SUMMER INTERNSHIP REPORT

“Ed-Tech Market Dynamics and Sales strategies post

COVID-19”

Under the guidance of

Dr. V. Giridhar
Mr. Nitish Bhardwaj
Assistant Professor,
Sales team lead,
IIM Bodh Gaya
PlanetSpark
(Winspark Innovations Learning
Private Limited)

Submitted by:

Ronit Kumar Jaiswal

PGP/1118/05

12th July 2020

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 Certificate of Approval

The following Summer Internship Report titled "Ed-Tech Market Dynamics and Sales
strategies post COVID-19" is hereby approved as a certified study in management carried
out and presented in a manner satisfactory to warrant its acceptance as a prerequisite for the
award of Post-Graduate Program in Management for which it has been submitted. It is
understood that by this approval the undersigned do not necessarily endorse or approve any
statement made, opinion expressed or conclusion drawn therein but approve the Summer
Internship Report only for the purpose it is submitted.

Summer Internship Report Examination Committee for evaluation of Summer Internship

Report

Name Signature

1. Faculty Examiner

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 Certificate from Summer Internship Guides

This is to certify that Mr. Ronit Kumar Jaiswal, a student of the Post-Graduate Program
in Management at Indian Institute of Management Bodh Gaya, has worked under our
guidance and supervision. This Summer Internship Report has the requisite standard and to
the best of our knowledge no part of it has been reproduced from any other summer
Internship, monograph, report or book.

Dr. V. Giridhar Mr. Nitish Bhardwaj

Assistant Professor Sales team lead and
IIM Bodh Gaya Sr. Education counselor
Date: 12th July 2020. Planetspark
Gurgaon, Haryana
Date: 12th July 2020.

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 STUDENT DECLARATION

I, hereby, declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge
and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another person nor
material which to a substantial extent has been accepted for the award of any other internship
certificate of a company, except where due acknowledgement has been made in the text.

Name – Ronit Kumar Jaiswal

Roll No. – PGP/1118/05

Date – 12/07/2020

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 ABSTRACT

Education sector in India is a different beast when it comes to the CAGR and net revenue both of
them standing close to 10% and USD 100 bil respectively. Furthermore, with the advent of cheap and
faster internet technology in Indian households, thanks to Jio, the Indian Edtech ecosystem has been
growing at a CAGR of 52% and it is expected to surpass USA’s online Edtech markets by 2022
according to a KPMG report. Various macroeconomic reforms and digitization pushes later India now
stands at a goldmine of Edtech industry and the prospects can only grow stronger from here onwards.

While all of this was happening the entire world witnessed one of the worst pandemics in recent years
which has forced people under a lockdown. Now, more than ever, was an impending need for not
physical but digital form of learnings. Edtech firms were on the rise up until now and after March’ 20
the market experienced a surge in business that hasn’t been witnessed in quite a while, not even in
other sectors. All of this when the rest of the businesses suffered heavily as the operation channels of
manufacturing, tourism, aviation many such industries took a nasty blow.

The first part of this project report focusses on the ever-evolving consumer behaviour of Indian
population in online education under the effect of COVID-19 aftermath. Here, market research
techniques like questionnaire and survey have been employed to understand the pre and post COVID-
19 behaviours to analyse what exactly are the factors which pushed people to spend more when the
net autonomous spending in India has gone down severely.

The second part focuses on the various sales and marketing strategies employed by PlanetSpark to
analyse, improve and track the overall revenue growth. Here the report will delve deeper into various
campaigns that the company decided to run and various pricing/discount strategies they employed to
achieve the expected growth in business week over week. We will also discuss in detail about the how
the company was able to replicate their sales model to a WFH model and they were still able to
operate so efficiently and generate even more revenue under such dire circumstances.

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my gratitude to, Mr. Kunal Malik and Mr. Maneesh
Dhooper, Co-Founders of PlanetSpark and Mr. Nitish Bhardwaj, Sales team lead, for
their guidance through the entire tenure of the training and implementation in sales and
marketing domain. Their feedbacks, pep- talks, insights and motivational sessions kept
my zeal alive throughout these 8 weeks of rigorous training and execution.

I would also like to extend a firm handshake to the entire sales team and our co-
interns for their amazing and overwhelming support day in and day out for those 8
weeks which helped me sail through the hardships without any hiccups.

I want to specially thank Dr. V. Giridhar, Assistant Professor, Indian Institute of

Management, Bodh Gaya, for his guidance and constant check-ins during this summer
internship at PlanetSpark. I sincerely hope that these valuable experiences will prove
vital in my first few baby steps in the management career.

