GOA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

This case is not intended to show effective or ineffective handling of decision or business processes.

No part of this case study may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means

– electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise – without the permission of IFB industries.

E-commerce @ IFB - The Potential Growth Drivers Background: E-Commerce in the Home Appliances category is comparatively nascent in India with a huge potential to make in-roads. The young, working class people prefer to do their shopping online, as they are not reluctant to transact online and are tech-savvy.The growth of the online business is demanding better understanding of the online consumer behavior. Also, online assets like social media, Youtube content, affiliate marketing in addition to website and online ads are extensively used by companies to engage and influence consumer preferences. IFB’s products are present in white goods and brown goods segments. This consumer durables sector is a Rs.350 billion sector and is expected to grow at a CAGR of about 15% and reach Rs.520 billion by the year 2015. IFB pioneered front loading washing machines in India and is the current no.1 in the category with 50%+ market share. IFB also has a wide range of consumables for laundry and appliance maintenance. The product can be checked out at www.ifbappliances.com. Its current web assets include a website, Youtube channel, Brand Facebook Page, Review sites like Mouthshut.com etc. IFB also has official tie-ups with Flipkart, Amazon, Home Shop18, Indiatimes, E-bay, Infibeam etc (Sellers Name: WS Retail, IFB Appliances or IFB Industries). The on-line business fulfillment is done directly by IFB branches across all states.

Business Case: Currently, the offline mode of sales contributes to a major chunk in the total sales, whereas the online mode of sales is a growing segment. IFB intends to build its online business from its current volume of approx Rs.5 crore to Rs.25 crores per month by 2016 or about 15% of its turnover. While the online channel has grown 300% YoY, majority of the growth has come in from the affiliate partners while sales from IFB website has grown only by 45% YoY. The goal is to get our website’s contribution to the online channel to be above 50% of the total online sales.

Sample monthly sales data – By Source

GOA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

This case is not intended to show effective or ineffective handling of decision or business processes.

No part of this case study may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means

– electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise – without the permission of IFB industries.

Finished Goods

Additives & Accessories

Sample monthly sales data – By Product category

Prepare a business strategy which addresses the below mentioned deliverables:

Building an online marketing strategy centered around the existing IFB installed base of 3.5 million customers to ensure: The existing customer base replaces all their appliances with IFB thereby increasing the profit and lifecycle per

customer - This is the primary focus. The secondary focus is replacement buyers of appliances from other brands. Re-targeting all IFB customers for IFB Essentials (Consumables - Additives and Accessories) One may have the best of products. However, if it is not promoted well they would not sell. What kind of online

campaigns or positioning needs to be done to ensure maximum/sustainable impact or brand/product recall?

Benchmarking the Greats!!

Comparative analysis across web site aspects ranging from home page, promotional spots, product detail page,

checkout, images, data sanity, contact links, sitemap, order details communication, My account, Customer service etc.

Last Mile Delivery

Currently, IFB has around 55 storage locations across the country and it serves around 25,000 pin codes in the country

using a mix of local transporters /CNF/ Courier Companies at an average TAT of around 3.2 days. However, IFB only caters to around 10,500 pin codes under the “Cash on Delivery” mode of payment primarily due to lack of tie ups with

the logistics companies and high risks involved due to high product values. In spite of this extensive delivery network

and “Free Shipping” IFB only received orders from around 4200 pin codes in the past 2 years. While bigger players like Flipkart, Amazon etc only cater to even less than half the pin codes as compared to IFB, what should be IFB's strategy to reach out to the customers and take advantage of its edge over other players in terms of deliverable pin codes?

GOA INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

This case is not intended to show effective or ineffective handling of decision or business processes.

No part of this case study may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means

– electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise – without the permission of IFB industries.

Finished Goods (IFB Website)

Additives & Accessories (IFB Website)

Sample monthly data

Making our website, the one stop solution for Home Appliances

There are two types of purchasing behaviors seen in large goods purchase since the advent of online shopping. Research online and Purchase offline or Research offline and Purchase online. Either which ways there is an offline element involved as the mental barrier in the consumers mind requires the need to be see-touch-experience the product in the offline market. This either delays the purchase or the transaction ends up offline. The challenge is to find ways to counter this and it is not unheard off as many industries have done this. Fashion apparel online sites have apps that can make you try the clothes via a webcam solving the need to try garments at the outlet, Car sites are organizing test drive for the cars at the customer’s home solving the need for the customer to go offline. What should be IFB's strategy to design its website that will minimize or eliminate the need to visit the offline market in the consumers mind - What & how can we offer on our website that satisfies the customers need to visit the market to buy appliances?

Using social media and other channels for Online Brand Reputation

What a company does online and what people say about it online is increasingly having higher impact on buyer behavior and sales. A negative brand image online affects the online as well as offline sales. With our Facebook page, quick closures of complaints on Consumer grievances forums like Akosha, Mouthshut, Consumer complaints etc, we have steadily managed to build a positive reputation online, there is still a lot that needs to be done. What game changing solution do you propose?

For all information, data requirement and coordination please contact:

sameet_joshi@ifbglobal.com / thomas_louis@ifbglobal.com

Coordinators from MECCA (mecca@gim.ac.in) Yogesh Patel – 09637557007 Rahul Sharma – 09177519591

Shonit Naralkar – 07768004088 Shreyansh Jakhetia – 07768004078