AlTaxi - Anywhere and Anytime You Want - Business Plan Example

“AlTaxi: anywhere and anytime you want”

Executive Summary

Al Taxi is a taxi company that is located in New Castle and plans to upgrade their provision of services and introduce something that facilitates the customers. For this purpose, Al taxi is launching a smart phone app that will allow the customers to easily book a taxi and decide the pick and drop points. The launch of this app will be a major step of the organization towards technological advancement. The smart app will allow Al taxi to compete among other taxi organizations that operate in the city and will also allow the organization to expand to other cities. The budget and tactics program for the launch of this new app has been decided beforehand. However, extensive marketing will be required for the promotion of this app so that everyone who is aware of technology may make use of the app. A number of strategies have been designed in order to make the app a success.

Acknowledgement

The completion of this project could not have been possible without the help, guidance and support of a number of people, names of whom may have not been mentioned. However, their contributions are appreciated and deeply acknowledge. There are certain people like my tutor without whom I wouldn’t even have started this project, my family and friends who provided their moral support and above all, I would like to thank God who bestowed me with knowledge and wisdom.

Thank you.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Business, be it small or big always require a certain way so that the business may grow and progress and because of this the business owners are often in search of ways to promote their brands and increase the awareness that exists in the public regarding the brand, while at the same time abiding by the rules and regulations of the state. The utilization of a marketing communication strategy is a great method to highlight a certain brand or service and specifically target it to the local customers (Percy, 2008).

The marketing campaign will involve the development of a user friendly app which will help the customers to book their taxis, make amendments to their booking (if any) and track their taxis. But for the implementation of this user friendly app, the analysis of the industry itself is quite important which will help us assess and evaluate the challenges and opportunities this campaign will face in the future.

Situational Analysis

The taxi industry has progresses over the past five years and the economic conditions have also affected the industry positively, since the customers are now willing to pay for their luxuries such as taxi rides instead of subways (Taxi & Limousine Services in the US Market Research | IBISWorld, 2016). An economic review showed that about 100 million trips were made using taxis on a global scale in the year 2008 alone and this indicates the popularity of the service under consideration. The value of the taxi industry is estimated to be at a worth of 1.5 billion pounds in the year 2008. The utilization of taxi as a means of transport is rising faster and it was found that a number of travellers booked taxis via telephone booking. The use of taxis for transportation increased during weekends and it is due to this increase in demand that a number of taxi corporations are going through major changes in their business structure such as increase in part time work shifts etc. There are a number of countries where equal fare has been implemented and hence has provided a better value for money (Brown, Maunsell and Goodbody Economic Consultants, 2009). The taxi industry is regulated by a number of regulations. However; these regulations vary from country to country and often within states as well(Taschler, n.d.). But the industry is not always safe and there are reports that the taxi drivers are often in fear of their lives (Randeree, 2015). However, on a positive note, there have been a number of deals that promise to ensure stability in taxi industry especially in the Newcastle (Deal signed to ensure greater stability in taxi industry in greater Newcastle area | Traffic Information | Road Safety Traffic Information & advice, 2016).

Opportunity and Issue Analysis

For this purpose, the technique of SWOT analysis has been utilized. SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats. SWOT analysis allows the evaluation of these elements and is used by a number of organizations to assess and analyze the business environment (Ferrell and Hartline, 2005).

Strengths –The user friendly app will give a technological advantage for the company and will help them make a smarter choice as to which plan they prefer and make easy decisions as to where they want to travel to and from. The app will be available on all cell phones regardless of the operating system that it works on.

Weakness – The weakness with the user friendly app is that there will be a number of passengers who are not technologically advanced and this will mostly include the older generations. Hence, apps of this type won’t be of any use to them. Furthermore, this app will build a bridge between the passenger and driver. The promotion of the app itself will require advertisement on billboards which might serve as an added cost for the company.

Opportunity – The app can be developed further and include new features such as cheap fair price deals and promotional advertisement. The app can also feature ads of other companies which will serve as an extra income for the company.

Threats –There are a number of taxi companies which will try to copy this idea and hence may affect the inflow of passengers that this app will attract. Furthermore, the app will also be regulated by law which might differ from state to state.

Objectives

The basic objective of this marketing communication strategy is to increase the profit of Al taxi by 50% which means that the marketing strategy should be penetrating enough to attract old customers back and build new customers. The second objective of Al Taxi is to compete in the market and achieve a top position among other major taxi companies. The last but most important objective of this marketing communication strategy is to provide the customers with a one of a kind travelling experience where they don’t have to worry about the hassle of booking a taxi and being worried about whether it will be on time or not.

