SKYBUS, LTD.BUSINESS FEASIBILITY PLAN.PartIII.Section 2

BUSINESS ANALYSIS

1. Category Map/Market

The above is the chart of the transport market within the Dublin area, which provides the services towards the Dublin Airport. It is based on the two main drivers:

·         territory - the area where the company provides its transporation services; and

·         time of service - the hours during which the company provides its services.

The first driver of the chart was chosen in order to show how big is the perimeter of one or another company that operates within the Dublin city and its suburbans. And the second driver, which is the time of the service, was taken into an account so to explain what is the number of hours one or another company operates during a day.

SKYBus has an aim to compete within the existing category against its main competitor: Airport Hopper. But due to our competitor providing its services only between 05:30hrs and 11:00hrs, SKYBus intends to extend the number of operating hours. By including one more county into a route of service operation, SKYBus expands an existing category in both directions: territory and time.

Also in a future, the vision of SKYBus is to extand its area so to unite two categories togather. In other words we will aim to increase the perimeter of teritory and operate via both and city centre and suburbans. 

2. Segments of Market

SKYBus enters the Bus Service market, that covers the Airport and suburbans areas. The main segments to be served are the following:

·         hotels - the bus will serve the hotels that are located close to the operating route. These will include: Clarion Hotel (Liffey Valley), Bewleys Hotel (Newlands Cross), Louis Fitzgerald Hotel (Newlands Cross), Abberley Court Hotel (Tallaght), Maldron Hotel (Tallaght), Plaza Hotel (Tallaght), Dundrum House Hotel (Main Street);

·         24/7 - SKYBus vehicles will operate teh whole day (from 00:00hrs to 23:59hrs) seven days a week;

·         Airport - serving the route between airport and suburbans.

Hotels segement is one of the beneficial, as many travellers will be in a search for an easy way to get to their place of stay in Dublin area. It was researched that the mentioned above hotels, have a highest percentage of visiting within that demographic area, hence they were chosen to be serviced along SKYBus route. Over the summer period the percentage of visitors is expected to be increased and therefore it will become a beneficial opportunity for SKYBus company. Being a segment of a bus service market, Hotels are very competitive, aspecially in a case when taxis and other trasport service are available in that area. However the fees charged by SKYBus will make the cmpnay to stand out and thus more demanding by the customers.

24/7 - is another beneficial segement of the bus service market, as not many transportation services operate during the night time. Bieng a young comany, SKYBus will have a small number of customers at the very start, however with the time the growth rate is expected to rise.

Airport is a central segment of teh bus service market. Many companies serve this area and hence it will be most competive. However due to serviing the hotels along its route, SKYBus is expexted to become one of the most used services that depart form Dublin Airport. The growth rate will varie due to the seasons or other events (sport championships, holidays, etc).

3. Customer

Entering the market of bus servicing SKYBus will concentrate its attention on the two main types of customers: Hotels and Airport

Customer Profile - Hotels

Type of Business Size Key decision makers	Hospitality industry Varies. The smallest hotel that will be served along the route of SKYBus is Abberley Court Hotel, located in Tallaght Central. It is a three star hotel with 38 guest rooms. There are: terace facility, event site facility, lounge with live entertainment, library, car parking, wi-fi, bar and children site. Abberley Hotel is one of its kind. The largest hotel along the route of SKYBus is Clarion Hotel, located in Liffey Valley. It is a four star hotel and has around 400 rooms of differnt sizes as well as fitness facilities, restaurant, bars, meeting and conference halls,  kids sites, health club, event halls, swimming pools, cinema, free parking, wi-fi. Clarion Hotels group is big and has its hotels located in USA, Ireland and UK. In hotel insdustry usually all decisions are made by the managing directors. For example in a case with Clarion Hotel, Allan Fitzpatrick, who is a head managing director in Ireland, is the one to be contacted for discussing a contract with SKYBus. However in a case with Abberley Hotel, which is a small hotel and is one of its kind, all decisions are made by the managing owner.
What matter most to the buyers?	·         Flexibility of service ·         Quality of service ·         Good customer service
Customer problem	The main goal the customer seeks in achieveing with signing a contract with SKYBus is transporting the people in time and safely.
Customer buying process	In a case with Clarion Hotels Group, the managing dorector before signing a contarct will call out for a meeting of the board where it will be discussed on whether it is benefial for a company to make one or another arrangement. Where in a case with Abberley Hotel, the owner will be the one to carry out his own research and then make decision on whether to sign a contract or not.
Expenditure/costs	Signing a contarct with SKYBus becomes an operating expense for the hotels.
Services evaluations	As a primary customer, the hotels assess the need in the service provided by SKYBus relying on the reviews, feedback and demands of their users (i.e. hotel guests). Hence all evaluation is carried out by the head manager of the particular hotel served along the route of SKYBus.
How long the process of purchessing take?	It is a long term contract based on delivering the transport services between the hotels and airport 24/7.
Benefits of service	·         Flexibility of service; ·         Night travels to/from the airport; ·         No-transfer transportation
Certification/approvals required	There are no certification/approvals required for this type of customer
Type of customer	Most of our customers are conservative buyers

SKYBus will serve the hotels that are located along the operating route. These will include: Clarion Hotel (Liffey Valley), Bewleys Hotel (Newlands Cross), Louis Fitzgerald Hotel (Newlands Cross), Abberley Court Hotel (Tallaght), Maldron Hotel (Tallaght), Plaza Hotel (Tallaght), Dundrum House Hotel (Main Street).

