IIM Lucknow

Team Disha

The Product
Management Casebook
 1

FOREWORD
Team Disha, IIM Lucknow presents to you the 2nd edition of The Product Management Casebook.

The casebook leverages the interview experiences of the student community and the preparation feedback. It
is our humble attempt to offer the reader a comprehensive view of the frameworks across multiple case types.
Through this, we try to present to you a single source of case preparation for product management.

We intend to keep updating this casebook with both cases and guesstimates in the coming weeks – so that it
can turn into a comprehensive reference document for preparing for product management roles.

Making the most of this Casebook

We would recommend the reader to look at the problem statement and practice the case in groups of 3-4.
Once done with the case, you may refer to the approach to the case. The cases presented help develop a
logical flow to approaching the case and we advise the reader to not limit to the structure or the solution given.
You may develop your own structural flow.

Team DISHA
 2

Table of Contents

New Feature Development ................................................................................................................. 3

New Product Development ..................................................................................................................6
Product Improvement ......................................................................................................................... 14
Application Evaluation/Metrics ......................................................................................................... 21
App Analysis ....................................................................................................................................... 24
Business Problems ............................................................................................................................26
Guesstimates ..................................................................................................................................... 36

Team DISHA
 3

NEW FEATURE DEVELOPMENT

The CIRCLES Method is useful while thinking about how to design new products.

HOW DO YOU PLACE/POSITION THE RECOMMENDATION FEATURE IN

FLIPKART WEBSITE?
OYO Process, HEPP 2018

Comprehend Situation
I need to recommend at which position in the Flipkart website Recommendation Feature has to be placed.
I: Yes

Identify Customer
Okay. So, our customer would be anyone visiting Flipkart website. I would go through the user journey of a customer.
Suppose I want to purchase some product from Flipkart.
I: Say, take Nike shoes.

It is a good idea to briefly talk about the existing core features of the product. Even if the product is well known, it brings
the interviewer on the same page.
Draw a structure on the paper if it makes sense, will aid in the next step as well.

Below steps would be followed:

 Login to the website.

 User lands on the homepage. If user does not know where to find the product, user will search in Navigator/Search
box. If user know the product and category, user will go to category and select that brand name.

Team DISHA
 4

 User lands on the category page where he/she finds all the products of the selected category. He/she will select one
product as per preference.
 User lands on the product page. He/she will then ‘Add to cart’/’Buy now’.
 User lands on the Order summary page and confirm. He/she will add delivery address, and will choose payment
method.
 Accordingly, user lands on the 3rd party payment gateway page where transaction can be completed.
 Final page is the Order Confirmation page.

FLIPKART

Third party
Order
Home page Category page Product page Order summary payment
confirmation
gateway page

Cut through prioritization

Start with giving a background of, on what lines you are thinking. This will help generate ideas and also keep the
interviewer involved.

Through Google Analytics, in the backend, we can track the user behavior, at which data point user is spending time, which
page he visited, which link he clicked, which session, session duration and using that we can figure out the path to final
conversion of the product.

There are metrics to measure, i.e. micro conversion, micro conversion means that at each stage of the user journey, it will
measure the user behavior i.e. page, click, session duration, etc. that led to final conversion of purchase of the product.

List Solutions & Evaluate Tradeoffs

 Suggestion #1: Product page
o Reasoning: Say, if the user passes through Home page, Category page, product page but left the website
without purchase that means there might be a problem in the product page. Hence product page would
be ideal solution.

 Suggestion #2: Order Summary page

o Reasoning: Every time user tries to purchase some product, there will be a user journey. Now suppose
user left the Fllipkart website from Order Summary page, the Recommendation feature would be better
on the previous page, so if user again comes through that path, recommendation feature will bring
brand/product re-call based on the user purchase historical data and user may purchase the same
product as per the Recommendations.

I: What if user drops off without purchase/ did not buy Nike product for some reason. In this scenario, Recommendation
Feature is not helping Flipkart to make user purchase Nike product, because user may not go visit Flipkart again to buy
Nike only.

 Suggestion #3: Home page

o Reasoning: Now, the recommendations should appear on the home page whenever user visits the
Flipkart website next time. This will lead to brand/product re-call and user may click that product and go
for a purchase. Exact position of the Recommendation feature on Home page will based on the click
through rate and other metrics, that I will decide based on A/B testing. A/B testing helps me understand

Team DISHA
 5

the position. of the Recommendation Feature that led to the highest % of conversion rate. I can
accordingly change the position of the feature through iterations of the website updating.

While talking about suggestions have a clear reasoning for selecting that option. Also, it is an added advantage if you can
make use of some technical keywords like session duration, A/B testing etc. to justify your claim.

I: Fair enough. Now tell me where you do place the Cross-selling product feature in the website. Cross selling means, if a
user buy shirt, he may need trousers, so this is a cross-selling product. If a user buys shoes, he may need socks, so socks
is a cross-selling product.

I will place Cross-selling page in Cart page.

I: I am not convinced. What is the reason behind your suggestion? Why not place it on Order confirmation page?
If user has reached the cart page means, user has already decided to purchase shoes (say). Then he may need socks also.
So, placing cross-selling feature on the same cart page makes him go for the purchase of socks. But if the same feature
placed on order-summary page, then user may not go for the socks because user already made payment and bought
shoes. Going back to socks and making a transaction again is an additional effort by the user. High unlikely user makes
additional effort. So, placing it in cart is a best option. However, which position and page decision can be made based on
the micro-conversion and Google analytics metrics and I will place the features at the best % conversion rate positions and
do iterations accordingly
Interviewer: Okay. Thank you!

Team DISHA
 6

NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

DESIGN A MUSIC APPLICATION FOR BLIND PEOPLE

Flipkart Process, HEPP 2018 | Based on solution by Prateek Jain, PGP33

Comprehend the Problem:

Is this a mobile application or a desktop application or both?
I: It’s supposed to be a mobile app.

Is this a global application or targeted for specific geography?

I: Consider the app is to be launched in India.

Should I also think about how to monetize the product?

I: The app is not for generating revenues.

Identify the Customers:

Known: Visually impaired music lovers

Report customer needs:

I’ll list down the requirements from a music app

1. As a customer, I want to play, pause and skip tracks

2. As a customer, I want to control the volume
3. As a customer, I want to explore and download new songs – by movie/singer/category/language
4. As a customer, I want to create a playlist
5. As a customer, I want help in finding new songs/artists

The above needs need to be built using voice, motion, buttons, touch or a combination of these. Do the above set of needs
look good?

