MN5W50 - Creating a Winning Business (Workbook)
MN5W50 - Creating a Winning Business (Workbook)Business Model Canvas - Iteration and Reflection
Student Id: [type here]
Seminar tutor: [type here]
Brief
GO LOCAL EXTRA is intended to provide a better
interface between the common users and the local firms enabling them
to access the locally produced and well-sourced forms of products
and services. The solution responds to the problems consumers
encounter while purchase real local products and was created to
serve as a tool that can expand the market presence of local
companies. By having a simple and personal webpage, the customer is
able to order and purchase products that are locally sourced, hence
boosting the economy & ecology.
Cost Related |
Revenue Related |
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Key Partners: Hawkers, vendors, service providers, societies and associations, delivery companies, IT solution and development companies, marketing companies, payment gateway companies. Key Suppliers: Farmers, artisans within the region, companies that deal in storage and distribution, marketing companies, software developers, local government offices. Key resources: Inventory/local produce, transportation, communication, promotional campaigns. Key Activities by Partners: Procurement and supply, logistics and transportation, platform building, promotion, and customer relations. |
Core Activities: Searching for local suppliers, administration and functioning of the platform, both online and offline, delivery process, communication with customers, and cooperation with local vendors. Marketing Activities: Awareness building for local products/ services, digital media/channel, including social profiles, online advertising, community intervention, and influencer management. Revenue Streams: Commission from local stores, membership fees to access more advanced service, advertisement fees from producers who wish to market their products through the service. |
Value Propositions Brief: GO LOCAL EXTRA engages consumers to support local businesses enabling them get quality, sustainable, locally sourced products and services. Problem: Customers discern challenges in procuring genuine local products. Local companies lack the ability to expand its market. Proposed Solution: A store that provides a wide range of local products the delivery system is simple thus offer an opportunity for customers to buy local products without much stress. Customer Needs: Ability to get new, fresh, and locally sourced healthy products; convenience in shopping; belief in the origins of the food; belief in the need to support local farmers.
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Marketing & Sales Communication Awareness Strategy: Promotion through social media to the local citizens, Google ads, posting to local celebrities or bloggers, local promotions during fairs, farmers markets and other local sales events. Desire & Interest: Coupons including “Buy Local, Save Local” slogans, time-sensitive discounts, membership, and meal plans like local farm fresh produce box delivered on a weekly basis. Channels to Reach Customers: Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, SEO [search engine optimization] searches local products, collaborations with local influencers, physical markets, etc., Pop-ups, local engagement.
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Customer Segments Primary Customers: Local consumers who want to buy goods from small businesses; consumers who value the environment and; individuals who are in search of local products. Stakeholders Benefiting:
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Key Resources Physical Resources: Temporary storage, company owned delivery vehicles and packaging supplies. Intellectual Resources: Website or app, access to the customer information, establishing relationships with local sellers. Human Resources: Customers Care attendants, Programmers, Sales and marketing team, delivery boys. Financial Resources: Working capital for undertaking the business activities, non-working capital for sustaining the platform and growth capital for increasing the scope when the business is expanding. |
Product & Service Delivery Channels Channels for Product Delivery: Web and/or application for catalogue and ordering, delivery services within specific area (company-owned or contracted), branches which are offline stored in specific location (showroom, pop-up stores, local stores). After-Sales Support: Support services in the form of instant messaging, mail or a phone call; process for customers to return any unsatisfactory products, customer satisfaction survey. |
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Cost Structure Fixed Costs: Technology development and platform maintenance of online profits. Magazine and newspaper ads and Television commercials. Wages for key personnel that include customer service department, technical personnel, and the marketing team. Variable Costs: Pay local suppliers commission for their services. Transportation and fuel costs. Products such as paper based packaging and shipping material. Cost Drivers: Cost of technology, delivery of technologies and materials, cost of marketing and Product sourcing cost. Business Model Orientation: Basically cost leadership as the primary objective is to let customers have products of a high quality from traders within their vicinity. There is also likely to be cost-effective as the business expands, particularly in categories such as delivery / logistics. |
Revenue Related Sales Commissions: A portion of the earnings from local businesses selling their products via the market. Subscription Fees: A local subscription product like a product box that customers pay for on a monthly or yearly basis. Advertising Revenue: Businesses that are based locally can pay for advertisement on the platform or the digital marketing methods. Delivery Fees: Costs which are associated with delivering the product to the consumer are usually in the form of fixed charges or charges based on the distance. Pricing Model: Establishing a subscription service that delivers local products on a scheduled basis. Percentage- based model on every transaction effected through the created platform. Different price for delivery based on distances and time taken in the delivery process.
