MIS

Value Chain

Value Segment-

Customer Segmentation:  We have divided the customers into different segments based on the following characteristics:

1)     Location (Different Cities)

2)     Type of customer ( Students, Employees, Institutions, Government Organizations)

3)     Access to Internet via Mobile, Tablets, Laptops etc

Market Focus:

1)     We are focussing on Mumbai city for now with expansion plans in the future.

2)     Special emphasis would be on students. Also, focus on Institutions, Government organizations and Corporate which need books in bulk.

3)     Focus on the new Generation population with access to Mobile, Tablets etc and are comfortable with e-commerce. Others can also avail online services at our retail stores.

Market Positioning:

1.      We position our company in the domain of buying, selling and renting old and new books.

2.      We position our company with the convenience of buying and renting books at the comfort of customers’ doorsteps.

Value Proposition

Product Development:–

Rent, Sale and Buy books.

Rent- Having different membership plans for renting books. Plan includes:

•             Bronze Plan – 1 member 1 year 2 books/turn Limited delivery.

•             Silver Plan – 1 Member 1 year 3books/turn Limited delivery.

•             Gold Plan – 1 Member 1 year 4books/turn unlimited delivery.

•             Platinum Plan – Family plan 1 year 5 books/turn Unlimited delivery.

Sale- Selling new and old books through retail and online services.

Buy- Buying new and old books from various vendors.

Pricing: –

1.      All the prices are set competitively to allow maximum market penetration:-

Bronze plan – Rs 200/month,

Silver - Rs 300/month,

Gold - Rs 800/month,

Platinum – Rs 1000/month

Sourcing:

1)     We plan to source new books from publishing houses directly. The main value will be the sourcing of old books from local raddiwalas. These books will further be improved in condition using binding etc. and would be resold or rented at competitive prices.

Distribution:

1.      It is mainly through our internet site. We also plan to have a small network of young people who can deliver the book at customers’ doorsteps.

Value Network

Sales force:

1)     Sales will be taken care through the internet. We will be providing customized and high quality offering to the customers through this medium. In addition, customers can visit the store and also use the services.

2)     We also have pickup centres with local shops tie-ups.

Sales promotion: –

1.      Special offers to retain customers and get new customers.

2.      We will also be educating the local  store owners so that they can promote our product to the people visiting them.

Advertising:

1.      Extensive campaigning through Facebook, Twitter, Word of mouth, Schools and Colleges in Mumbai. Ads in newspapers and magazines – Mumbai edition or local magazines. Promotion through local radio, local events etc. All promotion will be looked at capturing the market in Mumbai for now.

Marketing Information System (MIS)

Marketing managers in a company should be well acquainted with all the information pertaining to the company. Based on the information, they can proceed to make marketing strategy. Thus it is imperative that the company must organise and distribute a continuous flow of information to its marketing managers. A marketing information system (MIS) consists of people, equipment and procedures to gather, sort, analyse, evaluate and distribute needed, timely, and accurate information to the marketing decision makers.

MIS has three components namely:

1.      Internal Records

2.      Marketing Intelligence

3.      Marketing Research

Internal Records – Internal records as the name suggests consists of information within the company such as reports of orders, sales, prices, inventory levels etc. Some of the parameters that marketing managers need to know include:

a.      Order to payment cycle – In a conventional business model the normal course includes sales person generating invoice, invoice sent to various departments, delivery to the customer. A successful business model should strive to minimise this cycle. In our model we will have improved logistics and inventory management system so as to achieve on time delivery. Since we have online portal wherein all the departments will be connected, logistics department need not wait for clearance from sales department to deliver the book. As soon as the customer clicks on a particular book logistics department will come into action thereby reducing the delivery time.

b.      Sales Information system – It includes continuous updation of database as well as updating the website. In our model if a customer buys or rents a book then the information will be updated immediately so that marketing managers as well as customers have clear understanding of our inventory.

c.      Database, data warehousing and data mining – It includes customer database, product/inventory database at large. Customer database will contain all the information pertaining to the customer including but not limited to name, address, past transactions, demographics, activities, interests etc. Based on customer’s tastes and preferences books can be recommended to the customer thereby facilitating increase in sales. By carefully studying the trends in sales, we will be continuously reviving the product offering so that we can stay ahead in the competition.

