Sumit Kumar

International Marketing CASE 3-3: EASYCAR.COM

@02546519

Introduction: The case focuses on the history of easycar.com and car rental industry. It highlights the rapid expansion, apparent success and the future strategy of easycar. It focuses on the 5 Ps of marketing out of 7 Ps of service marketing (product, place, price, promotion and process. People and Public evidence is excluded). Easy Car is a car rental service provider. It came into existence on 20th April 2000 first location at London in Glasgow and Barcelona. By 2003 it had 7000 fleet of vehicles at 28 locations. It provides Mercedes A class, Ford Focus at 4 locations, Renault Clious at 3 locations, Toyota Yaries at 3 locations. Mercedes smart at 2 locations, Vauxhall Corsas at 7 locations.

SWOT Analysis: STRENGTHS Company is financially strong. The business model has proved to be successful being used in rental industry. Demand based pricing approach to attain maximum utilization. High use of latest technological equipments. Transparency of various prices to the customer and achieved its Break Even Point in 3 years of its operations. OPPORTUNITIES The company can go International like India, China etc., there is ripe for consolidation. Use car more services like Taxi, Package Tours, and contract with companies. THREATS Legal Challenges Competitions Changing buying preference of the customers. Expectation and satisfaction. WEAKNESS It offer only one kind of car at a location The process of picking up the car takes 30 minutes due to low manpower. Lots of documentation formalities. Very low advertising strategy.

Key Issues: 1. Easy Car is lacking behind in the service providing model and product diversification based on the customer needs and wants. 2. Easy Car should concentrate increase the advertising strategy and reduce the documentation process. 3. Easy car should mix all type of products in all locations so that customer has option.

Sumit Kumar

International Marketing

@02546519

Recommendations to Key Issue # 1 In general, services are characterized by their intangibility, perishability, heterogeneity and simultaneity. But different service has different characteristics to hold. Intangibility - While firmly seeing, the service of car rental is intangible, even though the physical nature of the vehicle is given, this industry is not as intangible as other services in the logic that the consumer can see and touch the rented vehicle. For the period during which the customer uses the service of car rental, the physical car is the service provided. To judge quality for consumer and for producer to control quality is not as difficult as proposition to many services which are intangible. The convenience factor is location, like speed of pick-up and drop-off, etc., connected with rental car is the most important. For easy car the physical vehicle is good, but should improve on service factor by easing the documentation process, offering wide variety of cars in all locations. Perishability - Car rental is clearly a very perishable service. If a day goes by and a car is not rented, the opportunity to generate revenues from that unrented time is lost forever. In this factor Easy cars low price strategy is working well. But, perishability is a critical factor in the rental industry given the generally high fixed cost associated with the service is cost of the car. Heterogeneity - Car rental is not a particularly heterogeneous service, as compared, for example, to the services provided by a doctor, an architect, a lawyer or a hairdresser. In this industry different customers may request different vehicles or different extras like child seat, ski rack and different rental terms like return with empty or full tank, unlimited miles, etc., the greater part of customers will receive exactly the same service - the use of a vehicle for some specified period of time. Easy Car should come up with different service option for business and leisure segment of the customer, offer discounts and flexibility for regular customer, providing auto driver insurance on daily basis for customers who dont have one etc. Simultaneity - The issue of simultaneity is not a major issue for the car rental industry. The service being provided by the car rental industry is the use of a vehicle. There is simultaneity in the sense that the customer and the vehicle are together during the time that the service is consumed. The customer only interacts with the service organization when booking, picking up and returning a vehicle. While these interactions are important, Easy car can include the documentation on website and just check the same with customer while physically renting a car and giving the value added service.