Increased costs, increased opportunities

Yesterday I read that the cost of petrol (and diesel) is likely to increase in the next few weeks to a record high. There is also a planned increase of 3p per litre in fuel duty by the government on 1 April 2010. In addition to this, Manchester Airport just increased their annual car parking costs by 80%. That is a significant increase!

Now, when you get in to the business of airport transfers, you quickly realise there is a LOT of competition in the market place; there are low barriers to entry and most of your competitors never calculate their break even point when setting their prices – a lot of them don’t calculate the turnover they need to continue trading either.

So, you might ask, am I bothered? Am I feeling depressed and gloomy? Well, no. I actually see this as an opportunity to develop our business and sing about the benefits of our fantastic customer service. From day one, we were always going to be the most efficient company in the market place. We embraced new technology and ensured that our business model was not only robust but that it gave the best value to our customers and (importantly) our drivers. We also ensured that we knew our costs and what type of volume we needed in order to operate at a profit.

After the recession of last year, we are now in a much stronger position. First of all we are established in the ‘airport transfer’ market so people know we are reliable and reputable (the growth we have had in the last five years speaks for itself). Secondly, we deal with high volume so a lot of our airport transfer journeys link-up (this gives us economies of scale). And finally, our on-line booking and management system delivers such a saving on conventional office based overheads, we are way ahead of our competition.

In short, although the increased costs of fuel, parking and licensing are significant, there is comfort in the knowledge our competitors are facing the same challenges. There is also a lot of excitement in the fact we can really shine as an efficient company and offer so much more to our own – and our competitors - customers.