Marketing intelligence system - It is set of procedures and sources managers use to obtain everyday information about developments in the marketing environment. It can be achieved through:

a.      Network Externally – It includes complete information about the rival company. It can be obtained by competitors published reports, competitor’s ad, news stories about them. We will be watching closely the activities of rival companies be it inventory management, customer service, customer grievance cell etc. so that changes can be brought in our company as per market needs and wants.

b.      Set up a customer feedback system–Robust customer feedback system will be given utmost priority so as to adapt the company with changing tastes and preferences of the customers. This will also help in collecting competitive intelligence.

To prepare marketing strategy marketing managers need to analyse macro environment also which includes:

a.      Demographic environment – In India 65% of population is below 35 years of age which is our primary target customer base. Apart from that literacy rate in India is increasing at around 9% yoy basis thus our customers.

b.      Economic environment – Per capita income has risen almost 17% to Rs 53,000 in 2012 as compared to 2011. Thus the purchasing power is increasing which in turn will increase customer base.

c.      Social cultural environment – India is a diverse country. People have varied taste and different preferences altogether. Our inventory system will take care of that. For ex People in Tamil Nadu will prefer books on Tamil culture rather than culture of any other state.

d.      Technology environment – The advent of Ecommerce has facilitated easy, simple and hassle free shopping for the customers. To take care of that we will have an effective IT system so as to make online transactions simpler and better.

Atheneum - Market Plan

1.  Executive summary

XYZ is an online book store with a collection of second hand books ranging from science to management, fiction novels to non fiction novels, children books to religious books etc.

Reading has been one of the most preferred means to spend the leisure time. In fact people nowadays are taking time out of their busy schedule to read, be it a business magazine or a novel written by their favourite author or motivational book or informative books for their children. As mentioned earlier people have very little time and in that most of the time is wasted in to and fro communication to the library. Thus it would be really great from people’s perspective if they get books at their doorsteps thereby saving commuting time (which in big cities is pretty substantial).

With XYZ, the customer will have the option of buying the book or can take away the book for some time to read and once he is done can return the book back with a minimal of charge and all that with a click of mouse on the internet. The company also accepts second hand books if anyone wishes to sell and that too from the seller’s doorstep. There are lot of libraries/ second hand book stores around the corner but the thing which separates XYZ from conventional libraries is that the customer need not come  every now and then, he just has to make a request online and his wish (be it buying a book or selling or renting) would be fulfilled at his doorsteps. For the customers who want to come and read in our store, we have stores with state of art technology built specifically keeping in mind readers comfort. The customers can come to the store and can spend their leisurely time with their craved books.

XYZ has come up with various methods to increase the customer base as well as retaining the existing customers. The company deals with the customers directly thereby it is possible for the company to bond with its customers strongly. The customers can give their feedback or suggestions which can be acted upon very quickly and effectively. The referral system will encourage members to refer the benefits of XYZ to their loved ones or social circle. It is a proven fact that word of mouth is the most effective mode of marketing and on top it it’s free of cost. Since XYZ rely basically on marketing by word of mouth therefore  the cost incurred on marketing is very low thus more of benefits are passed on to the customers.

2.  Situation analysis

XYZ’s top executives analyzed the situation using the 4C framework. 4C stands for customer, competitor, company and context.

2.1        Customer-

·        XYZ has contacted various level of corporations and companies of the city for supplying books for their employees. Apart from this XYZ has also conducted surveys so as to get better understanding of customer demands.

·        XYZ is also exploring the possibilities to get in contact with government offices as well as educational institutions as they will form a major chunk of the customers. Once the monopoly contract is done it would be a long term prospective.

·        For selling old books at cheap rates XYZ is in talks with local raddiwalas. The acquired old books can be made resalable by binding, page pasting etc. and can be made part of inventory of XYZ.

2.2        Competitors-

·        XYZ is aware of the fact that there are some established players in the market like friendsofbooks.com, secondhandbooksindia.com, justbooks.com and some others are also in competition.

·        After detailed analysis XYZ found that the major advantage it has over others is that it deals with old books along with new books whereas almost all the other companies deals with either buying and selling or renting the books.

·        XYZ also realised that the companies will follow the suit soon thereby increasing the competition but being the first one will definitely give advantage to XYZ.

