Q-down is a mobile app that uses thermal sensors in stores to count customers entering and exiting to determine wait times. It recommends whether customers should enter to avoid long queues. The document discusses Q-down's industry analysis, target customers and their needs for efficiency, the cost leadership strategy, and value chain focus on technology development. Key business processes include app development through a design partner and beta testing customer feedback systems.
Q-down is a mobile app that uses thermal sensors in stores to count customers entering and exiting to determine wait times. It recommends whether customers should enter to avoid long queues. The document discusses Q-down's industry analysis, target customers and their needs for efficiency, the cost leadership strategy, and value chain focus on technology development. Key business processes include app development through a design partner and beta testing customer feedback systems.
Q-down is a mobile app that uses thermal sensors in stores to count customers entering and exiting to determine wait times. It recommends whether customers should enter to avoid long queues. The document discusses Q-down's industry analysis, target customers and their needs for efficiency, the cost leadership strategy, and value chain focus on technology development. Key business processes include app development through a design partner and beta testing customer feedback systems.
Name Jonathon Parris NetID jpar633 Group Number: 265 Website Link: http://infosys1102014s1group265.blogspot.co.nz/ Tutorial Details Tutor: Day: Time: Olivia Thursday 9am Time Spent on Assignment: 16 hours Word Count: 1483
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2 Q-DOWN QUEUE IDENTIFIER INTRODUCTION Have you been a victim of immense queues that ruin your conveniently planned day of shopping? Where you are forced to wait for unnecessary amounts of time in a queue for a single item, smashing your hopes of getting the shopping done in a single day? Planning to shop conveniently has never been more simple with the Q-down people counter app. Q- down is an application designed to aid all shoppers in managing their shopping time. It counts the number of customers in a selected shop/public area and provides a recommendation on whether or not to enter at that specific point in time. This is achieved through thermal people counters that are placed at the entrance and exits of a shop, collecting data by tracking the number of people entering and exiting the store whilst constantly updating and transmitting the data to the application on the customers smartphone. 3. BUSINESS SECTION 3.1 Vision To effectively manage the scedules of all shoppers by avoiding unnecessary waiting times through the use of a managerial masterpiece. 3.2 Industry Analysis: Mobile retail monitoring industry Industry: Mobile retail monitoring industry. Force: High/Low: Justification: Buyer power: Low A scarce amount of retail monitoring apps are on the market, although there are apps that create virtual queues, freeing the customer from a traditional (queue such as VtracVR) that buyers
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3 could select . (Lavi Industries) Supplier power: Low Many companies manufacture sensors used as people counters for monitoring business trends so suppliers would have little power. Threat of new entrants: High As entry into the mobile app industry is a relatively easy feat, entry into the mobile retail monitoring industry would also be relatively easy. A large capital is not needed and statistics show that the number of niche app stores have doubled annually suggesting that niche marketplaces are the preferred solution for smaller companies to penetrate the mobile apps industry. (THOMAS L. RAKESTRAW, RANGAMOHAN V. EUNNI*, RAMMOHAN R. KASUGANTI, 2012) Threat of substitutes: High There are substitutes outside of the mobile retail monitoring industry that monitor queues in shops, including ticket queueing systems such as SmartQueue, but their system only aid the customer once they have arrived at the store. (SMARTQUEUE, 2013) Rivalry among existing competitors: Low Due to a shortage of competitors in the mobile retail monitoring industry, the rivalry among the existing competitors is low, however in the more broad app industry, the number of app developers grew by 48% in Apples App Store from
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4 around 49 000 to 72 000 in a six month period. (Figge Sutor, 2011).
Overall attractiveness of the industry: With a great buisiness idea, the mobile app industry is attractive it is inexpensive to enter and is easily accessed by anyone with a smartphone. The mobile retail monitoring industry is even more attractive as there are basically no other existing competitors meaning very low rivalry for the players in the industry, buyers of products in the industry have very little power as there are few products to chose from. Although the platform suppliers have relatively high power in the industry, there are substitute products that attempt to control queues, and the threat of new entrants is high as it is easy to develop and introduce an app, the mobile retail monitoring industry is a very attractive industry to enter. 3.3 Customers and Thei r Needs The target group of customers that will potentially be the most significant users of Q-down would be the everyday shopper. Our targetted customer base must own or have access to a smart phone, as the product is an app. Time is extremely valuable in this day and age and these busy shoppers have important duties and tasks that need to be done every day and they need time to complete these activities! In order to make room for the time needed to complete these important tasks, the length of time it takes to complete unimportand tasks must be reduced. According to Matthew Burrows from Business Service Management Review, customers need efficiency when they shop an efficient process achieves its objectives with the minimum amount of time.. . 3.4 The Product and Service Q-down essentially reduces time spent in stores waiting to purchase goods and in doing this increases time needed for the shoppers to complete tasks of higher importance and significance. 3.5 SUPPLIERS AND PARTNERS
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5 Partnership with Wesfield shopping malls would result in the Q-down heat sensors being placed in ideally all Westfield shops. This would prove useful for the Westfield shops as it would provide them with knowledge as to how many customers are entering and exiting their stores each day/month - information to include in annual reports. As a high majority of shopping occuring in malls along with the common knowledge that malls are extrememly busy places with an excess of human traffic, buyers will feel the need to purchase the app to aid and speed up their shopping experience at the mall. Another partner would be retail store managers. The instalment of the sensors in their shops would provide the managers with customer statistics and trends that would aid them with staff allocation. Suppliers would include a company that manufactures thermal sensors such as OKI installing their sensors into stores in partnership with Q-down would collect and transmit the shop information to the users smartphones. Another supplier could be a smartphone application software development company such as Activate Design. Activate Design is based in Christchurch and designs applications for smart devices. They have a history of designing successful apps generating hundreds of thousands of downloads.