I: Yes. The requirements all seem good. Perhaps we also want the feature to connect to the radio?

Cut Through/Prioritize needs:

Yes. Radio would be a great feature. Along with it, I think we must implement needs 1, 2 and 3 in the first iteration of the
application. Given the smartphone use trends in India, I’ll begin by developing an Android version for the app.

I: I agree.

List down possible solutions & Evaluate tradeoffs:

Next, let’s discuss how we can implement each of these features.
Launching the app can be done via google assistant – the ‘Ok Google’ feature already provides for launching of apps via
voice. Exit from the app can be automatic – if no song has been playing for a minute – so that the user does not have to
explicitly close the app.

The volume buttons can continue to control volume as they can easily be located on the phone’s body.

Play Pause Skip – These can be done using:

Team DISHA
 7

 Volume buttons – say double press for next

 Gestures/swiping or tapping the phone screen – say swiping right for next track, and tapping twice to pause.
 Motion – rotate phone for next/previous track

We do not want multiple features to use the same inputs so we can use motion to control this function.

Connecting to the radio – When the music is paused, the radio can be launched. It can be done using voice command, or
using gestures like drawing a circle on the screen.
While listening to the radio, if the user likes a song, we can provide a way to look up the song in our own database to see if
it can be added to the user’s collection.

Exploring songs – To find new songs, it is necessary that we allow the user some time to sample the song. We can build a
mode which start with taking filtering preferences like language, artist or genre from the user. This would require voice input
form the users.
Next a collection of song matching the filter is selected by the app from our database. Each song is played for 15 seconds,
after which the next song is played. This shall allow our users to effectively judge each song. The user can have the option
to continue to listening to the same song or adding it to his queue using gestures. Up for adding to queue, down for
download, and right or left to skip to the next song.

The exact controls must be customizable because the usage patterns for different features may vary significantly among
users.

I: These all sound like good suggestions. Thank You.

Team DISHA
 8

DESIGN UBER FOR ELDERLY PEOPLE

Microsoft, Summers 2019

Comprehend Situation
Is this application intended for a specific geography or is it going to be launched globally?
I: It will be a pilot launch initially.

Are we open to designing a completely new app or is it going to be an improvement over the existing application?
I: It can be anything.

Identify Customer
It is always a good idea to pick one of the cohorts as a primary cohort as it will allow for a more focused approach to
devising a plan.

Population

Age Filter

Kids Teens Young Adults Middle Aged Senior Citizens

(0-12 years) (20-30 years) (31-60 years) (>60 years)
(13-19 years)

Secondary Cohort Primary Cohort

- Have parents or grandparents - Not very tech
without smartphones, or very savvy.
little knowledge of their use.
- Safety conscious,
- More concerned about the do not easily trust
reviews and ratings of the online applications
drivers.
- Very loyal to the
- Wouldn’t mind paying more for products they use
comfort and ease.

Our primary cohort, would be the elderly people themselves as that is the main intent of designing the application. It is to
move into a new market segment.
The frequency of use would be higher in case of the primary cohort when compared to the secondary. This is because the
baby boomers as a generation usually prefer to be more independent.

Report Customer Requirements

Primary Cohort needs:

Team DISHA
 9

 Easy to use UI and not very tech oriented.

 Easier way to enter pickup and drop locations more
 Comfort is priority over urgency to reach the location
 GPS tracking to know the exact location or for saving places on the application

Secondary Cohort needs:

 All the needs of Cohort 1.

 Option to use the service without internet options.

It is a good idea to briefly map the customer journey. Draw a structure on the paper if it makes sense, will aid in
understanding the shortcomings of the existing model.

App Fuctionality Ease of Customi- Informat-

Login aesthetics &Performa Feedback
use zation ion
-nce

- Application - Too many - No special - No instructions -No option to - Provide - Allow for
available only for options. options like on using the choose the information vocal
smart phones. assistance to the application. kind of drivers about the user feedback
- Buttons and elderly. that will be reviews on the rather than
other visuals too - Does not allow allotted. app to show typing.
small and not - No voice over card payment on the credibility
easy to detect. text options to drop. and quality of
choose. the app.
- Does not
- Internet is provide card
required to book specs like boot
the cab space and other
features like
secure seating,
etc.

Cut through prioritization

Start with giving a background of, on what lines you are thinking. This will help generate ideas and also keep the
interviewer involved. You could prioritize the customer needs from must have and good to have priorities.

Must Have
 Since, senior citizens are generally not very tech savvy in nature. Easy to use UI would be classified as a must have for
the application.
 Comfort throughout the journey would also be classified as a must have priority. As the elderly would value this more
than reaching the location on time and considering that they may have health issues comfort would be a priority in that
case.
Good to Have
 Easier way to enter pickup and drop locations.
 Option to use the service without internet options.

Team DISHA
 10

List Solutions
General

Aesthetics and Ease of use

 Increase the font size of the options.

 Provide a tutorial option to show how the app works.
 Include only essential options like basic cab booking, order tracking and payment options.
 Provide an option to choose language displayed on the application.

Functionality

 To increase comfort of service, ensure only drivers with a minimum rating of 4.5 to serve elderly customers because
they value it more. [ Optional: Give clear instructions to all drivers to not cross 50 – 60 speed limits when elderly
customers are availing the ride].
 An option to book ride through a phone call.
 An option to book ride without having to enter destination location.
 Card payment option to be made available using card swiping machines – will be made known on home screen.
 Voice to text option to enter destination address and to give feedback.

Premium
 Include a premium option for the users, where there will be assistance provided to the passenger on reaching the
destination point until the door step.
 Include options like wheelchair and medical kits in the vehicles that service these customers.
 Provide only cars that meet specific standards to these customers, for instance we can set a minimum boot space limit,
or set a limit on the number of passengers per vehicle to allow for more comfort.

Evaluate Tradeoffs
The possible tradeoffs in this case would be.

 Building an application from scratch would require additional workforce and investment initially.
 We will have to build our user base from scratch and the target segment is completely different from the existing user
base of Uber. Marketing expenses will be high initially.
 New application might require many more features than the existing one, so use of improved technologies would
require highly skilled personal which comes at a high expense.
 Might require a completely new set of vehicles, so infrastructure costs will be high, especially to include the premium
option.

Summarize
Highlight the key points from each part and ensure that there are no new additions made at the summary part.

