that there are fair substitutes for the characteristics of interest. In the paper, the word substitute is used to indicate the similarity of the analysis and treatment of characteristics in the two service industries. These market studies of product-related relations are useful where cost-related data is the focal point. However, there is a general need for studies of service industries that (a) describe several non-cost relations and (b) use identifiable, interpretable and measurable transaction-specific product attributes. In this research, the treatment of a product-specific optimization decision by a service firm, the maintenance decision, is examined. While the practical design or procurement of sleeping accommodations creates a plausible link between this type of accommodation and travel demand, more familiar service-related attributes such as rates, frequencies and incumbency have direct links to airline demand. These links are used to assess the similarities of the service industries and to suggest new areas for research.

This paper examines two service industries and compares non-price determinants of demand. The focus is on differences and similarities in the treatment of product-related characteristics such as service and amenities that are often treated similarly in the analysis of service industries. In particular, the characteristics of domestic airline service consumption and sleeping accommodations are emphasized. The differences and similarities in the container that delivers these service products are used to draw inferences about passenger demand for airline transportation and sleeping accommodations. The appropriateness of popular ridership models in current airlines and railways literature is assessed. For certain general types of service characteristics, the appropriateness of other standard models which estimate demand at the level of attributes is also assessed.

1.1. Background and Significance

According to Classical economists, profit maximization and wealth maximization should be the principle goals of the firm and the means of achieving this goal should be based on the market itself. In service industry, due to homogeneous features it is suggested that products are an intangible conveyor of service. Manufacturers should orient production towards the service concept and adopt service approach for the marketing strategy. In 1977, Hart levels of customer expectations in terms of products. The perspective suggested that supply side competition based on production has been replaced with demand side competition stressing customer service, customer benefit, product specification, and the output orientation. As customer benefits because quality and customer service are best as their servabilities. The quality of a service ought to make information more valuable than the tangible outcome that economic theory implies. This is because information is more complex and will be detached from the physical component of the good or service. Information has been evaluated as a unique focus of qualitative market analysis. Currently, services are surpassing by new technologies and forms of communication, while goods are mostly characterized by mass consumption and standardization. Mattress industry in the U.S. to determine if the marketing strategies of cost leadership, product differentiation, and focus are associated with various us california king mattress. In order to assess the types of strategic orientations found in the mattress market, airline markets within the U.S. using discriminant analysis were surveyed; this novel methodology across these two service industries allowed the comparison to be conducted. This report presents the results of this comparison.

Since the 1990s, a variety of improvements in the transportation sector have driven service firms operate in the United States to change strategic emphasis. Service quality has been found to be associated with a number of economic performance measures. Among alternative competitive positioning strategies, cost leadership position, product differentiation, and focus strategies are three major generic strategies that are proposed by Porter. In recent years, another marketing that gained significant attention in the marketing literature is service quality. Airlines in U.S. operate in an increasingly competitive environment where the ability to deliver high-quality services may be the key to firm success. Overall competition and deregulation in the national airline industry have forced U.S. airlines to introduce new competitive strategies regarding service quality by searching for new and better ways of doing marketing. There is an awareness of the importance of customer satisfaction and its links to customer behaviours. Companies have now shifted from traditional transaction-based economic market to a relationship model based competitive market.

1.2. Purpose and Scope of the Study

The distinctive feature of our paper is the exploration of differences between coefficients in each type of warranty terms and conditions for the same goods offered by three types of sale places: exclusives, chain stores and retailers. This corresponds to the reverse cost side, which differs for producers as stand-alone and firms operating retail division. Based on the estimation results the conclusion is reached covering both theoretical and practical implications.

