Table of Content

1. Introduction................................................................................................................................2
1.1 Project Plan............................................................................................................................2
1.2 Rationale.................................................................................................................................2
2. Situational Analysis....................................................................................................................4
2.1 Macro Environment Analysis.................................................................................................4
2.2 Micro Environment Analysis.................................................................................................6
2.3 SWOT Analysis......................................................................................................................7
3. Assessment of the Market..........................................................................................................8
3.1 Market Research.....................................................................................................................8
3.2 Positioning............................................................................................................................12
3.3 Costing.................................................................................................................................13
3.4 Promotions...........................................................................................................................14
3.5 Competitive Advantage........................................................................................................14
Service Methodology....................................................................................................................16
4.1 Free Pre-move Survey .........................................................................................................16
4.2 Consultancy .........................................................................................................................17

4.3 Packing ................................................................................................................................17

4.4 Relocation Services .............................................................................................................18
4.5 Un-Packing Services............................................................................................................19
1. Introduction

1.1 Project Plan

We decided to setup a company by the name of Moving Solutions®; this

company will be providing the moving services including packing, transferring
and unpacking of item at the destination. This service will be called “Home to
Home” and will initially operate only within the limits of the Karachi city, with the
view of expanding the services to inter-city transfer in the foreseeable future.

1.2 Rationale

Due to the recent surge in the foreign investments in the financial sector of
Pakistan, there has been a tremendous growth in this sector. Most of these firms
are based in Karachi which has prompted masses to migrate to Karachi in order
to seek profitable employment. This has led to increasing demand for properties
in Karachi, especially on ‘rent’, since most of these migrants come from middle or
upper middle class backgrounds who find it difficult to purchase a new apartment
upfront.

Rented houses though provide an occupant with the luxury of locating at a place
without owning it, but it also provides them the insecurity of relocation, as they
have to vacate the premises on the order of their landlord. The scenario of
moving houses is quite common in Karachi. We find people moving their
locations frequently because either they have been asked to do so by their
landlord or they have found a better house at a cheaper rent at some other
location.

These frequent movers along with other middle and upper middle class
population of Karachi have been identified as our target market and we aim to
provide them the logistical assistance in their home shifting in lieu of nominal
service charges.

2
1.3 Benefits

This service in essence provides benefits to three stakeholders. These are:

1. Benefits to the Movers

2. Benefits to Us
3. Benefits to the Environment

Benefits to the Movers

At present the moving services being offered in the market are criticized for both
low level of customer service and high prices. However, we plan to target both
these issues with our offering. By providing cost minimized solution at a relative
cheaper price then our competitors we believe our service would indeed prove
beneficial to our customers.

Benefits to Us

This project was launched with view of earning revenues for the team. Thus the
eventual benefit of this service is to deliver us the profit in the long run. This profit
according to our calculations should not take more than six month. The detail
information regarding our costing and profitability has been provided in the next
section.

Benefits to the Environment

The packing materials used by our competitors include those bags which are
made of plastics and polythene which pose a potential threat to our eco-system.
The material that we plan to use is not only reusable but also biodegradable.
Thus tackling the issues with one product; the reusable nature helps us in cutting
the overall cost and the biodegradable nature helps preserve the eco-system.

3
2. Situational Analysis

2.1 Macro Environment Analysis

Demographics

The population is growing day by day. The process of migration from other cities
to Karachi in search of a better future prospect has added to the effect. People
coming from other cities due to the high cost of purchasing property prefer to live
in rented houses. This is a benefit to us as people in rented houses are more
frequent movers as compared to people living in self-owned houses. About 7% of
the total population of Pakistan lives in rented houses. This % is even higher in
cities like Karachi where property prices are soaring.

Economic Conditions

The economic conditions of Pakistan are improving. People have higher incomes
and thus more money to spend. Now is the time when people in metropolitan
cities like Karachi are moving to better if not bigger houses. However the better
standard of life has its costs. It has increased time pressures and work load
therefore reducing leisure time available. People prefer to have time free and
available while their work is done by some other person in payment for some
amount of money.

Competition
Global International Movers
280, 2nd Floor,
G-2, Hamilton Court,
Block - 7 Clifton Karachi

4
 Security Packers
2nd Floor Dream arcade,
Block – 8 Kehkashan
Clifton, Karachi

Our competitors are high priced service provider, whereas we intend to serve our
customers to the best at a reasonable price. In our range of price, we are not
confronted by any competition.

Social and Cultural Forces

Premium on Time: Karachi is on the move, people have busy working

schedules, in such a situation taking out time and energy to pack , arrange for
transportation , unpack and arrange at the destination is looked upon as a
wasteful and tiring activity Here is where we, “the moving solutions” come in.

