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Strategies, Risks, and Mitigations in the Parking App Companies
Inadequate parking areas in urban places and organizations that offer services to many people, such as universities, government agencies, hospitals, and department stores, are common problems found in these places. The ever-growing number of vehicles in the country is the contributing factor to such kind of a problem. Therefore, making the parking capacity of vehicles tiny compared to the hiking numbers of vehicles in those places. Hence the necessity for more parking lots. People find it hard to find parking places hence the need for smart parking services, which has helped solve these problems in urban places by discovering empty parking lots and limiting illegal parking (IPI, 2016). Several leading companies offer smart parking services; however, competition among the companies is intense to have more clients hence the need for strategies to cope with the parking industry's competition.
The vehicle parking mobile app normally acquires information about existing parking places in specific areas in urban places. The process entails using sensors, real-time data, and an automated payment system using mobile phones (IPI, 2016). This enables people to reserve a parking place in advance or predict places to find a parking space (IPI, 2016). The company aims to look for a parking lot and only consider the paid parking lot as its clients (Willingmann et al., 2017). They also maintain and ensure a secure and convenient experience for their clients (Pasricha, 2018). In Canada, there are several smart parking app companies. However, the parking industry's leading competitors include HonkMobile, ParkMobile, Passport, and PayByPhone (Pasricha, 2018).
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To stay relevant, each company in the parking industry had to develop good strategies to better their services, cope with the competition, and get more customers. For instance, HonkMobile's app focuses its product pricing, technology, logistics, and marketing strategy. HonkMobile app collects payment done for each parking event, which is around $0.25 per parking, but the fee varies depending on the need of the client and size of the vehicle (Pasricha, 2018). In terms of technology, HonkMobile uses it as the core setup for payment and other transactions. They also link credit cards and direct deposits payments into customers' accounts (Pasricha, 2018). Considering logistics, the company is transparent, ensuring the rules, rates, and features are clear for the clients as services are automated for the users. HonkMobile depends much on advertising its services on social media and also in community newspapers. They sometimes give out promotional materials to their clients and at the parking lots (Pasricha, 2018).
For Parkmobile, their strategies mainly focus on marketing and cashless payment mode. They also facilitate on and off-street parking, real-time enforcement, and digital parking permits (Lamarcus, 2015). Parkmobile also focuses on creating awareness through promotions and advertising on local media. They also ensure frequent activeness on online customer services, solidify digital existence like optimizing relevant information on digital platforms such as Google (Lamarcus, 2015). The company has also invested in engaging the clients through emails, which gives product enhancement, traffic and weather updates, etc.
PayByPhone, on the other hand, is focusing its efforts on customer service; thus, clients can even call on their phones to pay for the parking. The company presence is limited in Canada; however, its impact is useful in the parking industry (Lamarcus, 2015). The company also helps clients pay securely and efficiently for their parking lots without difficulties, waiting in line, or imperiling costly fines. For Passport App Company, which is one of the best mobile payments company dealing with urban mobility solutions. They have great software platforms that provide transit and parking agencies an efficient and effective mode to accomplish their operations and serve their clients (Lamarcus, 2015).
Customer Personas
Persona #1
Name: James Clifford
Age: 40
Marital Status: Married
Lives: Ontario
Occupation: James is a hunter who enjoys what he does and has much energy directed towards his hunting job. He also enjoys the wild, where he also takes his family to enjoy the breeze.
Technology: James uses the current technology to market his products, which helps increase his sales. The high level of social media use among individuals helps increase their sales over time.
Problems: James's main problem is that his family-owned hunting truck has no parking spot. He thus requires a long-term parking spot near his neighborhood.
Persona #2
Name: Jane Smith
Age: 22
Marital Status: Single
Lives: Vancouver
Occupation: Jane lives as well as works in Vancouver downtown. She is passionate about her occupation as a secretary in the city. She reports to work early, and everyone else has left to ensure that she completes all the pending duties.
Technology: Jane, like any other young person, is a frequent user of technology. She uses LinkedIn, Facebook, and other social media sites to advertise the organization's products and services.
Problems: Jane has trouble parking her car and needs a short-term daily packing spot near her workplace. She needs a daily parking spot where she would feel comfortable leaving her car throughout the working hours.
Persona #3
Name: Jayden's Family
Age: 3-35
Lives: Vancouver
Occupation: The family owns a business that does well through its excellent customer service. Their hotel business also prepares food depending on customer preferences.
Technology: The family uses social media for marketing its products to customers from every part of the country, thus creating customer awareness. It helps them maintain customers as well as gain more interested consumers.
Problems: The family frequently visits the PNE amusement part in Vancouver, thus require an hourly parking spot. Currently, the families living next to PNE offers the family a parking spot; however, it is time-consuming as they spend much time searching for a parking spot.
Risks and Mitigation
Competition in the parking industry is crucial as each company is dedicated to its services to obtain a high position in the industry and achieve maximum benefits. Competitions highly affect sales, market share, and difficulties in accessing the international markets (Ojiako et al. 2014). For companies to reduce the risk for competition, there is a need to improve the levels of technology, positively change customer expectations and quality customer services, maintain prices that favor customers, and ensure management understanding (Ojiako et al. 2014).
People not trying out services from other parking companies can be a challenge generally to the industry. People are keen on factors like price, safety, and convenience (Long, 2018). For instance, most drivers are likely to go for on-street parking than garage and lots because they are easy to access. Customer trends also matter, such as good experiences with the current company. When a company meets the client's expectations, the customer is likely to stick to the company hence being reluctant to shift to another company (Willingmann et al., 2017). Therefore, to enable customers' shifting, the companies have to improve their services and products by providing promotional benefits to clients, better prices, and specific safety (Long, 2018).
All over the country, parking places were bustling with many people, including workers, shoppers, etc. However, since COVID-19 emerged, parking slots are empty (Waters, 2020). As people work from home and business places closed, the need for parking lots has drastically dropped. Since the beginning of the pandemic, an estimated 90 percent drop is experienced in the parking industry (Gautum, 2020). Therefore, also impacting on the economy of cities across the country.
In conclusion, the parking app companies have helped solve parking's common problem by making available parking lots. With the help of technological advancement, information from multiple sources can be used by companies as guidance for drivers. Competition among the companies also favors the client as quality services are rendered at a favorable cost.
References
Gautam, S. (2020). How Coronavirus Will Change the Parking Industry. Parking Industry. https://www.getmyparking.com
International Parking Institute (IPI) (2016). At a Glance: Mobile Apps for the Parking Industry. Advancing the Parking Profession. http://www.pewinternet.org
Lamarcus, B. (2015). Smart Park. Business Description. 5-9. https://www.smarkpark.com/
Long, A. (2018). Urban Parking as Economic Solution. International Parking Institute. 22-24.
Ojiako, U., Marshall, A. & Luke, M. (2014). Managing Competition Risk: A Critical Realist Philosophical Exploration. Competition and Change. 16(2): 130-49.
Pasricha, A. (2018). Honk Mobile Company Overview. Scotiabank Digital Banking Lab. https://www.honkmobile.com
Waters, M. (2020). Will COVID-19 Change the Parking Business? The business of Parking. https://www.thehustle.com
Willingmann, P., Turbek, S., & Ryan, G. (2017). The Future of Parking. Deloitte Insight. 6-14.