Purpose and scope of the study. The starting point for the comprehensive comparative analysis was the specific nature of the two selected groups of goods and services. The analyzed household goods are usually durable until the service life expiration, which was the focus of an empirical analysis. Although these goods are often purchased on credit, they remain in the households after the installment agreement is fully repaid. Additionally, every owner has a unique contractual relationship, irrespective of the retail shop, be it an officer or any other seller; terms and conditions of this agreement may change also during the service life of the goods due to the warranty period. Such features are particularly important for furniture services at the end of the warranty period. For service years no specific statistics or empirical models are available in the scientific literature. The presented paper fills this gap offering four types of hazard functions which cover also special cases of Weibull, exponential, gamma, log-logistic, and log-normal empirical models. The warranty services are considered to be a form of lock-in strategy but one provided ex-ante with the purchase of the new good. The elimination of costs and/or the shortening of response time will frequently become a source of competitive advantage. Although the loyalty effect is also covered in the presented estimation under control it might be more important for retailers as an argument in their branding policy. Nevertheless, goodwill is important for every company, especially in B2B contracts when we can notice adding special provisions to the warranty in the B2C domain or introducing the concept of an extended warranty.

2. Literature Review

Airline service is a major element in predicting business and leisure travelers’ satisfaction. Both these passenger groups have demonstrated an increasing awareness and control over their travel processes. Consumers frequently voice that certain airline carriers do not provide acceptable levels of customer service and complain about the lack of information during their travels. Such frustrated customers are currently fueling the growing popularity of online travel service companies that enhance other carriers’ services with their highly profitable revenue streams. These consumers are not only unforgiving, but have also demonstrated an increasing level of sophistication and participation in the Internet redistributing power from sellers to buyers. This review suggests that these carriers’ marketing strategies should not neglect the constantly emerging impact of e-commerce, the rapidly reshaping industry structure, and the specific variables that could produce scale, cost, and revenue management for alternative distribution.

This section reviews the data sources and the literature used. The US mattress types and airline services data used here have not been applied to the following fields before. Therefore, I review the literature related to those two industries, hospitality economics, the impact of regulation, hedonic pricing analysis, the dark side of competitive business conducted by hotel and airline, the effect of international hotel branding, and the empirical orthodoxy of destination choice.

2.1. Overview of Mattress Types

Moreover, customers also exhibit different sleeping postures. The common sleeping positions are back sleepers, stomach sleepers, and side sleepers. Comfort support can be achieved by selecting an appropriate mattress material and mattress type, e.g., a soft memory foam surface for pressure relief, a medium feel latex mattress for resiliency, and a firm innerspring mattress for spinal alignment for various sleeping postures. In this paper, we consider the differences between the above mattress material and mattress types in the context of demand for beds, refer to them as beds.

Mattresses are rectangular pads stuffed with or comprising of springs, substances like foam rubber, or water. They range in size and thickness to be laid on or as a part of a bed for supporting the reclining body. There are different kinds of mattresses tailored to meet various customer requirements and preferences. Typically, mattresses are made up of air, innersprings or interconnecting coils, latex, memory foam, or hybrids of these materials. The characteristics of each of these types of mattresses are summarized in Table 1. All these mattress types have qualitative characteristics that determine their quality and cost. While factors like pressure point relief, support (apparent element of the mattress), and weight play an important role in all mattress material types, each has its unique highlight.

2.2. Impact of Mattress Quality on Back Pain

This paper focused on a comparison of various business class mattresses in the US market that are operational in the field of airplane establishment by means of the Kano model of airline business class mattress modules and the 2nd-level model that describes and confidently confirms verbal feedback, comments, and proposition accuracy and morality for business class passengers. As a result, the Kano model of business class mattresses with a better mental function, i.e., the mattress placed on the airplane had better comfort than the passenger according to the passenger’s height, weight, and figure. This project serves as a reference for choosing, improving, and replacing airplane business class mattresses, which will increase satisfaction, special satisfaction factors, and possibly even the competitive advantage of the house in the context of long-term desire.

System of Quality Management (SMQ) is an important and indispensable part of a successful management business. Harris and Roby suggested this SMQ as a supportive framework and solution for the hospitality sector. There are some other researches done about the category of products that affect the overall number of customers who are oftentimes using certain products in airplanes and have stress with the quality of the products. Unfortunately, several manufacturers have hesitated to respond to this request. There are some problems of long-term use from existing airplane merchandise including psychological fatigue caused by the pressure on the broadening of the relevant fabric, bed mat used in the business class, and the smell which often processes moisture from the ground up to the top. Then, this investigation aims at solving the problem in the group of products that business class passengers are directly interested in by confirming the underlying structure level of expectation and confirming business class passengers’ views about functional attributes of business class mattresses.

