Case Study: Always On Time Delivery Company

Abstract

This paper addresses the key issues which are faced by shipping companies in their key marketing decisions and plan for overcoming issues in marketing decision at AOT Company. Further, the paper provides the clear understanding of key marketing decision areas and the planning required for shipping company for their new overnight delivery services.

Case Study: Always On Time Delivery Company1

Introduction1

Analysis1

Issues for key five marketing decisions1

Target market1

Product1

Price1

Distribution1

Promotion2

Plan for key five marketing decisions2

Target market2

Product2

Price3

Distribution3

Promotion4

Conclusion4

References5

Case Study: Always On Time Delivery Company

Introduction

Always-On-Time is a shipping company, operating for last 5 years. They are providing their shipping services to Mid-Atlantic region of US. AOT is a small company and uses fleets of trucks for package deliveries. The company has three distribution centers where the packages are received from customers, sorted and then shipped to destinations. The company has focused on cost, in order to keep low prices for customers.

The company wants to introduce new overnight delivery services. The Vice president Mr. Bill Carson thinks that they have enough resources to start this service. The trend for shipping packages is increasing the Mid-Atlantic region in the last 3 years. Other competitors are busy with big orders. Carson thinks he has the perfect plan to capture the market.

Analysis

Issues for key five marketing decisions

Target market

Target market is the potential customers who can purchase your goods or service. The businesses must know their target market so that they can develop more personalized offerings according to the needs and demands of customers. The products and services are offered by focusing the customers. Firstly, the issue in target market identification is that it requires a lot of time and research. Majority of the businesses have to conduct market testing and primary researched which incur cost and time (Cravens & Piercy, 2009). The market which a business selects might not be an appropriate one. The second issue is relates to the visibility and accessibility to the target markets. There can be more than one target market and choosing the best among those is the strategic decision.

Product

The shipping business markets, the customers are looking for low cost and efficient service products. The overnight delivery services encounter issues such as the delivery was not made on time or damages to the goods. The issues in these services also occur what and how the customer expected the service level and what actually happened.

Price

The key issue with pricing the products or services is that there is always a risk of losing customers if prices are high. The averse to price changes in delivery service. Charging a little extra margin can cost company more in the long run. In this competitive environment there is a very little customer loyalty and customers switch easily.

Distribution

The key issues in distribution are damage to goods while handling and packaging and late deliveries. For marketers, channel strategy is developed to expand product distribution, but if existing members feel there is a conflict in the decisions made by the marketer they may choose to stop handling the packages to ...