JustDial.

com A Case Study in Services

Ravinder Pal Singh Dhillon 09BM8039

Vision & Philosophy

The company's goal is to create long-term shareholder value by enhancing its position as a leading local search service. The companys philosophy focuses on end user experience through feedback, innovation, teamwork and integrity.

What does it do?

Justdial is Indias no.1 local search destination. It provides comprehensive updated information on all the B2B and B2C products & Services. The company caters to over 57 million unique users spread across 240 cities in India. This unique local search service is available on Phone, Web, WAP and SMS. Just Dial services receive approximately 26 million phone calls a year. Justdial in India employs a 4000 strong work force and has more than 1,35,000 paid advertisers.

How did it start?

Founded in the year 1994 on a modest 50,000 Rs investment, it returned revenues of 1.34 Billion for the Fy 09-10 and holds 90% of the complete market share. Started with some borrowed furniture and rented PCs in a small (1030 feet) hired garage, today JustDial has over 86,000 customers across the nation with offices in major cities across India. In a very short time, justdial.com has become probably the most frequented local search website in the country.

How good is it?

While year on year, the number of users for this kind of services are on the rise, JustDial has managed to keep pole position right from the start, and still commands a leading share of the market.

Market Share
11%

JustDial.com

Others
89%

JustDial.com commands over 89% of the total localized search market in India, a 125Crore Market

Armed with this phenomenal success, JustDial is expanding into other countries as well, replicating its very successful model there. Even though Yellow pages services are much more widespread outside, JustDial is confident of its success. Justdial has launched its local search service in North America, and has plans to expand into Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong. As for the Current Scenario, the total number of Unique Daily Hits to JustDial.com have generally been on the rise. The trend in daily hits varies as the number of

hits is somewhat seasonal, although the numbers seem to have stagnated a bit over the last year or so, and are even falling.

Let us try and understand the way JustDial operates with the help of some analysis tools.

The Revenue Model of JustDial.com

JustDial.com basically earns from clients which invest in their listings to make them sponsored listings, and from the percentage of sales that happen through JustDial.com. The Basic Revenue generation steps can be outlined as follows:

Small/Medium enterprise registers with JustDial.com JustDial.com verifies the information provided and puts it up SME's are offered prime services, sponsored results for added fee Customers ask for information and suggestions through Internet/Phone Customers recieve results with sponsored results getting priority Customers buy products/services from a sponsored client JustDial.com recieves a % of the client sales

The Current Scenario at JustDial.com

Centered in Mumbai, it has over 4000 employees nationwide, with over 700 only in Mumbai. It serves over 247 cities in India with offices in 8 of them. It receives over 25k Unique visitors daily, with over a Lakh calls. More than 2.4 Million businesses and vendors have been cataloged by JustDial.com so far. It has expanded into North America, with plans for Canada, the USA and Europe, among other places. It had revenues in excess of 1.4Crore INR for the Financial year ended 2010.

The Macro Environment of JustDial.com

The Political Environment:
There are Government guidelines to which services are considered legal, and as such JustDial must evaluate each clients request to ensure that the service being offered must fall within the legal purview and only then can they put it up. Besides this, there is very little interference or regulation on a call and assist type of service in India

The Social Enviromnent:

India is a fast growing market, and growing disposable incomes mean more and more people entering the target group for the services market. Also the advent of newer enablers like mobile fones has made life much easier for the customer, and as such there is tremendous scope for a referral system like JustDial.com

The Economic Environment:

The overall market for location specific search is increasing rapidly with more and more people moving to in the urban cities and distances increasing to local amenities and services. Also, economic development has fueled the pockets of the Indian middle class as well as brought the world to their door. The promise held in this huge market is immense.

The Technological Environment:

Technology has been a great enabler for most businesses, and JustDial.com is no exception. The web has taken this services to new heights. Telephone, Web based Service, Sms and now Mobile Web access give users a multitude of ways to access information, and it has benifitted JustDial.com and the search industry greatly. Growth in users of this service sees a linear growth with technology penetration, and every new technology gives it a shot in the arm. GPS services in mobiles and 3G services promise a seamless and integrated localized experience, which can be leveraged by JustDial.com to provide results based on nearness to customers immediate location.

The Micro Environment for JustDial.com

(a) Understanding Customers: What needs are being fulfilled?
For the customers, we fulfill the need for information, although the scope of this information is unlimited, and we try to provide information on any and all services and products the customer might need. The clients also get promotion in areas which might otherwise be outside their physical radius of promotion.

How does it make their life better?

Customers save time, and find a multitude of options with ease, enabling them to get the best prices and ease of access to services and goods / customers.

What meaning does the service bring to their life?

It basically provides a one stop shop for all the customers needs, and provides them with value and much more time on their hands, while taking away the frustration normally associated with searching for any goods and services, and bridges the customer-client gap.

How does it help build their identities?

Customers are able to make a well informed choice in a matter of minutes, thus exercising the freedom of choice which makes them feel in control.

What emotion is related to purchase and consumption of service?

The Exercise of choice makes customers feel in control, and in charge of the transactions, giving them the satisfaction of making a good choice.