Team DISHA
 11

DEVELOP AN APPLICATION TO LAUNCH A BICYCLE SHARING

SERVICE.
OYO Process, HEPP 2018 | Based on solution by Nazish Ansari

Understand the Problem

The problem asks the candidate to develop an application to launch a bicycle sharing service. This requires the candidate
to understand the case on three basic decisions:

1. Where will the service be launched?

2. Estimating the demand and supply in the desired city of choice and how many users can be on-boarded on the
app at the time of launch.
3. Developing the application to increase customer engagement.

It is advisable to list down all the parameters that should be considered while evaluating each of the above decisions.

Approach to the problem

Understand the customer
This involves conducting a research to develop an understanding of the user and identifying the customer pain points.

City selection criteria

 Population of the city (26 million)

 Demographics: Age, profession
 Level of income (Good)
 City infrastructure (Good)
 Traffic situation in the city (High traffic)
 Number of Tech savvy/ internet/ smartphone users in the city (Good to High)

Basis these criteria, you can come up with a Tier 1 city. Possible cities that fit these criteria are New Delhi, Bangalore,
Mumbai, Hyderabad and other metropolitans. Given the push by Government of India on minimizing the use of private
vehicles to curb pollution, we can start with New Delhi.

Next step is deciding the target group and the service demand.

Target Group

Target group to be created by identifying the customer pain points:

 No alternatives to short distance commuters

 High price/long wait time for cabs
 High pollution/traffic levels in the city
 No time to exercise their body

Basis the above pain points, we can narrow the target group to:

 College Goers
 Early stage working professionals living in 3Km to 5Km of their office spaces.
 People commuting via metro to their offices. (Home-Source Dock-Destination Dock-Metro-Source Dock-
Destination Dock-Office)
 Health Conscious people
 People who seek cheap and quick rides

Team DISHA
 12

The target group can be better identified by creating customer personas for multiple type of users- College goers, working
professionals and health conscious people.

Sample criteria for customer persona

Age, Profession, Amount of travel, frequency of travel within the city/city tours, health conscious or not, cab preference rate,
preference to walk for short distances, prior experience of any such service and feedback.

Demand Estimation

Get to a rough number to estimate the number of users who shall be using the service. Target group can be college goers,
office goers and other health conscious and people looking for short distance cheap rides. We can assume people in other
category to be around 1%.

Supply Estimation

 Initial inventory of 1,000 bicycles and a pilot launch can be conducted near colleges and office locations.
 Bicycle docks at the mentioned locations for pickup and drop.
 Bicycle docks at a regular interval of 1Km - in case of breakdowns.

Exploring the product

Ideate some basic and good to have application features.

 Navigation: Source to destination maps, traffic level on the route, ETA, etc.
 Accessing the bike: Dynamic keys, QR code to unlock the bike at the dock.
 Security: Inbuilt real time GPS monitoring device. User profile to be created using valid email ID and phone
number.
 Dock Locations: Application should have dynamic nearby dock locations for easy pickup and drop.
 Health benefits: Calorie meter, total distance travelled, user data tracking
 Resume trip: User can pause his trip at a dock and resume from the same location or drop-off his bicycle.
 Enhancing the customer experience: Nearby places to visit, frequently visited places, previously stored source
and drop locations, # of bicycles available at the nearest dock, # of bicycles approaching the dock, advance
bicycle booking.

Team DISHA
 13

This is followed by building a real, tactical representation for the range of your ideas. User journey is a great tool to go about
this.

 User opens the app and signs up on the platform. Sign up can be through email, Google login or Facebook login.
Phone number verification by asking for the OTP.
 After the user is onboarded, he is asked for the location – manually fill it or automatically detect location.
 The landing page is divided into multiple parts: Text area to fill source and destination, geo view of the nearby
docks, option to select the bicycle service type (if any- can range from simple bicycles to high end sports bicycles)
and the book now/later option. It will also have menu option to display user profile, past ride history, a GUI to help
user track his health, payments option, saved maps (user can save the most frequently travelled routes) and a
customer support feature (via email/chat support).
 User enters the source and is shown nearby docks at his source location with # of bicycles available and #
bicycles approaching the dock. Upon filling the destination, the destination dock with the nearby docks will be
shown and user can select his preferred dock to drop off the bicycle. Map will highlight the route with the traffic
information and the ETA information.
 The user then books the bicycle using book now/later option. User gets redirected to the payments page and can
choose from e-wallet payment or credit tokens (estimated charge based the estimated travel time). Upon payment,
the booking is confirmed.
 If booking now, a 5 min pickup time is given post which the booking gets cancelled. If booking later, the bicycle
shall be confirmed 10 min before the suggested pickup time and a standard 5 min pickup period.
 Once the user reaches the dock, he unlocks the bike using app in built QR code scanner/dynamic keys.
 User can follow the maps to reach his destination and the app tracks the data in the backend. The user can pause
his trip at a dock and resume from the same if he still has some trip time remaining, else he needs to drop off the
bicycle.

Pricing

 Base Charge + per Km price + Rental/Security charges

Materializing the service

Launch the MVP among a selected group and collect the customer feedback (rating based). Implement the changes that
are needed post assessment and release the final version.

Team DISHA
 14

PRODUCT IMPROVEMENT

IF YOU WANTED TO MONETIZE WHATSAPP, HOW WILL YOU GO ABOUT

IT? CONSIDER IDEAS OTHER THAN USING ADVERTISEMENTS
Flipkart Process, HEPP 2018

Understanding the problem

Are you looking to monetize on the existing application or can it be a different application?
I: May I know the rationale behind the thought?

For monetizing on the existing application there might be a different set of parameters to be considered. For instance, if we
wish to monetize on the basic application, then we will have to consider the possibility of losing customers due to any
changes. However, if we can introduce a new application under WhatsApp, then it would be like launching a new product.
Here customer acquisition would become an important metric.
I: Ok. It can be either.

Assumptions
Assuming that we will be monetizing in the Indian space.

It is a good idea to talk about the existing ways of monetizing used in various social media platforms in the current
scenario.

 Affiliate Model - Af f iliate marketing is a system where you ref er someone to an online product in exchange f or ref erral
commissions. For instance, if you write blog articles about your goods and services you may also be able to supplement your
income by adding links to af f iliate sites.

 Freemium Model - In Freemium revenue model, the app is of f ered f or f ree to users but certain f eatures are gated or blocked
and the users need to pay a certain amount to get those f eatures unlocked. Basic f unctionality of the app is f ree but there i s a
charge f or premium and proprietary f eatures. LinkedIn uses this kind of model.

 Subscription Model - With a subscription model, customers can choose the level of service they want and the f requency that
they want to be billed. Netf lix uses this kind of revenue generation mechanism.

