SWOT Analysis of Blue Dart Express: Leading Indian Logistics

Products & Services by Blue Dart Express

Blue Dart is one of the most well-known courier delivery companies and provides products and services like

• Premium logistics services
• Freight forwarding
• Supply chain solutions
• E-commerce solutions
• Dart Apex

Competitors of Blue Dart Express

Blue Dart’s top five competitors are:

• Delhivery
• DTDC
• FedEx
• Gati
• Ecom Express

After understanding the core of the company, let us now proceed to the SWOT analysis of Blue Dart Express.

SWOT Analysis of Blue Dart Express

A SWOT Analysis is a summary of a company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This method allows an organisation to get a clear picture of their current market position and compare its performance to its competitors. It serves as a base for planning marketing strategies to improve and meet organisational goals, both short term and long term.

To better understand the SWOT analysis of Blue Dart Express, refer to the infographic below:

So let us first start by looking at the strengths of Blue Dart Express from the SWOT analysis of Blue Dart Express.

Strengths of Blue Dart Express

Strengths refer to the characteristics and capabilities that differentiate an organisation from others in its target market and help maximise market share, customer base and eventually the profits of the organisation. Following are the strengths of Blue Dart Express:

• The Advantage of Business Alliance: In an ever-increasingly crowded market Blue Dart Express’ market share in the air courier industry is quickly expanding as a result of the new partnerships such as the business alliance with DHL Express and business agreement with the UK express service – Gelco Express International, for the operations of international air package express services from India.
• Cutting-edge Technologies: It has smart truck technology, including “intelligent” pick-up and route planning. Cutting-edge technology, a wide range of innovative, vertical-specific products and value-added services delivers unmatched standards of service quality to its customers.
• 24×7 Availability: Blue Dart Express allows its customers to track orders at any given point of time and day. Not just this they offer 24×7 customer support to report any issues.
• Diverse Portfolio: Blue Dart Express has a diverse portfolio containing clients from industries like e-commerce, pharma and healthcare, banking and finance, heavy machinery and manufacturing, food and groceries, automotive and auto parts and consumer goods.
• Wide Network:  Blue Dart Express has its services all over the world in more than 200 countries, connected with 21 locations and over 100 hubs.
• High-Profit Margins: When compared to the competition in the air courier industry – Blue Dart Express has experienced a profit jump of 29.5% to Rs 123.4 Crore and the company has larger profit margins than its competitors.
• Affordable Prices: FedEx has affordable prices which makes people attracted to their company and also creates trust among their clients. Everyone can take advantage of their services because of affordable prices.
  

Weaknesses of Blue Dart Express

Weaknesses refer to the characteristics of a brand or an organisation that needs to be improved. The weaknesses of Blue Dart Express are stated as below:

• Market Share is Decreasing: Blue Dart Express is boosting its revenues, but the air courier industry is outpacing the company. In this situation, Blue Dart Express must carefully examine the numerous trends in the transportation business and determine what it has to do to generate future growth.
• Insufficient Training: Lack of training for courier and delivery personnel that interact directly with customers is an issue because they represent the company’s face.
• Huge Operational Costs: Operating a business in the logistics industry requires big amounts of operational costs from time to time to keep the business process going.
• Changes in Technology: It requires frequent changes in technology as new and better technology comes up now and then. It gets both difficult to train people and an expensive affair to bring in changes in the technology used frequently.
• Minimal Expenditure on CFS: Blue Dart Express has made minimal expenditures on its customer-focused services – soon, rivals may acquire an advantage as a result of this. Blue Dart Express needs to invest more in research and development, particularly in programs that are focused on customer care.
• Labour-Intensive Industry: The logistics industry is dependent on people and is, therefore, a labour-intensive industry. This dependence on people makes it exhausting for the company to manage regular training of delivery partners and performance-based appraisals. 
• Establishing New SCM: The internet and AI have substantially impacted the economic model in the transportation industry, and given the diminishing importance of the dealer network, if Blue Dart Express creates a new more resilient supply chain network, it will be highly costly for Blue Dart Express.
• Damage in Transportation: It is the major possibility in transportation and delivery services that the products may get damaged some time which is commonly seen. It also directly affects the reputation of the company which is not good.

Opportunities for Blue Dart Express

Opportunities refer to the areas where the organisation can use its full potential to increase sales and maximise profits shortly.

• Diversification: The majority of India’s population still lives in the rural parts making it a huge and untapped market as there are not many international logistic players that have entered it. The rural areas of India are having an increase in logistics, the company can expand its services to villages and rural areas.
• Increase in Trade: Rise in trade around the globe in manufacturing goods will lead to an increase in the transportation of goods leading to an increase in business for Blue Dart Express. Blue Dart Express can expand on a global level and aim for better penetration.
• Investment in Technology: Investing in good and modern technology provides many opportunities for a brand. Machine learning and data science are booming, brands can utilise them to back their product development and enhancement process. Blue Dart Express can develop software that enables faster goods clearance saving time.
• Acquisition Synergies: Acquisitions are a good way of expanding an ongoing business with the help of another one by utilising its resources. 
• Consolidate Position in the Market: The company should look forward to consolidating its position in warehousing and cross-border logistics by providing end-to-end cross-border supply chain solutions.
• Use Digital Marketing: Blue Dart Express has to use digital media for its promotion and advertisement. Digital marketing has created a boom nowadays and has been very cost-effective and targeted which should help the company to generate more revenue and show its presence everywhere.

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• Increase in Cross-border Trade: The rise in the global manufacturing of goods will lead to a rise in the transportation of goods. This will provide more and more opportunities to the logistics industry and the companies dealing in that industry.
• Making System Faster: The company has to make their system faster than they are having and try to reduce the time of delivery and have to try to give the best services in less time.

Threats to Blue Dart Express

Threats refer to the external factors outside of an organisation that affects the performance of the brand or the organisation. Possible threats to Blue Dart Express are as follows:

• Political Unrest: Political unrest like riots and protests lead to injuries to delivery partners and cause damage to the goods that are to be delivered.
• International Competition: Many companies originated before Blue Dart Express and are performing well in the market which is also a big drawback for Blue Dart Express to maintain its position in the market as the company was having before some time.
• Country-specific Regulations: Each country has a different set of rules and regulations regarding the transportation of goods. Some goods have very strict restrictions in some countries making it difficult to transport them.
• Currency Fluctuations: A company dealing in multiple countries has to constantly deal with currency conversations. Constant fluctuations in these make it difficult for calculations.
• Increasing Fuel Rates: The increasing fuel rates are also a weakness for Blue Dart Express because as the fuel rate increases the company has to make changes in its delivery prices to survive in the market.

This ends our extensive SWOT analysis of Blue Dart Express. Let us conclude our learning below.