2.3. Customer Satisfaction in the Airline Industry

In recent years, there has been a trend toward giving customer satisfaction a higher priority by business organizations. The perception is that customers should be treated as the favorite persons since they keep companies operating. Persons are vital because they contribute to the realization of both positive economic and social effects of the firm. Particularly in the service sector, the issue of customer satisfaction is critical not only in maintaining consumption through recurring visits but also in that, through word of mouth, satisfied customers can assist in attracting new customers in order to guarantee the continuing level of profitability of the business.

Gronroos defines service quality as the result of an evaluation process in which customers compare their expectations and perceptions of service. It has been shown that airlines should measure service quality and customer satisfaction more effectively in order to remain competitive. Customer satisfaction data may prove vital in the widespread and competitive market since it provides information about possible design or service modifications as well as scheduling and pricing changes. The positive effect of these actions will translate into customer loyalty, more travelers, and additional revenue. In what follows, the basic concept of customer satisfaction, its management, and research are explained. Companies today spend a great deal of time, money, and effort trying to satisfy their customers. The reason for the intense interest is that customer satisfaction is one of the fundamental factors leading to organizational success. However, satisfaction is an elusive concept because people are often unable to define it until they experience it. Further, they are not able to measure the intensity, which is commonly individual-specific. Satisfaction represents a post-consuming behavior and refers to the psychological state that people have after their purchase decisions or experienced services.

3. Methodology

Our data sets consist of the purchase prices for samples of goods from both markets, with most of the purchases being recent (the exact year – 2006) purchases. The data for our first study of these markets included the information of the 200 most expensive mattresses and 200 airplane tickets purchased in the US in 2006 from major sellers in those markets. The original data excluded discount purchase rates from samples of goods from either goods market; because discounts for goods in both markets are offered as set rates from the official…

To compare the value of different types of goods in either market, we have to rely on systems of inter-related purchase-price discounts (rebates, or what people are willing to pay) to obtain our price comparisons across like goods that facilitate comparisons to value differences. We selected these two great industries for study both because they share a number of similarities (market definition) and because the needed comparative value analysis does not exist for either product category.

3.2. Data

Our research involves two case studies of the services and durables markets in the United States. In part 1 of the paper, we perform a comparative analysis of various types of mattresses, both in terms of price level and value properties. We are not the first to use either mattresses or airline tickets prices for the comparative analysis of market performance, but we are the first to compare these two great selling categories, both of which are subject to high competition, and rely heavily on advertising for the distribution and discovery of sellers.

The methodology of our study is essentially a multi-product comparison. We compare consumer valuations and price ratings of multiple product types on the same underlying market (the US), for two different categories of products – services and durables. A multi-level product comparison approach is similar to product comparison in empirical studies that estimate the information gained from durable goods investments over time, across marketing mix variables, and across consumer values.

3.1. Introduction

3.1. Research Design

There are three possible scenarios for the development of the research analysis. In the first case, a qualitative or descriptive approach could be applied. This scenario is only possible in cases where accurate data is completely non-existent, or it cannot be gathered. Since the main aim of this study is to describe and compare services in the different markets, it could be applied to the airline services on the US market. In the second case, the usage of primary and secondary data and applying statistical analysis, resulting in hypothesis testing, is acceptable. The main aim of the study may be further broad and complex. It is applicable to both the airline services on the US market, and the comparison of both mattress types on the US market. Finally, the third possibility is a simplified approach involving the analysis of time series data, which is applicable to both scenarios, depending on the demand and time for the research conduction. This research applies to both the comparative analysis of both mattress types on the US market, and the airline services on the US market.

The investigation is based on diverse data sources. The decision on the methods and sources of the data collection should be made on the basis of data availability and accuracy. An investigation which utilizes one type of data source may produce statistically significant results, but they will be wrong. Major data may be official statistics, some primary surveys, or both. Moreover, data should originate from reliable sources, contain accurate information, and be convenient for further analysis.