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Explain the history behind your idea for resolving the identified business problem The concept of launching GO LOCAL EXTRA Media was born of conversation with the owners of local stores and service providers who needed to target audiences beyond their neighbourhoods. These businesses experience extra struggles during the pandemic (Rose, Rowe and Dolega, 2023). Consumers complained that the process of searching and ordering local products is typically very challenging. Initially the idea was proposed to be an online directory; however, after getting more feedback, the idea transformed into an e-commerce site where customers can directly access local products as well as other products on offer are delivered to the door steps. The aim is to offer opportunity to small businesses, make shopping easier for customers, and contribute to the preservation of the local industry and environment.
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Reflection: It is about having knowledge after compare and contrast accomplished activity that can be used to guide future behaviour and choices (Hartmann, Kruijf and Weesep, 2023). An Action Learning Set is a pool of individuals who come together to work on real issues based on their experiences. It’s even more efficient than individual reflection as the participants can listen to other people’s storeys, and also get support from others (Caramalau et al., 2021). Another advantage is that in an Action Learning Set, one can question the opinion of the other and get feedback which in return may give broader perspectives.
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Assumptions Main Assumptions: Local consumers are interested in easy and convenient access to local products and are willing to pay a premium for it. Local businesses will be willing to collaborate to achieve broader market coverage (Ali and Ali, 2020). Testing the Assumptions: These assumptions have been tested in a survey and interviews with the target market potential customers as well as existing businesses in the local area. I also made small experiments in which I opened test markets and evaluated the reaction. The results indicated that the customers are interested in supporting small local businesses but cannot access them easily. At the present time, I have deployed only the pilot version to gauge its demand and the challenges of delivering the product.
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Pitch Prior to the pitch, I made sure that I had a good understanding of the problem that is experienced by local businesses and consumers and then providing them with a straightforward yet unique solution which is GO LOCAL EXTRA. Throughout the practise with my mentors and fellow participants, I was insisting on the idea that my platform would be capable of addressing real-life issues and grow in scale with local companies. Even though I was able to outline the basic concept during the pitch, it seems that I still have to improve on the financial plan and argue more on the aspects of scalability. The feedback was paramount, and one thing I realised was that all investors and partners needed tangible numbers and business viability.
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Assumption Testing This assumption has been developed from the user interviews and surveys and has checked on the fact that customers do prefer locally made products and local businesses stands to benefit from e-commerce. The last major change to the business model canvas was the fact that while, of course, logistics are important; the platform needs to focus on creating a healthy and trustworthy community. People do not buy goods with their money; they invest their money in brands that reflect their personality and support their beliefs. I have also changed the value proposition to reflect sustainable practises, community, and transparency.
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Comment on Action Learning Set I could clearly state that the Action Learning Set was really beneficial in developing my idea. My classmates were also helpful in giving me insights on how to place the product and I had the privilege of sharing with them some of the trends which need to be checked as we launch the product out in the market. Another time someone recommended focusing on the user and not products in the first versions. For the group to be even more effective, it is probably advisable to set certain measurable objectives for each of the sessions, and avoid such a free-flowing discussion format. |
Iterative Journey Since the inception of the last business model, the primary areas of improvement included changing the revenue model to subscriptions and improving the community. Some of the assumptions made at the beginning of the project were about customers’ interest in locally produced products and many comments which were received highlighted the importance of effectiveness and protection of the environment. The business model is now more focused on customers and can be easily developed further.
Feedback from the Brief provider In potential work placement feedback from the SME/employer might include adequacy of the solution; empirical support for the proposition and quick implement ability of the idea to business. This would involve their level of satisfaction to the solution and any other quote as captured from their direct feedback (Monteiro et al., 2020).