Concern about Natural Environment: Also people are more concerned about
the environment, and we by using re-usable packing will be fulfilling our
customer’s expectation of not having the environment.

Changing Gender Roles: Now both men and women are working. Hence, the
packing and unpacking responsibility which was previously usually assumed by
the female in the family, now is either to be shared by both or delegated to a third
party, a logistics company like us!!!! The trend of newly married couples living in
a separate house is also a positive trend for us, as they initially live in rented
houses. And are more inclined to shifting houses.

Political and Legal Forces

The political conditions of Pakistan are unpredictable. As such people are

keeping cash in hand and preferring to move from big houses to small houses
because of the fear of property prices decline. This provides additional market
opportunities for us.

5
Legally, we have to follow the legislations regarding the movement of heavy
traffic timing. But, we have turned this in our benefit as well. We see it as an
opportunity to hire cheap labor and to ensure quick transportation.

2.2 Micro Environment Analysis

Suppliers

We intend to order the packing material online through the website

“[Link] They offer packing material that is reusable
and sets up automatically, saving both our cost and time. The cost incurred in
acquiring these boxes is a one-time expense, and can be treated as a fixed
expense by the company. The variety of boxes that they offer includes:

• Book Box: These small cartons are designed for packing heavy items,
such as books, records, CD’s, and canned goods.

• Legal Tote Box: This box is specially designed for keeping files and
folders. The specialty is that the compartmentalization is good and it does not
cause any harm to the appearance of the file.

• Medium sized Box: For non-fragile and moderately heavy items, such as
pots, pans, linen, folded clothes, toys, games etc.

• Large Box: It is used to carry all large, bulky articles but relatively very
light items like pillows, comforters, etc

• Dish/China Pack Box: This box has double extra thick walls specifically
designed for dishes, vases, glasses and other fragile items. Cell packs separator
for china or glassware, with individual compartments for the items, can also be
used.

• Mirror or Picture Box: These narrow boxes accommodate different sized

mirrors, paintings, other fragile items and flat items.

6
• Sandwich Bags: These are used to hold appliances/furniture hardware.

• Wardrobe Box with Metal Bar: This box is equipped with a metal bar so
clothes can be hanged and can be ready to wear after unpacking.

• Mattress Box: To accommodate the mattresses of various sizes.

Our company plans to out source its transportation. At present, there are two
transport vendors aboard “Haji Tayab Goods Transportation” and “Durrani
Transportation Service”. Apart from the two mentioned, there are many
transporters operating in Karachi, thus the company does not anticipate any
issue with the supply of transportation for moving goods.

The Market

The market for our service exists in the people who live in a rented house. These
people tend to switch between their locations quite frequently proving to be a
favorable potential for us.

2.3 SWOT Analysis

Strengths

• The most competitive advantage lies in the cost of service. Our proposed
prices are way below those of competitors

• Another competitive advantage is the quality of our customer service. With

the general level of customer service in the industry quite poor, our service holds
a potential advantage in this regard.

• Our innovative idea to move goods at night will help us tremendously in

reducing our cost.

7
• The use of biodegradable material for packing generally preserves our
environment from depleting further, which in our opinion is indeed one of our
major strength.

Weaknesses

• In the beginning we will be starting a very small scale. This could

potentially cause a delay in service if met with unprecedented demand.

• Our reliance on transportation service is quite high. Thus any mishap on

their part would have an adverse effect on our service

Opportunities

• Further growth is expected in the country, which would lead to more jobs
and more migration to Karachi. This augurs well for our service.

• Though at present we are only providing the moving services, but with
time we could also turn into house providers, by arranging the house in the
desired location for our potential customers.

Threats

• The major threat faced by our service today is the uncertain political
environment in the country. These political conditions may hamper the growth of
our economy.

3. Assessment of the Market

3.1 Market Research

We carried out a survey to understand the needs of our potential customers. The
survey questionnaire consisted of 14 closed ended questions. The survey was
carried out at the shopping center in tariq road and bahadurabad. The customer
response to our survey is discussed below.

8
• Almost 70% subject of our survey that had previously availed the services
of logistics companies found them below their satisfaction level.

Customer Satisfaction

30%

70%

Not Satisfied Satisfied

• Further the survey indicated that most common reasons for lower
satisfaction are high prices and poor quality of customer service. Our team has
taken note of this observation and we plan to focus on providing quality customer
service at a lower cost.

