Union Pacific Marketing Strategy & Marketing Mix (4Ps)
Marketing Strategy of Union Pacific analyzes the brand with the marketing mix framework which covers the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place, Promotion). These business strategies, based on Union Pacific marketing mix, help the brand succeed in the market. Let us start the Union Pacific Marketing Strategy & Mix to understand its product, pricing, advertising & distribution strategies:
Quick Glance:
Union Pacific Product Strategy:
The product strategy and mix in Union Pacific marketing strategy can be explained as follows:
Union Pacific is one of the leading logistics and transportation companies in the world. Union Pacific Company segregates its business into the type of goods it carries through its locomotives in its railroad network. These include Agriculture Products – these teams ship fresh and frozen food items, beverages, oils, grains and other products including a dedicated team that particularly caters to Ethanol industries; Automotive Products – automotive teams provide logistics solutions for the manufacturers to ship their automotive parts, after market and finished vehicles. Union Pacific has access to more than 40 distribution centres and even serves 5 assembly lines directly; Chemical Products – This group ships chemical products like soda ash, fertilizers and various petrochemicals; Coal – Coal teams provide services to markets like utility, market and even exports.
These groups ship coal from mines to concerned markets like electricity plants located across the country; Industrial Products – These teams ship variety of products like cement, government related products, wind turbines sand, lime and steel etc.; Intermodal teams offer wide variety of multi modal solutions for domestic and foreign freight. Union Pacific’s Mexican markets division provides services to and from Mexican/ U.S borders.
Image: Wikimedia
Union Pacific Price/Pricing Strategy:
Below is the pricing strategy in Union Pacific marketing strategy:
Union Pacific offers B2B services and its prices are dependent on various factors. There is a huge competition in transportation sector and for this very reason Union Pacific maintains a competitive pricing strategy in its marketing mix.
Because of these limitations in pricing company is focused on reducing the costs, achieve high productivity and improved network performance. Its advantage is that customers cannot really bargain on prices set by Union by Pacific because of its unparalleled railroad network connectivity. Still Union Pacific keeps evaluating its prices periodically to remain competitive. Union Pacific is effective in the sense that its velocity per hour is higher than its peers at 24 miles/hr. It recently increased its prices by 3 percent.
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Union Pacific Place & Distribution Strategy:
Following is the distribution strategy in the Union Pacific marketing mix:
Union Pacific by acquiring other railroads in different areas like Chicago, Missouri – Kansas – Texas and other places is now the largest railroad network in the United States. Union Pacific covers 2/3rd of the country with its 32,100-mile network coverage. It has its hump yards in many places of Texas, California, Oregon, Louisiana, Arkansas, etc. It provides coast-to-coast refrigerated services, offers services in key population centres in eastern part. Union Pacific has an extensive door-to-door and ramp-to-ramp services that can offer customers access to places across North America.
It even provides the costumers with the flexibility to transport goods in rail-owned shipping containers or even private equipment.
Union Pacific Promotion & Advertising Strategy:
The promotional and advertising strategy in the Union Pacific marketing strategy is as follows:
Union Pacific uses multiple ways to promote its brand and reach to more customers. It runs TV commercials and print advertisements in newspapers and other ad campaigns. It uses digital ways to reach to its customers and also a very effective public relations team. Union Pacific has a very unique Railroad Museum in Iowa. This museum contains one of the oldest corporate collections in the history United States which includes artefacts, photographs, and other documents that shows the development of the railroad and also the American West. This museum has more than 5 lakhs. It uses national level ad campaigns to showcase company’s capabilities and expertise like door-to-door shipping logistics.
Since this is a service marketing brand, here are the other three Ps to make it the 7Ps marketing mix of Union Pacific.
People:
Union Pacific employs more than 43,000 individuals. It implements strategies for employee development and growth as the company believes they are important for company’s success. Company provides equal opportunities for everyone to help them grow in their career. Union Pacific emphasizes its employees to learn new technologies and keep abreast of the trends in their respective fields. It provides leadership training for the selected employees. It employs a host of development programs to help its employees in their growth. Union Pacific provides a comprehensive benefits program to the employees which includes medical insurance, educational assistance, pension and a 401(k).
Process:
As the sector Union Pacific operates is a highly competitive one with the players operating with very minimal margins there should be mechanisms for operational efficiency to remain profitable. Union Pacific believes in this and invests in improving the process in all of its operations. In restructuring the railroad network, it invested nearly $4.2 billion in 2015 to improve safety and resiliency of network, which includes more than $1.8 billion in infrastructure replacement plans. It implements corridor strategies to reduce bottlenecks across the system it operates. Its cost structures are highly agile. Improving productivity is the prime concern and these plans are already working as Union Pacific is having the highest velocity compared to its peers and also terminal dwell.
Physical Evidence:
Union Pacific is having its headquarters at Omaha and it has offices in many places of America. It has hump yards in multiple locations. It also has its fleet of 8,500 locomotives. Union Pacific is a publicly traded company listed in New York Stock Exchange and also is a Component of DJTA S&P 100 and also 500. It releases financial and other annual reports giving the information of performance and undergoing projects for future plans. The logo of the company has changed many a time over the course of its journey and currently the logo is a Union Pacific shield in red, blue and white colours. Its tagline is ‘Building America’ crafted to communicate what company is all about. Hence, this concludes the Union Pacific marketing mix.
About Union Pacific:
Union Pacific Railroad is principal operating company of the Union Pacific Corporation which owns multiple transportation companies. The original Union Pacific company before its merger with Central Pacific company was established in 1862 under an act of congress which was approved by Abraham Lincoln. Union Pacific is one of the most recognized companies in America. Union Pacific connects about 23 states in the United States of America. It is a major partner in America’s supply chain and transportation infrastructure. It connects the west and gulf ports to their eastern counterparts.
It also provides connection with Canada’s rail network. Union Pacific’s freight hauling railroad network is a huge one that covers and operates in nearly 32,100 miles with its 8,500 locomotives.
This article has been researched & authored by the Content & Research Team. It has been reviewed & published by the MBA Skool Team. The content on MBA Skool has been created for educational & academic purpose only.
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