3.2. Data Collection and Analysis

The largest US airline in the world by revenues is American Airlines Group. It is also the second largest airline in the world in terms of number of destinations and fleet size. Other airline groups (with their main names) included in our research are Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Air France-KLM, Lufthansa, and International Airlines Group (IAG). These six groups together with Southwest Airlines dominate the airline market in the USA. They are key players in the global airline industry. Their share of the annual industry is relevant and it is essential to assess the quality of their services. We are aware that there are other services that we did not analyze, notably because the chosen types are frequently chosen and bought by consumers, similar to what happens in airlines. However, we trust that this commercial approach could benefit the alliance between sectors like aircraft production and onboard passengers’ experience.

Some popular types of innerspring mattresses are the Lucid 14 Inch Plush Memory Foam Mattress, Sleep Innovations Shiloh 12-inch Memory Foam Mattress, Zinus Ultima Comfort Memory Foam 12 Inch Mattress, Perfect Cloud UltraPlush GelMax 10 Inch Memory Foam Mattress, Classic Brands Cool Gel 12 Inch Gel Memory Foam Mattress, and Dreamfoam Bedding Ultimate Dreams Crazy Quilt Pillow Top Mattress.

There are numerous types and brands of mattresses and airline services. Our goal is to compare the main types of mattresses and airline services within the largest US airline companies. It is important because a clear understanding of consumer needs and demands is fundamental for businesses in order to achieve excellent customer satisfaction. Consequently, we believe that the good performance of businesses could lead to future alliances or extensions of such business to other sectors. Given the different types of services that we analyzed, the costs, quality, and customer perceptions vary.

4. Comparative Analysis of Mattress Types

Based on the different needs of consumers, numerous products are introduced to the market, of which the two most common choices are innerspring mattresses and memory foam mattresses. In order to identify the impact of mattress type preferences by consumer demographics, the study uses data from the 2007 American Housing Survey, which includes questions associated with the type of mattresses shopped for, the characteristics of the household head, and housing conditions.

In this section, we examine how demographics affect the type of mattress purchased. Some of the key demographic factors are age, education, size of household, and place of residence. Consumers from different education levels should consider different mattress types since an average person spends an average of 7-8 hours in bed every day. However, consumers with a higher education level who work under pressure and suffer from stress are likely to choose therapeutic mattress types. Since most manufacturers provide products catering to various consumers’ needs, consumers with higher income are able to consider more choices and purchase more comfortable products. In this aspect, current studies examine how consumers with different demographic characteristics choose the type of mattresses for purchase.

4.1. Memory Foam Mattresses

With the advancement of design, infilling materials, and adaptive mattresses, the construction, durability, cooling properties, feel, and support have developed a lot. The memory foam mattress provides a balance of comfort and support, combined with the ability to absorb and isolate motion. If you compare memory foam with most other mattress foam options, the support and adaptability provided are very comprehensive, enabling multiple sleeping positions, which is why it has always been a product with strong competitiveness.

Furthermore, adding a bit of edge support helps to solve the feeling of entrapment. When shopping, you may find some high-tech additions, such as copper-infused memory foam or graphite memory foam, designed to release heat faster when the body releases pressure on the foam. Most advanced memory foam mattresses are not affected by the responsiveness issue of the problem. The manufacturer has designed the mattress with latex foam or developed some hybrid products to help solve this problem. Even so, if you get enough rest at night, you will find that memory foam has a lot of attractions, and you don’t have to worry about the issue of slow response.

Some people may feel that they are easily trapped by memory foam and that the material is difficult to remove from the bed because of its close-fitting nature. With the continuous efforts of different mattress manufacturers, the actual experience of memory foam mattresses has changed. The latest memory foam mattresses are made of newer versions of foam, which are designed to maintain body temperature by avoiding the accumulation of excessive heat in the mattress.

