DHL Marketing Plan

DHL Marketing Plan

Executive Summary

This article presents a marketing plan for the proposed adoption of drone delivery at DHL. DHL is one of the largest logistics companies in the United States that operates globally. The company has advantages in its global reach, financial position, and significant asset base, etcetera, which are advantageous to the proposed drone deliveries. It is pointed out that the major competitors of DHL are UPS and FedEX, and that the market segmentation strategy to get used is the geographical segmentation. The service is set to assist in delivering items to regions with poor infrastructure or with high costs if other means were to get used. It is expected that both urban and rural areas will be served, but due to the limitation of distance, the drones will start with the urban settings. The measurement of the success of the launch will get measured through the number of people that subscribe to the drone delivery plan.

DHL Marketing Plan

According to Wood and Jobber (2016), a marketing plan outlines the advertising and marketing efforts of an organization by providing descriptions of business activities that will be involved in accomplishing particular set objectives. This article is a marketing plan for the Dalsey Hillblom Lynn (DHL) company related to drone delivery. A SWOT analysis for the project is provided, the service gets defined, competition explained, and other strategies provided.

Table 1: SWOT Analysis

SWOT Analysis Explanation

Strengths

The strengths of DHL, as presented above, include its distribution and reach, financial position, large asset base, skilled labor force, it is a well-known brand that has existed over the years, and its partnerships (Rahman, 2018).

Distribution and Reach. Rahman (2018) explains that DHL has a lot of outlets that are present in several states, which are strongly backed with an effective network of distribution. Rahman (2018) further explains that this network facilitates the broad reach the organization has of its customers.

Financial position. DHL has made profits over its years of operation, which makes it have a stable financial situation should it decide to integrate a new product or service (Rahman, 2018).

Large asset base. According to Liu (2017), the organization has a large asset base, which means that it has better solvency.

Skilled labor force. DHL facilitates training for its employees, as Rahman (2018) explains, thus making them highly skilled and improves operational efficiencies.

The company is a brand. DHL has existed in the market for years, which makes it well known by its target and broader markets, which is a strength in the integration of new products and services (Rahman, 2018).

Partnerships. Rahman (2018) explains that DHL has made partnerships with its suppliers and other stakeholders, such as dealers, that allows the company to leverage them when needed.

Weaknesses

DHL has notable weaknesses in its financial planning, workforce diversification, high turnover rates, and gaps in the product range that the organization sells, with most of these products having a low market share (Liu, 2017). Liu (2017) explains that DHL does not carry out its financial planning activities efficiently, and the company can better manage its cash use. The worker diversification is also weak, with local workers dominating the company and different races being a minority group in the organization. As compared to its competitors, DHL also has a high employee turnover rate, as Liu (2017) asserts.

Opportunities

DHL has several opportunities that it needs to grab, for instance, in its technological developments, internet presence, e-commerce, globalization, and consumer spending growths (Rahman, 2018). Liu (2017) explains that technological development adoptions would provide several benefits for DHL in improving efficiencies, automation, and reduction of costs. DHL should also seek to expand its online presence to cover the opportunities presented by the ever-growing number of internet users (Rahman, 2018). While the organization is reputed as a global one, it is not available in all places meaning that it has room for expansion (Liu, 2017).

Threats

The primary threat that DHL faces comes from its competitors, which are the new technologies that they adopt (Rahman, 2018). Also, new market entrants and increased competition face the company, along with uncertain political atmospheres (Liu, 2017).

Product or Service Definition

This marketing plan, as previously explained, is about drone delivery. Drone delivery refers to the use of a drone in delivering items (Dukkanci, Kara, & Bektas, 2019). Dukkanci et al. (2019) explain that drones are formally known as Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UASes) or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). DHL is a global enterprise whose focus is to provide transport and logistic services, as Rahman (2018) explains, meaning that it is majorly concerned with the organization of movement of transportation of items such as parcels to its customers. The service to get implemented is the use of drones in delivering the items it deals in; therefore, the service will be known as drone delivery. The adoption is set to improve the organization’s efficiencies by offering new services that increase its effectiveness and reach.

Vlahovic, Knezevic, and Batalic (2016) explain that drone deliveries are a recent technology in the field of logistics, with an increasing number of organizations adopting the mechanism. Expressly, the service is set to benefit emergency deliveries and last-mile delivery. Also, the adoption of drone delivery is set to benefit last-mile distributions in places where there is inadequate infrastructure since drones, according to Vlahovic et al. (2016), can traverse areas where vehicles cannot. Furthermore, drones will prove useful in transporting emergency equipment without the challenges faced by other means, such as in finding excellent transport infrastructure, as stated above.

From the SWOT analysis, it was said that DHL has opportunities in expanding its online presence which, if it does, drone delivery will prove useful. Vlahovic et al. (2016) explain that drone delivery compliments a wide range of services that logistics companies can provide, such as e-commerce. DHL’s management will consider capitalizing the drone deliveries to its target market.

According to Dhir (2019), DHL has some clients like pharmaceutical firms that transport medicine through its services. The adoption of drone deliveries is essential and will significantly assist in boosting pharmaceutical supply chains. According to Dyndal, Berntsen, and Redse-Johansen (2017), several militaries require drone services, which DHL can offer after adopting the services. Vlahovic et al. (2016) explain that there are several advantages that drone deliveries result in, such as in improving time management, conserving energy, saving time, providing safer delivery, and in achieving high-level efficiencies.