 Advertising Model - Generating revenue through by using advertisements. In this technique the revenue is generated by
showcasing ads on the application to the customers. Google uses this model of revenue generation

Customer Segmentation
Identify the customer segments based on the parameter that seems more suitable for the case. Here, we have used
lifestyle as a way of segmenting customers into cohorts.

Since we are looking at both options of monetizing on the existing features and developing a new application, our customer
base could be any segment, existing ones and new cohorts. I would like to split the base population into cohorts based on
their lifestyle. So, my segments would be

 Students
 Executives
 Government officials

Team DISHA
 15

 Non-working population

I: Ok. Go ahead.

Identifying Customer needs

Now, that I have defined my customers, I would like to understand what their basic needs could be and how WhatsApp can
play a role in this to monetize.

 Students
Educational needs, probably along the lines of tutor sessions.

 Executives
For Executives there is a need for a semi - formal mode of communication for teams within the office and a place
to share day to day updates and files amongst the teams in a secure manner

 Government officials
There is need for a mode of communication that reaches the masses quickly
Maintaining a closer connect with people, to keep the population updated on important news and projects
undertaken. This cannot be achieved via Twitter considering that the reach is smaller, the Twitter user base is
mostly working professionals.

 Non-working population
A way to connect with people
Entertainment purposes
DIY solutions for common issues faced at home

Knowing WhatsApp Model

Parameters that can be considered for WhatsApp (as problems)
 No Advertisement foundation – It has been strongly founded on a “No Advertisement” basis. Introducing ads may cause
users to migrate to other texting apps like Telegram.

 End-to-End data encryption – It is difficult to find trends based on chat content, as all data is encrypted.

 Availability of a lighter version – Keeping memory occupancy constraint in mind, it is important to ensure that any new
idea shouldn’t load the application size on mobile hardware.

 Easily replicable – The model used can be easily replicated. There are already competitors like hike and telegram that
use similar models.
Before choosing a monetizing mechanism, it is important to understand the business model of the application. This will
help us understand which model is better suited for that application. Also, talk about the features of the application, even if
it is a very popular application. This will help the interviewer understand your point of view.

Considering the business model of WhatsApp, a subscription model might lead to a loss of c ustomers. Also, considering
other factors like WhatsApp having an easily replicable model and being built on a no Advertisement policy. I believe that
going with a Freemium Model would be more suitable for monetizing on the existing application, where the users choose
whether to pay for accessing some of the exclusive features on WhatsApp.

However, if we go with the idea of developing a new app under the WhatsApp name then we can go for a Subscription
model and provide solutions specific to a particular user base. Is there something else that you would like me to consider?

I: No. Go ahead.

Team DISHA
 16

WhatsApp Business Model

Next, I would like to look at what the existing feature of WhatsApp are and how I can leverage these features, in my
solutions. Some of the features that I can think of are:

Current Features provided by WhatsApp

 One-to-One messaging
 Group text options
 Video Call Option – including group calls
 Voice Call – including conference calls
 WhatsApp on web
 WhatsApp for Desktop
 WhatsApp for Business
 Payments – rolled out as a Beta test feature for now

I believe that I have covered all the major features provided by WhatsApp, may I move on or would you like me to
brainstorm a little more.

I: No. I think you have covered almost all the features.

It is important to mention the potential problems that may arise with monetizing of the application.

New Suggestions
Current Steps taken by WhatsApp
WhatsApp for Business – WhatsApp Business makes interacting with customers easy by providing tools to automate, sort and
quickly respond to messages.
Features included:
 Business profile to list important information, such as a company's address, email and website.
 Statistics to see how many messages were successfully sent, delivered, and read.
 Messaging tools to quickly respond to customers

WhatsApp Payment option – It is available only as a beta version to a set of customers. It uses UPI -based payment
method through which you can send as well as receive money through your UPI-linked bank accounts.

Team DISHA
 17

You can use this as a background to formulate your answers.

When making new suggestions, always mention the kind of user base that you would be targeting and how this
application, would be different from the existing application.

WhatsApp@work – A competitor to Skype. This would be a new standalone application, similar to WhatsApp for Business.

 One way in which WhatsApp@work could be different from skype since the groups formed on WhatsApp, where
the data is not lost once the chats are closed.
 Conversations cannot be tracked, so employees may feel safer communicating in this space.
 WhatsApp interface is widely used, so acceptance for the platform will be more.

New features that may have to be introduced include:

 Allowing private network creations, so that data flow happens within these networks.
 Introducing location and status information of users.
Payoff

 May have to change the entire base format of the app to make it more work centric.

I: How would this be different from WhatsApp for Business.

WhatsApp for business is used for connecting small scale businesses with customers, this application would be centered
more around the needs of the employees within an organization. Since, this would be a specific solution, we could also
customize the application a little based on the needs of the end customer. This would follow a subscription-based model.

Tie ups with Government –

 This can be used for sending across critical announcements to the masses.
 The frequency of usage and reach on WhatsApp is much higher when compared to applications like Twitter, so it
would be a more effective mode of communication.

This status option can be used for broad casting important information.

Tele Servicing Options for WhatsApp –

 Service Technicians can suggest DIY ways to perform repairs for a nominal fee (using the video call technology)

This can utilize the video call option and the payment feature of WhatsApp.

This would be an additional feature on the existing application however, not all users will have access to these technicians.
This would be a premium feature.

I: This can also be done on YouTube. So why would customers look to WhatsApp for this.

On YouTube there is no authenticity. The solutions provided are more general, there is not much interaction with the person
helping out. With WhatsApp, they can interact with professionals, on a real time basis and get more customized solutions to
their problems and there would also be a credibility factor since we would reach out to only certified professionals for this.

WhatsApp is currently looking into introducing ads on stories on WhatsApp, as a way of monetization.

Team DISHA
 18

HOW WOULD YOU IMPROVE A HOLIDAY BOOKING WEBSITE?

Based on solution by Aashima, PGP35

Comprehend Situation
Objective is to improve holiday booking website in terms of engagement of users and revisit rate or any other specific metric
I: Focus on user engagement.
Holiday booking website could be something like MMT or Yatra, is this understanding correct?
I: Yes

Identify Customer
There will be three major types of users for our website.

Holiday Booking
Website Customers

Tours and Travel

Anyone who intends Package Agencies Hotel owner who
to book a holiday who want to launch want to post their
package their packages listings

Try to think of all stakeholders of the product. The first user would be obvious, but mentioning all others as well, shows the
interviewer that you have thought it through.