Reason for Lower Level of Satisfaction

9
• Almost 77% of the people surveyed, were not willing to pay more than
15,000 rupees to avail this service. However, at present the prices charged by
our competitors are in the region of 20,000 – 25,000. The prices are indeed
outside budget of most of the customers.

Customer's Willingess to Pay

8%

15% 34%

43%

Below10,000 10,000 - 15,000 15,000 - 20,000 Above 20,000

The following two graphs show the importance of both the price and quality to the
potential customers surveyed. The importance of both of these factors combined
make up to a total of 90% of customer’s desire. This statistic proved decisive in
the positioning of our service. We had a place in the market if provided we
entered with a strategy that focused on customer relationship management and
the charged a fees that was considered nominal by our potential customers.

10
 Importance of Quality of the Service

3%

43%

54%

Important Not as Important as Price and Reliability Not Important

Importance of Priceof theService

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
Important Not as Important as the Not Important
Quality of the Service

11
3.2 Positioning

The results of the survey conducted coupled with our analysis of the market
indicated the opportunity in the market for those service providers who could
focus on cost minimization and customer service. The positioning matrix
below depicts the current situation in the market. The competitors are either high
priced or low on customer service. We, however, have decided to enter the
market with the vision to focus on both these aspects.

To reduce our cost we have decided to out source of transportation. To reduce

our cost even further, we have decided to move during the night hours, where we
could actually get discounted rates for transportation. Another major factor that
leads to cost minimization is the use of re-usable packing material. Acquiring this
material will be a one time expense and will reduce our overall cost appreciably.

We aim to provide personalized customer service. A greater emphasis would be

channeled to ensure that customer is satisfied from us. For this very reason we
plan to conduct a free pre-move survey at each of our clients to better
understand their demands. This survey will be done without obligation to avail
our service.

12
3.3 Costing

Break-Even Calculation

13
Product Pricing

3.4 Promotions

• Our promotion campaign will be done through public relations. We have

already contacted real estate agents in some areas of the city and plan to work in
unison with them. We have sought the assistance of these real estate agents in
introducing us to any potential house mover that might require assistance in
moving.

• We would be advertising ourselves from time to time on local cable

networks and news papers. We have already designed our advertisement.
Further, we would also promote our service through “Sunday-classified”
advertisements of major newspapers.

3.5 Competitive Advantage

To enter any business and provide competition to the already established entities
in that area, a business has to provide some differentiating factors in their
offerings. These differentiating factors, in our case are designed, after conducting
a research of the services offered by our competitors. Further, we also obtained
information from a group of people who have availed such facility in the recent
14
past, and their experience has helped us tremendously to determine the areas
where we could capitalize from other competitors in the market. The competitive
advantages that we have highlighted are as follows:

Quality Customer Service

It’s a very well known fact in marketing that the value of service is created by
satisfying the customer, and that is utmost priority of our business. While we
were in conversation with a few families that have recently used packing
services here in Karachi, they voice their discontent at the level customer
service provided by the companies. In their opinion, there existed no such
mechanism in these companies to respond to various queries over the
telephone, and nor was the customer’s satisfaction given any importance.
Most of the clients complained about the inability of these companies to even
observe discipline in time management. Clients were often to wait for
between three – six hours.

Knowing, such a lack of customer support, we intend to hire a couple of

customer service representatives. These representatives will be responsible
not only to satisfy the demands of the clients over the telephone, but would
also handle those clients who may visit our office for any information.
Additionally they will also responsible for arranging the visit to client’s location
their demand.

Cost Minimization

Since, our target market segment is generally middle-income class; we have

decided to focus specifically to make our service cost effective. This reduction
in cost will be achieved through the usage of packing materials that is re-
usable, which would make our packing materials cost a fixed one time
expense. Further to cut the cost we have decided to travel between the
locations in the wee hours of the night. These will provide us couple of cost
reduction benefits; firstly it will make sure that we reach our destination in
time due to lack of traffic in the night and secondly we could get cheap labour,

15
 since there are quite a few loss-income people who would be ready to offer
their services in the night for part-time services.

Unpacking at the Destination

We aim to provide the option of unpacking at the destination to our clients to

save them the hassle of unpacking. This is a unique idea in this market. And
in our opinion this will help us generate demand for our services.

Ancillary Services

Our initial plan of offering goods insurance and fumigation facilities at the
destination is another novel idea. Though this scheme has already been
introduced in the foreign markets, but it is yet to enter our local market. This
idea was also appreciated by those people whom we approached for their
opinions. These people were valued the importance of insurance, as that
would assure them that their valuables are intact.

Service Methodology

4.1 Free Pre-move Survey

A pre-move survey plays a vital role to build understanding between the moving
and packing company and the client. We will conduct this survey free of cost and
without any obligation to avail our services.