While the service is set to bring several advantages, Vlahovic et al. (2016) note that drone deliveries have limitations such as in the distance that they can travel, and technical familiarity with the products. One of the provided strengths of DHL is that it provides training to its employees, which makes them more effective, as previously explained, which means that the second limitation can get curbed through the training that the organization offers. The major flaw that is available, therefore, will be on the distance that the drones can cover. Dhir (2019) explains that DHL is a giant in research concerned with logistics, which means that research will be conducted to improve the battery technologies and boost signals to enable further movement for the drones. The service will be launched from DHL’s corporate office in the United States, and for a start, it will cover a radius of fifty-three miles. It should also be noted that the best time for launching the drone delivery service is when there is an emergency in which the efficiency of the service will be measured.

Competitor research

There are three major competitors for DHL, which include FedEx, UPS, and USPS. According to Dhir (2019), out of the three DHL competitors, USPS is not a public company; hence my reason for comparing DHL to the remaining two.

DHL Versus FedEx

As previously explained in the DHL SWOT analysis, one of the significant strengths of DHL is that it is a brand that existed for several years, making people aware of it, whether customers or not. FedEx, on the other hand, has also existed for several years, making it a brand just like DHL, as Rahman (2018) explains, hence one of the reasons that competition is a threat for DHL. FedEx, however, has weaknesses in its expensive operational costs, which reduce profits for the company (Dhir, 2019). While DHL covers over two hundred countries, FedEx relies on the local market, which means that in this regard, DHL is at an advantageous point. The adoption of drone deliveries will further improve the operational costs of DHL, which will make it serve its broad market effectively, and potentially acquire new market for the company. Dhir (2019) explains that FedEx has a higher customer rating than DHL, but the adoption of drone services might make the tables turn.

DHL Versus UPS

UPS is the acronym for United Parcel Service (Dhir, 2019). Dhir (2019) explains that UPS is successful in developing new and innovative products and services than its employers. The development of a drone delivery service, which is expected to bring numerous advantages, might see to it that DHL takes the most innovative title. UPS is also strongly recognized as a brand and has higher sales volumes than DHL, which the drone delivery service will also counter. While UPS has advantage points, Dhir (2019) explains that it has faced traffic management issues. DHL’s adoption of drone deliveries will make the organization to be best placed in terms of traffic management.

Positioning Statement

According to Shaw (2017), a positioning statement is a statement that provides a brief description of a service and how it fills a target market’s needs. The facility to get provided is that of drone delivery, which will target both rural and urban settings but start with the latter, and proceed to the former. The target audience for the service will be pharmaceutical firms that transport medicine using DHL services. This opportunity will help DHL in delivering goods and services in areas that involve high expenses or regions that have poor infrastructure. Also, the corporation will benefit from last-minute delivery services, which will improve its operational efficiency significantly.

Marketing Segmentation Strategy

Dietrich, Rundle-Thiele, and Kubacki (2017) explain that marketing segmentation strategies involve organizing customers long the demographic, geographic, behavioral, and psychographic lines. Dietrich et al. (2017) further clarify that marketing segmentation strategies are aimed at breaking down target market audiences to smaller and manageable groups. The marketing segmentation strategy used is geographic segmentation, which, according to Dietrich et al. (2017), categorizes customers based on geographic borders.

Marketing Mix Plan

Place

The service launch is set to happen in the United States at the DHL corporate office. As a result of the distance limitations previously explained, the service will be conducted within fifty-three square miles of the DHL corporate office. The organization will continue with research on the service to improve the drones and enable the expansion to rural areas.

Price

At the launch of the service, serving all organizations will be difficult, which is why the focus will first be on the already existing DHL pharmaceutical customers. Markup pricing strategy will get used, which, according to Cafferky (2017), is a pricing strategy involving the addition of production costs as well as a percentage of these costs as a markup.

Promotion

The target customers will be reached through collaborative promotions of third parties, which are reviews from pharmaceuticals enterprise that would have adopted the new service. This would be in alignment with the advertisements made by DHL communication tools. The promotional mix of DHL will encompass Social Media Marketing, Public relations, Direct marketing (DHL, 2017).

Measurement and Analytics Plan

To measure the results of the plan, the number of people, groups, and companies that shall register to the drone delivery service will be analyzed. Also, the amounts of revenue obtained from the drone delivery services shall get analyzed. Below is a table illustrating the measures for success on launching day enrollments.

Table 2: Measure for Success After Launch

References

Cafferky, M. E. (2017). Estimating retail breakeven using markup pricing. Management Accounting Quarterly, 18(2).

Dhir, S. (2019). DHL. In Cases in Strategic Management (pp. 55-72). Springer, Singapore.

DHL. (2017). DHL Medical Express: Urgent Deliveries of Vital Importance, Retrieved from https://www.dhlexpress.be/en/products-services/dhl-medical-express-urgent-deliveries-of-vital-importance/

Dukkanci, O., Y Kara, B., & Bektas, T. (2019). The drone delivery problem. Tolga, The Drone Delivery Problem (January 10, 2019).

Dyndal, G. L., Berntsen, T. A., & Redse-Johansen, S. (2017). AUTONOMOUS MILITARY DRONES-No Longer Science Fiction-. Romanian Military Thinking, (2).

Liu, Y. (2017, May). SWOT Research on Domestic Third-Party Logistics Providers (3PLPs) in Korea. In the 2017 2nd International Conference on Materials Science, Machinery, and Energy Engineering (MSMEE 2017). Atlantis Press.

Rahman, M. (2018). A Study of Business Analysis of DHL. A Study of Business Analysis of DHL (November 8, 2018).

Shaw, S. K. (2017). Defining positioning statement & marketing mix for the Indian ed-tech sector.

Vlahovic, N., Knezevic, B., & Batalic, P. (2016). Implementing delivery drones in the logistics business process: Case of the pharmaceutical industry. World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, International Journal of Social, Behavioral, Educational, Economic, Business and Industrial Engineering, 10(12), 3981-3986.

Wood, M. B., & Jobber, L. (2016). The marketing plan handbook. Pearson.