Last but not least, firm handshakes to my institute’s Placement Committee for
providing me this opportunity and striving hard to ensure the placement of the entire
batch in these trying times. The way they have conducted everything smoothly goes to
prove their grit and relentless pursuit of excellence which I admire and appreciate very
much.

Ronit

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 TABLE OF CONTENT
TABLE OF CONTENTS Page No.

Title i
FigureofNo.
Certificate Title
Approval ii Page No.
Approval of Faculty Guide iii
1.1.DeclarationIntroduction
Student iv 1
1.2.
Abstract Trends v 2
Acknowledgement Charts and tables
1.3.1. vi 5
Table2.4.
of Contents Survey insights vii 13
2.5.Figures
List of Key highlights and takeaways viii 20
List of Abbreviations ix
1. Introduction 1
1.1. About Company 2
1.2. The project 3
1.3. Methodology and assumptions 4
1.4. Inferences 10
1.5. Conclusion 10
2. Project 2 11
2.1. Introduction 11
2.2. Problem statement 12
2.3. Methodology 13
2.4. Survey insights 13
2.5. Key takeaways 20
3. References 22

LIST OF FIGURES

VII
 LIST OF ABBERIVIATIONS

Abbreviation Full Form

FDP Fourteen day period

CRM Customer relationship management
C2C Customer-to-Customer
CNG Compressed Natural Gas
FY Financial Year
GDP Gross Domestic Product
GST Goods and Service Tax
KPMG Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler
B2B Business to business
NCR National Capital Region
EdTech Education technology
CB Consumer behaviour
PTM Price-to-Market
RM Relationship Manager
WIP Work-In-Progress

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 PROJECT 1: Changing Market dynamics in Edtech post COVID-19

1.1 INTRODUCTION

India has a multi-faceted education system with ~ 260 million students studying in more than 15
lakh schools and almost 40000 colleges catering to 27.5 million under graduates. Four million post
graduate students as well. Schools are regulated by state and central bodies like CBSE, ICSE, state
and international boards. Higher education in India though governed by UGC has a 3- tier structure
comprising the university, college and course. Different regulatory bodies such as Medical Council
of India (MCI), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and the Bar Council India
(BCI), among others, manage different professional courses.

Pre-primary market has low entry barriers and has witnessed large number of players in the last few
years. Presence of a large working population and increasing requirement of skilled workers, is
instrumental in the prominent growth of vocational education in India. Test preparation contributes
to a significant share of informal education in India.

The online channel for education in India includes primary and secondary education to hobbies and
language learning across formal and informal forms. Online players have developed B2C, B2B and
C2C solutions in line with the customer’s requirements. For the purpose of this report, online
education is defined as: 'Learning modules which can be accessed by individuals through internet
enabled device’ and is restricted to consumer paid services by users in India.

The online platform providers play a pivotal role in the online education ecosystem. Initially, the
platform served as enablers by connecting prospective students and content providers. In recent

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times, the platform providers have increasingly played the role of content providers. Online
education in India has a mix of dedicated online only and offline players with an online presence.
C2C business models have also emerged where the platform connects prospective teachers and
students. B2B offerings are prevalent in higher education, where institutions offer degree/diploma
courses to students through their own platforms or third party aggregators.

Corporate tie-ups assist in co-creation of industry certified content, which enhances overall
acceptance of online education amongst the target user base. Improved internet connectivity and
adoption of digital payment options have significantly aided in the growth of online education in
India.

1.1.1 THE TRENDS

 Platforms enabling students to meet relevant tutors in online/offline mode is gaining
increased acceptance
 This model witnesses strong traction from tier 2 and tier 3 cities.
 Access to free content on the platform to provide an experience is driving adoption
of freemium model, resulting in a rise in paid subscriptions among players.
 Students report higher satisfaction to video based content
 Around 50 per cent of online users indicate preference for video content on these
platforms.
 Driven by data analytics, online primary and secondary education is expected to
evolve to accommodate various learning curves of students and coach them
accordingly.
1.1.2 THE CHALLENGES
 Availability of free content diminishes the perceived value of paid content.
 The decision to purchase online solutions is influenced by stakeholders such as parents,
peers, faculty and the information available on the internet.

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  Lack of awareness of online offerings prove to inhibit rapid growth of the category.