Analyzing Decision Making Process: Problem Recognition:

Need to buy goods and services like groceries, cab service, house rentals, telephone connections, movie bookings etc.

Information Search:
Search for this information is mostly through promotional campaigns on most frequently visited websites, as well as popular magazines and newspapers across the country. The largest proponent for growth has been word of mouth advertising.

Evaluation of Alternatives:
Most people start out with using Yahoo or Google for their serach requirements and then slowly learn the use of localized search portals. Even then, there is competition in the form of asklaila.com and guruji.com sulekha.com which offer very similar services and are only held back by a smaller market share, while JustDial.com enjoys a first movers advantage.

Purchase Decision:
Once awareness spreads, there is no reason why customers would not use this service as it is a very convenient way for them to search for data.

Post Purchase Evaluation:

JustDial.com needs to have a strong filtering process in place, which insures that no fraudulent or sub standard promotion is being done through their website, as it takes very little to take a customer away from a service.

(b) Understanding Competitors:

We use Porters Five forces analysis to understand the market forces better:

Threat of new entrants: High, as it is pretty easy to setup the basic

infrastructure needed to put in place a similar service atleast for the web.

Bargaining power of suppliers: Low, as JustDial.com is the undisputed

industry leader in India, and the Clients have to come for us if they want maximum exposure.

Threat of Substitutes: Low, for the type of service being offered here is
pretty all encompassing, and there is little to no scope for an alternative.

Bargaining power of Buyers: Low, as there is nothing being charged to the

customers and this service is being provided to them free of cost. As for the Clients that we serve, we provide the best service at a reasonable price.

Inter Firm Rivalry: High, as several players are in the market and are
competing fiercely among each other for the growing market, some with the backing of large group companies.

(c) Understanding Collaborators:

Most of the clients that we serve have the one basic need, of maximizing their visibility. We section them and categorize them according to the services that they provide, and the segment that they wish to target and provide a priority listing based on their criteria among our query results to our customers. This provides them with visibility where they need it, thus fulfilling their need. Other than our clients, there is little to no influence on our business by any other forces, besides the obvious dependence on the telecomm service providers. We depend entirely on telecomm providers for getting our service to the end customer and any changes in the way they function directly impacts us.

(d) Understanding the Company:

The leading local search brand in India Large customer base and nationwide coverage Highly scalable platform Excellent track record in user experience Very high customer satisfaction Modern infrastructure and constantly updated technology Vastly experienced management team

Benefits Provided:
Services benefit: Better visibility, Convinience Value benefit: Provides better value to client/customer Personnel Benefits: Friendly and helpful search assistance

Costs to Customer: Money: Cost of Service/ Cost of priority listing Time: Time spent in receiving required results Energy: Effort spent in getting availability of goods or service in
remote location

Psychic cost: Uncertainty about reliability of critical data obtained

through this service means psychic cost

S.W.O.T. Analysis:
Understanding the Core competencies of the Organization and what areas it needs to focus on can be done with the help of a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis.

Strengths of JustDial.com: The leading local search brand in India Large customer base and nationwide coverage Highly scalable platform Excellent track record in user experience Very high customer satisfaction Modern infrastructure and constantly updated technology Vastly experienced management team

Weaknesses of JustDial.com: Reluctance among SMEs to sign up for services No concrete way to gauge mediums effectiveness for a particular Retailer Lack of awareness among customers Lack of technological penetration (Internet access) Lack of familiarity with technology ( Inability to use the Internet, VAS etc)

Opportunities for Improvement: The Advent of Mobile technology gives a whole new way to get to potential customers Rising penetration and literacy of Internet in India Increase in disposable income of the great Indian middle class Telecomm offerings like free sms removing the cost barrier to accessing our services Entering newer markets like North America, Canada, Europe etc.

Threats to JustDial.com Low visibility in areas with limited internet penetration and literacy Threat of players with big corporations backing them, like asklaila.com Threat of foreign entrants like yellowpages.com which would bring with them a large investment base.

The Marketing Mix for JustDial.com

Advertising

Website

Public Relations

Email

Web 2.0 / 3G

SMS

Voice Query

The various mediums in JustDial.coms Marketing Mix

Segmenting the Market:

Behavioral Segmentation attributes applicable to the company are listed

below with the specific applicable clusters:

Need: Casual/Moderate/Strong Ocassion: Regular/Special Benifits: Service/Speed/Value User status: Non-user/potential user/First time user/regular user Usage rate: Light/medium/High Readiness: Unaware/informed/intending to buy/aware Demographic Segmentation Location based segmentation isnt applicable
here, since this service is available and equally accessible to everywhere there is a presence of the underlying telecomm technology.

Psychographic Segmentation would classify the customers/clients under the following heads: Occupation: Student/HouseWife/Businessman/Self Employed/Serviceman Education: Students/Graduates/UnderGraduates/PostGraduates

 Income: MIG/HIG (LIG are being included because they wouldnt have access to the underlying technology which is needed to avail of this service.) Measuring Segments would prove to be very difficult as most users that
visit the website or call in with queries are not required to furnish any details about themselves. But according to the type of service being consumed, it is possible to find out how many people of what composition are using the service ( for example, how many people booked air tickets or hotel reservations would indicate how many of the HIG composition is there)

Accessibility to these segments should be reasonably good, for these

segments have exposure to the Internet and Telephone at either home or office or both.

