Courier Services

COURIER SERVICES

INTRODUCTION:-

From the time immemorial we find that we have provisions for formal or informal organized or in organized services for posting betters. Till the development of transportation services. We used animals for sending messages, & betters.

Then mail was carried by runners or carriers who journeyed on foot, horses, camel & by bullock carts & horse carriages & country boats. At that time their was no regular system of carrying parcels but with the development of transport facilities like railways it become possible to deliver mails, betters, to distinct placers shortly & safely.

But the prime focus is that the development of transportation Systems helped the department of posts in improving their quality of service & being in-expensive in nature the services of post department serve the socio-economic sector. But with increasing pressure of work & decreasing efficiency, the dept failed in managing mailing services which made it essential that an alternative system emerges to cater to the changing needs of trades as well as domestic sector, and hence courier services came into existence.

Number of format & informal organizations started offering the services at regional national & international levels. The different categories of users has no option than depending on this private services though they are expensive

Since there are number of well established stations both at national & international level it is important that they manage services professionally so that services prove remunerative to organizations & offer table to users.

The attitude exploitation by users needs a departure. This is due to the heavy charges of company for services insights that some times they even fail to provide quality services. Hence Application of proper marketing principles in courier would make the ways for quality improvement & cost-effective.

COURIER MARKETING:-

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK:-

It is a managerial process that helps in managing the courier organizations in the face of changing market conditions.

It is a planned effort that makes possible an optimal development of courier organization. It is a social process that draws attention on offering conventional & subsidized services

to the selected segments that deserve it, & hence prove to be a devised to promote business by using fair practices.

It is a professionalized game that require professional excellence to make the service nationally & internationally competitive [by means of prices & quality]

It is a customer-satisfaction-engineering that makes the ways for winning & keeping the customer for the long time to come.

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Courier Services

Rational behind Courier Marketing Justification for applying Marketing principles

It is right to mention that conceptualization marketing makes the ways for satisfying the users which happens to be most important thing for increasing the market share & level of profits.

Proper & innovative marketing mix can be helpful in developing & perceiving new perception of quality which makes possible quantitative improvements. Generation of profits & customer satisfaction are the two important dimensional, which have avenues for multi dimensional quantitative-cum qualitative improvements in the process, since marketing focuses on professional excellence the courier organization can be successful in projecting there fair image. Hence it is clear that application of marketing principles will benefit the courier organizations in many ways.

Many leading organizations are found to be practicing innovative marketing.

MARKETING MIX FORMULATION

While making marketing mix, the courier companies require to make services competitive which make services competitive which makes it essential that the courier organizations conceptualize marketing in such a way that the process of qualitative-cum-quantities transformation are activated in the face of emerging business conditions.

PRODUCT MIX

DispatchingLetters, packets

(Inland)

Courier Dispatching ProductService Letters, Packets Mix

(Foreign)

DispatchingValuable

Documents, paper

DispatchingBoxes (Inland)

DispatchingBoxes (Foreign)

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Courier Services

The service needs to study the behavioural profit of users so as to meeting the changing requirements of users & hence market segmentation is important while formulating a marketing mix

Computation makes it essential that the courier organizations should design a sound product mix which can help then in understanding changing behaviour needs & requirements of different segments of users, on prospects & the service profiles would be made user friendly.

Innovations must be done to cater the changing behaviour & needs & attractions to the core services will help in attracting customers, these will require professional excellence & well developed information systems. Professionals will easily make out the changing trends in business.

With the industrialization & globalization user needs support of courier services at different stages moreover inefficient of post department has not left any option in front of users.

Thus stimulation of demand makes it essential that the customers get the services which are not to be made by post departments. Here comes the role of Innovative services & additional services.

Ordinary betters and valuable documents should not be discriminated. Especially in terms of time-honored & safe delivery.

Organizations need to minimize time limit since it is an imp. Factor of courier service. Organizations should develop a package especially for the habitual & large size

customers. The boxes, letters, packets should reach out to the users / parties onetime in safe

condition.

