This study is based on a small firm called Universal School Of Motoring that is located in Southall, London and offers a traditional service of driving tuition. This study looks at the feasibility of introducing a range of business services to help Universal School Of Motoring increase their number of clientele within the time period of eight months by 15%. And if feasible, what would be the most suitable services for the firm to use in terms of the local driving tuition market. This project and business has been chosen as I work for the company and this aim is an actual requirement for the business and not just a theoretical exercise. This is also an opportunity to practice all the concepts that I have learnt during my business course and see whether or not I am able to implement these in ?the real world?. Universal School Of Motoring (USM) is a small privately owned business with two employees. There are two partners (husband and wife, who are both qualified instructors), and the firm is divided into two areas with Mr. Gurpreet Anand teaching males and females and Mrs. Meena Anand teaching females who only want to be taught by a female. However, Mrs. Anand has unfortunately developed a back injury that has resulted in her having to give up teaching as she finds sitting up in an upright position very difficult.
This firm is based in Southall, London and offers a traditional service of driving tuition to the surrounding areas. The founder Gurpreet Anand established this firm in 1984 and introduced a female instructor in 1989. Since then USM had gone from strength to strength with customers arriving in huge quantities. USM want to increase the number of clientele within the time period of eight months. The problem is simply how to attract more customers to their driving agency. N.B. Initially the title was could increasing the range of business services help Universal School Of Motoring increase their number of clientele within the time period of eight months by 15%. However, information on how many clients they have at the moment was made unavailable to me, therefore it would be impossible for me to measure whether or not the increase of 15% was achieved. USM operate in a highly competitive market where there are at least 14 other driving tuition firms of the same size as them and at least two larger firms that are nationally renowned which operate in the same area as USM. Competitions from larger firms? such as AA and BSM LTD use above the line promotion in the form of national radio, World Wide Web and television.
The Research paper on The main responsibility of business is to increase the profit for its shareholders – discuss
The main responsibility of business is to increase the profit for its shareholders – discuss ’. First I am going to explain the role of shareholders and how they affect the decision making of businesses. I will then discuss other stakeholders and the responsibilities that the business ‘owes’ to them. I also plan to look at examples of real life businesses that have made decisions based on the ...
This means that they are able to reach a wider target audience in comparison to USM. The firms that are of the same size as USM are competitive in terms of pricing along with the services that they offer. This makes attracting customers very difficult. The prices that are charged by the local competitors is shown below in a table: Name of Driving School Price Charged for 1 Hour Lesson Mrs. Anand has had to give up driving tuition due to her back condition. Because of this USM have had to lose customers as inquiries from USM to potential lady clients are being turned away because of cultural reasons as females are not permitted to be taught by a male instructor, therefore they are losing sales and profits. There is also direct competition as yet another driving school has opened in the last year and this seems to be affecting the number of new clients that USM are attracting. Turnover of clients has also been lower recently but mainly in the last 6 to 8 months. My aim is to discover how USM can increase their number of clientele within the time period of eight months. 1. To find out exactly who is learning to drive? 2. What factors influence their choice and why customers choose certain driving schools over others? 3. To help USM come to a satisfactory conclusion as to exactly how they intend to resolve the current customer crisis. By setting myself this objective I hope to discover exactly who USM?s target market audience are. I will do this through the use of a questionnaire to gain information. Results from this questionnaire will help to show exactly where USM currently stands within its market and how it can improve its market share through listening to what prospective clients require. These requirements can then be debated and considered by USM before proposals are made for future business services. The purpose of this objective is so that USM are able to discover what sort of services they could offer (to discover a niche in the market).
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1.0. Introduction The operations in the general business environment are very dynamic by nature. There is no doubt that the financial markets as well as the commodity markets need to structure their business operations, so as to meet the changing business environment demands as well as the expectations (United States. Congress. Senate. 2004). The main challenge for the main market players is to ...
By listening to exactly what will help gain the custom of prospective clients, USM can increase their chances of a greater level of market share. I will attempt to advise USM as to exactly what they can do about the retirement of Mrs. Anand. This will include a range of different resolutions, which USM may decide to consider. This objective will enable me to discover what services USM should be offering. By conducting extensive market research, I will be able to evaluate and determine exactly what USM need to do in order to increase their market share and client base. I will be able to clearly show my findings through statistical and graphical analysis to help USM gain a greater level of understanding. In order for me to achieve my objectives and to collect data and information successfully, I will need to undertake an extensive program of primary and secondary market research.