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Competitor Insight Direct: Marketplaces such as Etsy, using local or handmade products and deliver services within specific geographic areas. Indirect: For instance, the largely extended online stores such Amazon, providing comprehensive options for buyers but being not affiliated strongly with regional cultures (Wu and Gereffi, 2018). Analogues: Farmers’ markets and food co-ops, a business unit that directly links consumers with producers with locally supplied foods. Research done on competitors gave the impression that trust is important among users. We’ll differentiate through providing a clear display of our products source and sustainability in the market place (Hassink, 2024).
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Cost & Risks The former is related to the delivery of products or services, while the latter requires ensuring that the platform is capable of accommodating large numbers of customers and products on the platform. To avoid these I will begin with a single targeted market, grow the platform gradually, and constantly enhance the technology of the platform. |
Continuing personal career development: reflection and action plan |
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Personal action planning Area of development : Financial Management: I need to improve my ability to create detailed financial models and projections to scale the business effectively. Data Analysis: Enhancing my skills in analysing customer behaviour and optimizing marketing strategies will be crucial for business growth. Action Plan: Financial Management: I will enrol in an online course on financial modelling for start-ups by the end of this month and complete it within two months. Data Analysis: I plan to take a data analytics course within the next three months and apply the knowledge to analyse customer data for better decision-making.
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References |
Rose, N., Rowe, F. and Dolega, L. (2023). How consumer behaviours changed in response to COVID-19 lockdown stringency measures: A case study of Walmart. Applied Geography, [online] 154, pp.102948–102948. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2023.102948. Caramalau, R., Bhattarai, B. and Kim, T.K. (2021) Sequential graph convolutional network for active learning. In Proceedings of the IEEE/CVF conference on computer vision and pattern recognition (pp. 9583-9592). ?Hartmann, A., Kruijf, J.V. and Weesep, R. van (2023). Asking the right questions: The role of reflection for learning in and between projects. International Journal of Project Management, [online] 41(5), pp.102494–102494. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2023.102494. Ali, T. and Ali, J. (2020). Factors affecting the consumers’ willingness to pay for health and wellness food products. Journal of Agriculture and Food Research, [online] 2, pp.100076–100076. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jafr.2020.100076. Wu, X. and Gereffi, G. (2018) Amazon and Alibaba: Internet governance, business models, and internationalization strategies. In International business in the information and digital age (pp. 327-356). Emerald Publishing Limited. Luckman, S., Andrew, J., Luckman, S. and Andrew, J. (2020) Selling Craft and Design: The Cultural and Economic Intricacies of the Contemporary Artisanal Marketplace. Craftspeople and Designer Makers in the Contemporary Creative Economy, pp.149-172. Hassink, H.W. (2024) Understanding the evolution of customer trust in sustainable products: A customer journey perspective (Master's thesis, University of Twente). Monteiro, B., Santos, V., Reis, I., Sampaio, M.C., Sousa, B., Martinho, F., José Sousa, M. and Au-Yong-Oliveira, M. (2020) Employer branding applied to SMEs: A pioneering model proposal for attracting and retaining talent. Information, 11(12), p.574.
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APPENDIX: Summary of Evidence of testing MAIN assumptions
MAIN assumptions |
Test methodology |
Results of testing |
Assumption 1: It is found that consumers in local markets consider buying local products.
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In this particular study, we obtained an online sample of 300 qualified local residents aged 18-65 through social media and community forums.
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According to the survey, 78 percent of the respondents demanded more shops from local manufacturers. Only negative comments were primarily related to the perceived variability of products offered by the company. |
Assumption 2: Consumers are willing to spend more to get locally sourced products.
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Contacted 150 customers who were attending local farmer’s market events and conducted individual interviews.
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From the study, 65% said they are willing to pay extra price (10-20% more). Specific praises reflected on the relative standard and origin of the products, but there were complaints on higher prices when compared to industrialised traders. |
Assumption 3: Mobile application can increase exposure of local business.
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We partnered with ten local firms and presented a pilot version of the application. Assessment of app engagement was done through monitoring the download of the apps which should not be less than 200 downloads in the first month of its launch and feedback from fifty users who have used the app. |
Users score reached 60% engagement rate within a week after the official launch of the app, 80% of the users mentioned that they found an interface understandable for discovering local businesses.
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