Comprehensive Strategic Marketing Plan For Ingogo

Situational Analysis

This report is focussed towards Ingogo which is a taxi booking services and payment related organization that was incorporated in the year 2011 in the month of August and the headquarters of the organization is located in Sydney in Australia. A few areas that are served by the organization include Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth (Ingogo, 2018). The founder of the organization and the current CEO is the same person, Hamish Petrie and the customers are able to book their cab with the help of a mobile application, the same way used by the drivers of the cab to process the fares in their smartphones based in android operating system.

The situational analysis is the procedure with the help of which the market situation of the organization is studied (Van Velsen, 2017). There are two kinds of environment for the existence of the organization and they are external as well as internal and the external environment is the condition upon which the business has less or no control, while internal environment is that environment where the business can establish their full control upon. The internal analysis of Ingogo has been conducted below with the help of SWOT analysis:

Strengths	Weaknesses
Fixed fare for travelling is one of the strengths of the organization for which they have huge amount of customer base (Ingogo, 2018). Secondly, the strengths of the organization lie on the fact that the organization is famous in the cities of Australia where they serve. The design thinking ability is one of the strength of Ingogo which is helping the organization to tackle competition form the global taxi service giant Uber.	Huge amount of competition in the Australian famous cities where the organization operates can be regarded as one of the weakness. Ingogo is dependent highly upon the manpower and for that reason, the image of the organization is reliant upon the way the taxi drivers behave with the customers. For the purpose of booking the rides, being tech savvy is essential and thus it is another potential weakness of the organization.
Opportunities Save Time On Research and Writing Hire a Pro to Write You a 100% Plagiarism-Free Paper. Get My Paper	Threats
Market expansion outside Australia as well as inside the country can be seen as an opportunity for the organization. Increasing amount of penetration of internet in Australia can help the organization to expand their market and attract more customers. The amount of disposable income among the customers is rising and thus it can also be viewed as an opportunity (Wilkins, 2015).	Huge amount of competition in Australian cab industry is decreasing the amount of retention of the customers and high amount of brand switching can be noticed among the customers (Maheshwari, 2017). There is low amount of revenue margin of the organization. There is unorganized market segment for the cab drivers and this is causing problems for Ingogo when they revolt against the organization which can be viewed as a threat.

On the other hand, the external analysis of the organization can be studied with the help of Porter’s five forces as cited below:

Factors	Power
Bargaining power of the customers	High
Bargaining power of the suppliers	High
Threat of new entrants	Medium
Threat of substitute products	Very High
Competitive Rivalry	Very High

The customers are the main source of income for the business and thus they are required to be satisfied in order to increase the business income (Dobbs, 2014). As there are many organizations in the market that supplies same services to the customers in the Australian cities where Ingogo offers their services, thus the bargaining powers of the customers are high as their switching costs for the brands are lower in the market. Moreover, the customers are sensitive towards the price and thus when the fares are higher for the travel the customers switch the brand as well.

Due to the fact that no vehicles are owned by Ingogo and also they do not own any drivers as well, thus the bargaining power of the suppliers is high in the market for Ingogo. The suppliers can also choose to shift the brand and being the cost of switching so low, Ingogo face high amount of bargaining power of suppliers in the market.

There is very less amount of cost that is required by the business to enter into this kind of business in the market and thus there is huge amount of threat of new entrants into the market for Ingogo (Allsop, 2014). There are also people who look forward to the way with the help of which they are able to travel conveniently and thus the threat of new entrants in the marketplace is very high.

SWOT Analysis of Ingogo

There are many organizations in the market of Australia that provides same kind of services to the customers and also the disposable income of the people being high in the market, they are able to afford their own cars which increase the threat of substitute products for Ingogo can services in the market (Dosen and Rosolen, 2016). Furthermore, the cities where the cab offers their services are well connected through many other kinds of transports and thus the threat of the substitute products in the marketplace is very high for Ingogo. Thus, the owned transports of the individuals and other forms of transports in the marketplace plays a significant role in determining the revenue of the organization and poses a huge amount of threat in this category.