2.3        Company-

·        XYZ is a partnership company with an investment of Rs. 15 lakhs. The promoters (2 in nos.) are young entrepreneurs with management degrees as well as 2 years of work experience in supply chain management in market leaders like amazon.com and ebay.com. The promoters have good amount of experience in this field.

·        The investment will be raised from Rs. 15 lakhs to Rs. 50 lakhs within a period of 3 years as the segment is still in its incipient stage.

  

2.4        Context-

This concept is pretty new in India and it is expected to grow at about 20%. Books have always been individual’s best friend; if they are available at such ease then they will remain individual’s best friend. The rapid growth in income has paved way for e-commerce. People have money to spend but not time. Thus if books are provided to them at their doorstep, they are more than happy to spend more for the same.

3.  Market Summary

3.1        Market Demographics-

·        Geography- Initially target area is Mumbai and Target population is around 5 million users.

·        Behaviour Factors- People are always concerned about usage of old books once they are done with them. Also, there are people who would be looking for old books at cheap prices for reading instead of buying expensive books.

3.2        Market Needs -

·        Quality Delivery Service at zero cost

·        User friendly Online Portal

·        Membership Deals at lower cost

·        Effective Old Book Collection system

·        Outlets with Coffee House

·        Customer Helpdesk

3.3        Market Trends -

·        Providing  replacement at zero cost

·        Books of various genres and segments at one location

·        Books for all Age groups

·        Promotional Offers

3.4        Market Growth –

·        As the awareness spreads with word of mouth publicity and efficient marketing strategies the user base is expected to increase from 5 million to 10 million.

·        The Business can be expanded to other cities as well.

4.  SWOT Analysis

The SWOT analysis provides information that is helpful in matching the firm's resources and capabilities to the competitive environment in which it operates. As such, it is instrumental in strategy formulation and selection.

	Helpful	Harmful
Internal	Strengths (S)	Weakness (W)
External	Opportunities (O)	Threats (T)

4.1        Strengths

·        Team of young entrepreneurs with a dynamic approach.

·        Various promotional schemes to allure new customers as well as retain existing customers.

·        Effective and innovative supply chain management system.

4.2        Weakness

·        Lack of experience since it is a new concept.

·        Investment.

·        Sound IT department.

4.3     Opportunities

·        High potential E commerce market.

·        Huge customer base facilitating expansion in other regions.

4.4     Threats

·        Big players like justbooks.com will definitely enter the market once the concept comes to fray.

·        Shift in customer taste from books to other means of recreation.

5.  Keys To Success

·     To construct a loyal customer and supplier chain.

                                                                                                    

·     To provide customer satisfaction at optimum cost and providing efficient delivery system.

6.  Critical Issues

As a start-up business, XYZ is still in the nascent stage. The critical issues would be-

·      To establish a supply chain and efficient network system.

·      To establish as a premiere Old Book Reseller with Online Delivery System.

·      To pursue controlled growth over a long period of time.

7.  Marketing Strategy

7.1        Mission - The mission is to provide books to the customers at cheap price.

·        Mission statement- “To be the best in book dealing industry in terms of customer satisfaction wherever we serve”.

7.2        Marketing Objective -

·        To focus on growth rate through continual increment in number of loyal customers and suppliers.

·        To maintain strong positive feedback from customers.

7.3        Financial Objective -

·        To increase profit per quarter by 5% through increased customer base.

·        To widen our region based business approach to state based approach.

8.  Review and Control

XYZ , will have simple, decision friendly, weekly , monthly, quarterly , and annual reports focussing on :

·        Overall revenue

·        Unit sales

·        Expenses

·        Customer Feedback

·        Major competitive activities

10. Marketing Organization

        There will be five partners sharing equal control over the company initially. These members will choose one between themselves to act as head of the group and all the decisions will be taken based on voting system. Though one person will be heading the marketing function he will be supported by other board members.

11. Contingency Plan:

 XYZ anticipates strong pressure on price, more so in initial days , due to competitive activities and to satisfy customer needs. Since initially much stress need to be given on gaining customers and advertisements there would be a lot of pressure on price. XYZ also aims at long term contact with its bulk suppliers so as to ensure that demand – supply is well balanced. It is also keeping sufficient capital cushion to manage enhanced working capital requirements due to delays in payment, and the need to keep a sufficient inventory.