This paper will address the formation of “Mercury Courier Service’ that would be providing different courier service so the people in Australia. It is observed that the offered services will include shipping services as well where the shipping service will be focused at the commands and actions of multinational and international companies. This paper will offer a deep insight into the customer segment where the target population will be specified. The courier service would be equally facilitating the all age groups who are looking to send their couriers. Value proposition is also a prime subject that would ensure the credibility and the major attributes of the service. Along with it, there are different specific task that are performed by the courier services, along with retention of company’s values and the development of positive customer relationship that will help to ensure productivity and a positive approach to the future business. There are different dimensions that will position this company over the other companies such as bets delivery time, quality of services, quick feedback and recovery along with a direct approach to the customers so that their concerns can be addressed.
Entrepreneurship Individual Assignment
Introduction
Australia is one of the biggest countries in the world. It is so enormous that it also comes into one of the seven continents of the world. Multiple businesses and people are either performing operations or are living in this country. They will need to send parcels, letters, gifts and among many other things to each other. In this regard, the best option for a new for profit business venture is a courier service company (Dudin, et al, 2015, pp.290-296). This company would be named “Mercury Courier Services” and will offer a range of courier services including shipping services. These shipping services will be focused at the multitudes of international companies that are in operation in Australia. The main office of this company would be based in the capital city of Australia, Sydney. From here operations would be managed of the different branches that will be opened in different cities of the country. Furthermore, this report will show a business canvas plan for this company and will also focus on the planning required to launch this endeavor.
Business Model Canvas
Customer Segments
The beauty of this type of venture is that it encompasses almost everyone that requires services and the products of a delivery and courier service company. It is a known fact that all organizations, young adults, and adults would require the use of f a courier services for multiple reasons. There is no conceivable limit to the amount of people who would be using the courier service company. There are also deliveries that cut across people from every walk of life. So it can be easily said that majorly everyone can be the target market for the proposed Courier service company (Sigrin, et al, 2015). This makes then patronize the services of such a courier service company. As it is mentioned above, this company would be situated in the heart of Sidney, Australia and from there branches would be opened in strategic locations all around Australia. This way we will be able to service the maximum areas containing our target market. Furthermore, our operation timings would be from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm every day in every week of the month. The company will be open 365 days in a year.
Value proposition
One of the services that we will be provided by Mercury courier service is same day delivery. Now this would provide an immense amount of value for the proposed customers. This is because people understand the importance of every second of their lives and they want everything to go as fast and easy as possible. If there is way to get things done quickly, customers want businesses to take that route. People understand the advantage they will receive by using such a quick service. Through this service people can get their projects done on time, reduce the last minute stress of jobs, and enable people enough to be able to meet tight deadlines (Payne, et al, 2017, pp. 467-489). Additionally, those companies that will have multiple offices and would want to exchange documents, or retails companies that want to make quick deliveries can be very beneficial by using such a service. On the other hand, for individuals the use of such a quick service can result in promises being full filled or sending invitations out as quickly as possible. Mercury courier service same day delivery service will be the best tool for proving its value proposition.
Customer Relationship
The growth of technology has led to a greater respect of customer relationship within different businesses. In the courier industry it is very imperative to have customer service that is up to the highest level. This will further improve the customer satisfaction level and will increase customer retention level for the company. In order to maintain a strong and good customer relationship there are several methods that the company will employ. Firstly, Mercury Courier Company will provide accurate and accurate online tracking. This will save time of both the company and the client when trying to find the location of the shipment (Peterson, et al, 2018). Furthermore, through proactive and informative communication regarding the status of the customers parcel will also help in forming a health customer relationship. Moreover, the company plans to be available twenty four hours each day in order to hear about their clients concerns regarding their delivery. This way the client will not get to stressed trying to locate its consignment. Lastly, the company plans to give the highest level of support to the delivery service. This will allow for the company to solve its own problems rather than the customer chasing them for the status of their order.
Channels
In order to attract customers, the proper use of channels is very important for businesses. This is even further more important for companies operating the courier industry. This is because channels are the bridge between the company and its clients. This bridge needs to be strengthened in order to increase customer base and increase customer retention rate. Now there are two types of channels own channels and partner channels. Own channels can also be called direct channels and involve going directly to the target market and work on bringing them into the fold (Duke and Persia, 2015, pp. 405-408). On the other hand, partner channels involve indirect channels that includes the company selling its services indirectly to the customers through an intermediary. Keeping these things in mind, Mercury Courier Company, will employ direct channels or own channels in order to sell its products and services. This way we will have a direct relationship with the customer. This will also increase our profit margins and will be a boost to the turnover of the company. However, this will require higher amounts of investment as well and there will also be a chance of slower production to market loop.
Key Activities
The key activities are the activities that are needed to be done in order to in order to add value to the business model of the company. These activities are considered the part of the strategic planning and is an integral part for successfully establishing the company. The first key activity that needs to be done for Mercury Courier Company is the marketing aspect. Marketing is very important in order to let possible customers know about the company’s services and products. Furthermore, marketing attracts said customers through a combination of marketing techniques that influence the consumer behavior (Kindstrom and Ottosson, 2016, pp. 491-500). Further key activity is sales, which is very important for the longevity of the business. Sales will also help the company in creating a strong customer relationship. This will enable the company to understand the needs of its customers and they would be able to provide services that cater those needs. Distribution of services is another key activity that needs to be implemented effectively. Taking the example of the same delivery service that this company will provide, the company needs to strengthen its distribution network in order to fully implement this service of theirs.
