GROUP DISCUSSION REPORT I

BUSINESS
ENVIRONMENT

Group Members
Sushant Madane 30 Pankaj Kapse 18
Bhimrao Jadhav 09 Ajit Shinde
Vitthal Tawade 51 Pravin Satpute
Your Launch Strategy and Beyond—at
Cyberspeed
Launching a business may be as easy today as registering a website. But winning a share of the
market will remain tricky as long as that business is subject to customer preferences, channel
demands, and competitive offerings.

To increase their chances of success, both traditional and e-businesses have long relied on
market research. In its ideal form, market research is a "learn and confirm" loop, similar to
scientific research.

First, we collect relevant market data. Then we use our observations to form hypotheses about
who our most-promising prospects are and how they prefer to buy. Finally, we test our
hypotheses by studying prospective customers' (and sometimes also the channel's and the
competition's) response.

We then use what we learn to make decisions, while continuing to observe, influence, and test
buying behavior to further refine our approach.

When used systematically, market research is not simply a predictor of the success or failure of a
product idea; rather, it is an ongoing two-way communication between the business and its target
audience. Treated as such, market research becomes a constant source of information about
opportunities for improvement and innovation.

Until recently, however, only a handful of the largest companies could afford to thoroughly
research all aspects of buying behavior. But even those companies fell short of continual
dialogue with their entire markets.

Enter the connectivity and behind-the-scenes data capture of today's Internet. Now a whole
generation of e-businesses is finding itself with a direct round-the-clock link to every potential
customer via the Web.

Online market researchers are "wired" into their world, not unlike a day trader or a cybergames
whiz kid. Product releases, such as software updates, and promotions, such as website and media
content, can be made instantly available to the entire market via browser-based applications.

The market response is, likewise, instantly visible to the researcher. All one has to do is review
Web-traffic reports, which are typically built into the "back end" of a website.

So what does that mean in the context of a real company's day-to-day marketing operations? To
get an idea, let's look at a young Internet company launching its first website.

The Idea
What can you do online that you aren't already doing? Gemvara, a Lexington, Mass.-based
online jewelry retailer, is betting you will buy custom-made jewelry through its new website,
Gemvara.com.

Gemvara's unique online customization feature allows shoppers to substitute their choice of
gemstones and precious metals when ordering any piece of jewelry from its stock. Substitutions
are instantly reflected in the photo and price of the item, making it easy to "redesign" any piece
to fit a color scheme—or a budget.

The Story

In 2006, Matt Lauzon, then a student at Babson College, won the Babson annual business plan
competition—and made BusinessWeek's Best Entrepreneurs Under 25—with the idea of a Web
platform for custom-made jewelry.

In 2008, the start-up made business headlines again, when it received $5.8M in Series A
financing from two prominent venture capital firms: Highland Capital Partners and Canaan
Partners .

In late 2009, the company decided to target consumers and began to assemble a consumer-savvy
management team. In February of 2010, Gemvara.com opened its virtual doors to online
shoppers.

Now What?

Marrying the age-old jewelry industry with a current technology (a Web-based platform) to
enable a growing trend—mass customization—is an excellent start.

What happens next, however, is just as important to the young company's eventual success as the
impressive milestones already under its belt.

Just as any new business, Gemvara must put in place a marketing structure to build a sales
pipeline. What gives the company its distinct 21st-century edge is the social and business
infrastructure of today's Internet.

What do we mean by that? A marketer's job is to reach, attract, and engage the "right" buyer. We
can reach millions of Web visitors in a matter of hours through popular sites and social networks
while almost simultaneously measuring "attraction" and "engagement" through sophisticated and
highly accessible Web-traffic statistics on our site.

Let's see how Gemvara, born and raised on the Web, uses it to lead the prospective buyer
through the steps necessary to initiate a sale.