Business Planning, Group Report – Vodafone

Vodafone operates though out the world, the countries are Albania, Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Egypt, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, South Africa, Spain Sweden, Uganda, United Kingdom and United States. Vodafone is the UK’s leading network operator with the highest number of users. The UK’s mobile market is an oligopoly market.
The company originally concentrated on the business market but now concentrates more on the commercial market and this is were we can compare them to other mobile network providers such as O2, Orange, and T-Mobile. Vodafone markets its products to a wide range of people and 71% of its users are aged between 15 and 44. Vodafone realised that most people wanted a non-contractual mobile service and so released the UK’s first Pay As You Talk billing structure.
This is where you purchase a telephone for a one off price and then top up your calling credit with vouchers that can be purchased from many UK high street outlets. The latest variation of the pre-paid package is called “pay as you talk” calls. Vodafone want to concentrate more on the leisure market in recent years and by launching exciting new services such as “pay as you talk” and “pre pay”, they will attract a wider range of customers.

Vodafone has realised that services such as “pay as you talk” and “pre pay”, may not be convenient to users such as the self employed and users with a heavier phone usage. With this in mind, Vodafone claim to have the lowest contract tariff at just 9. 99. With these services combined, they can attract most of the leisure market as they have a service tariff, which suits all needs. Promotion Vodafone advertise heavily on the television, and local, regional and national wide newspapers.
They appear on prime time television and tend to aim their advertisements that appeal to all classes of society. They have a very user-friendly web site and they retail outlets are in most major towns and cities. They have recently launched cinema advertising where they hope to gain an even greater share of the younger market. Target Customers Vodafone is trying to attract consumers in the AB social economic group with both their pre pay and contractual services. Competitive Advantage
Vodafone is the UK’s longest established mobile phone company. They have a good reputation in the mobile industry. They use this to great advantage as a very good tool, as most people decide to choose their mobile on the service a member of their family or a friend are using. As Vodafone already has the most number of users, this market lead should significantly increase. They are investing heavily in new technology and offer the largest service for example, WAP, GPRS, and along with O2, offer both analogue and digital tariffs.
Vodafone have always focused on one vision and that is to be the world’s mobile communications leader – improving lives of the customers, helping organizations, people and communities be more connected in a rapidly improving mobile communications world. Since the company was formed in 1984 Vodafone have always looked to expand their business both internally and externally by using their vision to foresee innovative strategies such as, Vodafone making the first international roaming call via a link up between Vodafone and Telecom Finland.
Vodafone have proved so far that their intentions on being the market leader have been fulfilled. This is due to the company having a set of values that are shared within the organisation. Their set values are that they value their customers, so that the customers are satisfied with their service; they value their employees so that they can develop, retain, promote and reward them; they value their results which makes them focused to be the best in what they do and they value the environment around us so that improvements that have been made must be respected throughout the world.