Below steps would be followed by a user availing our website to book a holiday package:

 User would select Holiday booking option.

 User can choose to create a custom package or go through pre-built packages.
 When looking for pre-built packages, user would add source and destination locations.
 User may/may not specify dates or month of visit.
 User would be presented with prebuilt holiday packages.
 User would select a package and will be presented with details of the package like travel, hotel, site-seeing.
 Few websites provide option to change one or more aspect of the pre-built package.
 User can filter based on themes like – group, family, couple etc.
 After selecting and customizing a package, user can confirm by making payment.

Team DISHA
 19

Report Customer Needs & List Solutions

You can think in lines of customer journey and what can be improved at each stage.

1) As a user, I want to be able to know probable locations for holiday

a. Could be based on certain filters- budget, number of days etc.
b. Could use a map to show areas with their estimated budget
2) As a user, I want to be able to book homestays as well from the same website
a. Integration with homestay facilities
3) As a user, I want to be able to build multicity packages
4) As a user, I want to have custom activities added to my package
a. Process to request package agency to build a custom activity (for sight-seeing etc.) based on user
preferences
5) As a user, I want to be able to save a trip/itinerary and resume work
6) As a user, I want to be able to add my travel mates to my trip
a. Provision to view, comment and change the itinerary
7) As a user, I want to be able to share the created itinerary with fellow travelers to leverage it
a. Provision to receive some points if someone uses the same trip
8) As a user, I want to be able to see reliable content with respect to activities that can be added to package
a. Collaboration with travel bloggers etc.
9) As a user, I want to be able to get in touch with a trip guide once trip is booked
10) As a user, I want to receive weather or other societal problem related updates
a. Collaboration with weather forecast applications

11) As a tours and travel agency, I want to be able to serve customers with personalized packages, based on their
request
12) As a tours and travel agency, I want to be able to compare the booking rate with other competing packages
13) As a tours and travel agency, I want to be able to see the reviews and feedback about my packages
14) As a tours and travel agency, I want the users to see my package first if it is rated higher than others

15) As a hotelier, I want to give special deals for different purposes like group stay, family stay etc.

Are these in the right direction?

I: Yes, lets focus only on the user booking the package.

Evaluate Tradeoffs
Parameters for evaluation could be:

 Feasibility of implementation
 Value added for user
 Implementation time

Team DISHA
 20

Suggested Feasibility Customer value add Implementation

solutions Time
1 High High Medium
2 Low Medium High
3 High High Low
4 Medium High High
5 Medium High Low
6 High High Medium
7 Medium Medium High
8 Low Low High
9 Low Low High
10 High Medium Medium

Options 8 and 9 can be straightaway rejected as they rate bad on all parameters.
Options 1,3,5 and 6 can be selected as of now.
I: Makes sense. Thankyou!

Team DISHA
 21

APPLICATION EVALUATION/METRICS
An app/ website can be evaluated from multiple perspectives. The motive to evaluate an app can be to understand the
health of the business or success of an app or website or troubleshoot a customer engagement problem. Two prominent
approaches to these problems are:

AARRS framework

App

User Acquisition User Activation User Retention Revenue Satisfaction/

Stimulus

Are users actively Are users How can I

How to get more monitor/ increase
using my app? retaining to my Are my users
users on boarded? my revenue?
- No. of active app? bringing more
- App downloads - Purchase per
sessions/user - No. of active people onboard?
- Mail conversions usage per month customer
- No. of searches - Referral rate
-cost per conversion - churn out rate - Revenue per
- New cart started - Feedback
- Geographical customer
- No. Of transaction - cart - Complain rate
coverage abandonment - cost of sale/
shipping

User experience:

This approach is useful while evaluating an app from user’s perspective or while troubleshooting a
user related problem.

App Fuctionality Ease of Customi- Informat-

Login aesthetics &Performa- Feedback
use zation ion
nce

- Ease of - Layout - POP - Gesture - Search - relevance - feedback

registration and review
-Aesthetics - POD -Navigation - Feed - quality
-Security - stimulus
-Layout - App crash - Look & - quantity to upgrade
-Confident- feel
iality - credibility

Team DISHA
 22

YOU ARE THE OWNER OF UBER. WHAT SUCCESS METRICS WILL YOU
CONSIDER? (OPEN-ENDED QUESTION)

Comprehending the situation

 Should I consider only the cab business of Uber or Uber Eats or other businesses as well.
–Consider Uber Cabs only

 For cabs should I look at only the mobile apps or the physicals kiosks set at public places and other such
platforms to book Uber cabs?
--Evaluate the Uber cab booking through mobile app only.

 Is there any particular city/country I should look at?

–No give a generic set of metrics to evaluate the business

Since as an owner of a business (Uber) I would be more interested in evaluating success of my business and app, I
am considering the AARRS framework to move ahead with this case.

Considering the stake holders/ customers

To have a holistic understanding as an owner I would like to consider all the stakeholders of Uber to evaluate its success.

Uber

Demand (Rider) Supply (Cab)

Listing it down
Now we will list down all the metrics that would be useful to understand the success of Uber from different stakeholder’s
perspective.

Uber (Rider)

User Acquisition User Activation User Retention Revenue Satisfaction/

Stimulus

- App downloads - Daily active users - Frequency of - Revenue/ user - App Feedback
trips per month - Revenue/ ride (rating/ review)
- Countries & cities - No. of active
covered sessions/user - search to book - total miles of trip - Customer
ratio covered complaints
- market share - No. of searches
- Churn out rate - Surge price - Driver rating
- No. of trips booked
- Avg no. of cab - Frequency of - No. of referrals
categories used/ cancellation
user

Team DISHA
 23

Uber (Cab)

User Acquisition User Activation User Retention Revenue Satisfaction/

Stimulus

- Daily active cab

- No. of trips served - Revenue/ driver - App Feedback
- No. of driver drivers
per month (rating/ review)
partners on boarded - Avg time spent on - cost/ driver
- Trip request to - Customer rating
- Fleet size of cabs Uber platform - Trips covered
serve ratio during surge - No. of referrals
- Feet size/ category - No. of trips
accepted - total miles of trip pricing
covered - Frequency of
- Total vacant time
when cab is active - Churn out rate cancellation
on platform

I: Okay, anything else you would like to see?

Apart from these parameters, as an owner of the business (Uber) I would also look into the cost aspect of the business. For
this I would look into costs related to administration, operational, marketing, advertising, human resources, app
development and maintenance.

