Introduction
Most of the current innovative options in the transport segment aims at helping commuters reduce the amount of time spend before reaching their destinations. This also have a consideration of available parking space and the amount of carbon footprint emitted. It is apparent therefore, that most of these innovative approaches are environmental conscious.
There is likelihood that the Thai people would embrace new alternative methods of transport systems that avoids the routine traffic jams in the city. The best option for this would mean introduction of a more comprehensive cycling services within the city centre as the means of transportation.
Not only is cycling economic and affordable to most people irrespective of their social status, it also improves the health status of its daily users as their preferred means of transport (Asia Web Direct 2010; Melbourne Bike Share 2010). Striving to retain a healthy nation through a clean environment with less transport cost incurred is the driving force for this business opportunity for people living in Bangkok.
This paper therefore, presents a justification to ascertain how the Powerbike should lay its venture in the city. It also describes the current market consumers by focusing on both psychographic and demographic aspects as well as defining the appropriate strategic method of finding a desired position in the city to scale up the business.
The last section involves determining the likelihood of this enterprising idea taking a service direction to service the Bangkok business market segment.
These aspects are pivotal in determining the feasibility and viability of the project prior to its debut in the city because it will help set straight some issues that would otherwise make the entire venture unsuccessful. In so doing, it would be possible to institute measures to check any of those pitfalls likely to make the project unsuccessful.
History of Powerbike
The Powerbike traces its history from the north east Thailand at a place called Roi Et, the project initially begun as a family business, it is under the control of a sister and a brother, Nui and Ning (Vidalis et al. 2010). The project has a system of service to ensure their customers’ demands and desires form the priority of the business.
These bicycles are available in several varieties to cater for clients’ specific needs. They have a good history in terms of service delivery, customer relations, and quality of produce. These are the key pillars of aiding Bangkok project.
This makes Powerbike a unique product. It is from this assertion that venture needs to build a business prospective and expand it to a more successful venture in a more competitive place yet very crucial in doing the business.
Powerbike are cheap and affordable, in fact every person can afford it, the owners also have good mechanisms of ensuring spare parts, and after sale services are available to customers. These characteristics makes Powerbike the better option for the Bangkok citizens most of whom experience problems related to frequent traffic jams, delays in duration of traveling, limited parking spots among other reasons.
There is likely possibility of replicating the success that Powerbike attained in the Roi Et to the new place of business venture. Even though stiff competition may come with its introduction or thereafter, the venture believes in offering quality services, good relation with the customers, and embracing innovation along its line of duty as key strategies of presenting its unique products to the entire population.
Background justification
The densely population in the capital city of Thailand is a factor that makes the city unbearable in terms of transportation. Any city will have many people and this will also be true with the number of car owners; this result would be high carbon emission to the atmosphere (Krizek, Barnes & Thompson 2009).
This poses high health risks to the people living in the vicinity. The good idea is that many people nowadays are becoming informed of these predicaments as time passes. Chronic traffic jams are also a perennial problem that befits the Thai people in Bangkok.
Many of whom would therefore embrace an alternative method that guarantees safety in health matters, easy navigation through the traffics, and helps in their health fitness (Hudson 2008). The best option for this is daily bicycle cycling. The Powerbike would come into a more competitive business location characterized with volatile market expectations (Asia Web Direct 2010).
Bangkok offers a flat ground for the venture owing to the problems listed above. The Powerbike would also be answering a call of the government to cut down on the environmental pollution matters brought about by increased ownership and use of cars in the city (Mayor of London 2010).
The tourism department’s concern in implementing a transport system that would enable the foreigners have a true taste of the local cultural virtues and values is possible through bike transport because it also enables them to visualize areas they would otherwise not been a good position to notice along the touring journey.
The government concern in luring non-governmental organizations like the Rotary International to invest in the scheme by enabling the locals or villagers acquire bikes is a good strategy this venture anticipates to capitalize on (Hudson 2008).
Current consumer market
The Powerbike project was a success across adjacent areas in the Roi Et, although this area has the biggest impact because it was the home of the founding family. Even though it began as a family business its effects is well beyond the horizons of the east north of Thailand.