1.1.3 THE COMPANY

Founded in 2016 by the Xlri graduates Maneesh Dhooper and Kunal Malik, PlanetSpark provides
neighbourhood learning zones where children can assemble and have live afterschool interactive and
fun-based classes for different subjects. PlanetSpark combines online learning with an offline
experience for children through its own game-based learning app and a learning management
system. PlanetSpark operates with an asset-light model where they partner with pre-schools,
schools, and strategic partners such as Oyo Townhouse to set up its offline-learning centers in a low-
cost and scalable manner. Recently, the start-up had struck a deal with hospitality giant OYO to set
up 500 ‘new-age’ learning spaces for children across India, catering to all the learning needs of K8
kids in locality.

TIMELINE SO FAR

Nov 2016- First teachers are on-boarded in PlanetSpark

Mar 2017- PlanetSpark moves into a basement in Sector 55, Gurgaon

Jun 2017- First BDA and Recruiter Join

Sep 2017- PlanetSpark launches English subject.

Feb 2018- Office shifts from a basement to Nirvana Courtyard

Feb 2018- PlanetSpark Tech Team is built

Mar 2018- FIITJEE Invests in PlanetSpark

Jun 2018- Teacher and Parent App are launched

Feb 2019- PlanetSpark Tab is launched

Mar 2019- FIITJEE commits to next round of PlanetSpark’s investment

Mar 2019- OYO Approaches PlanetSpark for a Strategic Partnership to change the K8 Segment

Dec 2019- PlanetSpark raises a fresh round of Investment

Feb 2020- At point of inflexion

1.2 PROJECT (Edtech Market Dynamics)

The project comprises of two major sections in which I have tried to discuss,
 The evolving customer needs and behaviours in the aftermath of COVID-19.

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  Cost-sensitivity of the customer following the pandemic.
 The customer preferences and need analysis.
 The questionnaire and the resulting survey with inferences drawn from it.

1.2.1 PROBLEM STATEMENT

To analyse consumer behaviour and customer preferences in Edtech sector in the aftermath of
COVID-19.

1.2.2 OBJECTIVE & DELIVERABLES

1. To gather and compare the data for customer preferences for pre and post COVID-19 scenario.
2. To identify and define the underlying factors for the gradual shift in consumer behaviour.
3. To segregate customers on the basis of various demographic attributes.
4. To take a sample set of customers and create a questionnaire to understand what is the current trend
in online education and how cost conscious people, especially parents have become after the
economic decline post COVID-19.

1.2.3 SCOPE

This primary and secondary survey focusses much upon the customer preferences and tries to gauge
the changes in priorities and the cost-sensitiveness of the parents. The scope of research hence
performed encompasses the K8 sector for online education. This in turn enables the company to
make informed decision on how to manipulate the data hence collected and to incorporate these
findings in their various sales strategies while operating in a strict WFH model.

As for the exact sample set we have kept the responses limited to the parents of K8 kids based on
cold calling and the leads generated from SEO. The results from this survey is intended to not only
segregate the consumer base but also tries to categorize the subject preference and the added
benefits that people might want to derive from Edtech firms. This also helps the company to identify
the key areas of improvement and define the key attributes which need to be focussed in order to
convert more customers.

1.3 METHODOLOGY AND ASSUMPTIONS

I decided to opt for a questionnaire survey in order to keep things simple and lucid. First, let’s begin
with the assumptions that I have taken while designing the questionnaire which will eventually
define the boundaries of this opinion survey henceforth.

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  Parents and elder siblings have a significant influence in education related decisions when it
comes to opting for online alternatives.
 We will be limiting our survey to the aftermath of lock-down situation only and therefore the
reasons are cited in the questionnaire accordingly.
 Our main focus will be on the expenditure pattern. Hence, expenditure will be the ultimate
deciding factor for any concrete conclusion.

I have used the methodology of questionnaire survey as it is the least time and money consuming and
the quickest one. Data trimming and reduction have been performed accordingly to avoid noise and
error. Two sets of questions are framed where the first set of questions gauge the customer's mindset
in a general scenario without any significant factors affecting their purchase behavior.

The other half of the questionnaire contains a conditional survey where the sample population was
asked to make the same decisions as in the previous set of questions but this time under the given
constraint of COVID19 disruptions. The scaling for the viable options have been done accordingly
and I have made sure that the entire survey is as simple as it comes to ensure error reduction.

1.3.1 RESULTS & CHARTS

Internet connectivity

5
Preferred device

Internet hours

Subscription rate

6
Mode of learning

Current spending on online portal

Perception of online learning (Benefits their children/siblings)

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Preferred subject

Type of course

Preference of online classes

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Mode of preference during the lockdown

Awareness

Post COVID cost sensitivity

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 1.4 INFERNCES

 81 % of the participants had a good internet connectivity.