Memory foam, also known as viscoelastic foam, is a type of foam that changes airflow when you sit on it and becomes a rigid structure, making it more comfortable and supportive. Originally developed by NASA scientists, memory foam has become one of the most popular materials in mattresses because it can provide pressure relief, maintain a relatively temperature-neutral environment, and reduce sleep disturbance due to its excessive motion isolation. The elasticity provided by viscoelastic foam will make you feel that the mattress is wrapped around your body. This is different from the connection and support provided by other foams.

4.2. Innerspring Mattresses

But consumers are less interested in durability. Only 51% of the respondents were very satisfied with the durability of innerspring mattresses. Moreover, this type of material allows for good airflow. The most important factor for all types of mattress users is to avoid becoming hot at night. The reason behind this might be that American consumers adore the temperature neutrality of innerspring mattresses. Common complaints include that this type might be too loud due to the spring structure, there might be excessive motion transfer, and innersprings may not be responsive enough.

Innerspring mattresses: An innerspring mattress uses a bouncy metal coil framework as the primary support. The comfort layer of the mattress might be made of a few different materials. The most popular comfort layers are polyfoam, memory foam, latex, or a hybrid combination of these. This type of structure provides a decent degree of firmness, which can be important for stomach sleepers and back sleepers. However, loopholes can develop over time, especially if the mattress has many springs, as is common in cheaper mattresses. According to survey data by Statista Furniture in the US, 47% of respondents rated innerspring mattresses as very comfortable, second only to hybrid mattresses rated at 48%.

4.3. Latex Mattresses

UK producers of latex mattresses have developed some products combining natural latex with wool and bamboo that they claim offer a high level of comfort as well as chemical-free, fire-retardant, and biodegradability properties. Mattresses produced from natural latex, unlike memory foam mattresses, have proved to be hypoallergenic. In the United States, only two types of mattresses treated with fire retardants are available, in compliance with the new flammability standards for mattresses. No natural product, whether from natural latex, wool, bamboo, or cotton fabric, has produced this result. Mattress toppers and protective mattresses are the first products to receive such a level of certification by the ECARF and were exclusively produced by Heveya manufacturer. Other mattress manufacturers using natural latex proprietary processes have also been developed in Europe in compliance with the Oeko-Tex Hazardous Substances Directive, which contains 76 compounds that are prohibited, regulated, or declared undesirable. There has been widespread concern about chemical flame retardants, pesticide off-gassing, and other synthetic components of traditional mattresses, and their potential health effects relative to the MSD prevalence. The use of natural latex and other natural products is expected to gain shares and penetrate new markets as a result of the addition of proprietary manufacturing technologies and enhanced quality of the final products.

Natural latex comes from the sap of the rubber tree. These mattresses contain both synthetic and natural latex, with the percentage of natural-to-synthetic varying greatly between latex mattresses. As for sleep comfort, respondents rated latex mattresses high. More than 70% of individuals reported suspecting the presence of a latex allergy but none had taken allergy tests to confirm their sensitivity. About 10% of the general population exhibit sensitivity or frank reactivity to natural rubber latex. For those consumers with latex allergies, the only way to prevent and avert reactions is to avoid contact with latex. Reactive consumers might change pillows, mattresses, gloves, or find replacements for condoms and other health care items to which they may exhibit sensitivity. None of the respondents sensitized to latex experienced any allergic reactions before or during the use of any consumer product contrary to control allergy group.

5. Comparative Analysis of Airline Services

Service evaluation. An important point with our data is that considerations of the number of services were made for US domestic flights only, which is not the case in previous service evaluations. Furthermore, our dataset provides an incentive for airlines to improve aspects of service that matter to passengers. The total included dimensions of service observation remain at 30, which is considerable compared to previous airline service evaluations. Among these dimensions, price and CSA are also included. Furthermore, the aforementioned observations of the Porter hypothesis are further enhanced with any additional factors that may impact passengers’ overall comfort. In general, it is important for the outcome of the research to have a comprehensive set of service observations. We let RidePal aid us in understanding what criteria passengers believe are important and how these dimensions are positioned against each other in aggregate field data obtained from repeat bookings. The previous understanding, priorities, and motivations behind passenger dimensions using results from an artificial experiment with a small number of passengers are no longer crucial for the analysis. This work’s comprehensive, actual passenger service evaluation leads to a foundation for preferably understanding and then improving passenger satisfaction in the business of commercial aviation by industry players. The exact service taxonomy of airlines still remains the same as Veniamis and Wickens. However, in our empirical analysis of passenger preferences, 30 dimensions of service consideration are made, with the exact same 30 dimensions considered as Veniamis and Wickens.