This is the toughest forces among the five forces of the organization and there are many competitors in the Australian market which keeps competing among each other for gaining more number of market shares. Organizations like Artesian, (AU$ 7 million revenue), Mobius (AU$ 10.4 million revenue), Sydney Seed Fund (AU$ 4.5 million) and Blackbird ventures (AU$ 2 million revenue) are the direct competitors of the organization and their amount of market share and revenue is much higher than that of Ingogo (AU$ 1.3 million revenue) and thus the position of the organization is still weak in the marketplace (Owler, 2018).

The situational analysis conducted above proves the fact that there are various weaknesses of Ingogo that are there in the market and those weaknesses have been cited below:

Firstly, as the organization caters their services only in the famous cities of Australia, tit face huge amount of competition from other can service providers such as Sydney Seed Fund, Blackbird ventures, Mobius, Artesian and so on. Here is huge amount of market rivalry in this industry and thus Ingogo suffers from gaining more market share being a company that has been newly launched.

Secondly, being dependent upon the manpower and is another weakness of the organization and if the drivers of the taxi misbehave with the customers of Ingogo, then the reputation of the organization gets hampered.

Thirdly, as there are many other options for the customers of the brand, the low switching power continue to affect the brand in the market place as well as the suppliers or the taxi service providers under the brand have huge power to bargain as well as the company do not own any vehicles, not the drivers.

Porter’s Five Forces of Ingogo

Lastly, new entrants also poses a huge amount of threat for the brand in the market as the cost of entering this industry is very less and also the threat of the substitute products like own cars, is also very high due to high amount of disposable income.

The process of segmentation, targeting and positioning is the procedure with the help of which an organization is able to reach their final products to the customers of the organization (Schlegelmilch, 2016). The segmentation is the process with the help of which the customers are divided on the basis of their characteristics and the customers with same characteristics are grouped together.

In Ingogo, the market segment is broader in nature and Ingogo wants to cater their services to all and every customer who wants to travel form one place to other within the cities where they provide their services.

The targeting is the process with the help of which the segment that is most profitable in nature is targeted and the services are catered to them by the business organization in order to raise their revenue (Gengler and Mulvey, 2017).

Ingogo targets all the customers that are in need of cabs on an instant basis which can be booked form their mobile app supported by android OS and thus try to maintain the profitability of the business.

Positioning is the process with the help of which a brand is placed in the market in the eyes of the customers as compared to that of the other brands of the market and thus it can help in gaining competitive advantage for the brand (Weinstein, 2013). Ingogo places their services in the market on three aspects which include:

The fare of the cab is fixed and the final fare is provided ahead of the trip which helps the organization to avoid arguments with the customers.

There are many cab services providers who do not allow the booking on priority but Ingogo walks in the opposite direction to tae prior bookings and that too, 48 hours in advance.

Lastly, there are security cameras within the cars and security is checked all the time as well as quality drivers are hired by the organization so that they can position themselves as an organization that looks after customer safety (Ingogo, 2018).

In order to gain competitive advantage for the organization, there are a few marketing goals and objectives that can be set for Ingogo. With the help of the SMART objectives, an organization is able to set the objectives that can help them to achieve advantage over the competitors (Armstrong et al., 2014).

• MO1: Firstly, To increase the revenue of the organization by 8% by the end of the year 2018.
• Secondly, increasing the market share of the country 3% by the end of financial year 2018-2019.
• Thirdly, increasing the loyalty of the customers by 4% and increasing the customers’ base by 7% by the end of 2019.