 72 % of the participants used smartphones to consume online content and 20% of them
preferred PCs.
 63 % participants felt that their kids/siblings used internet for more than 3 hours each day.
 41 % of the kids/siblings aren't subscribed to any of the Edtech portals.
 61 % of the participants felt their kid/sibling needed help with Mathematics while 48 % also
felt need for science lessons as well.
 A whopping 72% participants felt their kid needed skill based courses instead of regular
subjects.
 57 % of the respondents felt that the online classes have become NECESSARY for kids these
days.

1.5 CONCLUSION

 Earlier 74% respondents wanted to spend less than 2000 bucks per month on online classes
but post COVID19 only 61% respondents felt they still won't like to spend much on online
education.

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  To some extent this establishes an inverse relationship between the lock-down and likeliness
of people to spend more on online classes.
 72% participants felt that their child needed skill based courses rather than regular courses
which was an eye-opener.
 The survey proved the importance of counselling as many people felt that lack of guidance
and decisiveness was hampering their kid's education.
 Teacher recommendation is a major driving force in education industry and parents seem ti
trust the teacher's advice.
 Smartphones dominate the Indian market and couple that with the ease of access as the
dominating reason for online classes, we can clearly see a gradual shift towards smartphone
based learning portals.

PROJECT 2: SALES AND PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES POST

COVID 19

2.1 INTRODUCTION

Having been already discussed in detail at the beginning of project 1 regarding the industry scenario
and general trends I will try to delve deeper into the competitive forces, environmental factors,
consumer behaviour, revenue growth/target and general trends. The purpose being that these factors
will eventually guide our research and help us to come up with innovative ways of selling our
product.

Competitive Landscape

The market currently is being dominated by Byju’s, Vedeantu, Toppr, Meritnation, Unacademey,
UpGrad and many other Edtech start-ups which have seen a boom in their business over the past few
years, thanks to Jio. Because of their diversified revenue models which specifically revolves around
the freemium model people have become sceptical about paid services. However, especially in
COVID lockdown parents are forced to keep their kids sheltered in homes rather than sending them
away to the schools. This has led to a gap creation where the kids are not exposed to any learning
activities and therefore this has eased up the business in paid models for one to one class or one to
many live afterschool classes. The major giants who have emerged as victorious out of this crisis are
Vedantu and Byju’s who have their sales force exploiting all opportunities to on board the parents for
live online classes.

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 Rationale for the Project:

Throughout the internship tenure we’ve had various meetings where we have discussed certain tweaks
in our promotional and sales strategies which has actually helped us improve the revenue over the
weeks. The rationale therefore is to establish the effectiveness of the strategies that hae been
employed especially when it comes to the sales pipelines, CSR projects and tie- ups with OYO. Also,
the extent to which the strategies have been successful has also been explored via sales data from the
past few months and analytics.

2.2 PROJECT

The project focuses on the factors or indicators that are directly responsible for the shifts in the
sales/promotional strategies of the company. In the project we will discuss about the sales funnel,
market scenario and benchmarks, consumer preferences, competitive landscape, revenue growth as
some of the key driving forces and the changes hence brought in the selling methodology.

2.2.1 Problem Statement:

What tweaks to be made in the sales pipeline based on the conclusions from the recent survey on
COVID-19 lockdown?

2.2.2 Objective:

1. Main objective is to analyse the changes in sales/ promotional techniques post COVID-19.
2. To measure the effectiveness in terms of increment in sales numbers and enrolments.
3. Analyse major factors influencing this decision.

2.2.3 Scope:

Sales teams Spartans and Hotshots have been the major focus of my study and its findings. I have
conducted through interviews and opinion survey from the interns/counsellors in these teams to gauge
the effectiveness of these sales tactics that they have been employing. This also includes the team

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 leads and hence all of the lead that has been designated to these teams which comprises a sample size
of roughly 2000 leads over a span of two weeks.

2.2.4 Deliverables:

• Change in customer preference

• Brand Equity analysis, compare competitors

• Effective and preferred marketing channels

• Demographics of potential customers

• Effectiveness of promotional campaigns

• To establish a successful cause and effect relationship between the points that we have
discussed earlier.

2.3 METHODOLOGY

 Leads provided in CRM app for Planetspark

 Pre-call insights from permanent and experienced counsellors and BDAs.

 Sales meeting and the insights from sales lead.

 Competitor analysis by filling out their survey form as an anonymous customer.

