Industry Analysis
Global Smart Parking Market Statistics
In 2015, the global smart parking market was estimated to grow to $5.25 billion translating to a CAGR of 17.94% by 2021 from $2.13 billion; and it is further projected to be $11.13 billion registering a CAGR of 12.6 by 2027 (MarketandMarket, 2017). The industry leverages an intelligent parking system that notifies and enables car-owners to find available and safe parking through showing symbols by leveraging the technological supports of embedded software and sensors (Georgios, Ioannis, & Charalampos, 2016). The smart parking industry is divided along multiple lines. Based on type, there is off-street and on-street; based on technology, there IoT, ultrasonic, and RFID; on application, there is security surveillance, smart payment system, e-parking, and number plate detection; and based on end-user, the industry is based on commercial and government-based users (Verifiedmarketresearch, 2021).
Globally, there are several factors driving the growth of the industry and one of the drivers is increasing automobiles caused by an increase in purchasing power evident in the 64 million increase in global cars in 2019 from the 1.4 billion in 2018 – and with a projected increase by over 71 million in 2021 (Ann- Kathrin & Sapun, 2021; Verifiedmarketresearch, 2021). Within the United Kingdom, the major factors driving the growth of the smart parking market are increasing vehicle population, traffic congestion, increase in parking concern, growing demand for advanced vehicle and passenger safety systems in passenger cars, growth in demand for Internet of Things (IoT) based technology, and high adoption rate in a number of vehicles drive. Particularly, increase in population increase in population has also brought challenges in transportation and infrastructural amenities. A 2004 report by RAC Foundation shows that by 2030 there will be an increase in the number of cars in the UK from 27 to 39 million translating thus requiring an extra 9.2 million off-street and 2.8 million on-street parks (RAC Foundation, 2004).
Market Segment and Industry Players in the UK
A report by the British Parking Association and Skyblue on research to estimate the size and shape of the UK parking profession identified about 1.2 million parking spaces which represent about 10 to 15% of the total – with projections that there are up to 17 million spaces in total inclusive of residential parking which includes garages and driveways (British Parking Association., 2013). Currently, the British Parking Association licensed about 117 operators to function in smart parking (British Parking Association, 2021). A market analysis conducted by APCOA Parking (APCOA Parking, 2021) revealed the following segmentations:
While the industry seems saturated, there is an opportunity to work in the niche market of focusing on household car parks. In commencing operations, we shall focus on households as our niche market(see below for reasons); and as our company begins to expand, we shall operate in these segments, one at a time, to gain more market shares and increase revenue.
领英推荐
Customer Overview
The typical Smart park user is a white-collar car owner with a medium to high monthly income, aged between 28-55, with a calm personality, not very averse to new things, who likes to check car forums and social media, and who also has a high demand for efficiency in travel. A large proportion of them have established families, work under pressure during the week, commute frequently, and go shopping at large malls on weekends for shopping or other outdoor activities (Ja, 2020).
Smartpark's target customers are homeowners with unused parking spaces; such homeowners account for approximately 1 in 18 of all homeowners in the UK (RAC Foundation, 2014). These target customers want to generate income from the rental spaces in order to pay the high Council tax charges, but they struggle to earn rent due to a lack of rental platforms and management experience (CCBUK, 2017; McKinsey, 2018).
Future of Parking: Electric Vehicles, Autonomous Vehicles, Car Sharing, Robot Parking
Two major booking-related innovations would impact the future of parking. First, the transition into electric cars would create demands for parks with charging capacity; and second, the prevalence of autonomous self-parking cars will increase the efficiency of booking platforms (Redmarlin, 2019) as it could fit in up to 87% more spaces according to research by the University of Toronto (Irving, 2018). In addition to these drivers are automated valet parking robots, car parking lifts, robot car parks, smart parking sensors, 3D parking design and signaling, connected cars, smart city, and car sharing (Karsten, 2020).
These would decrease the number of cars in the city thus posing serious threats to car park operators and booking platforms. Furthermore, other innovations such as pay by plate payment method parking, pollution-based parking fees, length-based parking fees, and resident rates for parking fees would spring up (Karsten, 2020). Our organization shall embark on R&D to continually stay ahead of the innovation curve, hire new experienced staffs who would lead innovation, and engage with Digital Transformation Consultants to develop strategies that would allow us to remain competitive in the market.?
Barriers to Entry
There are a few challenges associated with entering the market. First, there is the barrier of developing the technologies needed for successful operations. Second, there is a legislation barrier guiding parking and smart parking companies in the United Kingdom. Thirdly, liquidity is another challenge associated with the industry (Dodds, 2014). Fifth is the adoption challenge of new smart parking technologies, particularly the smart lock. Park owners may not be easily convinced geared to using the technology, however, we expect our marketing activities to create awareness about the efficiency of the product vis- à-vis their parks. Lastly, homeowners’ apprehension towards allowing strangers to park in their homes. Therefore, our sales team would ensure to build solid relationships to clarify doubts and provide onboarding supports.?