Required Assignment 1.

3:
Transforming the Four Ps to Incorporate Digital
Technologies
Nilanjana Das
Suggested time: 90 minutes
Assignment Instructions

In this assignment, you will showcase your understanding of the long-tail effect and the 4Ps of
marketing.  

1. Find two examples where companies have leveraged the long-tail effect in their
business. Explain how these companies have utilized it.
2. How has the banking sector transformed the traditional four Ps to incorporate digital
technologies? You can also choose to write about your choice of company, sector, or
industry instead of the banking sector.

Note: This is a required assignment and counts towards programme completion.

1. Find two examples where companies have leveraged the long tail effect. Explain how these
companies have used this strategies

Long-tail as a business strategy allows companies to realise significant profits by selling low volumes
of hard-to-find products to many customers, instead of just selling a large volume of the popular
products. The necessary condition for long-tail performance are a large distribution channel and fast
and easy access of this channel to the customers willing to buy niche products. The benefit of longtail
can be reaped at maximum in marketplace model and we have the likes of Snapdeal, eBay, and
Pepperfry among the many who are leveraging this model and have established themselves in their
segment.
Snapdeal is one of the Indian companies which has leveraged the long tail effect. They focussed on
building the bridge between long-tail of supply and a very long-tail of demand. Only 5% to 7% of
India’s retail is organized, and the rest is really just small businesses that sell to their catchment areas.
Snapdeal identified that technology was a great way to reduce the asymmetry of information that
exists between supply and demand and focussed on enabling small business owners to buy locally but
sell nationally. Snapdeal provided the marketplace which catered to demand reach, logistics support,
customer support & technology platform support (Payments and analytics) to be successful using
their digital platform.

Pepperfry, online furniture and the home marketplace is another Indian Company that has leveraged
the long tail strategy. Pepperfry has positioned itself as a specialist in the home furniture space and
they control the entire lifecycle from sourcing, display, delivery, customer services, and studios to
consultancy. They have empowered small regional and local brands and makers of niche furniture

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 able to sell across the country leveraging the Pepperfry marketplace platform. Pepperfry provides
support in terms of multichannel marketing, stress-free shipping from seller doorsteps, secure
payments, analytics, and customer support.

References :
The_Financial_Express_Brand Wagon.pdf (pepperfry.com)
Chasing the long tail | Business Standard News (business-standard.com)
Snapdeal: Connecting the Dots between Demand and Supply in India - Knowledge at Wharton
(upenn.edu)

2. How has the banking sector transformed the traditional 4Ps(Product, price, place and promotion)
to incorporate Digital technologies

Banking sector has transformed the traditional 4Ps while leveraging advancement in technologies to
undergo digital transformation.

Product: Banks have redefined the traditional banking while building platforms to deliver value to
their customers through digital channels (web, mobile etc). With penetration of mobiles reaching its
peak, banks are able to provide the complete banking solution in mobile . Banks traditionally were
having huge data around customers. Using bigdata, analytics and AI/ML banks are able to derive
intelligent insights from the housed data and customize their product targeting specific segments,
build rule-based and AI/ML models to identify frauds and significantly improve customer experience.
Banks have started building features aimed towards making joyful customer experience whereby
customers can make their utility bill payments, credit card payments etc at ease using online and
mobile banking channels.

Place: Banks have built Application based banking to reduce physical presence while providing the
same services of fund transfer, opening/closing fixed deposit/recurring deposit and other features in
finger-tips of customers. Banks using their own and shared ATM framework, ensured that customers
no longer require to go to physical branches for withdrawing and depositing funds.

Promotion: Promotion and advertising strategy of Banks also have made a innovative shift from paper
and media advertising to leveraging customer social media network. Banks have understood the
strength of social media and voice of customer and are able to leverage networks of loyal and

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 satisfied customers to increase their customer base while using positive reviews and experience of
satisfied customers. AI/ML is leveraged to harness data and make intelligent insights and formulate
strategies.

Pricing: Banks have aligned their pricing strategy vis-à-vis to their competitors. Personal Banking with
savings and current accounts, Credit and Debit Cards, Loans, Insurances, Wealth Management and
Investment services are the revenue making services of a bank. In every area there has been
innovation taking place, customers in some banks are allowed to choose their bank account numbers,
services are provided to customers at their door steps. In wealth management and Investment
services dedicated relationship managers are assigned and AI/ML is leveraged to build customized
product targeting a customer segment, recommendation engine, analytical reports. Banks are
focusing more on revenue performances and how shareholders derive positive ROI

Banks are also moving to marketplace platform model where they are focusing more on the core
strengths and services. Banks are digitally transforming and evolving at a faster pace as we speak
leveraging advancement in technologies around cloud, analytics, open APIs, mobile, web technologies
and social media.

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