Marketing plan for a new application“Explore”

Executive summary The App was ideated to make stay during travel within India

affordable and easy

There exists a lot of places for accommodation in India but an App which can integrate everything and make it easy is missing

Some Apps provide service which are restricted to a very few cities but there is scope for a lot more in India

Executive summaryIt is just a platform for buyer-seller interaction

The App appeals mainly to the young age groups who travel in groups and look out for cheap accommodation

Anyone who can provide any amount of space to the tourists can become a host in the App

With hotels becoming costlier with time, people are on the look out for cheaper options and this App will prove to be the perfect place to find one

Situation analysisMarketing is essential for the App to be successful and

occupy a major market share in India in this field

The App has to reach out to as many people as possible particularly the young age group

A feedback from the general public will help in framing the strategy and in deciding the user-interface of the App

Situation analysis

Market needsTravel will become much easier if accommodation is taken

care of without any fuss

A wide range of accommodation options will be made available to the user and he can confirm spontaneously

Situation analysis

Market review

There are no dominant Apps in India which provides this service apart from Airbnb which covers only a very few cities

The size and population of India offers a lot of opportunities for this service to expand to a lot of cities in India

Situation analysisThe user interface has to be decided based on public

feedback which has to be obtained through online networking sites such as Facebook

The pricing will be competitive to the other apps as none of them occupy a major share in India and thus don’t have an edge

There will be significant incentives to start using the App and also to promote the App to friends

Situation analysis

Critical issuesPublicizing about the App and reaching out to the target

customer segments will be a difficult task

Attracting hosts for the App who can rent rooms/apartments will also be difficult and they have to understand what the App offers for them

GoalThe goal of the company is to not only work towards a

particular number of completed trips in a given duration but also to work towards making the trips meaningful

The App should become a community whose backbone will be the reviews and suggestions which the users share

The App should be established successfully at around 100 major cities in India within the first year and the number of successful trips should reach a million in the first year

Strategy

CustomersThe primary customers will be the young age-group people

who are in colleges and bachelors and the secondary customers will be families. The offering will be positioned as an affordable stay at a convenient place.

The App will be out in Android play store and the primary mode of reaching out to people will be through Facebook since the investment is restricted.

Strategy

CompetitorsOne of the major competitors in this field include Airbnb but

they are limited to a very few cities in India which should give us an edge but at the same time we should get a brand equity as good as them or even better than them.

The offering is being positioned as an affordable stay at convenient places and there will be a wide variety of hosts who can cater to the needs of all people irrespective of demographics.

TacticsAnyone can download the App for free and start using it.

The name of the App will be “Explore” with the slogan being “Explore economically”!

Everyone can make three transactions including both hosts and buyers for free. From then, each transaction will have a fee of 5% of the transaction which is priced competitively.

For each referral by a person made to his friends and a transaction made by the friend for the first time, INR 25 will be added to the balance.

ImplementationThe company will have a team for Development of App and

Testing, one for Marketing and one for Innovations which will be made based on feedback of the customers.

Two months will be allotted for development and testing of the App after which it will be out in the Google Play store. The Marketing team will start their work simultaneously and the Innovations team will start ideating as soon as the App is out.

DisclaimerCreated by Arun M, IIT Madras, during a marketing internship

with Prof. Sameer Mathur, IIM Lucknow.