Key Resources
For a courier service there are some very tangible key resources that are needed for it to properly function. Tangible or physical key resources include equipment, machines, buildings, distribution and transportation networks. For a courier service the physical key resources include reliable vehicles. This is because within the toolbox of a courier company the most important tool are its vehicles. This is because the entirety of its work depends its vehicles. Now that Mercury Courier Company will be moving product of every shape and size than it will have to get a combinations of vehicles. These will include vans for transporting large items, motorcycles for smaller packages such as mail or even trucks for large containers or consignments (Liu, et al, 2016, pp. 221-234). Getting reliable vehicles is the most important part of running a courier service company. Other than vehicles, the company would require human resources. As the company would need people to drive those vehicles and to man the stations at its offices at different locations. The company would need to hire competent people that will be able to drive its vehicles with the proper grace and get its customers products delivered on time. Lastly, it will financial key resources, as all the above resources are not possible without the influx of investment into the business. The financial key resources will help the company to maintain its distribution network and develop and modify its current products and services.
Key Partners
Mercury Courier Company will work on forming partnerships with multiple companies. These companies would be situated in different business sectors. These will include companies from web designers, technology companies and marketing specialists. These partners will be able to provide some very critical services for the company. These services would be very valuable to the company and would be greatly appreciated by Mercury Courier Company. Furthermore, the partners of this company will also include payroll, insurance and financial companies that are leaders in their field. Other key partners will include medical labs, pharmacy groups (Mannheimer, et al, 2019, pp. 649-664). These will have e-commerce abilities and specialty retailers that will require our services in order to provide their product to their customers. Mercury Courier Company can also partner up with other courier services in order to increase productivity of both companies. Moreover, companies that provide custom web development would also be a good choice to have as partner in this venture. Lastly, software companies would also have a huge impact on the business operations and Mercury Courier Company will be greatly benefited by partnering up with such companies.
Revenue Structure
There would always be companies and individuals within Australia and Sydney that will require the services of Mercury Courier Company. They will require its services of its courier and delivery for a number of purposes. Furthermore, the company is well positioned in order to take the available market in Australia. Moreover, the company is also very optimistic regarding meeting its sales target. This will help in generating profits and income that are enough for the first half of the year of operation. This would also help in growing their business and increasing their client base (Lu, et al, 2019, pp. 593-609). By critically analyzing the courier and delivery services industry and analyzed the level of chance a new company such as Mercury Courier Company has towards meeting its sales forecast and increase its revenue. For the fiscal year it is expected that the revenue will be around two hundred and forty thousand Australian dollars. For the second year the revenue would be around four hundred and fifty thousand Australian dollars. Lastly, for the third year the expected revenue would be around seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Cost Structure
In setting up the business, the company will increment a high amount of cost. This is because of the company’s approach and scale. In starting such a company the major cost structure would focus on buying vans, bikes and other delivery vehicles. Cost would also be incurred in renting and leasing facilities for operations. Other key areas in the company’s cost structure is characterized in various way. About seventeen hundred would be required for registering the business in Australia. A further thirteen hundred dollars would be needed for legal expenses that will include licenses, permits and even accounting services. Thirty five hundred dollars would be required for marketing, its promotion and its related expenses. A further, twenty five hundred dollars would be required in order to hire business consultant for the business. Around hundred thousand would be required for the first three months of operation and the costs attached with it. Lastly, around thirteen thousand seven hundred and fifty dollars would be needed for the equipment that is need in the different stores of this company. By combination of other costs as well the cost structure will total to three hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Planning
Market
The company will use innovative ways in order to market its products to its preferred customers. Primarily to introduce themselves, the company will send introductory letters with their brochures to organizations in the corporate environment, household, key stakeholders and schools. Furthermore, the company will market itself by printing handbills that will have information about the business and the locations it operates in (Fan, et al, 2015, pp. 28-32). Moreover, the company will work on advertising itself on internet on the blogs and different forums. Also on other social media websites such as twitter, Facebook and Instagram would be used for advertising. This will help in getting the company’s message across to the social media community. Also, the business will also develop its own website which will give the business its own online presence and the list of its different stores. Moreover, the company will also provide discount days for its customers and advertise its business on the local newspaper and TV channels.
Operations and Technology
Implementation of technology is very imperative for the proper working of any courier company. For Mercury Courier Company, technology will be imperative in order to have a productive operation cycle. This is because it will eliminate delivery estimates that are very vague in nature. People waste a day while waiting for parcels to come as if they leave they cannot receive their parcel. This is why MERCURY Courier Company, hopes to decrease this delivery estimate till an hour and plans to further decrease it by implementing the best technology possible in its operations. This will also help in creating a more convenient deliveries (Gao, et al, 2017, pp. 3595-3608). By implementing technologies within its operation Mercury Courier Company would be able to give its customers a greater number of choices for shipping such as same day deliver or weekend deliveries. Furthermore, it hopes to use such technologies to operate a more accurate form of tracking of the client parcels. This is important for businesses looking for high value shipments that are very large in size. With vehicle positioning systems Mercury Courier Company will be able to accommodate the customers need to know the whereabouts of their precious cargo.
Human Resources
As already mentioned above in the business canvas the business will need to hire a high amount of competent human resource. This will help in running its production and operation cycle in the most effective way possible. Human resources would involve competent and experienced drivers that will be an integral part of the company operation network. Other than drivers the company would need to hire human resources for running the different stores in its network (Jordan,et al., 2019, pp. 53-88). These people need to be competent in managerial and office based work. They need to have experience regarding filming and listing of the different parcels that will be moved by the company. They also need to be trained in order to accommodate and interact with the customer and their needs properly.
Finance
Forming such a huge venture will require a high amount of capital. This is why the company will be financed with a combination of techniques. Some of the financing will be done through personal investment of the investors. While the rest of the investment will come in the form of a commercial loan form a commercial bank. The loan will be for a period of ten years and will have a variable rate. This rate will be at 6.26 percent per year.
References
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