Team DISHA
 24

APP ANALYSIS

WHICH IS YOUR FAVOURITE MOBILE APP? GIVE ONE FEATURE YOU

REALLY LIKE ABOUT IT, ONE THAT YOU DON'T AND ALSO TELL HOW
THAT FEATURE CAN BE IMPROVED?
Based on solution by Aashima, PGP35

When doing any app analysis question, keep in mind the below pointers:

 Do not pick an app just because that would sound nice in an interview, but one that you would have actually
extensively used. There could be cross questions and in-depth analysis required for such questions, which
would be possible only if you have been hands-on with the app.

 Try to talk about specific features and functionalities and not high-level attributes like User Interface or color
scheme or appearance.

 It is a good idea to mention briefly about the app and what it does, no matter how popular it is.
briefly mention the functionality of the app, it may or may not be known to the interviewer.

Favorite App – Introduction

Below structure can be followed while answering:

 Introduction
o Problems addressed by the app
o Target audience for the app
o Comparison with competitors
o Why do you like the app?

 Features that you like and reasons for the same

 Features that you dislike and reasons for the same

 Suggestions to improve the disliked features

The reason that I like LinkedIn is because it is different from other professional networking websites like Indeed or Hirist
which focus only on job searching functionality or from AngelList whose target is on startup hiring and building network for
entrepreneurs. LinkedIn is a unique app, for building and keeping in touch with one’s professional network along with
providing a platform for job search. It has helped me stay in touch with my team leads and colleagues of previous
organizations from different parts of the world. LinkedIn makes it easy to find online job applications based on one’s
professional skill set and read the latest industry news. It provides a platform for recruiters to connect with potential
applicants and vice versa. Of all the global professional networking sites, LinkedIn is also the largest, with over 238 million
users in over 200 countries and is available is over 20 languages.

Liked Features
1. Feature that I like - Advanced search: The feature allows the user to do a targeted search. If the user wants to find
out if he/she has first, second or third-degree connection with someone based on location, current company, past
companies, industry, profile language, school or interests.
I like this feature because if one wishes to connect with someone from a particular c ompany, identifying a set of

Team DISHA
 25

common attributes (like previous company, common second-degree connection

etc.) sort of sets a background not just for the user, but also for someone receiving the connection request.
2. Feature that I like – Daily Rundown: This feature provides a daily notification with top 6 breaking topics and
professional insights. Clicking on one of the headlines within the Rundown shows relevant conversations members
are already having.
I like this feature because it is an easy and convenient way to get notified about the top professional news, trends
and career tips without having to go through the entire feed.

Disliked Features
Feature that I don’t like – Endorsements: This feature allows a user to endorse another user for a skill listed by them.
I do not like this feature because there is no way to validate the authenticity of these endorsements, and if recruiters look at
these endorsements while looking profiles of potential candidates, this may not reflect the actual potential of an individual.
This number could be either actually inflated, or may not be as high as it should be.

Suggestions for Improvement

To increase the authenticity of endorsements:
 Option 1: Club endorsements with recommendations feature, where someone genuinely recommending the other
person, could mention the technologies/skill sets. To avoid misuse of recommendations, a minimum word limit can
be added simultaneously to recommendations.
Option 2: The app currently allows user to take a quiz for the skills added and badge gets added if one clears that. For
recruiters to not be disguised by the numbers

Team DISHA
 26

BUSINESS PROBLEMS

CASH ON DELIVERY TRANSACTIONS ON FLIPKART ARE INCREASING,

CAUSING INCREASE IN COST. HOW CAN WE REDUCE THEM?
Flipkart Process, HEPP 2018 | Based on solution by Darshan Lodha, PGP33

This question is about identifying need gaps for customers and proposing solutions. Hence CIRCLES framework can be
used.

Clarifying Questions
Why is the cost of COD transaction larger than a prepaid transaction?

I: Can you think of probable reasons?

Perhaps we need local accounting operations in every location to tally the cash received from the last mile delivery agents.
Also, there may be some theft/skimming or mishandling.

I: Correct. We also see a larger portion of deliveries returned back as with COD transactions.

Assumptions: None

Identifying the customers

Is there any specific geographic or demographic or pattern among the users who avail COD?

I: We want you to think of all customer segments.

Report Customer Needs/Issues

1. As a customer, I want a wide variety of payment options – credit/debit/UPI etc.
2. As a customer, I want my financial data to be secure.
3. As a customer, I want to check the quality of product before I pay.
4. The customer may not be familiar with how to use other payment methods.
5. The customer may not have online payment options.

Cut/Prioritize
We will tackle 1,2,3 and 4 first as promoting online payment adoption would be tough. Does that sound reasonable?

I: It does. Please continue.

List Solutions
Problem 1:

 Add support for all payment methods.

Problem 2:

Team DISHA
 27

 Provide evidence – like the number of transactions done daily, bank partnerships etc. as proof of safety on the
payment page.
 Targeted Ads/Notifications to users to make them familiar with security process.
 Optional enhanced security features – like 2-factor authentication if needed.

Problem 3:

 Improve product descriptions and specifications on the listings, add a more robust product rating/review system.
 Use gifs/videos or AR/VR to help customer visualize the product – like Lenskart does.
 Build an in-house warranty mechanism for sellers that sell goods meeting quality requirements specified by
Flipkart.

Problem 4:

 Provide tutorial videos on payments page on how to use each online payment method.
 Delivery partner can help COD customers learn using live demo/pamphlets during delivery.
 Setting up kiosks in popular places like malls to familiarize people with the payment process.

Evaluate Tradeoffs:
Problem 2:

 Least costly but most likely to be ignored: Provide evidence – like the number of transactions done daily, bank
partnerships etc. as proof of safety on the payment page.
 Recommended method: Targeted Ads/Notifications to users to make them familiar with security process.
 Too much work, feature may not be useful: Optional enhanced security features – like 2-factor authentication if
needed.

Problem 3:

 Recommended Method: Improve product descriptions and specifications on the listings, add a more robust
product rating/review system.
 May be tough to implement/use: Use gifs/videos or AR/VR to help customer visualize the product – like Lenskart
does.
 Will be tough to put quality checks on all sellers: Build an in-house warranty mechanism for sellers that sell
goods meeting quality requirements specified by Flipkart.

Problem 4:

 Recommended Method: Provide tutorial videos on payments page on how to use each online payment method.
 May be difficult to train large workforce: Delivery partner can help COD customers learn using live
demo/pamphlets during delivery.
 Recommended Method: Setting up kiosks in popular places like malls to familiarize people with the payment
process.

