Assignment Taken Business Plan of Airway Delivery

Case UnderstandingAirway is a courier company with operations across india in multiple cities and reach to almost all pin codes across India. Company is currently considering to venture into Hyper Delivery Local space wherin the delivery will be done using a drone which will have Beyound Visual Line of Sight(BVLOS) functionality. This is to present the busines plan keeping in mind the Break-even of the Business, Brand Establishment and Innovation in processes and product to become Market leader.

BCS Solution Summary‘Hyper Local Delivery marketplace’ model is in other words ‘on-demand’ near me delivery model. It offers both convenience and efficiency as USPs to the seller and buyer. The service ambit of this model is supposedly within few tens of kilometers from the location of business. Given the very focused geographic spread, the local sellers are guaranteed visibility and customers are guaranteed speedy delivery from their trusted stores. Airway Delivery has chosen the mode of delivery as drones, which brings in some potential challenges on the forefront. Safe deliveries, security issues bundled with insurance of packages adds costs to the operational success. IT, Software & Analytics will play an important part in this since this required a good infrastructure of software and AI systems to control the airway drones and at the same time, a good App and website will have to be in place with a good customer serve and support. The team will primarily build 3 softwares and also help in customer and market analytics, forecasting and support. The HR department will require to focus on hiring the right talent since all the departments will require highly skilled talent right from technicals (software, IT, Analytics, marketing, drone operators support staff and also engage in training and development activities for them. From marketing point of view ‘societal acceptance’ is the key factor to build the ‘brand value’ for this drone-based services. Marketing plan proposed in the solution would help us to understand how Airway Delivery can get around these issues to establish their brand in the market and emerge as a market leader. Regarding the financial part, Marginal costing approach, Ranking based profitability analysis and Projections at maximum capacity has been used and it is expected that the Business Unit will breakeven in 4 years.

Solution

Summary 

 

Airway is a courier company with operations across india in multiple cities and  reach to almost all pin codes across India. Company is currently considering to venture into Hyper Delivery Local space wherin the delivery will be done using a drone which will have Beyound Visual Line of Sight(BVLOS) functionality. 

This document presents the busines plan keeping in mind the Break-even of the Business, Brand Establishment and Innovation in processes and product to become Market leader.

 

Background

 

Airway is established courier company and is planning to venture into  Hyperlocal deliver space wherein the delivery will be done with the help of a drone that will have Beyound the visual Line of SSight (BVLOS) functionality. 

All the required permissions and licenses to operate the drone are obtained by the company from DGCA (Director General of Civil Aviation). Beta testing has also been done successfully for initial participants which included food delivery companies, Pharma Chains & Internal Local deliveries. At the same time, there are various more industries and business avenues that can be explored to expand. 

Initial response has been very positive and it has been proven to be time saving as well. Hence it will be one of the USP of our service.

The drone service will be an addition over the existing courier services as well as can be used

 

 

 

 

Operations

 

We will be implementing a aggregator model wherein we will be connecting the customers and the sellers. This will be a hybrid model with B2B as well as B2C. The operations will ensure the security of the consignment. 

The operations will commence in Bangeluru owing to its hige traffic issues and that will be a good market to start with and has huge potential for growth due to availability of good skilled manpower and IT infrastructure.

 

The entire value chain of a order or ticket will be as follows- 

1. Order placed by the customer on our platform/App

2. Details of the order will be sent to client/partner sellers

3. Drone will reach the client/ partner seller

4. The client/partner seller will load the consigment/courier/parcel on the drone

5. Drone will take of and proceed for delivery location

6. An OTP will be sent to customer for security verification

7. Verification of OTP

8. Landing of drone at delivery location

9. Unloading by customer

 

Advanced Software: This works on a centralized cloudbased flight planner. The end – to – end drone operations and management system that has been purchased by Airway Delivery @ 25 Lacs INR is an asset that will make the services offered stand out in the market. 

 

Features of software - Onboard software helps to understand the surroundings in real time. - The software can manage and avoid collisions in real time - Anti-theft feature, with multiple navigation system - The cloud information about restricted airspaces, weather changes etc. - End customer tracking from Order – Pack – Flight – Deliver - Soft landing of the drones with secure delivery assisted by an OTP 

 

Advanced drone features – EV drones with Backup battery and motors for redundancies. 

 

Insured deliveries: Insurance to protect value of the order, providing Inspections. Tie up with companies that are offering courier insurance. This coverage provides protection against loss, theft or damage for goods in transit. 

 

Competition and Strategy

 

There are multiple competitors across multiple segments when it comes to courier and delivery. But our USP will be Air delivery via drones which will the quickest amongst all. 

Direct competitor is Dunzo who has a similar model as our but the delivery mode is conventional. Currently, Dunzo has market worth 15 Crores in bangalore. 

