1 COMPANY AND PRODUCT OVERVIEW
URB-E is a global pioneer in lightweight foldable electrical vehicles and mobile power sources. The company, “Ideapiphany” was established in March 2011. One of the co-founders of Urb-E, Grant Delgatty, thought that when people take public transportation to get in city centers, there is still a need for a last mile vehicle solution. After that he teamed up with Sven Etzelsberger, an automotive engineer with a background in designing German sports cars, Porsche.
Ease of use is the main consideration behind this portable electric scooter. The URB-E provides its riders with a revolutionary, affordable alternative to cars, buses, bikes, and walking. It is a compact, lightweight and easy to use electrical scooter. It is a necessity to say that the design is based on principles of the high-end sports car industry.
Urb-E comes from Urban Electric. For this electrical vehicle it is wanted a name for URB-E that was easy to remember, but also connected to company’s design values and goals.
- Tangible Attributes: Innovative (on the go phone charger), stylish, ease to foldable
- Functional Benefits: Safety, increased mobility, ease to foldable, saving money
- Psychological Implications: Energetic (reduces exhaustion,), happiness, innovative
- Values: Eco-friendly, trendy, innovative
Urb-E positions itself as unique, stylish, eco-friendly and ultimate commuter shortcut that fits in perfectly with green lifestyle and leads time and money saving.
2 ANALYSIS OF COMPETITION
Competitors
- Piaggio: Italian brand founded in 1884. Specializes on the production of electric motorcycle, small three wheels vehicles and bicycles. This company competes with Urb-e in an indirect way, since it does not offer the exact same product. Their vehicles do not have the ability to fold, are bigger and heavier.
- Italmoto: Italian brand specialized in the production of big electric scooters and bicycles. It will become a direct competitor for Urb-e when they launch their new model Evai which is a foldable, small and transportable scooter which is not yet in the market.
- Askoll: founded in 1978 specialized on the production of electric bicycles and scooters. These products do not compete directly with Urb-e because they are bigger and not foldable.
- Maxtra: Chinese company that has developed big precence in Europe with their maniovable scooters design. With Maxtra E120 they compete directly with our product since it is a foldable and light scooter with the option of a removable seat.
Cost competition
Compared to its competitors Electric Bike (Pedego) $3,295, Electric Scooter (INU) $4,000, and Foldable Bike (Brompton $2,000, Urbe is cheaper as it costs $1,499. The company produces quality products that serve all consumers with emphasis on their pocket. Also, the Urbe has a phone charging system, which is an additional advantage to consumer as the other products don’t have a phone charging capability. The only competitor having charging system are cars, which can be counted as an indirect competitor. The cost advantage with the ability to reduce consumer costs of charging phone is an imperative advantage for users of Urbe.
Generic competition
The Urbe offers its competitors a challenge since its products are user friendly and can be used in public transport owing to its ability to cause consumer convenience. It can be easily folded and at a faster rate (1seconds) compared to its competitors such as Electric scooters (7seconds) and Foldable Bikes (90seconds). This means that the user can easily fold and unfold Urbe and use it to their convenience. It will not cause traffic attributable to its easy mechanism of folding. Also, it should be noted that the product can be folded in a similar bag to a golf bag, which is in contrast to its competitors. In essence, the product can be carried easily by the user.
Category competition
The Urbe is a foldable electric scooter that offer unique design and multi-functionality that sets the product apart from the competitors in the market. The product is made of aircraft-grade aluminum and carbon fiber that enhances safety and ease of use. It can be folded easily and carried owing to its low weight.Product Form is made of single shock, cross drilled bar, suspension, and disc brakes that makes it perfect for traveling in crowded areas.
3 MARKET RESEARCH
Doing Business in Italy
Italy has a population of approximately 61 million. The Italian economy is driven in large part by the manufacture of high quality consumer goods produced by small and medium-sized enterprises, from which many of them are family owned.
Market Overview
Italy is the world’s 8th largest economy with a GDP of 1.8 trillion euro in 2016. Until the first quarter of this year, Italy’s GDP has grown by 0.4% and it is predicted that the Italian economy will continue seeing a modest growth in 2017. According to 2015’s records, Italy was the 21st largest market for U.S. exports, which totaled approximately USD 17 billion. In the last years U.S. exports to Italy have been increasing steadily and have been concentrated in high-value sectors. For that reason, now, U.S. is Italy’s 8th largest supplier.
