Case Study

Consider an online ecommerce platform (e.g., Amazon, eBay) which has been selling products across
various categories. Assume that the market is saturated, and the element of differentiation is non-
existent. In other words, everyone seems to be selling the same thing and various vendors have
strongly held their market shares. You are a Product Manager in one such organization in such a
marketplace.

In order to increase the gross merchandise value (GMV), the Product Management department in
your organization has decided to introduce a new category. It believes that this category will create a
differentiation and help increase the overall GMV. It has decided to introduce Repair and
Maintenance as a new category.

Business Rationale for this new category:

Since your platform has already been selling electronic items for the past few years, there seems to
be a latent need that these items need some sort of repair or maintenance. E.g., a smartphone sold
4 years ago might now require:

1. New battery because the current one gets discharged quickly

2. New touch screen because the current one is broken or is sometimes little unresponsive
3. Phone keeps getting hanged
4. Phone charging socket does not always charge because the charging pins are broken.
5. Speaker volume is very soft and/or the clarity of sound is poor

The repair and maintenance issues can be endless and will be different for every product/SKU sold
on the platform. The market potential is huge, especially in under-developed markets.

Your organization has decided to introduce this category on the platform. All the users of the
platform who have bought an electronic item in the past are eligible to book any repair or
maintenance for the same at a subsidized rate. Users can book a service at the click of a button
within the comforts of their homes. Your organization will tie up with various repair agencies. When
a user books a repair service, a certified technician will visit your home, evaluate the current issue(s)
and suggest a repair. In case the user decides otherwise and does not want to avail the repair,
he/she need to pay a nominal inspection charge.

Requirements:

You are a Product Manager and has been entrusted to introduce this category on the platform.
Answer the following questions in the context of the above case study.

1. What is your opinion about such a business need? Do you really feel that your organization
should target such a market segment?
2. If you feel that it is worth exploring this market segment, then answer the following
questions:
a. Create a user journey map which explains how a user of the platform will avail this
service.
b. What are the critical success factors in the user journey for this new category to
succeed?
c. Describe the above business requirement in 5 to 6 high level use cases. The use case
definition should include the following. Add any wireframe if you think it is
necessary.
 i. Summary
ii. Assumptions (if any)
iii. Steps in the use case
iv. Pre-condition
v. Post condition
vi. Alternate Flows (if any)
d. Assume that this category has been rolled out on the platform. What are the KPIs
that you would be tracking to gauge the performance of the category?

Please feel free to make any assumption that will help you in your analysis.

Approximate Effort: 5-6 hours