I will need to collect enough primary data to have a clear idea of the views and needs of potential consumers. This primary data can either be collected by myself or by a market research agency. However, despite the fact that this can be time consuming I will be collecting this information personally because of a number of reasons: To keep costs to a minimum so that current profits and cash flows of the business are not effected. The information that I will collect will be made exclusive only to USM. This would mean that USM would be the only business to have access to it. This data can therefore be used to gain a market advantage over rival firms. In order to discover customer needs, I will need to design a questionnaire. However before I start to design a questionnaire there are certain features that I must consider when designing my questionnaire. This is because if it is poorly designed it may not obtain the information that I am looking for. For my questionnaire to be successful I will be asking an equal number of male and females a series of questions, thus making this representative data. Previous research done by the company has showed on many occasions that USM?s main target market are customers who are aged 17 to 19.
The Review on Market Segmentation 10
Market segmentation is a crucial marketing strategy. Its aim is to identify and delineate market segments or “sets of buyers” which would then become targets for the company’s marketing plans. The advantage to marketing management is that Ais technique divides total demand into relatively homogeneous segments which are identified by some common characteristics. These ...
Therefore, to save time and money, the majority of my interviewees will be within that age group. However, I will interview a number of other age groups in order to represent all ages. To make sure that my questionnaire is successful I could use the method of sampling to obtain information. Sampling is a method that involves choosing a group of consumers selected from the population to obtain accurate and realistic information. There are a number of different methods of sampling that can be used such as Random sampling, Stratified random sampling, Quota sampling, Cluster sampling, multi-stage sampling and snowballing. However, Quota sampling and Random sampling are the most feasible as the others are far too expensive. This method involves a population being segmented into a number of groups, which share specific characteristics. These may be based on the age or sex of the population. I must then give myself a target for the number of people out of each segment I must interview. In context to USM, I will segment the market into people aged 16 to 19 (assuming that this is when people start to learn how to drive) and ask forty males and forty females to fill out my questionnaire. I will ask females and males, as both genders? are potential clients. The advantage of this sampling method is that it is cheaper and can be most efficient as quota sampling concentrates on USM?s target market. However this can also be time consuming as it involves me in going to the Southall Broadway and actively asking people to fill out my questionnaire. I will do a random sample in addition to a quota sample so that my data is representative. This method gives each member of a group an equal chance of being chosen (at random).
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Many organizations are utilizing target marketing to compete more effectively. Companies focus on the customers which they can most likely satisfy, instead of scattering their marketing effort. Effective target marketing requires identifying distinct groups who have different needs and preferences which is called market segmentation and select one or more market segments to enter which is called ...
The main advantage of carrying out with a random sample is that bias cannot be introduced when choosing a sample. However, it does assume that all members of the group are the same, which is not always the case. In context to USM I will go through the local map and choose 20 streets at random and ask thirty people out of the 20 streets to fill out my questionnaire (I will do this by knocking on people?s door).
Secondary data is basically information that already exists in some form or another. The secondary data that I will use is to research the services of rival driving schools. I will do this by using the local business directory to obtain information such as; The services that are on offer The promotional methods that are employed to attract customers The prices of lessons per hour of other firms The main advantage of using secondary data is that it already exists, therefore it can be obtained at little or no cost and can be less time consuming. Market Segmentation is breaking a market down into sub groups which share similar characteristics. There are a number of different methods that a company can use to segment the market such as age, sex, level of education, social class, religion, ethnic groups and geography. I can segment the market into a number of sub groups as mentioned above. In context to USM, I can segment the market in accordance to: Age. In context to USM I can segment the market by age as research shows that 17 ? 19 year olds begin to learn how to drive. The advantage of this is that I can specifically concentrate on what this segments needs are. Sex. In context to USM, I am able to segment the market by sex as my research shows that female clients prefer to be taught by females and males prefer to be taught by males. Ethnic groups. In, context to USM, the market can be segmented into ethnic groups as my research shows that there is a demand for driving lessons to be taught in different languages. Geographical areas. In context to USM, Mr. Anand has to segment the market to the local areas surrounding Southall, as it would not be feasible to concentrate on a market that you are unable to reach, in physical terms.
Niche marketing involves a business aiming a product at a particular segment of a market. For example firms such as the Body Shop, Sock Shop and Tie Rack have all managed to exploit particular markets. In context to USM, this form of marketing can be beneficial as if USM are able to discover a niche in the market they can avoid competition (in he short run) and exploit that market to gain customers therefor profits. Also, by targeting specific market segments, firms can focus on particular needs of the consumers in these segments. This can enable USM to gain a competitive advantage over rival firms. However, If USM mange to exploit this niche market successfully, they may face huge competition in the future and may be unable to offer these services due to high competition therefore may lose clientele. This is because niche markets tend to be small therefor are often unable to sustain three or four competing firms. The research that was carried out showed that the way of attracting new customers is to find a competitive edge over their competition or start to offer a new or a wider service. From the results of my questionnaire (refer to the appendix), I have drawn many conclusions.