Adjacent areas also have a taste of this product, the only place that has little or insignificant impact on its presence is the new target area of this business venture, the Bangkok city (Kuchař 2002). The number of those owning the bikes has been on the upward trend steadily over the past five years since its inception in 2006.
These factors enables Powerbike acquire an impressive tread mark that could prove advantageous in its quest to roll out ventures in new places where competition could be stiffest. The peoples’ perception of this product is as well encouraging and this would be an incentive in its initial plan to attract more clients.
It is important to mention that the current consumer may not help in representing what could happen in the city of Bangkok, but it only helps by acting as a benchmark upon which one could give a predictive measure of the project feasibility. Another factor is how the people would respond to the plan.
However, given that the venture have had a success in its current consumer market in regions adjacent to Roi Et, the possibility of replicating the same trend is possible upon its introduction in the city of Bangkok. The main factor involves keeping in mind the anticipation of any turn of events because the city will present unique challenges to the plans (Ho & Madden-Hallett 2012).
Planning for any of these would suffice to enable accomplishing a more comprehensive strategy in the new market place coupled with innovativeness and improving product quality as well as retaining good relations with the consumers.
Strategic positioning for Powerbike
The city of Bangkok has several strategic and opportunistic locations that would make the project roll out quickly. Effective advertisement would be pivotal to help attain this plan. These strategic zones of staging the advert would not limit to offering services to the university students, commuters living, and working in the Bangkok city, and transportation of tourists within attraction sites (Asia Web Direct 2010).
Most universities locates within the cities, in this respect the venture zone has several universities and colleges that would offer a better marketing opportunity. University students would always prefer a unique mode of transport that gives them opportunities to adventure and move faster when they have limited time or tight schedule (Hudson 2008). Bicycle cycling offers these virtues.
The venture believes students are the best target because of its affordability. Literary every student would be in a better position of owing one, they would also be in a better position to maintain the bikes or service in case of any breakdown, unlike the cars which are very expensive in these aspects. Commuters would find biking services more convenient that using cars.
Bangkok is chronically known for the traffic jam, this probably attributed to the populous population and the many car owned by individuals. It is therefore paramount to design a more comprehensive transport mode that would suit the various classes in the city without losing their identity in the society (Mayor of London 2010).
Powerbike intends to come up with strategies to identify the level of a certain class of its client’s appropriate product to suit his or her desires. Other Powerbike would be on rental services to the tourist touring attraction sites. Strategic positioning of the venture in places where these tourists can easily acquire their services at a fee is a vital consideration; these would otherwise have tracking devices to take care of any lost products.
Alternatively, the ministry or the department tasked with helping tourists’ tour specific areas would also have an opportunity of buying the products. These strategic positions would have a lasting impact on the likelihood of starting the venture within the city, or relocating the venture from the Rio Et to Bangkok.
Likelihood of rolling the Bangkok strategy
The expansion of Powerbike in the target place depends on several factors. Other than the prior mentioned solutions the expansion may also include servicing the business market as well. In fact, this should be the target upon its introduction in the wider city. It would however depend on a number of issues.
The ability of Powerbike to retain its consumers, the ability to offer competitive products coupled with servicing options, the ability to embrace technology and meet specific demands of various clients and how the market plan helps in attaining these factors (Langley 1996). The business market is a potential strategy in this regard because it has a major take in the development of any related business segment.
Appealing to their quest would therefore enable a given project to achieve trajectory results. If the products on offer are a variety, or if the clients can have their specific demands met, it remains to say that nothing would be impossible for the Powerbike to attain. If the product on offer are equally of good quality and competitive, most likely it would lure the business markets criteria (Hudson 2008).
The ability to offer promotional activities and servicing of the sold products is the key to attracting this criterion. These activities would set apart the Powerbike and retain its competitiveness as well as attracting more avenues of venturing that would unravel with time depending on its success, strategic planning of those in key decisions.
Embracing technological advancement would also have a major role to play in determining the likelihood of rolling out the entire strategy to accommodate the major business players. This likelihood would depend on the immense opportunities the city cherishes.