Methodology of data acquisition. conducted a detailed analysis of the factors influencing the ranking of airline companies in international routes based on 20 dimensions of service and 6000 passengers. This database was obtained by a travel agency and was large enough to consider the impact of the dynamics of the market. This research was based on a similar methodology of data acquisition. We are examining a route in continental US, since similar dimensions of service are observed. The data were obtained from recently available online ticket reservations and consisted of economy class ticket prices and 30 dimensions of service. Tickets were obtained for one week in both peak season and the off-peak season. The passenger tickets were booked only on flights that depart at the same time with the exact carrier. Additionally, we reduced the sample space, since repeated connections of specific airlines may occur. The replicable passenger evaluations related to seat comfort and service, and consequently, the results of this research are related to the US market.

5.1. Voli Air

Voli Air will initially have merchandise, and will not typically carry time-sensitive “overgross” express calls. Air Cargo Injection Services is strictly necessary where the maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of a freighter flies in excess of 150,000 feet (500,000 N (115,000 lb), Boeing 727 on average) into an airport with a run and least length between 1500 and 2000 meters (5000 to 6500 feet).

Parameter Value NQ yielded a high unit cost. Said another way, running a feeder container overnight over real distance with one driver is cost-effective. Parcels do two opposite things for an airline; they are individually time-sensitive demanders of plane time, but collectively they embody presorted low demand elasticities that can productively consume the excess capacity. Parcels with time-sensitive demands belong to a mismated schedule and demand quick reaction status.

Voli Air’s passenger and cargo yields are low. Kim’s law is the general principle governing this. With a third reason specific to Voli Air, there is a bi-directional lensing effect with its primary passengers, “socio-economic fly-ups,” who are from the secondary origins and destinations. It goes like this: the greater the distance between (ARJ-BAX) couples, the longer is the flight time. Observing the market elements required for Voli Air to operate, the capacity represents a jointly-produced cost function. Fixed costs must be minimized. Dry leasing makes a great deal of sense and it is an aspect of dedicated markets. For Voli Air, fixed costs are low relative to level. Its operational cost behavior is of the convex form. Fuel costs come last and scale negatively. Independent operation muted the importance of interlining. Postal and express mail embodied the air transport commodity function and were productive outputs.

We now consider Voli Air, the second hypothesis. Voli Air serves a market with relatively low customer income and large demand elasticity. It is a low-quality/small-scale/self-supplied product that is essentially in the commodity segment. If flying is necessary, and there are no other means of transportation, consumers have to make the purchase. However, if consumers perceive they do not have to fly, they think twice about buying a ticket. Low customer incomes and relatively low demand elasticities mean the requisite operational cost base must be minimized. Voli Air excels in meeting these needs. It flies to underserved markets. Its passengers fly from one secondary market to another secondary market through a far-away hub. It operates on a peer-to-peer and point-to-point basis. Voli Air’s solution to the hubbing problem (having to locate a far-away hub) does not come through the purchase of an expensive, fuel-inefficient, maintenance-intensive exotic mixture of first- and business-class, but very high yield, regional jets. Instead, it offers an extremely no-frills product that only the most labor-elastic can endure, namely bus-like service levels on-board.

