Marketing plan
The most important aspect in this drive relies heavily on the connection with the customers using the Zipbike. This is a pivotal because the product will need to penetrate in the market and gain widespread acceptance. Such a plan would be the first consideration before introduction in the market fraternity. This is already in place; there are a number of ways of attaining this. A more convenient way that will cater for delivery and distribution is complete. The plan locates two areas for its initial operations, San Francisco and UC Davis. The former is critical for Zipbike to lay its foot because the move will avoid congestion traffic within the city, while the latter will give students a fast and convenient transportation within campus. The rationale for choosing these areas is because bicycle cycling is the major sporting activity and will ease congestion and provide an alternative mode of transportation for students. This business plan is thus designed from the context of market availability and the desires to introduce state of art product that will not only consummate the cost but also make available a variety of products that are affordable, attractively designed for a specific occasion, and address the customers’ need.
An emailing system is underway in the Company’s website; this will capture the communication from consumers, their area of location, and other important details. Other can also request delivery through that system and we expect to institute an emergency and standby team that can respond to immediate requirement from our customers who would not be able to access the retail areas. In this regard, our marketing protocol will revolve around sending emails to existing Zipcar customer to respond to the customer’s needs by responding appropriately. Already the plan has three suppliers to help market the product in these areas. These are Nashbar Company, Loading dock supply LLC, and Apple OS. These affiliates will provide specialist services to the program. Nashbar will supply all parts needed, provide various bicycles at a reasonable price, and also carry out leasing. Loading will be offering docking equipment and provide locking merchandise. Finally, Apple OS will provide applications for fast returning bikes, provide GPS system to help track lost or stolen bikes.
Zipcar Company will also institute an approach of sending out flyers in UC Davis campus and San Francisco Bart stations to let the potential customers aware of the new services in town.
Operating plan
Production process mainly features eight chronological steps; the first step involves registering bike rental services with the security of state to legalize the operation and put in place appropriate measures to ensure the business if free from associated catastrophe. Doing market and competitive research on several prospective locations of business would suffice to identify the present and future prospects of our business plan. This will help design appropriate measures before introduction of the products to the business segment. The third procedure is finding a close location within the tourist attraction sites, high foot traffic and visibility, and big college campus as the initial areas of laying the foot. Such areas provide an automatic response to the services on offer because of adventurous opportunities and other features that would appreciate riding. After which contact department of transportation on parks to create rental returns and pick up spots for our products mostly in the areas of operations. This will be followed with leasing bikes from all the bikes shops to customers using the product. The next important step is the purchase of liability insurance before carrying out an advertisement of bike rental services. Finally, the Company will hire and train employees to help fix, maintain, and relocate bicycles. Initial trials shows that the product is a success because of the uniqueness in the market, preference of bicycle is based on the fact that it eases congestion in the town and convenience of students’ transportation as opposed to taxis that carry two or more people.
The Company intends to have a functional facility involved in commercial productions in the next five years. This will increase as the business takes its stake in the market. All regions of operation would have a sub-section facility to ease supply and delivery of items to the consumers. Initially the product would be produced under the auspices of Zipcar but after picking up the product would venture fully in the market as a Zipbike. Construction of this facility will begin on the second quarter of entry into the market, at that period the projection shows that the product would have made significant progress and hence anticipation of huge returns would be possible. The Company has three supplies to offer specific services in line with the business segment. As earlier on mentioned, Nashbar Company will supply all parts needed for the product, provide various bicycles at a reasonable price, and also carry out leasing processes. Loading LLC will be offering docking equipment and provide locking merchandise and finally, Apple OS will provide applications for fast returning bikes, provide GPS system to help track lost or stolen bikes. The contracts signed with these affiliates will run for a financial year and would undergo renewal based on terms and conditions as specified in the Company’s objectives.
The Company does not have any technological affiliation with other Companies. However, it intends to partner with major innovation Companies that will provide additional novel technological advancement that are in line with the business operations. Raw materials will be available from the mother Company Zipcar who will initiate the project. So far, the firm has contributed a third of the total resource required start the operation, the remaining two thirds would be borrowed from the banks. In the long-term prospects the organization intends to use the profits and loans to increase the scale of operation.
Funding becomes the main set-back in scaling the operations from the demonstrated facility to a commercialization sized facility. This will largely depend on the initial turnover rate, if the response is good, funding from loans would help drive the process. This makes the plan have a higher chance of making it beyond what is projected on papers (Grant 24).
Financials and investment Returns
The basis of assumption from this projection is that the number of members will be increasing with time; this will also increase subscription revenue as well as the number of sold bikes annually.
Works Cited
Grant, Robert. Contemporary Strategy Analysis, 7th Edition. 6th ed. Chichester: Wiley Higher Education, 2009. Print.