Bangkok opportunities
The city of Bangkok has immense opportunities for this venture owing to several avenues, mentioned before. These include easing the traffic congestion, improvement in the people’s health aspects, and timely transport to various destinations.
The city is the center for major non-governmental organization like the Rotary International; the government has been urging this organization to invest in empowering the local community by offering them bicycles to improve on their physical fitness and general health matters. This could be a blessing to the venture if a contract to supply specific product would be possible.
The government department has good concern over the matters of environmental pollution. It institutes a requirement that every child must have a bicycle to prevent walking long distances to schools (Elliott, Rundle-Thiele & Waller 2012). These concerns also come with the desire to reduce carbon footprint and traffic jams in the city.
The city is also the home of many tourists and the department concerned with ensuring they receive items required for their adventure. These factors make the city a more convenient place for this project (Tourism Authority of Thailand 2010). Leasing with these government departments or seeking their interest in the Powerbike would help attain the goal.
Other than these the densely population also offers a ready market to the Powerbike produce. The opportunities would be under external influences, the market force may make the venture unsuccessful if institution of proper measures to ensure efficient utilization of the opportunities is impossible (Asia Web Direct 2010).
Market forces
Competition of service delivery and product on offer will always be present in any serious marketplace. These would mostly depend on the quality of the product on offer, the response of clients on different trademarks, and how the company is taking issues from its consumers.
For effective strategies in the market debut Powerbike would need to upgrade its products and ensure its competitors does not match the quality of their produce and services. Offering promotional services to the clients would also be a good strategic plan in making Powerbike roll out successfully. These would make the product known to the public and would also lure and attract them to support the drive.
In most case a well planned advertising strategy would be enough in achieving this strategy. Studying the trends and methods used by the key competitors would always bring good returns because it enables a counter strategic approach in which one may borrow new ideas from those who have been in the volatile market and thus learn some new tricks about the customer behaviors.
Planning for any upheaval would be justifiable to warrant existence in the market irrespective any turnout of events thereafter. Powerbike would therefore need a comprehensive approach before laying footprints in the Bangkok (Asia Web Direct 2010).
This would involve carrying out a feasibility study of the market trend in the place for a given period, elucidating the importance or benefits of their product yet for introduction into the market vis a vis those of their direct competitors.
Unique features that Powerbike brings into the market place and how consumers are bound to benefit from that is an integral aspect in this venture. These factors would also be paramount in determining the viability of market opportunity.
Viability of the market opportunity
This is the most important consideration that needs critical evaluation during introductory stages into the market. In this context, I would say the venture is viable and attainable. What needs critical analysis is the competitors’ approaches in the market to enable Powerbike embark on a unique approach equal to none of its competing partners in the same business.
Investing in technology will enable Powerbike produce latest items in line with the demand of the consumers as well as keeping them updated with technology. Bangkok is reach in offering immense return owing to the usual problems that befit most commuters each day.
Powerbike are convenient, fast because they navigate the traffic jams as opposed to the cars, a problem that most Thai people in the city have to condone with on daily basis.
The city is also the host of most university students and tourists (Tourism Authority of Thailand 2010). These are the major target for this venture owing to the Powerbike uniqueness across its design and quality. These avenues offer opportunities for the project and therefore making it viable and attainable.
Conclusion
A marketing opportunity defines the roll out of a given business venture in a selected place. Before settling for a given strategy, it would be vital to ensure the location of the venture offers substantial opportunities to the plan. This is important because it determines viability and feasibility of the business venture.
In this context, studying the benefits of Powerbike in Thailand city is necessary to help lay down strategic play prior to venturing in the market place. The first aspect involves describing how the present consumers fares in the market for this type of business by looking at both demographics and psychographics to help elucidate their expectation and their taste for the product.
Such studies help in planning for their future expectations as well as making decisive choices in the business segment. The second aspect deals with defining and finding appropriate location that is also strategic for jumpstarting the venture.
In this case Powerbike needs adequate advertising space to inform the mass of its qualities and unique features that sets it apart from competitors’ products and services. The last part of this opportunity analysis deals with finding the likelihood of ensuring the enterprise moves to service the Bangkok business market.
Reference List
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