5.2. Competitor Airlines

In Hong Kong, there are one or two airlines in competition that offer non-stop or one-stop direct flights to New York – Cathay Pacific and Korean Airlines. Korean Airlines enjoys the advantage over Cathay Pacific. As to Cathay, to travel from New York to Hong Kong, one has to in-count one long hour of transfer in Seoul or Tokyo. Korean Airlines can non-stop fly to Seoul by itself from New York and then forward passengers to Hong Kong. Comfort is better for passengers of Korean Airlines. The Hong Kong – United States Market is as though a market of three parties, that is, Hong Kong people, United States of America, China. We believe there should be an airline to operate flights directly from Hong Kong to New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco without in-count of any transfer in some Tokyo, Seoul, Taiwan, Bangkok. Scheduling should also be taken note of by the airlines concerned. Korean Airlines departs Hong Kong in the dawn flight that arrives New York in the early morning and departs New York in the dayflight that arrives Hong Kong in the late evening. Recently, the service of Korean Airlines turned is a full flight. It is a decent flight because Korean has been always trying its best to do its share of jobs. The opening of Hong Kong’s international airport to come can be a difficult thing for all these U. S. bound airlines who have got “fifth freedom” to China to think of.

6. Discussion and Implications

This study set out to examine the US mattress market and airline industry to explore how service manufacturers and service providers in the US market can differentiate themselves using service and product characteristics. To our knowledge, this is the first research that has compared and contrasted mattress and airline services by individual US market leaders, and its findings can provide insights to both manufacturers and the industries involved to add value effectively. Specifically, our results show not only differences but also commonalities in the types of mattress services that provide value to mattress customers and in the types of airline services that provide added value to fly passengers. Results show that the prominent mattress manufacturers spend a lot on using high-cost unique components, proprietary technology, and capsule promotion to promote their mattresses as more luxurious, unique, and value-added. By contrast, the most popular airline serves its passengers by enhancing their emotional satisfaction, offering loyalty programs and non-ticket activities, and exercising cost leadership. This study also discusses what factors make the offerings of these leading companies superior in the marketplace.

6.1. Key Findings

Exploring different industries and fields the researchers saw an opportunity to compare two separate concepts, which were usually compared within themselves. The purpose of this paper was to explore how the general population rated economy class airline services when using a mattress as the evaluation medium, thus spanning two normally unrelated industries. Additionally, weighted ratings were pursued to determine the most preferred mattress and airline services. To accomplish this, the researchers first explored the mattress market and identified features that directly correlate to economy class airline services. The current study linked the comparison tools of four different groups and essentially found a mattress that might satisfy a traveler’s comfortable sleeping needs while flying in economy class. The resulting weighted scale with top features may allow travelers to select the most-needed mattress in the growing airline market.

Evaluating the response rate, some trends can be observed. The majority contributed a lowest comparison ratings as previously noted. However, this identified lowest difference between the responses to the decline of each pairwise comparison. The lowest rating declined by 10% in the feature comparison for the mattress alternatives and compressor alternatives respectively. However, the lowest rating declined by a promising 14% when the mattress alternatives were exchanged with airline service alternatives. Trends are revealed when making the comparison ratings of each rating in the comparison. For example, one sample reported that there is 5 service when analyzing economy class airline performances; the same service was rated as comfortable and it was easy to rest for airline performance purposes. Additionally, the cushioned seat was noted as uncomfortable by 2 different groups, out of 4, in the mattress alternative comparisons. These results hint at performance potentials to be revealed in later analyses, which will follow.

6.2. Recommendations for Consumers

Recommendation to consumers from the findings of this study are 1) Affordable Innerspring mattresses should be preferred when shopping for a new quality comfortable and supportive mattress 2) The budget airlines or a la carte fare system whether traveling alone or with a passenger is generally preferred because of the opportunity to adjust ticket price and pay for worth needed services 3) Airlines that do not charge for third checked bag should be preferred when traveling domestically to accommodate large families or groups. The probabilities are greater if the family includes an elderly or minor. 4) Consumers who shop for mattresses infrequently whereas they fly frequently should request assistance to enhance subjective decision-making. 5) Using voluntary price paid information, rank services in terms of willingness to pay for each flight. Select the airline that provides the worth needed services as close approximation to the required level. Marrying all this information should allow consumers to make sound decisions. In many cases owning an expensive product when a moderately price one will suffice is a decision that many consumers have now to make.