Professional’s needs to make it sure that promised services should reach out to the users without distortion. We can’t neglect that users has high expectations as they are paying high.

Courier services is influenced by quality, they offer hence it is essential that in a product mix they assign due weightage to the different supporting services they need from transportation & communication network.

Maximum small courier service organizations are operational but they lack strong supportive network which is envisioning the image of courier services, which need to be revised by leading organizations by keeping strong support of supporting services like transport & communication and formulate strong supporting network.

Scope: – With the expansion of job markets in the urban areas we find a large scale migration of rural population to the urban areas. This generates profitable business for the courier organizations even in the rural areas & therefore efforts should be made to target these customers too.

While formulating product mix they are required to make service portfolio which includes both high profit generating as well as low profit generating services hence there is a requirement of world class professional engaged to market services.

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Courier Services

PROMOTION MIX:–Your quality services lack any meaning unless the target prospects know about the same. You need to formulate a sound service formulate a sound service profite & to use different constituents of promotion in such a faction that the prospects are informed sensed & persuaded in a creative way. For these we have to use different tools of promotion mix:–

ADVERTISING:–Advertise play effective role in promoting business. In present sopnisticated era advertising is more instrumental in promotion of courier services.There are several options like print media, Broadcast media & telecast media.

Professionals are responsible for choosing the effective media according to their requirement, budget & target customers.

For courier services print media is supposed to be more useful as the sophistication in the development of print technology opened the door for creativity.

The print media like Newspaper, magazines are cheaper & have wide approach as it is used by majority of all segments of users. In addition it provides opportunity of making descriptive ads to inform details about services, and frequency of adds Attractive slogans can attract people.Broad casting may also be used by the organizations.Because it is costly in nature telecast media can’t be suitable for small organizations inspite of it is effective & its reach to all segment.

PUBLICITY: - Being an unpaid form of persuasive communication, the publicity makes it essential to develop good relation network with media people so that they can write articles on the services in business organizations need to satisfy them.

PERSONEL SELLING: - Courier services may be successful in promoting business in right fashion if the sales people have good communication ability. The organizations [Large size] may engage agents, trade representatives, with good personality & communication skills to transform dialogues into deal.

WORD OF MOUTH PROMOTION:-If courier organization offers world class services to the users, it is but natural that they remain satisfied they will tell to their friends & relatives & hence will act as a hidden sales force.

Ultimately rewards are given to the quality services offer to customers.

SALES PROMOTION:–Organizations need to think innovative to satisfy sales personnel, marketing personnel & to users of services, they can offer gifts, attractive packages, discounted services to the habitual users etc.

TELEMARKETING:-The information regarding to the services, the queries, confusions of customers can be entertain on telephones. Hence organization should recruit a person with good communication skills to entertain people on phone & convince the users.

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Courier Services

PRICE MIX:-In Indian perspective pricing decisions become critical because organizations are supposed to make rational decisions which will maintain their commercial viability & sub serve the interest of those segments of people who are not in position to pay high tariff as weaker factions of society even find courier services convenient.

But organization has to buy supporting services from different categories of organizations which influence there tariff & the users are only source of their financing, & competition is also high & they have to explore avenues for same. Hence they find it difficult to offer conclessional or subsidized services.

Market potentials are available since majority of business is yet to be adopted from post Departments & post departments are not applying marketing strategies & hence their customers are dissatisfied. Hence professionals should try to think how to snatch business from post department Tariff can be used as motivational tool for snatching business.

If they succeed in increasing market share by offering quality services at compatible tariff, then even a small profit would be instrumental in increasing total profit earned by different departments & then they will easily manage to pay all operational cost by maintaining commercial viability.

Rational tariff policy is difficult & they have to make scientific & progressive pricing decisions, this can be done by charging high to the customers who are willing to dispatch valuable things,Charging Loss to habitual users.Very Low Large-sized habitual users,

The motive is to increase market share by gabbing business from post office. If they give quality services at comparative tariff market share will automatically increase.

