Nut Part 4


SWOT Analysis


Strengths


Ø  High-Tech Courier Delivery


eCourier utilizes the latest GPS technology to revolutionize same day and overnight courier services across London and the UK. Using a fleet of motorcycles, small and large vans, coupled with patented software algorithms, we are able to match incoming jobs to the most appropriate vehicle in our fleet based on dozens of factors including time to pickup, courier vehicle type, as well as current temporal, weather, and traffic conditions across London and the UK.


 


Ø  satellite based tracking system and artificial intelligence in which customers can track their package second-by-second from dispatch to delivery online. Whether it’s a same day or overnight booking, across London or anywhere in the UK


 


Ø  eCourier are 50% faster than the competition


Using a fleet of motorcycles, small and large vans coupled with patented software algorithms we match incoming jobs to the most appropriate vehicle in our fleet, based on lots of factors including traffic and weather conditions, available drivers, vehicle type etc.


 


 


Ø  Instant proof of delivery


As soon as our courier has delivered your parcel on our same day or overnight services you will receive an instant signed proof of delivery by email, SMS or fax.


Ø  Competitive and committed staff


Ø  Reliable service


Customers and mailroom managers alike are impressed with eCourier. Evidently, in the past year a host of high-profile businesses have converted to what is arguably the country’s fastest-growing courier business.


Ben Reardon, Despatch Manager for Harrods in Knightsbridge, commented that eCourier has certainly made a big difference to them. According to him they book on line and a few minutes later the courier turns up. It’s as simple as that. They use eCourier throughout the day, mostly to deliver items for their customers. Booking on line is faster and more efficient, and it has definitely reduced their courier costs.


eCourier takes 85 per cent of bookings on line while its nearest rival takes about five per cent. According to , for clients sending them hundreds of deliveries each day, costs are cut significantly and faster and more reliable services is provided. The mailroom manager at one investment bank in particular says eCourier save him and his team three hours a day because his staff never need to phone up to check the status of a delivery.


Ø  Competitive pricing


The average eCourier delivery charge ranges from £5 to £15, so competitive pricing is added to the benefits of accuracy and efficiency ( 2006).


 


Weaknesses


Ø  GPS limitation


eCourier uses a routing system that maps available couriers against their location and the constraint of its client’s time limitations, namely what would be viewed as an acceptable delivery window. eCourier’s drivers have been issued with palmtop computers that use the global positioning system (GPS) to record delivery locations and delivery status every 10 seconds.


However, GPS has limitations. In London, it is extremely rare to get a signal from seven or eight satellites, which is the benchmark for a really good signal.


There is also interference from tall buildings, and the signal isn’t powerful enough to be used indoors or under cover.


Accuracy is also a problem, even though eCourier uses hardware based around the latest GPS device standard, SURF3.


Opportunities


Ø  Expansion to Manchester and Coventry


With the rapid growth of eCourier, opportunities of expansion are viable for the company in the recent position of the company in the marketplace.


Ø  Enduring commercial advantages to eCourier’s operations that help explain why it has found raising investment relatively easy.


Threat


Ø  Rise in oils prices


With the nature of courier industry, eCourier depends on mobility. Oil prices increase becomes a threat to them since it would incur them additional costs.


Ø  Environmental legislation on gas emission


 


PEST Analysis


In UK, courier and express services are of vital importance to the efficiency and growth of the UK economy.  With UK’s geographical position which is away from the centre of continental Europe, fast and effective delivery services are essential for UK businesses involved in international trade. Despite the recent global economic slowdown, the courier and express industry had a 3% growth rate between 2001 and 2002, with a market turnover of £4.2bn in 2002.


In addition, since then the courier services sector has outperformed the express logistics sector in terms of turnover growth. The demand for courier and express services is derived from businesses in the manufacturing and services industries. Therefore, the economic performance of these industries strongly affects the success of the courier and express industry. Advances in technology and the increasing use of e-commerce, combined with the courier and express sector’s commitment to investing in IT, and have cushioned the industry from the worst effects of the recent global slowdown.


This is because it has been able to offer added-value services and retain key customers at the top end of the courier and logistics market. The courier services sector has been benefiting from the recent growth in demand for home deliveries generated from Internet retail sales. Rising demand for air courier services to developing economies has also boosted the sector in recent years.


However, increased security measures for air freight have increased costs for the sector’s air freight operations. The express logistics sector, through its added-value services, has fared better than the road freight industry. Nonetheless, a raft of government measures to tackle environmental pollution and congestion have increased costs for the, largely road-based, express logistics sector.


In the short to medium term, the courier and express industry is likely to grow steadily, in line with the rest of the UK economy. Increasing use of Internet shopping services is likely to boost demand for home deliveries. However, problems of congestion on the UK’s roads and in the skies, along with the range of new environmental controls currently being introduced for road transport, are likely to create extra costs for the industry.


 



Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com


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