MARK 3009 Uber Air Key Competitive Advantage: Marketing Plan 2

Uber Air Key Competitive Advantage

Current Competitive Advantage

Uber will face stiff competition from rivals, such as Volocopter from Germany and Air New Zealand, as it aims to offer air service in Melbourne. However, Uber possesses two distinct competitive advantages over the mentioned competitors. Uber’s brand image is the first source of its competitive advantage. Uber will quickly attract Melbourne passengers due to its reputation and brand. The company has the benefit of its name being considered almost identical to ridesharing. The awareness has come from the ten years of building out its operations in the US and 65 other nations. The brand image of Uber is centered on practicality, safety, trust, and comfort (Dube 2015). The company also provides flexible, fast, and convenient point-to-point urban transportation.

Therefore, Uber’s reputation implies that the firm would be Melbourne’s first choice for air travel passengers. The robust brand identity is, therefore, an extremely crucial factor in the success of Uber as it ventures into the Melbourne market. Notably, effective branding has assisted the firm in projecting its values to attract ideal clients, stand out from the competition, and build its reputation (Dube 2015). Moreover, the strong brand identity is a competitive advantage for Uber because it helps the audience to differentiate the firm from competitors and will positively influence their decision to take Uber Air.

Secondly, the affordability pricing model by Uber is another competitive advantage since it has proved to be a key driver of growth and demand around the globe. The company offers various affordable services for businesses, groups, and users, and it will aim to do so with Uber Air. In essence, its pricing strategy by Uber has made transportation affordable for millions around the world and has driven its popularity high (Gabel 2016). The lower price by Uber can potentially attract a considerable portion of the flying taxi business. Essentially, the growth of Uber’s services signifies customers’ responsiveness to improved services while receiving lower prices. Therefore, Uber Air taxi has the ability for improved costs and product offerings to create benefits for new customers.

Suggested Competitive Advantage

Uber Air taxi is facing higher market competition from organizations such as Volocopter from Germany and Air New Zealand, which, in turn, threatens the organization’s sustainability. In its Air Taxi venture, Uber aims to utilize a network of small and electric aircraft that can vertically land and take off; the technology is referred to as VTOL (vertical take-off and landing). In essence, VTOLs aims to reduce the risk of operator error by using “autonomy technology.” Indeed, Uber is not the only organization racing to take over the skies. Air New Zealand is evaluating a self-directed electric air taxi service. Later in 2019, Volocopter in Singapore was set to test its drone-based vehicle (Hancock and Mills 2019). Likewise, Airbus is utilizing a prototype electric aircraft that works like a drone in that it can vertically land and take off. Based on this exploration, it is apparent that there is an increase in market competition in the air taxi industry, leading to Uber encountering financial distress. Moreover, the higher market competition will reduce Uber’s likelihood of increasing its profitability through the business.

As a recommendation, Uber should adopt the differentiation strategy because it is an approach that will allow it to focus on generating high-quality and unique services to differentiate its air taxi offerings from those of its competitors. The process means that Uber will have to invest more in research and development, offer its services at a premium price, and provide advanced benefits for the clients. Using the differentiation strategy in its air taxi venture also means that Uber will require highly knowledgeable workers, specialized assets, and technology to distinguish its services from its competitors (Le Bas 2015). Adopting the proposed approach also means that Uber will be more sustainable than its rivals. In contrast, others will not easily duplicate the differentiation and uniqueness of its services in the air taxi industry.

Marketing the 4Ps

Product

In this case, the Uber Air taxi venture’s product development functions as a marketing tactic. Uber has created air taxi services to solve real-world consumer needs and wants. Specifically, Uber aims to ensure people take less time when traveling long distances and help people who want to avoid traffic at affordable prices. Therefore, this concept is all about the experience that customers and users have with the services offered by Uber Air taxi. The company should, therefore, consider that consumers may be attracted to the product due to support or design, quality, name, ease of use, and features (Saad et al. 2015). The transaction may be for the service offered. Nonetheless, the entire buying experience is what will influence the purchase.