Just as each move is different, the parameters of this survey will also vary from
situation to situation. A few of the common activities we will undertake during the
pre move survey are:

• Assessing quantity of goods to be moved, along with weight, volume or

both. Any additional item to be moved must be informed about to the surveyor at
this point

16
• We will discuss details like packing/moving schedule, destination access,
heavy/bulky items handling etc. we will record any special customer requests.

The discussions will be combined with helpful suggestions. Specific pickup and
delivery requirements of the clients will be taken care of and accordingly, they will
be advised regarding the types and costs of services available. Moving costs are
based on total volume (measured in cubic feet) or weight of the personal
belongings. Our company's surveyor will visit the clients premises, home/office,
to give comprehensive cost analysis along with the best mode of packing and
moving.

4.2 Consultancy

After finalizing the initial costing estimate, our service provider will then focus on
other vital aspects related to the packing and moving program, which includes
shipping of goods, paperwork at the time of embarkation and disembarkation and
other documentation. This consultation can also be done over the phone and
once all the services expected by the client are noted, the resources required for
it will then be short listed. During this relocation consultancy service we will
discuss in detail the entire packing, loading, crating, moving, unloading,
unpacking, and resettling service. Depending on the nature of move and the
client (individual or corporate) the significance and time taken for the process is
different.

4.3 Packing

At the heart of every relocation, lies the right packing solution. The quality of the
packing is undoubtedly one of the most critical aspects of the move. And well
planned as well as careful packing is one of the most important aspects of the
move, corporate or household. Be it a small stationery item, important documents
or precious porcelain, well-packed goods stand little chance of being damaged.
Also, packing in an orderly manner makes the unpacking and storage much
easier.

17
Specialists in relocation, our packing team will be fully trained in the delicate art
of moving valued possessions as well as tough to move big machines. Also, any
particular items requiring special care will be identified and accordingly packed.
The entire packing will be done under the supervision of an expert who will make
sure that all the goods are perfectly packed so that they don't get damaged while
moving from one place to another.

There are several packing packages available for home or business. Our packing
package will include everything from boxes, paper and also reusable packing
material. Our convenient service will save a lot of time and will ensure that
shipment is secure and protected for delivery.

4.4 Relocation Services

Our company will provide services for residential and corporate relocation.

Residential Relocations

Every single piece of household is properly packed and transported, keeping in

mind the nature of goods. While the fragile goods handle delicate handling,
article like piano and furniture, need a different kind of packaging and handling
altogether.

Corporate Relocations

Increasingly more and more corporations are hiring moving and packing
companies for the relocation purpose. Apart from saving substantial wastage,
this also sheds some of the workload of their HR managers. This relocation can
be for office employees (single or many) or a complete office.

The MNC and Trans national corporations, that are focusing on the global
presence can benefit by our services. Special care will be taken not to let
relocation process disrupt the routine or business of the corporate customers.
Also, timing is an extremely crucial factor during the business or commercial
18
relocation so the major part of the move will be covered on the weekends to offer
least inconvenience.

Some of the service offered for corporate relocation includes:

• Visits to current and new locations.

• Work out proposed floor plans.
• Complete scheduling and planning.
• Department-by-department surveys, budgets and inventories.
• Timing and work area schedules.
• Move management and administration.
• Briefing employees to ensure their full participation and cooperation in the
relocation process.
• Insurance
• Rearranging entire set up.

4.5 Un-Packing Services

Taking the goods to the destination is only half the job done. After packing and
moving them to the final place, unpacking is a crucial aspect and must be done
as carefully as the packing job. It needs trained hands to unpack the items,
carefully and in a systematic manner.

Unraveling the contents, positioning the furniture, hanging stuff on the walls etc is
a time consuming part and needs assistance. Our Unpackers will unpack boxes
and arrange items at the proper place. Some of the unpacking tasks that we will
undertake are:

• Unpacking of the boxes.

• Placement of fragile items.
• Furniture assembly and positioning.
• Hanging of shelves and cabinets.
• Rubbish disposal.
• Unpacking fragile items.
• Unpack cartons and place goods into cupboards.

19
• Cupboards, shelves and bench tops are wiped clean.
• Placing food items into the pantry and refrigerator.
• Clothing is unpacked and hung in wardrobes.
• Beds are freshly made.
• Linen and towels are sorted and color coordinated.
• Books are neatly arranged onto bookshelves.
• Crystal, silverware and family heirlooms placed into wall units.

Depending on the customer’s specifications, either all the boxes or just a few of
them will be unpacked, to suit the needs of the client.

20
APPENDIX

21