In a previous blog posted by Pradeep Bandla he discussed how a passengers booking behavior can be influenced by the competitor actions in markets where there is choice of providers and how getting visibility in your competitor’s actions can influence your bottom line. This got me to thinking who or what is the competition.
In today’s transportation marketplace there are many entities that are going after the same passenger. For example, in the airline industry your competition is usually one or more other airlines especially at large regional airports and international airports. Competition can be limited from a geographical perspective – islands, remote areas, small regional access. In this case, you might be the only travel option for the passenger. But most prospective passengers have other choices depending on where they are going, time that it takes to travel to their destination, reason for travel, etc. Passengers traveling regionally will also have more travel options than those traveling a long distance. This means that your competition could be from an airline, bus, train, personal vehicle, passenger ferry, or any other form of transportation.
In the cargo transportation industry customers usually have a wide range of options depending on the marketplace, shipment priority, destinations, weight/size, perishable/non-perishable, etc. These options could include airline cargo, ocean shipping via container cargo, road transport, rail transport, and inter-land waterway.
In some cases your biggest competitor could also be your own company. A good example is the rail industry. You are competing many times for the same passenger on routes which support both intercity and rapid transit (direct) and high-speed trains. In the cruise ferry industry it could be standard ferry versus fast craft (hydro foils).
In today’s transportation marketplace there are many entities that are going after the same passenger and in order to be in the front of the pack we need to understand who, and in some cases - what, is our competitor and how do we better compete against them and impact the bottom line.
As always we would be interested in hearing your thoughts on this topic or any other topic in our blog.
Robert Harris
Sr. Solutions Consultant
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