National Bus plans
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This was revealed last week when National's group marketing manager, Brian Barrett, spoke at a symposium at Newcastle University. He predicted that the group will need to "move down the path of greater commercial freedom" if it is to counter the decline in demand for its ordinary bus services.
According to Mr Barrett, National Bus is especially keen to build up more business in the private hire and excursion markets which have grown less rapidly than express services.
While National Holidays carried 15 per cent more passengers last year and there has been "substantial" growth in both National Express and the regional express sector, contract hire business has grown only by 10 per cent and private hires by five per cent.
He said this ignored National's potential marketing strength as it can provide wide coverage of the country and has the ability to market private hires on a national basis. Research had demonstrated that promotion of private hire — the concept as well as the detail — was the key to obtaining an increased market share. This demanded a "specialised product and marketing organisation" capable of developing and supplying specialised packages to a wide range of clubs and institutions and with local marketing outlets.
Likewise with excursions, there was a role for national marketing to develop the market and NBC's penetration of it.
He hinted that NBC would like to invest more in leisure. He said: "The market is very large, and the scale of existing products is too small to secure the larger level of penetration which NBC has to achieve."
Entering the leisure market involved investments not only in product quality but in sales facilities and substantial advertising and promotion. There were economies of scale to be achieved — the greater the scale of the penetration, the more effectively it could be communicated to the market.
Scope for expansion of business might lie in joint-marketing efforts with airlines, ferry operators, and hotel groups who had the sales outlet necessary to attract overseas visitors.