national express company audit (2014)

MC6003 – DIRECT AND DIGITAL MARKETINGNATIONAL EXPRESS AUDIT

Alexandra MacLeod/10034912

• National Express can trace its roots back to the 1920s:– Greyhound Motors of Bristol– National Bus Company– British Electric Traction Group (BET)

• “National Express” brand name used since 1972, official since 1974• Introduced Rapide - “upmarket services” such as hostesses,

refreshments and toilets. • Seat bookings late 70s – revolutionary at the time• 90s brought numerous mergers and acquisitions• 2003 - Flightlink, Jetlink, Speedlink, Express Shuttle, GoByCoach, Airbus

– Competing against each other• Brand refresh – upmarket services abandoned • 2012 – celebrated 40 years of serving the British Public’s travel needs• 2014 – over 1000 UK destinations• 2014 – 16 million travellers every year

INTRODUCTION TO NATIONAL EXPRESS

• Where are we now:– Business to Consumer - affordable, reliable, quality coach travel– E-procurement – services – E-Adoption stages 5 - integrated website

• Good information and interaction. • Handles sales transactions

– Purpose of current digital channels:• Sell services• Customer services – relationship building

– Current benefits of digital channel :• Sell – main sales tool for Nat Express (also uses Post Office and coach

ticket offices). Convenience for customer and company – cheaper for both

• Serve – customer service tool. FAQs, real time tracker, lots of info .• Save – online sales cheaper, online loyalty cards, • Speak – real time tracker updates, email newsletter,• Sizzle – brand development / added value -

SITUATION ANALYSIS

• Value Chain

• Online Value Proposition – Why buy online rather than through a different channel?

• Offers make it cheaper• Convenience for customer • Environmental concerns - paperless with mobile/email

tickets

• What we do – Affordable quality UK coach travel

• What we don’t do – Luxury travel – phased out in early 2000s

SITUATION ANALYSIS CONT

• The Numbers:– 2012 revenue - £255.1 million (2011: £259.1m) 2% decline

• Government cut OAP concession scheme worth £16m to Nat Express

• 40% less OAP traveller’s than 2011– Operating margin was 8.1% (per £1, NE makes 8p)

• “The drop in margin, from the withdrawal of the concessionary income, reflects a lower but sustainable level of profitability which is not dependent on material Government support.” (NAT Express ref)

– Customer satisfaction – 84%– Market share – 60%

INTERNAL AUDIT

Source: National Express, 2014

– REACH

– ACT (INTERACT)

DIGITAL MARKETING EFFECTIVENESS - RACE

196,000 30,250 99

Source: Alexa, 2014

RACE - CONT

CONVERT LOW BOUNCE RATE, PAGES VIEWS INDICATIVE OF TRANSACTION TAKING PLACE

ENGAGELOYALTY OFFERS – CARDS

IMPROVE SOCIAL MEDIA


• VALUE PROPOSITION CHANGED TO COMPETE WITH COMPETITORS– POSITIONS ITSELF AS QUALITY CLEANER, MORE SPACIOUS

THAN COMPETITORS BUT WITH SAME CHEAP PRICES

• MEGABUS NOW OFFER ‘GOLD’ SERVICE – SIMILAR TO RAPIDE SERVICE

STRATEGIC ISSUES

• POLITICAL: – LEGISLATION:

• COOKIES, PRIVACY LAWS, EMAIL MARKETING REGULATIONS – SUCH AS OPT IN

• ECONOMICAL:– KEEP UP WITH COMPETITORS PRICES

• EASILY ADVERTISE PRICES AND SALES ONLINE

• SOCIOCULTURAL:– Lifesytle trends:

• USERS VERY LIKELY TO BE BUYING ONLINE - EITHER VIA COMPUTER/TABLET OR MOBILE– LINKS FROM OTHER WEBSITES TO NATIONAL EXPRESS

• SOCIAL MEDIA – PART OF LIFE

• TECHNOLOGICAL:– NO MOBILE APP

• CUSTOMER SEGMENT UNIVERSITY STUDENTS - HAVE SMART PHONES– MORE CONVENIENT – CONVERT SALES

MACRO ENVIRONMENT ANALYSIS – DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGY

• CUSTOMER SEGMENTS:– STUDENTS

– RETIRED / OVER 60S

CUSTOMER INSIGHT


• DIRECT COMPETITORS– MEGABUS – STAGECOACH

• INDIRECT COMPETITORS– TRAIN S ON SAME ROUTE SUCH AS:

• SOUTH WEST TRAINS• VIRGIN RAIL

COMPETITORS

- £255.1 million- Operating

margin was 8.1% (per £1, NE makes 8p)

Source: Megabus, 2014

MEGABUS .VS. NATIONAL EXPRESS (DIGITAL)

Similarities: Layout design – journey planner, savings dealsDifferences: National Express sections easy to find on first pageMegabus (UK) National ExpressFacebook: NO UK FACEBOOK PRESENCETwitter: 6,186Tumblr: Presence (numbers not available)Source: Megabus, 2014; National Express,

2014

MEGABUS .VS. NATIONAL EXPRESS (DIGITAL)

• National Express– Good

interactivewebsite– Lots of information for

customers as well as sales

– Easy to navigate

• Megabus – Basic website design– Functional (sells

tickets) rather than customer focused information

– Difficult to find information

Source: Alexa, 2014

PORTER’S 5 FORCES

• MARKET LEADERS– REVENUE AND EXPERIENCE

• CUSTOMER FOCUS:– STUDENTS– RETIRED/OVER 60S

• LOST GOVERNMENT FUNDING• ONLINE PRESENCE

– BETTER THAN COMPETITORS– GOOD SOCIAL PRESENCE – COULD BE IMPROVED FURTHER

• STRATEGIC ISSUES• PEST

– TECHNOLOGY TO BE UPDATED• COMPETITORS

– MEGABUS– TRAIN COMPANIES

• SUBSTITUTE PRODUCT

AUDIT EVALUATION

• OAP CONCESSION CUTTING– ONLINE USE OF OVER 60S?

• TRAINS– SUBSITUTE PRODUCT

• NEW TARGET MARKET IDENTIFIED– BUSINESS TRAVELLERS – NOT CURRENTLY TARKETING THIS MARKET– WILL TAKE TIME TO PUSH SERVICES IN THIS NEW MARKET

• CHOSEN SCENARIO:TO ATTRACT ONLINE SALES FROM A NEW MARKET WITH A 12 MONTH PLAN

GROWTH STRATEGY: CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

• National Express Group, 2013. Annual Report and Accounts 2012. [Online] Available at: http://www.nationalexpressgroup.com/ar2012/[Accessed 10 01 2014].

• National Express, 2012. About Us: History: Coach. [Online] Available at: http://www.nationalexpressgroup.com/aboutus/historycoach.aspx[Accessed 11 01 2014].

• National Express, 2013. National Express - Our Markets. [Online] Available at: http://www.nationalexpressgroup.com/aboutus/ourmarkets.aspx[Accessed 10 01 2014].

• National Express, 2014. National Express. [Online] Available at: http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx[Accessed 10 01 2014].

• Tech Crunch , 2013. 73% Of U.S. Adults Use Social Networks, Pinterest Passes Twitter In Popularity, Facebook Stays On Top. [Online] Available at: http://techcrunch.com/2013/12/30/pew-social-networking/[Accessed 11 01 2014].

•

• Alexa, 2014. Site Info: Megabus.UK.Com. [Online] Available at: http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/megabus.com[Accessed 12 01 2014].

• Alexa, 2014. Site Info: NationalExpress.com. [Online] Available at: http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/nationalexpress.com[Accessed 10 01 2014].

• Chaffey, D., 2012. Digital Marketing: Strategy Implementation and Practice. 5th ed. Harlow: Pearson Education .

• Chaffey, D., 2013. The RACE Digital Marketing Planning Framework. [Online] Available at: http://www.smartinsights.com/digital-marketing-strategy/race-a-practical-framework-to-improve-your-digital-marketing/[Accessed 10 01 2014].

• Information Commissioner's Office , 2012. Marketing and Information Rights. [Online] Available at: http://www.ico.org.uk/for_organisations/sector_guides/marketing[Accessed 12 01 2014].

• Megabus, 2014. Megabus UK. [Online] Available at: https://uk.megabus.com/[Accessed 10 01 2014].

• Mind Tools, 2013. Porter's Five Forces: Assessing the Balance of Power in a Business Situation - See more at: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_08.htm#sthash.cZlvPn8K.dpuf. [Online] Available at: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_08.htm[Accessed 11 01 2014].

QUESTIONS?