SortItOut

The Outline

• 1. Executive Summary• 2. Situation Analysis• 3. Goal• 4. Strategy• 5. Tactics• 6. Implementation

1. Executive Summary

Going out for dinner with friends?Sharing an apartment with flat mates?

Planning a getaway with college buddies?Hate the hassle of splitting the bill everywhere?

In today’s world, almost everything is shared. Be it a casual dinner or your apartment rent. This often arises the question of splitting the bill evenly which, as we all know it, isn’t the most pleasant experience.

Hard to keep track of debts, even tougher to calculate the Owings.

Our motive:

• Eliminate the hassle of calculating and splitting the bill.• Provide an up to date track of all the debts among the

members.• Make the splitting process transparent and error free.• Help you enjoy the meal rather than the bill!• Rid the world of unnecessary headaches like this one!

Company’s Goals• Break into the market of ‘Split Bill’ applications and establish a

position.• Become executable on all platforms focusing mainly on android and

apple.• Try and gain a majority market share in the above field.• Become the first choice application for such a market.

Course of Action:1. Develop the application.

2. Introduce a beta version for free in colleges.

3. Create a consumer base.

4. Expand it overseas.

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2. Situation Analysis

Company Overview:2.1 Core Competencies

• Our core competencies include a user friendly interface for all applications, along with a zero error rate as all the calculations are done on the local client side and then the results are updated to the server.

• We also introduce a global equilibrium currency system, which automatically converts the currencies into the client friendly format, allowing users from different countries to transact without any worries.

• Linked to the bank account of the client, our app provides a one stop solution to clearing debts via bank transfer right from within the application.

2.2 Market Overview• Our current competitors include ‘Split Wise’

application company. They have been in this market for the last two years and currently hold the highest market share and loyalty of customers.

• Our target customers would include the student class of people. Along with them, corporate working bachelors and people in their 20s and early 30s would constitute as our potential customer base.

2.3 Target Customers• As stated earlier, our target customers mainly

consist of college students or undergrads. • Along with them, other corporate bachelors in their

mid 20s and 30s make up for most of our target consumers.

• We also plan on targeting sharing flat mates or teens studying outside their home cities. As they live on a certain budget and need to keep track of the same from time to time, this application will appeal to them the highest.

3. Company Goals

GOALS:

• 1. Attain a solid consumer base and establish a strong initial position in the market.

• Become a market leader in 3 years time with the highest consumer share among the competitors in the market.

• Gross a net income of 3 million per year in the first three years of setting up and then expand the net income by a minimum of 2 million a year for the next 4 years.

4. Strategy

4.1 Target Market

• Customers: The main customers include the class of 16 year old teenagers to 35 year old corporate workers. Mainly bachelors or students.

• Collaborators: These include mainly the Oracle software company to provide database support for the application and ‘Google Play’ and ‘App Store’ for distribution purposes.

4.1 Target Market (Contd.)

• Competitors: The main competitor of the market is ‘SplitWise’ application. It offers similar functionalities of providing a hassle free way of dividing bills among a group and keeping record of all the transactions done. They are the current market leaders in the same field.

• Company: The key personnel responsible for the project will the research team to find out the consumer needs in greater detail, the development team to create an application that meets the needs and the data scientists and engineers to verify the outputs and validity of the application model.

4.2 Value Proposition

• Customer Value: It will ease the process of splitting bills for the customers. Moreover, it being linked to the clients bank account and provision of global currency exchanges will make it unique in the market compared to it’s competitors.

• Collaborator Value: It will, if implemented properly, give the collaborators a hold to an unique pioneer concept in the market with potential for vast expansion in terms of net income and consumer base.

5. Tactics

5.1 Product

• Product Attributes: The product app will be collectively of size smaller than 8MB for ease of download. It will be updated within a time period of 6 months periodically.

• Benefits: Due to its small size, it will be easy to download on wifi as well as mobile data connections. It will provide instant computation updates and real time exchange rates will be used for translation of currency.

• Costs: Basic version will be available free of cost. However, the premium version will be chargeable for functionalities such as bank account sync and global currency handler.

5.2 Service

• The service will include two classes of features : Basic and Premium.

• Basic: This version will contain the basic set of services such as automatic bill splitting, group formation, email notification for every expense recorded.

• Premium: This version will be the ‘paid’ version and will contain exclusive services such as bank account synchronization, in-app payment options, globalization of currency exchanges, etc.

5.3 Brand• Name: SortItOut

• Logo:

• Symbol:

• Slogan: Let’s Sort It Out!

5.4 Price• The app will be provided for free for the first 1000 downloads. • After that, the basic version of the app will still be available

for download at no cost whatsoever.• However, the premium version, with added features will be

charged at 5 USD for each download. • There will be a trial version available for 1 USD for a period of

30 days.

5.5 Incentives• Customers: The customers who have already downloaded

the basic version of the app, will get premium version for only 3 USD provided they get 5 more people to download the basic or premium version of the app.

• Collaborators: We will provide the apps on Google Play and App Store only for 4 USD making it more attractive an offer than downloading from other sources.

• Company Personnel: For every 100,000 downloads, the marketing personnel will receive a bonus equivalent to 50% of their monthly salary.

5.6 Communication• The application will be provided in a beta version to a select colleges

for trial basis and to establish a small consumer base.• As the application gains momentum and the beta version receives

positive feedback, the proper launch of the application will take place. • It will be marketed in various colleges and offices throughout and even

on online forums. To make it more popular, each student who presents a student ID will get the premium version for just 2 USD.

• It will also be advertised on other applications in the form of in-app ads.

5.7 Distribution• The application will be made available on all application stores such

as Google Play and App Store of Apple,• Moreover, it could also be downloaded from the official website via a

link.• Booths will be set up in various college fests where the app will be

advertised and the students will be urged and helped to download it.• It will also be made available via Email invitation, clicking on the link

provided in the email would enable you to download the application.

6. Implementation

6.1 Infrastructure

6.2 Processes

6.3 Schedule• 6 months Research Period Followed by 6 months

development period.

• A testing phase of 1 month followed by a beta trial testing of 2 months.

• Actual launch followed by updates every 6 months.

DISCLAIMERCreated by Hrushikesh Kothikar, MIT Manipal , during a marketing internship by Prof. Sameer Mathur, IIM Lucknow.