 Consumer survey reports and feedback reports from the existing customers.

2.4 SURVEY INSIGHTS

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CRM LEADS

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15
The five step process demonstration-

 Summarize Need: If I understand you correctly, you are concerned about having time for you
kid to attend online classes is that correct? Parent responds with “yes”.(This indicates more
information is needed)
 Check accuracy: If I could show you a way you could continue to work during the day and
still have time to give attention to your Kid, would that be something you would be interested
in?
 Feature: Our classes are online with Parent-Teacher Engagement support.
 Benefit: What that means to you is you will have the best of both worlds, a teacher to guide
your Kid and online activities to compliment your kid’s stay at home productive.
 Temperature Check: Tell me how that will work for you?

How to do pre-sales-

 Qualifying Leads.
 Identify the needs of your Prospect.
 Rapport Building.
 Prioritizing leads.

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How to do on-spot closures-

 Now or Never Closes. This is where Counsellors make an offer that includes a special benefit
that prompts immediate purchase.
 Question Closes. To close on the spot it's imperative that Counsellors ask prospect probing
questions. Effective salespeople focus on closing a sale as soon as a conversation with a
prospect begins. 
 Soft Closes. The soft close is a way to show your prospect the benefit of your product and
then ask a low-impact question to ascertain whether they'd be open to learning more.

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FDP PERFORMANCE

18
SALES FUNNEL AND PIPELINE

19
PROMOTIONAL STRATEGIES

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2.5 KEY INSIGHTS AND TAKEAWAYS

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 Complex buying behavior as explained in the following matrix-

 High involvement and significant differences in offerings, therefore this complex behavior
requires the marketers to differentiate, to highlight the value and competitive advantage, to
offer illustration or to allow trials for need recognition.

 Buyer’s decision process for new products- (during selling)

1. Awareness creation

2. Interest generation

3. Evaluating alternatives

4. Trial

5. Adoption/Subscription

 Steps in selling process-

1. Prospecting (lead gen)

2. Preapproach

3. Approach

4. Presentation and demonstration

5. Handling objections and rebuttals

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 6. Closing

7. Follow-up or post purchase relationship management

 Follow up becomes very important because of cognitive dissonance leading to post-purchase

conflict.
 Pricing strategy-
1. Short run average cost (covid19 situation, hence a short term improvisation),
therefore costs are high.
2. Cost based v/s value based? The answer should be value-based because in the middle
of economic crisis very similar to that of 2008, people are worried about liquidity of
their bank balances and hence they decide to spend cautiously and carefully. It is very
important to use value-based pricing strategy.
3. Market skimming or Market penetration? Market penetration is the way to go since,
we need large customer base in a short span.
4. Price adjustment strategies can include discounts such as, 2/30 net 60 which means 2
% discount on total sun if paid before 30 days.
 Salesperson should realign the services so that they cater to the specific need of the consumer.
For that, however, the salesperson needs to be well informed about the offerings of the
company.
 According to a KPMG report-
1. Channels of discovery in edtech k12 sector- Peers, internet ads and followed by
school teacher recommendations.
2. Reason for subscription decision- Quality, requirement and installment payments.
3. Gamified learning has the highest propensity of imparting maximum knowledge and
since it’s our core product, maybe we should focus more on this aspect.
 Online classrooms v/s offline classrooms-
1. Convenience and atmosphere of home.
2. Easy access
3. Reduction in travel time.
 Key areas to focus- timing, pricing and closing (in first attempt).
 High customization in content delivery, assessment and result analyses will be instrumental in
driving competitive differentiation among players. Going forward, availability of
comprehensive content at affordable prices to students will be important for increased
adoption. Engaging customer experience through potential use of gamification might be
required to increase customer retention. Moreover, provision of value add services such as
career counselling and soft skills development will be important to differentiate the brands. A
multi-device offering and offline touch points for certain categories will enable greater
awareness of players among users.

3. REFERENCES

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 [KPMG report on online education]
https://home.kpmg/in/en/home/insights/2017/05/internet-online-education-india.html
 [online education revenue model] https://inc42.com/buzz/indian-online-
education-edtech-market/
 [PlanetSpark] https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/planet-spark
 [Competitors] https://www.theindianwire.com/startups/top-edtech-startups-india-
70862/
 [Promotions] https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/info-tech/edtech-start-up-
announces-free-happiness-hour-for-children-during-covid-
pandemic/article31677982.ece
 [Consumer behaviour] http://degreehelpline.blogspot.com/2019/

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