Also the route will run close to other nine hotels, where the distance between them and the SKYBus stops will be within a range of 2 kilometres.

Hotels targeted by SKYBus are our main customer type, where the hotel guests consuming the transporting services become our primary users

Customer Profile - Airport

Company Type of Business Size Key decision makers	Dublin Airport Authotity (Appendix II.A) Transport and Hospitality The Dublin Airport Authority plc, (DAA) is an airport management company with over 3600 employees and a turnover in excess of, 590mil euro. DAA serves over 150,000 passangers and 1,000 flight every week. Ray Grey, Chief Financial Officer
What matters most to the buyers?	·         Flexibility of service ·         Frequency of service ·         Quality of service
Customer problem	DAA aims to provide a quality services to all visitors, as well as in time and safe transportation to and from the airport
Customer buying process	All consultations are done by the DAA board of directors with Pádraig Ó Ríordáin, the chairman and a head of the board
Expenditure/costs	Signing a contarct with SKYBus becomes an operating expense for the airport.
Services evaluations	As a primary customer, DAA assesses the need in the service provided by SKYBus relying on the reviews, feedback and demands of its users (i.e. passengers). Hence all evalation is carried out by the management team
How long the process of purchessing take?	It is a long term contract based on delivering the transport services between the airport and dublin suburbs 24/7.
Benefits of service	·         24/7/365 service ·         direct transportation ·         quality and frequency of service
Certification/approvals required	There are no certification/approvals required for this type of customer
Type of customers	Most of our customers are conservative buyers

DAA is expected to be a good opportunity for advertising our young company to the market, by targeting the individuals who seek a safe to get around Dublin area.

The maximum travel time between the airport and the final stop is one hour (depending on the traffic implications). It is believed that such arrangement between DAA and SKYBus will be a long term contract,  making our company an experienced provider of transporting the users.

4. Competition:

The below are the three categories of the compatitors that SKYBus will confront every day:

Competitor	Comments
Direct competitors	Airport Hopper  -  serves a similar route as SKYBus (except Dundrum) - the number of working hours is less than SKYBus' - similar fare rate
Indirect competitor	Taxi  - serves the entire area of Dublin - operates 24/7 - expensive fares -it is a service for a perosnal hire, which means it operates having no set out route.
Out-of-Category Competitors	Airlink, Dublin Bus, Eireann, - covers entirly different territory; - does not operate over the night time as well as has no services in particular days (national holidays, etc) - cheaper Personal Vehicles - covers entire Dublin area - free of charge, however requires a facility such as parking and fuel refiling point - operates 24/7/365

Comparison

Factor	Airport Hopper	Taxi	SKYBus
What are they good at?	- 30 years experience in coach hire and bus road operations; - Large number of vehicles owned;	- 24/7 - Serves all dublin area	- 24/7 - Cheap fares
Strengths/Weaknesses ·         Financial ·         Marketing ·         Organisational	- well funded - gained trust of the loyal users since the last century - bill boards advertisements - big and well known co. with over 50 buses. - based in Rathcoole	- Well funded organisation with many vehicles - gained trust of the loyal users over a long experience - every taxi point has 7 cars per shift in an average. There are about 11 points within Dundrum, Clondalkin, Tallaght, Liffey Valley areas - based at clondalkin mill centre	-well funded with a reserve fund for unexpected situations - advertisement in the local newspapers - promoting a special offer deals in a co-opration with Dunne Stores and Tesco - a start-up co. with 3 buses - based in Tallaght
What customer segment they target?	- airport - dublin suburbs such as: Tallaght, Clondalkin, Liffey Valley	- all dublin	- airport - dublin suburbs such as: Tallaght, Clondalkin, Liffey Valley and Dundrum
What is their path to market?	- customer-orientated co., focusing on what customers most need - operationaly effective, targeting a better way to perfom internally than the competitor	- utilise customer-orientated strategy	- utilises customer-orientated strategy - differentiation strategy is incounted where the area of servicing is expanded to Dndrum - involving innovation strategy by bringing such service as free wi-fi on board
Key bussiness realtionaship cultivated?	- DAA, hotels, Tall Plaza, private coach hire	- Commercial and private hire	- DAA, hotels, Tall Plaza and private coach hire
Delivering key benefit	A-class organsation providing no-transfer transportation toward Dublin Airport,	- servicing all dublin areas, making it to stand out from all compatiotors	- price-orientated - non-transfer service to Dublin Airport (no grade available as it is only a start-up co.) - night time travels
Unique solution	- well developed private coachh hire that was achieved over the long period of time	- best way to get to the Airport - serving all dublin areas	- night time services, making it easy for the users to get to the airport and pay less - free wi-fi on board allowing a free access to the internet
Who's on their team?	- drivers with an experience of minimum 5 years - experienced management group in transport market	- drivers with an experience of minimum 5 years	- drivers with an experience of minimum 5 years
Walk in their shoes? What to do to beat us/ New strengths?	- include wi-fi onboard - expand the working hours to 24/7 - expand the area of serving to Dundrum or even further on	- reduce the fare charges

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