Other competitors are Swiggy, Zomato in Food delivery space and MedLife, 1 mg, Phameasy, etc in Pharmacy delivery space.

Bengaluru is a big market for food delivery with about 5 lakh food deliveries each day. So this is a potentially huge market, but penetration and customer acquisition will be a challenge due to huge competitors like Swiggy and Zomato, who can venture in this drone delivery very easily. 

 

Finance and Pricing

 

Surge Pricing - Since we currently have only few drones, there are high chances that we can have high order traffic after few months of operations. This surge pricing will help in additional revenue and profits as well and manage the supply - demand gap optimally.

 

Some of the snapshots of financials are - 

 

1117 Rs per day per drone is required for breakeven (detailed is available in attached document)

 

Marketing Plan

 

Marketing will be a big part of growth and expansion as we are relatively a new brand and build a good brand image and high visibility wil be a challenge in this courier and delivery space. 

We will have to market upon our USPs which is fast delivery, safe delivery (due to OTP and other security measures), Insurance (Insurance on deliveries if damaged, lost or misplaced) and a strong App platform and customer focused support and operations.

 

Brand Building is an important part of Marketing and it will be done in 4 phases.

 

Phase 1: Awareness Campaign: This is the pre – launch phase for the drone services in which the following activities would be planned. We have testimonials from B2B customers and required permissions in place. - online marketing campaigns, with online platform You tube / FB / Instagram - pitching of commission-based service proposals to B2B companies (advertisement and customer conversion of B2B products on our app / websites) - market survey to get a comprehensive customer profiling - Zone wise location profiling for defining price slabs (zone 1 within 10 km, zone 2 within 20 km and so on) 

Phase 2: Trial Offers phase: This is the phase of launching the services to B2C as our marketing campaigns are already in place with tie ups in proposed market segments. - Offer trails with short range drones to current customer base gain customer testimonials - Collect consumer behaviour data and fool proofing deliveries 

 

Phase 3: Finetuning Service Offer Mix: With the experimental phase over, and data collected and analyzed in real trail operations we are ready for tried and tested offers. Broadcasting marketing campaigns of services to be started now. - Mass Campaign content / SEO / Referral / Paid promotions - Customer feedback & close looping surveys for customer retention - Planning for launch of Long-Range drones – emergency sites, remote location. 

 

Phase 4: Post purchase & Repeat success: This is the final phase in which we are being recognized as a brand and we start our journey to create the value positioning of our services as planned. We keep repeating the trails and finetuning for business development and long-term customer retention. 

 

IT and Analytics Plan

 

The team will have software management, technical as well as analytical competency. The team will be initially be building 3 softwares. 

1. AI powered drone delivery management

2. MIS

3. Business interfaces: customer app, agent app and manager app

 

In line with marketing efforts to position the firm on both B2B and B2C fronts, to effectively execute the drone delivery and achieve desired results, company will need Advanced IT Infrastructure which will include:

 

1. AI Powered Drone Delivery Management System

2. MIS System which can efficiently for following processes:

CRM: To Manage Customer Data, Maintain records of total orders received, total orders shipped, total orders returned and total orders cancelled and payment and reimbursement

Logistics & Warehouse management

3. Supply Chain Management

4. Business Interfaces: Customer App, Agent App, Manager App

 

 

HR 

 

The HR will play an important part of the team in hiring the right talent and managing them.

The details of the employees are as follows:

 

Management Team (5) - Management Team will include: 1 advisory member form Aviation industry, A Drone Operations Manager (a person who have experience of managing flight operations), 3 Senior Managers of the company

 

Software (1) - A drone program management software will be required to manage tasks below: Track drone and packet status, Ensure an OTP on receiver’s phone before 2-3 minutes of reaching at the location, Eure that flight logs and other compliance data are uploaded,        Fleet Managemen, Data Managemen,  Performance Tracking of Drones

 

Qualified Drone Operators (4) - People who have associate degree and a Remote Pilot Certificate from an Aviation Agency. Their key responsibilities will be: Check drones before a flight to ensure safe and proper operation, Analyze weather forecasts to ensure safe flight, Document pre and post-flight logs, Monitor drones during flight, Plan drone flight route, Navigate drones along designated paths, Gather information or produce aerial photographs, as needed, Perform equipment testing, troubleshooting, and maintenance.

Software Development Team(2) - Software developers who have good command in low level firmware programming such as C, C++ or assembly line programming having experience of at least 3 years

Support Staff (4) - Support staff such as: 1 Packet Loading person, 2 Customer Care operators, 1 Administrative personnel

ConclusionThe breakeven point is 1117 Rs per drone per day and Marketing strategy for effective brand building has been planned.