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The Shipping Centre
This sample marketing plan was created with Marketing Plan Pro software.
The Shipping Centre is entering their first year of business. Marketing will be critical in developing sufficient business to reach profitability. The Shipping Centre offers shipping and packaging services, fax services, and private Post Office Box service.
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The Shipping Centre possesses good information about the market and has collected insight regarding the ideal customer. This information will be leveraged to better understand who is served, their specific needs, and how The Shipping Centre can better communicate with them.
Market Analysis | |||||||
2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | |||
Potential Customers | Growth | CAGR | |||||
Shipping customers | 9% | 27,000 | 29,430 | 32,079 | 34,966 | 38,113 | 9.00% |
P.O. Box customers | 5% | 2,547 | 2,674 | 2,808 | 2,948 | 3,095 | 4.99% |
Fax customers | 6% | 8,574 | 9,088 | 9,633 | 10,211 | 10,824 | 6.00% |
Total | 8.09% | 38,121 | 41,192 | 44,520 | 48,125 | 52,032 | 8.09% |
The Shipping Centre is providing its customers with a well-priced, convenient shipping service. The Shipping Centre seeks to fulfill the following benefits that are important to their customers.
The market trend has been an increase in demand for shipping services with the advent of Internet-based purchasing. Now that more and more products are being purchased via the Internet, there is increased demand for unwanted products to be shipped back. Luckily for The Shipping Centre, the US Post Office (USPS) is not known for its customer service or convenience, driving customers to independent shipping services. The following variables have contributed to this trend.
In 2000, the shipping service industry grew to over $764 million in revenue. With the explosive growth of Internet-based purchases, both retail as well as auctions, it is forecasted to continue to grow at 5% for the next three years.
Additionally, the increase usage of private P.O. Box will fuel growth of this sector as more and more start-up business will rely on a private P.O. Box instead of a USPS P.O. Box due to the inconvenience of the USPS.
The following SWOT analysis captures the key strengths and weaknesses within the company and describes the threats and opportunities facing The Shipping Centre.
Currently, there are several different companies that offer a similar service offering that the Centre does. They are typically located in high traffic areas. They also have P.O. Boxes as well as fax and shipping. These different companies offer a commodity-like service.
People tend to make choices based on convenience. Market research indicates that there is little that differentiates the different competitors and there is little loyalty that customers display toward a specific store other than convenience.
The Shipping Centre will provide full service shipping services. Our main services will be:
The following focuses are The Shipping Centre's keys to success.
The Shipping Centre is in its first year of operation as a retail service provider. The critical issues that it faces are:
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