UPS wants to stay heads above their competition, they will need to finds ways to improve upon their overall customer service and the way it will affect their productivity, UPS was created in 1907 by a nineteen year old James E. Casey. “Jim”borrowed $100 from a friend and established the American Messenger Company in Seattle, Washington. Six years later the name was changed to United States Parcel Post. The company did well despite major competition, largely because of Jim Case’s strict policies of customer courtesy, reliability, round-the-clock service, and low rates.
These reminisces, which guide UPS even today, are summarized by Jim ‘s slogan: best service and lowest rates. Mr.. Casey and his partner Claude Ryan established the Merchants Parcel Delivery six years later. In 1919 UPS expanded outside of Seattle to California. That is when they changed their business name to the United Parcel Service. The word “United” served as a reminder that the company’s operations in each city were part of the same organization, “Parcel” identified the nature of the business, and “Service” indicated what was offered.
In 1930 UPS expanded to the east coast with stores in both New York City and Newark, New Jersey. Even though the nation was going through War World II and the Great Depression UPS would continue to grow and thrive. Over the years the would be trendsetters by delivering on the ground and in the air. UPS fought to obtain authorization to ship freely in all 48 contiguous states. Finally, in 1975, the Interstate Commerce Commission granted UPS the authority to begin interstate service to and from Montana and Utah, and to extend statewide its partial service areas in Arizona, Idaho, and Nevada..
As a result, UPS became the first package delivery company to serve every address in the 48 contiguous United States. This historic convergence of service areas became known within UPS as the “Golden Link. ” This is the same year UPS decided to go international having a location in Ups Marketing Plan By switch box Canada. Today, UPS NAS revenues to over $50. 3 billion . United Parcel service, U employs 408,000 Worldwide. They have an average of 22. 4 million daily. UPS serves 7. 9 million customers per day requests for tracking packages.. UPS, 2013) The question is how can UPS continue to be a profitable company, while being able to number one in logistics in customer service. First of all we will need to cover, is the situational analysis of UPS. The purpose of the situation analysis is to indicate to a company about the organizational and product position, as well as the overall survival of the business, within the environment. (Cambridge Dictionary, 2013). We can look at both the external and internal environment an analysis how both can improve customer service. Technology is the main reason UPS is the leading service provider in logistics.
It saves you time, effort, and money. It allows businesses work better and easier. Technology allows customers to maximize coverage with our single, global, integrated system. Technology allows customers pay only for what you need and when you need it. UPS leverages technology to empower customers with personalized solutions that simplify global trade and optimize supply chains. No matter what a customer is shipping or where, UPS helps its customers grow, manage costs and improve their customer service. Competition among logistics is higher than ever.
Among them are the USPS, DHAL with the main competition is FETED. UPS is larger with 3 billion in net income with revenue over 50 million, while FETED has income of over 2 million with over 30 billion in annual revenue. The truth of the matter is that more and more consumers are purchasing goods online. Throughout the world online buying has grown exponentially. According to the latest Nielsen Global Online Survey, more than 85% of the world’s online population has used the internet to make a purchase . Thirty four percent of those prefer to do all their shopping online.
Data is stating that consumer online spending is projected to increase by about $10 billion within the next five years. Although consumers are still a little reluctant to purchase online, more and more of them are prepared to buy on the web. Faster delivery, easier return policies, and many sites offering free shipping have also increased the desirability of online buyers. Physical stores are moving at least part of their companies online in order to cut costs. Companies like Borders have become strictly online. I am personally predicting that more companies will follow suit or will use third party corporations like Amazon.
Pup’s main target business/companies that want to ship export packages nationally. It really doesn’t matter how big the packages there are. The most profitable are the smaller packages that can easily flow from one place to another especially in what UPS calls forever bags. These forever bags saves space and protects packages from becoming damaged. They also prefer to stay away from big bulky shipments but they will deliver up to 150 lbs with another fee. In other word’s UPS will deliver anything. This goes hand in hand with customer service and making delivery easy for their customers..
A Mission Statement can be defined as a sentence or short paragraph written by a company or business which reflects its core purpose, identity, values and principle business aims UPS mission statement goes as he following: world’s largest package delivery company and a leading global provider of specialized transportation and logistics services, UPS continues to develop the frontiers of logistics, supply chain management, and e-commerce combining the lows to goods, intimation, and tends. UPS 2013)UPS objective is to help businesses gain a competitive advantage by using their services.
