Yes, you read it right. Symphony, one of the leading mobile handset brand of Bangladesh, has finally decided to venture into the eCommerce industry. Futurestartup reports that Symphony is going to open its online storefront for its customer. It will offer its products available for instant purchase and customers can have their desired mobile devices delivered to their own doorstep.
Discussion From Strategic Point of View: Ecommerce Prospect in Bangladesh
Although Symphony is enjoying the advantages of being in a leading position in the mobile handset industry, it somehow forgot to target a small still efficient segment of the market. This mistake has cost them some opportunity loss. Consumers that wants to purchase phone from online store can now purchase from other ecommerce shops like Daraz, Kaymu, etc. Even Bikroy is now offering home delivery service for its customers. Symphony already owns a fully functional website where they have showcased their devices. Visitors can compare their preferred cellphones but there is no BUY NOW option. All Symphony now needs to do is to integrate e-commerce functions into its website.
1. Making More Sales Through E-commerce Platform:
The management finally realized that they can make more sales online. Ecommerce shops like Daraz, Kaymu and Bikroy have already created the customer demand. So they already know that they are going to give a boost up in the sales funnel just by opening an online outlet.
2. Opportunity to Lowering Offered Price:
Symphony basically targets middle class income segment by offering budget smartphones. Their unique selling point is to offer high-specs phone at a lower price. By opening an online store they can now offer even lower price to their customers because they will certainly be able to cut-off some costs from distribution channel maintenance for each prospective customer that converts into online purchaser. The management can now share with their customers the benefits of not having to depend on intermediaries to sell their products. Symphony can retain their customers with reward points so that they get discounted price adding another product to their carts.
3. Enduring Competitive Advantage of Having an Ecommerce Outlet:
Symphony management wants to enhance its competitive advantage and so, this opportunity of directly exploring into the real data of its customers’ preferences and purchasing patterns will be possible because of owning an ecommerce website. Previously the management could not look into the big picture because of not having enough data or analytics to understand their customers. Now that a good portion of Symphony lovers will order their handsets online, the strategic decision makers can analyze customers’ needs and preferences even better. This will give them an opportunity to make more sales because now they can use computerized methods to make better predictions. For instance, by reading the analytics and studying visitors online buying pattern, now they may decide to redesign their web-store that it becomes more sales friendly (i.e. combining up a smartphone with a featured phone and selling them at a discounted price). Now that Symphony know its customers better, it also gets a chance to work on its customer responsiveness. This way, the management can develop its competitive advantage.
Managing an eCommerce business is very difficult in Bangladesh because the infrastructure is not yet that e-commerce friendly. Although there is courier service and other ways to deliver products to distant places but none of them is that much efficient that could convey the true essence of eCommerce. Like any other eCommerce business of this market, delivering products at the right place and on time will be the biggest challenge for Symphony. The management must work on making the delivery system smooth and effective. Timely delivery coupled with proper return policy can help them create better customer experience.
Managing an eCommerce business is very difficult in Bangladesh because the infrastructure is not yet that e-commerce friendly. Although there is courier service and other ways to deliver products to distant places but none of them is that much efficient that could convey the true essence of eCommerce. Like any other eCommerce business of this market, delivering products at the right place and on time will be the biggest challenge for Symphony. The management must work on making the delivery system smooth and effective. Timely delivery coupled with proper return policy can help them create better customer experience.
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