Findings from Situational Analysis and problem statement

Financial goals are those goals which are set by the organization in terms of revenue earning or the decrease the expense of the business and these goals can help the organization to earn competitive advantage over their competitors (Bouskila-Yam and Kluger, 2011). The financial goals that can be set for the next quarter for Ingogo include:

• FO1: To Firstly, increasing the revenue of the business to AU$ 1.5 million in order to earn competitive advantage within the organization in the next business quarter.
• FO2: Secondly, decreasing the operational cost of the business by 12% within the next financial year.
• FO3: Thirdly, increasing the yearly profit margins of the organisation by at least 10% with respect to the previous financial year.

The marketing mix is the process of combination of product, price, promotion and place in that way with the help of which the business is able to earn competitive advantage over other organizations (Stead and Hastings, 2018).

Ingogo has helped in revolutionizing the taxi business for the customers as well as for the drivers. Basically Ingogo is in the service industry and they provide cab services to the customers of the organization based on their mobile app which can help in talking booking and also the drivers are able to end the ride which generates the bill after the ride though the ride fare is fixed before the ride (Ingogo, 2018).

The addition that Ingogo can do in their product line is segment the ride as per the pricing and this can help them to capture the demand of the customers of all levels. The organisation presently generates sales revenues to the tune of $200 million from the Australian market. Ingogo presently has a market share of 15.5% in Australia and the organisation has about 6000 cab drivers registered with them (Ingogo, 2018). The organisation needs to invest their resources in product and service innovation which would allow them to widen their existing product and service offerings in the market. This would allow them to cater to the changing needs and expectations of their customers in an effective manner (Stead and Hastings, 2018). They would be able to foster customer satisfaction and brand loyalty among their clients which would eventually help them to increase the market demand for their product and service offerings. The organisation can also look into the option of expanding their business operations in the other markets (like India and China) which would offer them with greater growth potential in the near future (Schlegelmilch, 2016). Thus, the organisation would be able to realise their financial goals by generating greater profit margins from their business. 

Ingogo provides their services in a few cities of Australia that include Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth and in order to expand their business they should expand their market in new cities of Australia that can include Canberra, Hobart and Darwin which will help the organization to increase their revenue and also the customer base with increase in the market share of the organization.

Segmentation for Ingogo

The organization provides their services to the customers at an economic price and thus should segment their market and provide services to the customers at a premium price too. For that reason, segmentation of their rides is necessary and they will be able to charge premium price to the customers.

This is the most significant division for the organization in order to gain advantage over the competitors and promotion can be done with the help of digital media. The digital media is less costly than that of the traditional media promotion and thus the organization can use it for decreasing the cost (Hayles, 2012). Furthermore, the digital media comprises of various aspects such as pay per click and pay per view ads which can help in promoting the company’s services. Moreover, the digital social networking sites such as facebook, twitter and Instagram can help in maintaining direct contact with the customers with the help of two way communication and this can help the organization to earn advantage over the competitors. Thus digital marketing will help in the process of decreasing the cost of the business as well as address their demand for earning advantage over the competitors through high amount of promotion.

The budgets that will be allocated for the purpose of promoting the organization include the following:

Elements	Pricing (AU$)
Website development and maintenance	3500
Direct Mailing	55.58/lead
Online advertising (pay per click and pay per view)	52.58/lead
Social media maintenance	3200/month
Email marketing	55.36/lead

Conclusion and Recommendations:

Thus the discussion above proves the fact that marketing management is a significant aspect of the business which can help the organization to earn competitive advantage over their competitors. The marketing planning helps in the process of conducting situational analysis which helps in knowing the weaknesses of the organization and thus planning can be made by the organization which can provide an edge to gain advantage (Mulhern, 2013).

There are a few recommendations that can be for Ingogo that include:

• Expansion of the organization in other cities and hiring drivers and training them so that any kind of loose behaviours with the customers can be avoided.
• Decreasing the operational costs of the organization that will help in decreasing the cost of the organization as a whole.
• Lastly, focussing upon digital media promotion can help the organization to gain success which will also help in decreasing the organizational costs.

References:

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