Price

As a recommendation, Uber Air should select the price for the services that it is going to offer. The users may perceive the air taxi as unnecessary and overpriced by placing too high rates. In contrast, consumers may question the effectiveness of their air taxi if the service is underpriced (Saad et al. 2015). As a recommendation, Uber Air should adopt subscription pricing, which will entail a consumer paying a subscription to access the air taxi services. The model of subscription will be beneficial for Uber Air because, in the travel industry, customers use the service continually. Nevertheless, Uber Air should consider the preferences and needs of the target audience and the organization’s budget when implementing the subscription-based pricing strategy to ensure they do not charge too much and their prices are also not too low.

Place

Place, which can also be regarded as distribution, focuses on where and how the users will secure the services offered by Uber Air. The objective of Uber Air, in this regard, should be to sell its services online. In addition to their app, they can also utilize their website for this purpose. The internet offers a substantial demographic and broad geographic reach (Saad et al. 2015). Arguably, this will work well for Uber Air because the visitors will be given information regarding the taxi air services and the option of quickly purchasing and ordering online. The simpler the company makes it for consumers to buy from their services, the more probable they are to buy.

Promotion

The promotional tactics will power customer loyalty, sales, branding, and awareness once Uber Air has established its target market. Thus, this concept embraces the different ways Uber Air communicates with consumers, persuading and informing them to purchase the air taxi services. Promotion, in this regard, is not synonymous with marketing, and Uber Air should ensure the approach is emphasized in how Uber Air communicates its services to people. Apart from the entire marketing function, it should address the process of sales and other areas, such as advertising and public relations. As a recommendation, Uber Air should consider using social media as a channel for promotion. With this approach, the company will take social data to the next level by attempting to optimize its overall strategy for social media (Saad et al. 2015). Instead of focusing on measures such as participation and reach, Uber Air will be able to act on its social marketing metrics, utilizing social profiles for more effective target marketing.

People

The concept of “people” denotes the salespeople and staff who work for Uber Air. The organization should use the mentioned people to create a positive consumer experience by offering excellent customer service (Saidani and Sudiarditha 2019). Doing so will ensure that Uber Air market its brand, and the existing customers, in turn, may spread the word concerning the excellent services, and Uber Air can win referrals. The firm should further retain excellent staff, train the employees to develop needed skills, and recruit the right people to give Uber Air a competitive advantage.

Process

The process consists of the procedures involved in presenting the taxi air services to the consumers. As the service provider, Uber Air should ensure that its operation is clearly defined. In this regard, the approach should ensure that every customer receives the same level of service delivery, and this should be the case on any day and at any time (Saidani and Sudiarditha 2019). Within this process, Uber Air should set defined areas where consumers’ preferences can be accommodated to offer a unique experience.

Physical Evidence

The location where Uber Air will offer its taxi services is also a vital dynamic. The firm should consider the attractiveness and comfort of the service location because these concepts would make a lot of difference to the experience of the users of taxi air (Saidani and Sudiarditha 2019). Uber Air should consider a soothing and calm environment with thoughtful comfort measures because this will, in turn, offer a sense of security to the targeted users of taxi air.

References

Dube, SC 2015, Uber a game-changer in passenger transport in South Africa. CCRED Quarterly Review, vol. 22, pp.4-6.

Gabel, D 2016, Uber and the persistence of market power. Journal of Economic Issues, vol. 50, no. 2, pp.527-534.

Hancock, J, and Mills, N 2019. Uber’s Melbourne air taxi trial needs careful regulation to avoid ‘absolute chaos’: expert [Online] Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-06-12/uber-elevate-set-to-take-off-in-australia/11199466 [Accessed: 7 November 2019].

Le Bas, C Mothe, C and Nguyen-Thi, TU 2015, The differentiated impacts of organizational innovation practices on technological innovation persistence. European Journal of Innovation Management, vol. 18, no. 1, pp.110-127.

Saad, NM Hassan, SH and Shya, LM 2015, Revisiting the relationship between internal and external marketing: the role of customer orientation. The Journal of Developing Areas, vol. 49, no. 3, pp.249-262.

Saidani, B and Sudiarditha, IKR 2019, Marketing mix-7Ps: the effect on customer satisfaction. Jurnal Pendidikan Ekonomi Dan Bisnis (JPEB), vol. 7, no. 1, pp.72-86.