You can operate more efficiently, cut costs, and maintain their customer base. (UPS, 2013). The heart of your business success lies in its marketing. Most aspects of your business depend on successful marketing. The overall marketing umbrella covers advertising, public relations, promotions and sales. Marketing is a process by which a product or service is introduced and promoted to potential customers. Without marketing, your business may offer the best products or services in your industry, but none of your potential customers would know about it.
Without marketing, sales may crash and companies may have to close. (Loretta, 2013). What set’s UPS apart is the way they market themselves. UPS two main motto’s are that they “Move in the Speed of Business” and “What Can Brown do for You”. “Moving at the Speed of Business” envoys a company performing with a sense of urgency in an environment of rapid and continuous change. It also states that it is important to be reliable and have on- time deliveries. “What can brown do for You” screams customer service. It gives the customer a sense of control and power.
UPS pride itself for treating all customers and businesses the same. It can be a multi-million dollar account or a once a week account, UPS continues to serve every customer as their number one. They have to do it this way because they are not the cheapest. They would want customers to pay the extra for the service they receive from them. As I stated before, Pup’s target market in are anyone who is in the business of shipping envelopes, parcels, and packages to anyone around the world. There are different marketing strategies that UPS uses to stay number one in logistics.
Product strategies are to have the most updated products to continue to have the competitive advantage. They have to be innovative and reliable. Pricing strategies are to focus on three major points which are cost-based pricing, customer-based pricing, and competitor-based pricing. Cost- based pricing is using the cost of production or fulfillment as the basis for pricing odds or services. Using this method, the selling price off product will be the cost to produce it, including both direct and indirect costs, plus an additional amount to generate profit for the seller.
Customer-based pricing is A method of pricing in which the seller makes a decision based on what the customer can Justify paying. Customer-driven pricing is not simply what the consumer is willing to pay, but reflects the value of the product or service from the consumer’s perspective. Pricing decisions are made to Justify purchase decisions and are at a level that convinces the customer he/she benefits from the transaction. Competitor-based pricing is A method of determining the price at which a particular product is sold based on the prices of competing products rather than on the cost of production or the amount of demand from customers.
Competition-based pricing can be effective when the average price of competing goods is noticeably different from prices suggested by production cost or demand. (Investor Words, 2013) Related Videos Promotional Strategies are to focus on a target group consisting of large and small businesses to be their primary means of shipping. Advertising strategies is to antique to use the web and other technology to get new customers. UPS will continue to use the company Slogan ” What can brown do for you”. Selling strategies is to network with local companies and businesses to promote the product.
Also use the” good of’ method to using to service providers to get lea s. D This is when a service provider noticing that their customer only use UPS for ground and FETED for the Next Day Air. This is an opportunity for us to get that customer to get fully invested in UPS. Public relations UPS has a negative image as far as public relations is concern especially among union workers and their families. UPS needs to continue to insure the best for the customer especially with them going public in 1998. UPS uses sales promotions by offering discounts on shipping and servicing prices.
They offer special savings with businesses opening new accounts with UPS. A SOOT analysis is a model used to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of a company or corporation. This is where strengths and weaknesses identify the internal analysis, while opportunities and threats identify the external analysis of the company. What I found were strengths of UPS is there marketing, As I issued earlier UPS is the largest marketed shipping corporation in the United States. UPS has a broad Array of Services that is broken down into three major categories.
They are United States, International and Freight Services. In these services their allowable time frames in which there are guaranteed days and times of deliver if all goes correct. This includes Same Day, Next Day Air, Ground, and 3 day select. UPS last year grossed income above 3 million with revenue exceeding 50 million dollars. There are now over 4700 UPS stores in the United States and it is constantly growing. In 2013, Entrepreneur@ magazine’s annual “Franchise 500,” a ranking of franchise opportunities based on factors such as financial strength, growth rate and size, rated The UPS Store/Mail Boxes Etc. 1 in the postal and business services category for the 23rd consecutive year*. Additionally, the company has a rich tradition of award-winning marketing and public relations campaigns, among other accolades. Tracking packages is extremely user friendly and it allows you to see exactly when and where your package is in a given period of time. This system allows you reroute packages or place them on hold for a minimal cost to the customer. UPS has always stayed on the cutting edge of technology having the most up to date devices to make the Job as easy as possible for their people.