Do the above solutions and recommendations look good?

I: Nice work! Can you please summarize your recommendations?

Summarize
Avoid introducing new points here.

We have discussed probable gaps that prevent transition away from COD transactions.

Team DISHA
 28

Problems with missing payment methods can be solved simply by supporting all prominent payment methods. Personalized
notifications can be sent to users to help alleviate security concerns. We can enhance the product description and review
system for products to help customers better understand the product without buying it. Lastly, we can help customers get
familiar with online payment methods by setting up kiosks where they can be guided, or putting up tutorial videos on our
payment page.

Team DISHA
 29

INVENTORY LEVELS IN THE WAREHOUSE OF AN E-COMMERCE FIRM

ARE INCREASING. IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM?
Flipkart Process, HEPP 2018

Understand the Problem

Is there any specific geography or a particular warehouse where the inventory increase is observed?
I: Consider the warehouse to be in a Tier 1 metropolitan city.

Who owns the warehouse and how is the inventory replenished in the warehouse?
I: The warehouse is owned by the vendor and inventory levels are replenished once they reach the re-order point.

What are the product categories for which we are seeing an increase in the inventory?
I: The problem has been observed across the electronics category.

Any particular product you want me to focus on?

I: Inventory levels have gone up for the mobile phones.

Assumptions
 Since product is being sold by a seller on Flipkart, it is a marketplace model and not an inventory -based model.
 Electronics is a high involvement product and new products enter the market very frequently.

Identifying the causes

Understand the problem statement and clearly state your assumptions. Evaluate all the possible scenarios that could have
led to the issue.

Inventory can be classified into three buckets- Raw materials, Work in progress inventory and finished goods. For an e-
commerce firm, the inventory will be finished good inventory.
We can classify the causes of inventory increase into direct and indirect causes. Direct cause is due to difference between
supply and demand side leading to stocking up of inventory. The approach of inventory stocking is not lean.
Indirect cause might be due to warehousing issues or due to returns as well.

Value chain analysis

Supply side evaluation
 Inventory level depends on number of suppliers and the inventory level per supplier
 Inventory level per supplier depends on price of the product, seasonality of the product, product life cycle phase,
upcoming promotions for the event, etc.

Team DISHA
 30

 How has the price level been for the particular mobile phone product?
 During festive season, mobile phones sale might increase. Hence the need to have high inventory.
 Is the product expected to phase out soon so that the vendor has stored the last batch?
 Are there any upcoming sales from the e-commerce firm? E.g.: During Flipkart’s Big Billion Days sale, the inventory
level in the warehouse is high and needs quick replenishment. The actual sales might not meet the expected sales.

Demand side evaluation

 Demand depends on the number of website/application users and the demand per user.
 Number of users might vary due to their application/website user experience.
 Demand per user might vary due to macroeconomic factors (price of the product, customer preference, income,
product substitutes) or product specific features (basic features needed V/S what are offered V/S what features excite
the user).
 This can be looked at by creating multiple customer personas.

Inventory
Increase

Direct Indirect

Supply Side Demand Side Warehouse Returns

Inventory per Demand per Order

No. of suppliers supplier No. of users user Location Delivery Product specific cancellation

Macroeconomic Size of the Incorrect

Price factors Product feature facility Order Delay specification

Threshold Incorrect
Seasonality Price attributes Staffing delivery Damaged goods

Performance Dead stock

PLC Phase Income attributes levels Non-availability

Excitement
Promotions Preference attributes

Substituents

Indirect Causes
 Warehouse Space: Bigger warehouses lead to higher inventory levels.
 Warehouse location: Warehousing where demand is not high.
 Warehouse Staffing: Warehouses with high workforce to have less inventory as time to manage inventory per staff
member increase.

Team DISHA
 31

 Dead stock levels in the warehouse- Could be possibly due to products gone out of style, seasonality issues or are
no more usable (expiration date in FMCG products).
 # Order returns: Can be due to delayed delivery, product specific issues or order cancellations.
 Order delays: Longer inventory processing time requires more products to be stored in the warehouse. Possible cause
of this are:
o Warehouse schematics: Products with high selling rate should have less reach out time.
o Slow pick-up process
o Inefficient tracking of products could lead to potential delays
o Packaging time inefficiency
o Inventory Complexity: High number of SKUs to have high inventory levels.
o Logistics: Bottlenecks at the outbound logistics point results in high inventory level in the warehouse.
 Incorrect order delivery
 Non-availability of the customer at the delivery address
 Product specific issues
o Difference in product description online and what is offered leads to high rate of return.
o Damaged products received by customers.
 Inventory turnover ratio: Inventory turnover measures how fast inventory is cycled through the warehouse. Low
turnover is associated with higher volumes of inventory.

Recommendations
 Inventory forecasting: Efficiently track and forecast the expected demand of the electronics.
 Market evaluation: Since the product is a high involvement product, analyzing the consumer behavior is important.
Collect data using market surveys and creating user personas will help better identify the target customers.
 Validate the product features: Difference in actual product features and those mentioned on websites should match.
 Inventory Management System: Using technology to better track the inventory.

Team DISHA
 32

USERS FOR AN APP SIMILAR TO SWIGGY ARE INCREASING BUT

ORDERS ARE NOT INCREASING. HOW WILL YOU FIND THE PROBLEM?
Media.net Process, Summer 2019

This question is about identifying the cause of decrease (or not proportionate increase) in orders. Hence user journey is
being used to understand the problem.

Clarifying Questions
Are the orders decreasing from before or they are not increasing in proportion to the increase is users?

I: They are not increasing in proportion to the number of users

Is the order size (bill amount) a problem of the number of orders?

I: The number of orders is not increasing.

Is there a particular geography that is experiencing this problem?

I: No, It’s a pan India phenomenon

For how long the problem is observed?

I: past one month

Assumptions: None

Understanding the problem

Food Delivery
App

Supply Demand

Restaurant
New users
partners

Delivery partners Repeat Users

Are there any problems or changes in the supply side like decrease in listed restaurant partners or change in them? Or
decrease in the delivery partners?

I: No

So, looking at the demand side, as we already have the users on boarded with us. Can I say that user acquisition is not a
problem and I can move ahead to look into user activation, user engagement and user conversion?

Team DISHA
 33

I: Yes.

Understanding the consumer journey

As this is majorly used as a mobile app, analyze a typical user’s journey through the various pages of the app.

As we already have increasing new users can I assume there is no issue with the sign up. Is it a fair assumption?