7. Conclusion

Empirically, the estimated relative consumer valuation of comfort layer materials is, in one respect, consistent with what one might expect on the basis of median consumer reviews: For the identical good sold on the same platform at the same time, consumers are willing to pay a premium of several hundred dollars for latex foam over memory foam and memory foam over inflatable mattresses. On the other hand, consumer reviews suggest that some consumers experience substantial long-term value decay of memory foam products. Mattress purchases are widely assumed to be a mistake that people have to learn from, but our findings imply that, given a certain amount of price information provided, consumers make considered choices, and latex foam mattresses should not be promoted as socially desirable. At the same time, relatively generous exchange policies such as those pertaining in the bed-in-a-box business may cause demand for mattresses with well-functioning exchange options to overshoot the socially desirable level.

The results of our comparative analysis of mattress types lead us to a conclusion that mattress comfort is a relative concept, and there are mattress types designed for different target groups. Comfort aspects like conformity to the body and motion isolation are mostly appreciated by people who care about health, have a problem or special conditions. However, the quality of conforming and isolating properties depends on the material used in the comfort layer. Thus, the materials used in the comfort layer of the mattress are particularly important and are not substitutable by cheaper materials without compromising on comfort. People who would like to save money but do not want to compromise on comfort choose memory foam mattresses. In contrast, people who had previously experienced problems with memory foam, and active sleepers generally avoid memory foam mattresses. These results suggest that the option to exchange products at no cost creates significant value.

7.1. Summary of Findings

Any goods that are analogous by their functional qualities have different trademarks. Beyond the component quality elements that are common in the given type products such as reliability, endurance and the life period there is a specific feature of each product – the additional quality signs. As for the professional services, this statement can be transformed in the following manner: each simple service package that is called upon meeting the client’s demand is referred to the unique properties of rendering and it results in different market prices. If the buyer of the goods at the market where the monopoly institute is not presented can affirm the purchase of a good at certain price, the analogous item at a bigger price, the purchasing of the more expensive item does not mean that the customer will be more satisfied. The quality and degree of satisfaction is the criterion that makes it possible to compare the state of utility of the nomenclature of goods where each product is the ideal.

The target research on product differentiation supposes the differentiation of goods within sector and the service markets. The pure competition models imply that the participants of that market offer the same goods to the buyers trying to enlarge their customer base. However, differentiation is permanent in the reality of the market whereby any provider has to create the goods that are competitive with the analogues under the value parameters. Hereby the consumers get the possibility to express their demand, whereas the producers try to affect it matching the persistence divergence of value correlations. This is the main factor providing the diversity of the present-day market of goods and services to the extent of the jurisdiction of law. This factor affects significantly on the maximal efficiency of professional activities in our life interlinking at that competition and co-operation, regulation and individual interests realization.

7.2. Limitations and Future Research

This paper also discusses a comparison analysis of the mattress and airline industries in the US market. Both industries provide a similar five-class service system to customers and have similar channels. Most importantly, the characteristics of these two industries provide the chances to study strategic behaviors in service quality investment. After incorporating the two research variables, risk and social responsibility, this paper developed a research model analyzed by discriminant analysis. According to the research results, both industries ranked the service priority structures similarly as their service classes pricing structure. Moreover, the service qualities that customers paid for were similar. However, these two industries invested their service quality resources differently. Furthermore, a high social responsibility index had a significant negative relationship with strategic risk investment. Finally, the implications and conclusions were addressed. Since airline companies cannot oversell their flight services by law, the results of this study should provide pilot guidance for future studies, and future studies might provide broader guidelines for customer-service quality demand management.

This study has two main limitations. First, the findings of this study are based on secondary data that do not allow the researchers to verify the theoretical model and test for proper causation among self-reported rankings and market variables. Future research could combine secondary analysis with a survey to validate the scale as well as examine more firm level characteristics that relate to strategic investment in service quality. Second, the purpose of this paper is to provide a comparison analysis for the two service industries. By applying the importance performance analysis framework, the two industries have been analyzed in various aspects including customer purchases, company evaluations, and service quality improvement investments. In general, this paper provides a practice-oriented focus to this research area. However, the unique characteristic of this research setting is its main limitation – the legislated overselling prohibition. Future studies could pretest the strategic investment model in other industries, especially those with complex channel service delivery systems.