Weaknesses are sometimes they can’t handle the productivity of what is coming into the hubs or shipping center. Damages are also a weakness. Damage to a package can be reported by a shipper, recipient, or by UPS. After a damage inspection is performed by UPS, the shipper of record is contacted with the results. Depending on the results, the shipper can file a claim for the repair or replacement cost of the package contents up to the declared value. This can become a lengthy process that a lot of times go unsolved. The Perception in this area is that UPS don’t ever give back refunds.
Customer Service has had a bad wrap for years. There are a lot of negatives reviews for their customer service for being rude and misinformed. They are also considered insensitive to the customer. Inconsistently is huge. I can say that a standard has been imposed from the founder Jim Casey, but it seems that the company “misses the mark” on several occasions. There is also a perception that UPS only delivers ground. This is no longer the case, especially with the new air hub in Louisville, Kentucky the have increased their air delivery by over 35%. (UPS, 2013). The Union is also a weakness for company.
For example in the strike of 1997 where the company went on strike and it affected millions of people and businesses. During that time S lost a lot to businesses. For the most part upper management drowns on the union and feel that the union actual cripples the organization. There are opportunities that exists within the company. Logistics is essential to help you speed global shipments, improve service and automate supply chain processes. Only 4% of genuineness actually export, leaving tremendous potential for growth. As discussed earlier more and more people are buying and shipping online.
It is important that UPS keep up with the new way of doing business. There is an opportunity for expansion this way. American products are in demand more than ever before in the emerging Asia-Pacific market. UPS can help your company establish a presence in the Asia-Pacific market. Forecasted to surpass the European Union (ELI) as the primary destination for express shipments from the U. S. , Asia offers tremendous growth opportunities, especially among the largest markets of China and India. These markets are emerging as eastern powerhouses that are continually growing to command even more U. S. Exports.
With free trade agreements now in place, opportunities are expanding with increased consumer demand. Once thought of as a manufacturing market only, research shows that within China’s emerging urban middle class, American products are in demand more than ever before. Now is the perfect time for American companies to succeed in this booming Asian market. (UPS, 2013). Threats are common in all businesses large and small, but it all depends on the demographics and expectations of the business. In fact most threats are common within the business of logistics. High oil Prices are a threat to the business.
Oil prices are the highest they have ever been. Rising energy costs affect the daily operation of companies across the globe, and business leaders today are facing a variety of tough challenges. I know that UPS had cut routes to keep less cars on the road to save on gas. This in turn could hurt in the customer service area because packages are getting to customers late. Also this causes disgruntle employees because they are on the road longer. The economy is also a threat. If people are not spending money they are not buying anything, thus no goods or services are being shipped.
Competitive growth is also a risk to the company. UPS has strategist that always look to see what their competition is doing and see if they are gaining on them in any way. The Affordable Health act has affected every business or corporation. UPS already offers their employees full benefits. The union estimates Beamer could negatively affect the multi-employer health plans of some 26 million Americans. When union employees become disgruntle in drives down productivity which brings down venue. This is something UPS will have maintain and make sure they keep the union happy in this regard.
The thing that most people complain about at UPS is the customer service. Most people complain about how their packages always come damaged, misperceived, and delivered at the wrong time. Customers also complain that the customer service center is incompetent. UPS has a reputation of being a big business that don’t care about their customers or their packages. UPS has an arrogance of not making mistakes. Ways to get around it that seems simple at least is to treat each package as guest of honor, by using proper package handling and allowing that each package get delivered at the correct locations.
S employees should consistently go through training on how to deal with customers and how to make sure they are treating them with the most respect. Another alternative especially in the car center make those positions non-union. I feel that most union employee don’t care how they perform on the workplace because they know it would be difficult to terminate them, and in most cases they get their Job back anyways. For UPS to continue to grow in this present economy and with thriving intention, customer service has to be key.
With updated technology and expertise in global development, UPS is constantly giving businesses large and small the opportunity to grow within the business. UPS will have to continue to fight the negative connotation of not caring for the regular customers. With social media at its height, they will have to make sure they are treating each customer and parcel like a guest of honor, rolling out the red carpet. Any negative news spread like a forest fire. When this is under control, UPS will continue to thrive as number one in logistics and umber one in customer service.