I: Yes

Now I will check number of Daily Active Users (DAU) of the app. If there is a significant difference in the number of
registered users to number of users logging into the app, then to ensure that users consider using it, timely push
notifications can be sent to the users to remind them of the app and notify about the new offerings.

Now I will see the user experience on the app starting from the login page.

I will be evaluating each of the page on broadly three parameters:

 Feature (all expected features exist, easy navigation)

 Performance (page crash, session log out, takes too long to load)
 Look and feel (layout, display, listing)

Can I go ahead with this approach?

I: Yes, this sounds good.

User journey and expected features:

Category Product 3rd party confirmat

Home Order
Login
Page
(Restaura (Dishes) Address summary
transactio ion &
nt) page page -n page tracking

-Fields for -Name -Name Enter - Order -3rd party Notification

-Search
login -Photo -Photo Address: details payment - Tracking
-Category
credential -Desc. -Desc. - Auto - Offers gateway
navigator
-Login -Price -Price -Manual - Delivery
-offers
button Range Range charges
banners
-Forgot -Offers -Offers Save - Address
-Trending
Password -Delivery -Specialty/ Address - Payment
& recent
time Combo options
purchases
-Filter -Filter

Should I go ahead and evaluate each of these expected features at every page on the before said parameter?

I: Yes, sure.

Traverse through each page in the customer journey and evaluate all the expected features on the basis of above three
parameters to diagnose the problem in user activation, user engagement and user conversion.

Example:

Team DISHA
 34

Login page:

Are the fields to input login credentials, the login button and forget password button working as per the expectations?

I: Yes.

Is the user getting logged out frequently or it taking too long to login?

I: No such issue is faced.

Home Page:

On the home page I would typically see a search bar aligned with my current location, a direct category navigator, offer
banners and trending/ recent orders.

Are these features present and are easily navigable?

I: Yes

Does a user experience any page crash, time delay or session log out on any actions of these feature?

I: Yes, a new user offer card causes page crash when clicked.

Okay so this could be one of the reasons for new users not ordering food as the app would crash every time, they try to use
the offer through this card displayed on the screen. Should I look for more issues?

I: Yes, this could be one of the reasons. Let’s move further in the user journey that you have drawn.

Similarly evaluate category and product pages also against the three parameters.

Address:

On the address page a user would typically either enter the address or use a saved address. For entering the address, it
would either be a completely manual process or an auto populate can be used.

So, are the users able to enter and save the addresses and use this saved address?

I: So, we have observed a glitch in the using saved address.

So, this also could be one of the issues that’s hindering a seamless user experience. This could be causing the user to
prefer other food delivery apps where the process selection is simpler and more seamless.

I: Yes

Oder summary Page:

Are the order and address details captured correctly?

I: Yes

Are there is changes with delivery charges? Have they been increased? Are they in comparison to the competitors as
delivery charges could be one of the reasons for cart abandonment?

I: The minimum order amount for delivery charges to be waived off has been increased.

Okay, so this could also be one of the issues. Also are all the frequently used payment options such as COD, credit/debit
card, major wallets available?

I: All digital modes of payment are available but COD is not offered.

Team DISHA
 35

So, this could also be one of the problems as many users (especially new users) prefer to pay during delivery.

Should I move ahead with the further stages of the user journey?

I: No just summarize the discussion.

Summarize
Avoid introducing new points here.

We have discussed probable issues that were preventing a food delivery app to have increase in the number of orders in
proportion to the increase in the number of users.

We looked at the supply and the demand side and found that there is no decrease/ significant change in the supply side
that could be causing this problem. To analyses the demand side, we used the consumer journey, evaluating each page
navigated by the user and its basic expected features on the basis of three parameters: Feature, Performance and look and
feel.

Doing this we realized that an offer card displayed on the home page for the first time is not performing and is causing a
page crash when clicked. Also, the address page has a glitch in saving the address. This could be preventing the user from
having a seamless experience. Additionally, the increase in the minimum order threshold for free delivery has been
increased and COD option is also not available. These reasons could be causing low order conversion of the users.

Team DISHA
 36

GUESSTIMATES

GUESSTIMATE THE NUMBER OF AIRPLANES CURRENTLY IN AIR.

Amazon Process, HEPP 2018

What is the current time?

I: Assume current here refers to evening 5 PM on a regular day.

For this question, we can first try to estimate how many planes take off from India. This can then be the basis for
calculating the number of airplanes currently in the air.

We can start with the number of airports in India. Most airports are in tier 1 and 2 cities.

Particulars Tier 1 Cities Tier 2 Cities

Number of cities 8 100

Percent of cities with an airport 100% 50%

Avg. Number of runways 2 1

Assume average time for each takeoff or landing is 10 minutes. Hence, a plane can take-off every 20 minutes.

Runway capacity utilization 70% 30%

Number of take-offs per day = 8*1*2*0.7*24*60/20 = 100*0.5*0.3*24*60/20

= 806 = 1080

Hence, a total of ~1886 flights take off on any typical given day.
On an average, a given flight takes 3 hours. Hence, assuming a smooth distribution of take-offs throughout the day,
the number of planes midair = 1886*3/24 = 235.

Team DISHA
 37

GUESSTIMATE THE NUMBER OF TRANSACTIONS ON AMAZON PAY IN

THE LAST YEAR IN INDIA

Amazon Pay, per my knowledge is the payment gateway by Amazon that supports UPI payments. Its present on
Amazon’s app as well as certain third-party apps. Should I estimate both of these quantities.
I: You can limit yourself to transactions on Amazon’s app only for now.

We can begin with the number of Amazon users in India. Is this information available?
I: Yes. You can assume it to be 10 million users.

Ok. Next, I would like to distribute these users depending on their consumption pattern. Assuming a bell-shaped
customer use frequency, we can build this grid-

Low frequency Medium Frequency High frequency

Inactive Users users users users

Percentage of 20% 30% 30% 20%

population

Individual Order 0 0.25/month 0.5/month 1/month

Frequency

Individual 0 4/year 6/year 12/year

Transactions/year

Total =0 =0.3*10,000,000*4 =0.3*10,000,000*6 =0.2*10,000,000*12

transactions/year
=12,000,000 =18,000,000 =24,000,000

This gives us 54,000,000 transactions/year.

Now, we know that 70% of transactions in India are cash on delivery. Other major payment modes include credit/debit
cards, net banking and Amazon Pay which occupy 10% each.
Hence, 5,400,000 transactions per year happen via Amazon Pay on the Amazon website.

Team DISHA