Marketing Communication Strategy

Marketing mix is a combination of four elements of marketing which help in achieving the objectives of an organization. It was developed by McCarthy in 1960 and was referred to as 4P’s which consisted of product, price, promotion and place. However, later on this was developed in to 4C’s in the year 1990 which was similar to the 4P’s but reflected on the customer’s point of view (Jain, 2010). The four P’s was slowly transformed into four C’s because of the changes that took place in the market and because the services being provided these days is not focused on the product but is more centred towards the customer and his satisfaction (Transforming the 4P's into 4C's in online environment, 2013).

Product Strategy – The product will feature easy to use options where by the customer can easily locate a book a taxi and mention the place he needs to be picked up from. Once a taxi has been booked the customer will be given a reference number to trace his taxi.

With the help of this app, the customer will get rid of the problems of hailing a taxi and he will get the service at the ease of his home just by the touch of a button.

Pricing Strategy – There are number of companies that start up with a minimum price and then hike it up which makes it unaffordable for the customers who were using it previously and hence, in this process the customers are lost.

In order to maintain the old customers and to make them come back, the price will be maintained at all times and will be based on the location of transportation. A 10 mile trip will cost around 10 – 15 $. The cost of this service will be beneficial for the customers as then they don’t have to calculate the fair based on area and location. The cost will also be available on the app so that the customer may view it easily.

Place Strategy – The operation will be expanded to other cities which will mostly include major cities. The app will also be available to the customers of those areas free of cost.

The availability of the app and service over large number of cities will allow the customers to utilize the service with convenience; this will also increase the utilization of the app and add in to the popularity of the app.

Promotion Strategy –In order to promote the user friendly app, the customers will be given a specific discount for downloading the app for the first time, for sharing it on their social networking sites or to refer it to a friend.

The app will allow the customers to post their review and feedback on the app regarding the service that they got and they can also report any mishaps that occurred during their travel which will then be responded by a company representative.

Creative Strategy

A smart taxi app, the one thing that puts Al taxis in the race of modernization and technological advancement. The taxi business is booming, based on statistics issued by the Government in the year 2013, the number of taxis was 78,000 and this huge amount of taxis is what adds up to the GDP of the country (Tranter, 2013) but there should be something that separates our business from the rest of the business, something that puts it on top of the rest of its competitors and that is where the smart taxi app comes in, An app that allows you to book taxis just by the click of a button and all you need is a smartphone. All of us know the trouble of hailing a taxi and this is why the app is the most convenient thing that any one will ever go through. All you have to do is mention the address, time and date of where you want to get picked up from and mention where you need to be dropped off, However, if there is no destination then you can simply skip this step. The user will then get a confirmation message and a tracking no. with which the passenger can track their booked taxi. The app will be available to download for free on any smart phone.

Tactics and Action Program

Al taxi will first of all create and implement the app in the apps of every mobile user who is a customer of the organization. Furthermore, it will take steps that are required to spread the use and popularity of the app. For this purpose, extensive advertisement will be required that will help the customers realize the benefits that the app has to offer. A major proportion of the advertisement will be done on social media websites whereas a minor proportion of it will be done on billboards etcetera. The advertisements that are to be displayed on social media websites such as Facebook will allow the app to reach the customers all over the country regardless of the city in which they live. The main purpose behind these tactics is to make sure that it reaches the right audience, conveys the right message and is effective in nature.

The first step in the production of the app will take place in January when Al taxi will partner with an IT company to produce the Kiosk. In the month of February, Al taxi will create a social media campaign wherein it will advertise teaser ads regarding the apps. The app will be available for the users in the month of March, the date of launching will be on the 15th of March 2017. In the month of April, Al taxi will launch its second social media campaign wherein promotional offers will be given to customers like discounts etc. The month of May will be the month of advertisement for the app because the app will be highly advertised anywhere possible especially on app stores of various operating systems.

Budget

Controls

Al taxis will be responsible for the close monitoring and assessment of drivers and indicators of customer satisfaction, awareness of the brand and evaluation of the overall of image of brand. With the help of this assessment, Al taxi will have the ability of altering the characteristics of the company so that the organization can improve on a continual basis. The taxi industry is an unpredictable one, especially concerning the customers since they are driven by the fares and if there is anything less convenient and less pricey than taxi’s then they switch to those alternatives. Hence, certain contingency plans should be kept in place stop these changes from occurring. Al taxi will continue its technological advancements s that its app may stay on top of the competitors. Al taxi will also continue to assess and analyze the reviews that are being posted by customers on app or on social media platform so that it may know about the issues that the customers are facing and in cases of complaints, Al taxi will try to solve the problem as fast as possible.