Italian Market
Italy is the largest European market for motorized two-wheelers, with almost 400,000 new registrations in 2010. Due to its popularity in the country, the Italian motorcycle/scooter/moped industry has always been one of the world leaders since the early decades of the 20th century. Nevertheless, the Italian market offers interesting opportunities to those U.S. companies that are able to provide high-tech motorbikes,mopeds or scooters.Also there is a great opportunity for companies that produce hybrid and zero emission vehicles, which is a a sector that has been increasing there in the last few years.
Market Challenges
Italy is a mature and sophisticated market. Therefore U.S. entrants face strong competition from local and other EU companies in all market segments. Additionally, Italy’s regulatory environment is complex and at times lacks the transparency, clarity, efficiency and certainty compared to other developed economies. Also products that involve health, safety, or environmental concerns are likely to be highly regulated. Although EU-wide regulations often apply, Italian laws may go beyond the basic EU requirements.
4 BUSINESS STRATEGIES
Find the right Italian agent, distributor, or business partner
The cultivation and maintenance of personal relationships are a vital part of doing business in Italy. Therefore, it will be crucial for Urb-e to find the right Italian agent, distributor, or business partner, which will be essential to enter the Italian market, since it is usually not effective to rely on agents or distributors in neighboring markets, despite the existence of the EU common market. However, the U.S. Commercial Service helps U.S. firms connect with key individuals and organizations through customized solutions including one-to-one meetings, company promotion events targeting customers and partners, market insights and advice, and participation in U.S. Pavilions at leading trade exhibitions, which Urb-e can use
Reduced E-Commerce opportunities
Credit card fraud is very common, so people do not shop online that much like in the US. We can adjust and limit our online promotions since face to face and business to business sales would be more effective.
Participate in major trade shows
Since Italy hosts major trade shows that attract buyers from other European countries and beyond, Urb-e could probably participate in these and gain more exposure in Italy as well as in other countries. We are planning to take place in especially in trade shows, in Milan, Italy. As we mentioned before, we turn to trade shows which can be very effective in our case since Italy is famous with them and online sales are limited
Use social networking and information
Italians do use the Internet extensively for social networking and information. Thus, as Urb-E, we adapted our strategy to join their chamber of commerce and any related organisations to establish relationships and increase the number of brochures to provide information. Special days Sales!
Special days sales
We will offer discounts for specific time for special days like Republic day in Italy
Supporter vehicle promotion
Since Urb-e is developed as a part of public transport, when someone buys an Urb-E, a 7-day pass tickets would be given as a gift to customers
5 BUSINESS POLICIES
Work hours:
Most European countries have more worker friendly labor laws than the US. According to labor law of Italy, employees can work only 48 hours in a week maximum including overtime hours. Therefore, we adjusted our work hours and especially overtime hours.
Vacation:
Every country in the European Union has at least four weeks of paid vacation and this vacation rights are protected by law. On the other hand, in thw U.S. employees receives only 16 paid vacation days and holidays. Thus, we adjusted the paid vacation days to 4 weeks minimum.
Maternity Leave:
In Italy, Every mother gets at least five months’ maternity leave. These five months are at 80% of the wage (but usually the company pays 100%).Furthermore, There are 10 more months of voluntary parental leave and no company can refuse the voluntary leave, but you have to inform the company before. Thus, we adjusted our maternity/parental leave.
Quotas:
Female unemployment rates remain high in Italy so we will put quotas to help to increase the employment of women. At least one third of the all employees will be comprised of women in Urb-e.
Safety and Health at work:
In Italy, the institutional system of safety and health, comes under the Ministry of Labour and Health. The employer is required to consult safety represantatives and provide company documentationto them , in order to protect the health and safety of employees.
Long term strategy:
We first start with Rome where is Capital of Italy, then we will expand to Milan where all famous trade shows take place. After, we are planning to expand other regions of Italy and later on other countries in EU since the regulations are similar and easy to expand once you entered into the Euro zone.