Assignment TakenMarketing plan, Brand Journey projection

Case UnderstandingOur company Airway Delivery is a courier company, which has branches across India and delivers to most pin-codes. Company's Board has decided to venture into 'Hyper Local Delivery space' and want to conduct local delivery Through drones. As a rule, all flying objects in India, needs to take permission from (DGCA) Director General Of Civil Aviation. Your company has all necessary permissions. Trials are conducted at beyond the visual line Of sight (BVLOS) and successful test deliveries are conducted. Company has decided to start this venture as "Short Range Drone Based Services" instead of Long-Range Drone Flight operations due to high purchase cost Of "Long range drones". Company Intend to build an end-to-end Drone Operations & Management Platform Through which a rapid scaling of business can be achieved. Company has performed several successful beta Testing deliveries for initial participants such as food delivery companies, few Pharma Chains & Internal Local Deliveries and looking forward to exploring more business areas for cost-effective cargo deliveries.

BCS Solution SummaryActions to be taken: Plan out & design an IT Infrastructure Including Apps, Website/s, and Management Information System building an end-to-end Drone Operations & Management Platform through which a rapid scaling of business can be achieved.

Solution

On the basis of solution, the drone package delivery market has been segmented as follows:

• Platform
• Infrastructure
• Software
• Service

On the basis of duration, the drone package delivery market has been segmented as follows:

• Short Duration (<30 Minutes)
• Long Duration (>30 Minutes)

On the basis of range, the drone package delivery market has been segmented as follows:

• Short Range (<25 Kilometres)
• Long Range (>25 Kilometres)

On the basis of package size, the drone package delivery market has been segmented as follows:

• <2 Kilograms
• 2-5 Kilograms
• >5 Kilograms

Drones for Online Delivery - Factors and motivation:
For online retailers, various shipping methods are available today:

1. Partner with a logistics company to deliver merchandise to the customer's door. This Includes standard (5-7 day) shipping, Two day shipping and One Day shipping. Cost Of shipping increases as the shipping time decreases. Lot of retailers offer free Shipping after a fixed cost of shopping (for e.g. minimum Rs.500 purchase). Most of these Shipping methods are limited to domestic markets. Retailers also take a flat fee for Year around 2-day delivery (for e.g. Amazon prime).
2. IN Store pickup: Most of the retailers with brick and mortar presence/stores also offer Free in store pickup. This is a good way for customers to get access to online inventory Instead of being limited to what is available at the local store. If the product is in a local Store's inventory, customers can pick it up within a few hours. If it is not in a local Store's inventory then it is shipped to the store within standard or 2-Day shipping Mode. In this case, retailer makes use of the regular fulfilment and supply-chain Logistics to get these products to the local store. Once available, a customer can pick it From the store.
3. Retailer truck delivery: Retailers selling bigger packages like appliances and furniture Ship their merchandise to a customer's house in trucks. These trucks are either a fleet Of trucks managed and operated by the retailer or is through a partnership with a Logistics company. These shipping are usually costly and customers' pay extra for Shipping and delivery.
4. DELIVERY by Drone: Amazon has this as an option but is has not been Approved by the FAA yet.
5. Motivation to adopt Drones:

Main factors that could motivate online retailers to adopt drones are:

• Cost
• Value of fast delivery
• Convenience

There are three possible models in which drones can be used for delivery: Global courier and delivery service companies using drones for last mile delivery:Logistics companies have been experimenting with drones for delivery. The US courier and Parcel delivery services industry consists of about 7,500 companies both large and small, Which have combined annual revenue of about $90 billion. The industry has seen steady Growth in the last few years. A major chunk of the industry is held by its two key players, FedEx (FDX) and United Parcel Services (UPS). The industry is both capital intensive and Labour-intensive. Labour expenses include the wages and salaries paid to drivers, pilots, Operators of call centres and drop-off locations, ground and administrative staff, and loading Crews.

Today vs Futur

• Drones Ecosystem:
  As the market traction picks up and as the FAA rules shape up to be more conducive to Conducting tests for deliveries, there will be more companies that will flourish to build out the Complete ecosystem for last mile delivery. This ecosystem will be composed of drone Manufacturers, battery, charging stations, landing pads, devices and software for air traffic Coordination, drone recovery and safety, drone insurance to policing and license plates.
• Drone, battery and landing pads manufacturers:
  Drone manufacturers will focus more on building out drones specifically designed for Deliveries. As we mentioned earlier, most of the current drones are built for carrying cameras To take pictures and videos rather than as a transportation utility. Companies like Parrot,Matter net, DJI and 3DR will burgeon and start building out more robust, faster, longer lasting Drones that will be able to carry the majority of packages (less than 8 pounds) for 10 miles.These manufacturers will accompany the drones manufacturing with longer lasting batteries,To carry the drones back and forth from hub to final destination. Charging pads will be Manufactured and built out in highly trafficked areas enabling drones to stop and charge Along their flight routes.
• Regulations and Support Ecosystem:
  As the drones become more commercial and business oriented and the FAA issues the Rules, the software and device to enforce these rules will need to built into the drones in order To respect, speed, altitude, allowed routing for the drones and land to drone communication To direct them or divert them in allowed directions. Big companies like Google or Amazon will Be able to enter and set the standards for communication between the various drones and The software and device manufactures will be able to build on top of these standards.
• Drones Safety, Repairs, Insurance:
  Companies working on drone safety will be able to add ways to prevent strong crashes of Drones in case of mechanical failures. Companies and technicians repairing drones will have A vibrant business and the insurance will need to adapt to insure the drones as they will run In the ₹35000 range. Insuring against failures will help fix the drones, their batteries or the Landing pads, with the cost of replacement needing to go low in order to have a replacement Be a viable solution for the businesses.

ConclusionDrones will eventually be successful in the last mile delivery space for three main reasons: 1.Cost 2.Value of fast delivery 3.Convenience With reasonable cost of less than Rs. 35,000 and fast speed of delivery of less than 20 minutes, The drones are bound to succeed in delivering the last mile for both the brick-and-mortar Companies and large internet retailers. For brick-and-mortar companies with a nearby local Presence (eg. Walmart, Target,...), deliveries will become faster and more convenient. For The large internet retailers like Amazon, it will need to build out warehouses close to where People live in order to compete on speed that the traditional brick and mortar will have. It will Make the deliveries happen faster and at more economical prices therefore helping fuel the Adoption of the drones for lightweight deliveries. This will create a supporting ecosystem and a surrounding industry which will be able to Create value for everyone and make the end consumer's life better. The first adopters will Likely win as they will be able to learn faster, iterate and establish their brand names as the Cheaper and faster companies to deliver packages. Examples of some companies that are Ahead in this space are Amazon and Walmart, which are already testing the drones and are Ahead of the game. This will be a great boost for them in the long run and enable them to Stay competitive and earn new customers given the cost, convenience and speed of delivery.