3.6 Strategy: Cost Leadership As Q-downs targetted customers are all people with smartphones the target market is extremely broad. The app itself will be affordable for users to download and use with a low cost structure. The overall strategy is therefore Cost Leadership. 3.7 Value Chain Activity: Technology Development The most important value chain activity for this business is Technology Development (Research and Development). As there are so many apps on the market and the majority of them follow the Cost Leadership strategy, it is important for Q-down to be continuously developing and updating their product in order for them continue to compete in the market. Considering how inexpensive and easy it is for new entrants to compete for market
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6 share, it is important that Q-down stays dominanant in the market if it hopes to manage the schedules of all shoppers. 3.8 Business Processes 3.8.1. APP DEVELOPMENT PROCESS The development of the Q-down app client is extremely important as it is the main aspect of the business that our customers will be dealing with. The process involves the planing and design of the app from the design and technical support department using an application design system. The process involves sending the plans to the supplier ActiveDesign and also checking compatibility with the sensors.
Plan the functions & design of the app Design the features of the app Send the app to ActiveDesign to devlop Is the app compatible with the OKI sensors? The Design and Technical Support Department YES Initial Development complete NO Isolate the problems Application Design System
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7 3.8.2. BETA TESTING PROCESS - The beta testing process is extremely important as it gives Q- down an idea as to what the customers views are on the app. Q-down select a group to test the app and then feedback from the customers is given to the customer service department and recorded on customer service systems. Q-down take into account any recommendations from the customers and if deemed appropriate, they adjust the app accordingly.
Invite a selected group to test the developed app Distribute Q-down beta to the selected customers Collect feedback from the selected group Was there any feedback worth taking into account and altering the app? YES Alter the app appropriately NO Beta testing/feedback programme complete Customer Service Department Customer Service System
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8 3.9 Functionalities 3.9.1. APP DEVELOPMENT PROCESS Designing the applications functions and appearance Ensuring compatibility with the sensors in store 3.9.2. BETA TESTING PROCESS Gathering customer feedback Processing and analysing the feedback for potential adjustments. 3.10 Systems
3.10. 1. APPLICATION DESIGN SYSTEM The design of the application is crucial as it needs to appeal to the customer. It needs to work well with no errors that put the app out of use. Q- downs vision involves appealing to all shoppers therefore thorough designing through the use of an application design system will ensure the app in perfect working order 24/7. 3.10. 2. CUSTOMER SERVI CE SYSTEM To be an extremely large seller, Q-down needs to satisfy the wants and needs of their customers. Storing feedback from the beta customers on customer service systems will allow the company to record the feedback and adjust the app where needed. 3.10. 3. VISUAL INTERFACE SYSTEM The appearance of the app is crucial as it is the only aspect of the business that the customer actually views. A visual interface system would control everything the customer sees on their screen - the system would be extremely simple and straight forward so it will appeal to everyone.
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9 3.11. Summary Table: Value Chain to Systems
Value Chain Activity Processes Functionalities Specific Information System(s) Broad Information System(s)
Research and Development 1. App development process 1. Designing the applications functions and apperance.
2. Ensuring compatibility with sensors. Visual Interface System
Application Design System Enterprise Resource Planning System
Enterprise Resource Planning System 2. Beta testing process 1. Gathering customer feedback
2. Processing and analysing feedback for potential adjustment Customer Service System
Feedback Processing System Customer Relationship Management System
Decision Support System
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10 CONCLUSION To produce and succeed with a mobile application that helps the customer manage their day of shopping conveniently, many different Information Systems must be used. The value of these systems is immense the planning, funtionality and overall appearance crucially depend on the use of these systems and because of them a revolutionaly app can be produced.
REFERENCES
1. Sim Ahmed. (2013). Infographic: iPhones down, Samsung up in NZ smartphone wars. http://www.idealog.co.nz/blog/2013/05/infographic-iphones-down-samsung-nz- smartphone-wars 2. Technical Note Six. (2003). Waiting Line Management. P 243-251. http://www.ateneonline.it/chase2e/studenti/tn/6184-7_tn06.pdf 3. Matthew Burrows. Operational Efficiency its not just about cost cutting http://www.bsmreview.com/oppseff.shtml 4. THOMAS L. RAKESTRAW, RANGAMOHAN V. EUNNI, RAMMOHAN R. KASUGANTI. (2012) The Mobile Apps Industry: A Case Study. P 3, 4, 7-9, 13, 14. http://www.aabri.com/NO2013Manuscripts/NO13006.pdf
5. OKI (2012) OKI Develops Ultra-sensitive Human-detecting Sensor Technology Capable of Detecting Minute Movements, including Human Breathing http://www.oki.com/en/press/2012/10/z12054e.html
7. Figge Sutor. (2011) Analysis of the app market based on Michael Porters five competitive forces. http://3xhappiness.com/analysis-of-the-app-market-based-on- michael-porters-five-competitive-forces/