Differentiation services to suit the individual needs of a specific section of

our customer base can cater to them better. A good example would be JustDial Tourism started with the Tamil Nadu government.

Actionability Catoring to specific needs may not always be possible, as the

service being offered is a very broad service, and maintaining several SKUs would make it impossibly difficult to manage.

7 P analysis of JustDial.com
The major marketing management decisions can be classified in one of the following seven categories: Product, Price, Place (distribution) Promotion, People, Process and Physical Evidence. These variables are known as the marketing mix or the 4 P's of the marketing. They are the variables that marketing managers can control In order to best satisfy customers in the target market. The marketing mix is portrayed in the following diagram:

Advertising

Website

Public Relations

Email

Web 2.0 / 3G

SMS

Voice Query

The firm attempts to generate a positive response in the target market by blending these four marketing mix variables in an optimal manner.

Product: Product The product is the physical product or service offered to the
consumer. In the case of physical products, it also refers to any services or conveniences that are part of the offering. Product decisions include aspects such as function, appearance, packaging, service, warranty, etc. In case of Just Dial, the product can be referred to as a link or a bridge between the manufacturers/retailers/sellers and the potential consumers. Just Dial Offers a

variety of services and information related to : Entertainment, Institutes, Consumer Durables, Travel Assistance, Facilities, Workmen, Assistance etc

Price: Pricing decisions should take into account profit margins and the
probable pricing response of competitors. Pricing includes not only the list price, but also discounts, financing, and other options such as leasing. For a company to prosper, the pricing should be suitable taking into consideration the companys objectives and also importantly the worth of the product/service offered in return. To generate revenue, Just Dial charges retailers/suppliers/companies a specific amount on a contractual basis for customer references. This helps them to offer the best service to the customers and also attain company goals effectively and also helps companies to sell their products and increase their customer base. Eg- Just Dial Free Service.

Place: Just Dial gets 2 Million calls a day in India, from all over the Place (or
placement) decisions are those associated with channels of distribution that serve as the means for getting the product to the target customers. The distribution system performs transactional, logistical, and facilitating functions. Just Dial currently has its own offices in 11 cities which are in major metros and Tier II cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Coimbatore, Vadodara & Jaipur.

Promotion: Promotion decisions are related to communicating and selling to

potential consumers. Break Even Analysis is considered while doing promotion at Just dial. It is useful to know the value of a customer in order to determine whether additional customers are worth the cost of acquiring them. Promotion decisions involve advertising, public relations, media types, etc. and the Communication Channels are Newspapers, Direct Mails, Radio, Television, Mobile, Posters, Individual Referral, E-Mail, Internet, (company website)

People: An essential ingredient to any service provision is the use of

appropriate staff and people. Recruiting the right staff and training them appropriately in the delivery of their service is essential for competitive advantage. Consumers make judgments and perceptions of the service based on the employees they interact with. Staff should have the appropriate interpersonal skills, attitude, and service knowledge to provide the service that consumers are paying for.

Physical Evidence: The product offering caters to consumers via internet,

telephone and SMS on mobile phones. Just Dial services are accessible from 45 cities through the phone. Physical evidence is an essential ingredient of the service mix, consumers will make perceptions based on their sight of the service provision which will have an impact on the organizations perceptual plan of the service. This service also operates out of 8 offices located in all the metros, and headed out of the Mumbai office.

Service Blueprint for JustDial.com

A service blueprint is basically a visual map, a way to represent the various steps involved in the service delivery. It should cover the following: Process Delivery Role of Customers and Employees Visible Elements of the Service

What it does is, it breaks down a service into logical components and easily definable steps.

Gauging Service Quality

With the help of the Gap model of Service Quality, we can identify the following gaps:-

(* - Gap does not exist) (1) Customer Gap: This is the difference between the customer
expectations and perceptions of his expectations. This gap exists because JustDial.com feels that all the customer needs is information about his query, but what he actually wants, and is unable to convey owning to the inept interface, is his specific requirement with that information. (2)

Knowledge Gap: This exists when we do not know what the

customer wants, what he needs and what he expects all distinctly. Knowledge gap exists with JustDial.com because there is no direct feedback that is collected after providing the service, and it disengages the customer once the service is delivered. It needs to engage customers in an active feedback process, instead of a passive one.

(3) Performance Gap: This gap arises from inability to comply with
customers needs, and generally occurs in high growth markets with few options for customers. There is little to no innovation on the service being provided and customization is also an area that people are interested in, and is not being addressed. (4)

*Design and Standard Gap: This gap arises when the

organization has an inherent Design flaw which makes it inaccessible or problematic for the customer. There are no blatant design flaws with JustDial.com and it seems to be well designed.

(5) *Communication Gap: This Gap occurs when performance does

not match the promise. This gap also does not exist for JustDial.com as it does deliver all that it promises, that is, information.