PLACE MIX:–High promotions & even low prices will not reach targets if personnel & agencies are not aware of their responsibilities & hence place mix becomes significant.

PLACE MIX EMPHASIS ON TWO ISSUES:–(a) Services offered should be

processed in a right way: - These offices/ branches should be managed in a proper way with sophisticated technology & efficient personnel who has taken proper training who can properly treat customer according to their behavioral profit. He should behave decently with visitors & check the potentials before making high promises so as to avoid gap between promises made & services given because if customer full that their valuables will not reach to the right person at the right time the business will be adversely affected,

(b) Offices & the branches of organizations are located at a sensitive point, so that user & working employees don’t feel trouble.Easy accessibility, proper infrastructure with interiors & proper furniture, sophisticated communication services etc add attraction to the services.Then availability of power & transportation facilities are due important care should be taken about the safety & protection provisions too,

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Courier Services

Finally support of head office to different branches requires for channeling smooth flow of operations.

PEOPLE MIX:-Functioning of organization depends upon the employees working for organization. Hence professionals should take care about the recruitment of proper personnel, people Mix is the important component of marketing mix. A fair synchronizations of performance orientation & employee-orientation is needed,

Performance orientation means improving efficiency of employees. Employees working at the offices should be efficient, well aware of operations & maintenance of technologies, sincere & punctual.

Employee- orientation means focusing on motivating employees by offering them efficiency based incentives even high performers may disappoint us if we continue to exploit him & even low performer satisfy us if we train & motivate him. Hence priority to the incentive plans for employees should be given

THE PHYSICAL APPERANCE: -The physical appearance is the office of the agent or the company. The atmosphere around the office of the agent. The appearance of the people or the employee who comes to collect or deliver the courier and also the way he is carrying the package. Is it in good condition or not.

THE PROCESS: - The process in a courier industry is of utmost importance because it might involve some important documents and other packages. Also when someone is there at the door to courier some thing he may ask several questions which need to be answered which won’t be possible if a proper process is not available. Process is also important to ensure that the right parcel or letter reaches the right person at the specified time and place. Thus the documentation and procedure occupies a place of outstanding significance.

COURIER MARKETING IN INDIA PROSPECTIVE

In Indian prospective emergence of courier services is of recent origin we are well aware that the department of posts, Government of India bears the responsibility of offering the services. With increasing pressure of work on them, domestic as well as the business sectors find that they are degenerating in efficiency Hence courier sector came into existence.

There are number of courier organizations are working nationally & internationally. Some of them are ill managed which is inscribing the Image of courier organizations. Some of the organizations are running in losses too. In Indian prospective, courier organizations have profitable market potentials. The only requirement is of professionalism in services which makes services commercially viable & available to all segments of users.

The only competitor which is making the courier company’s task difficult is post Department. People use its services because of its in-expensive price. Thus, this segment is price sensitive. Therefore it is essential for the courier services to control its unproductive expenses & rationalize the tariff structure & make operational economy possible giving priority to the quality of services. Professionals need to work hard for product attractiveness by offering good quality services based on changing needs of customers. Time factor even need due attention. Their should be fair blending of care & peripheral services.

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Courier Services

In core services they need to concentrate on quality services & in peripheral services they need to add additional attractions to the services which the users don’t get from the post departments. Packages for the benefits of large habitual users should be designed. They need to project image on the basis of quality services & use the marketing mix effectively to gain the market share. [Write a bit about price, employee promotion from Marketing Mix]

Hence professional excellence will make the services compatible. It is important that the small courier organizations not in a position to recruit the marketing professionals should make use of the consultancy services.

Market potentials are available the only requirement is to tap them professionally. We don’t fond any sign of qualitative improvement in the services of dept of posts if we find the trend negative to the development of dept. of posts, of course it is positive to the development of private courier organizations. Product attractiveness will simplify the task of excelling competition since it is difficult to make tariff competitive because dept of post has a big network & govt. support too.

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