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Market segmentation, targeting and positioning are very important terms in marketing. To discuss about market segmentation, targeting, positioning, first of all we need to know about market and marketing Market: Market is combination of actual and potential buyers of a product. Marketing: Marketing is the process of communicating the value of a product or service to customers, for the purpose of ...
The questionnaire enabled me to discover many niche?s in the market that USM may like to consider to follow through in order to attract customers. USM could attract customers in several ways. The obvious answer is to increase the amount of time and money spent on promoting the business. However, exactly how to promote this business and exactly how much to spend is a very difficult problem. 1. The results of the questionnaire displayed that there are two-market niches that USM could aim itself at. Niche marketing involves a business aiming a particular service or product at a particular segment of the market. For example, the companies Sock Shop or Tie Rack both concentrate on exploiting niche markets. In context to USM, This is an ideal technique for them as smaller firms such as USM are often able to sell to niche markets, which have been overlooked by other firms. One possible direction that USM could move towards is to introduce automatic transmission tuition in addition to its current manual tuition. USM can lean in to this venture in a number of ways: Firstly, USM could contract out all of the automatic lessons to another person and take a commission from the sales. Mr.
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Of all the global achievements in the last 50 years, economic integration in Europe may be considered as the most notable of all. From a continent separated by war and differences in culture, Europe has proceeded to become an economic and political leader today. The formation of the European Union (EU), the accession of the 15 European countries to the Community, and the introduction of a single ...
Anand could also purchase an automatic car and teach automatic transmission himself as he is already qualified by the Transport Department to do so. The second niche in the market is that many people would prefer to be taught in other languages in addition to English such as Punjabi, Urdu and Hindi. This niche could easily be fulfilled as Mr. Anand already has the ability to speak English, Hindi and Punjabi with a little experience with the language Urdu. 2. To reduce risks USM can also consider diversifying into new markets. Diversifying into new markets and new services means that if one project fails, success in others can keep a firm going. Thus USM could start teaching other vehicles such as the motorbike, van, coach, etc, However, This would require Mr. Anand to become qualified to teach all of these vehicles (as at the moment he only holds a driving tuition license to teach manual/automatic transmission cars).
This would mean that Mr. Anand would have to take the necessary examinations. He could also, once again, recruit a partner so that one instructor teaches, for example Car, and Coaches where as the other teaches motorbike and van. 3. Another method could be used is to employ more flexible working patterns to teach people how to drive. From the results from the questionnaires, it was made clear that there is a demand for driving tuition in the evening time.
This means that USM could introduce ?Evening Tuition?. This would mean that USM would be tapping into a new market whereby they offer their services to people who cannot learn during the daytime. This service could be offered between the times of 5.00pm to 11.00pm in addition to daytime tuition. However, this would result in Mr. Anand working longer hours, which may result in him having to finding a new partner. 4. USM could also introduce extra revision and workshops for theory examinations. This would be USM?s unique selling point. A unique selling point is a feature of a product or service that differentiates it from others and persuades people to buy it. Thus extra tuition for theory examinations is an ideal venture to go in to as no other driving tuition firms do not offer this service. 5. In addition, USM can solely concentrate on a particular target market. USM could concentrate on youth?s aged between 16 to 19, as according to my research, this is when people begin to learn how to drive. USM could reach this target market by advertising at local Colleges, for example in College magazines or Sixth Form notice boards. Advertising is a form of promotion. Promotion is an attempt to retain and obtain customers by drawing attention to a firm or its products.
6. USM could also use sales promotion to attract clientele. Sales promotions are the incentives offered to customers to encourage them to buy goods and services. This type of promotion is mainly used to enhance sales in the short term. In context to USM, they could introduce block bookings whereby if customer?s books 10 lessons in advanced the customer can have 2 lessons free of charge. They could also use sales promotion by issuing cut out coupons in advertisements whereby the first lesson is free of charge. To boost sales even further, USM could also advertise in local Youth clubs such as the ?Visions Youth Club? which is located close to where USM operate from. They could also boost sales by having their current customers refer their friends and family. In return, USM could give lessons to them at a discounted price. USM could also employ the technique of offering a free gift when a client books around five lessons together. This would increase the number of clientele as this may attract people to learn with USM.
Due to Mrs. Anand having a back injury, the feasibility of finding a new female partner to attract the female market is satisfactory. After detailed discussion with Mr. Anand about the possible solutions mentioned above, a number of implications were drawn up. The discussion had resulted in that a mixture of the proposed solutions to be used. It was decided that solution 5 in conjunction with 6 was the correct solution for USM. This is because firstly, the youth target market is easiest to target. Secondly, Mr. Anand has also been teaching for approximately 16 years and it was decided that the traditional services/practices that USM offer are not lost or affected as they may lose further clientele. However, Mr. Anand was also interested in introducing automatic transmission tuition. This is because Mr. Anand is able to get hold of an automatic vehicle for a discount price.
