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Introduction Buy and sell, Lebanon is a French free ads website born in 2006 and which is now in terms of visitors and pages viewed in 2012. This two figures rate had been the same for 12 months at that time and now the company gathers around 20 million people every month. Through this platform, every user whether he is a professional or not can search or create ads for any type of good. The difference with all the other similar websites is that Lebanon. FRR is a platform that contains diverse categories of ads: cars, hobbies, employment, services, real estate and many others.
Moreover, in order to get a more specific search the website allows you to narrow your research by selecting the exact region you are in or are willing to go to. One of the main asset of the company is that its platform is both simple to use, effective and most importantly free of use. In fact you only have to choose the region where you want to find an ad, enter the “title” of the good then select the price range or other specifications then click on “Search” and the research engine will do the rest for you. To talk about its effectiveness, Lebanon. r is providing you hundreds of thousands ads every month ND these are, of course, updated regularly. Another important point that we can highlight is the ability to contact directly the owner of the ad via the platform, so that you can basically buy or sell without having to pay any taxes or subscription fees. Illustration of the platform growth between 2009 and 2011 in terms of unique visitors per day. Figure 1 . Platform growth between 2009 and 2011 in terms of unique visitors per day. We can see the rapid expansion of Lebanon. r as an expression of French resourcefulness, this state of mind which encourages mutual assistance between people and pushes you find the better solution. This way, the company became the leader in the car and real estate markets because you interact directly with the private seller without any intermediaries. The outstanding growth of the platform which made it one of the most if not the most popular small ads website among French people is the reason why we chose this company to work on. 2. Homework chapters 2. 1 .
Business modal analysis: external and internal 2. 2. 2. 1. External analysis Lebanon is an online platform. It has an important function evaluation of market prices for many goods. It main competitor is the US online auction site eBay. Concerning French market, its most important competitors are parvenu. FRR or radian. FRR or festivities. FRR. The main value added of Lebanon is that for its creation, it got a very good brand reputation. As a classified site, it is the leader in France with more than as 17 million of view per months. As detailed after (part 2. ), Lebanon’s customer segment is a French speaking person, looking for buying of selling staff at cheaper prize. The SOOT analysis for Lebanon is: -Convenient and simple to use -Classified by departments in France A variety of choices of goods and services -Precise target Weaknesses -No secure payment guaranteed -Sellers and buyers are anonymous Opportunities -The use of internet as an essential tool -C to C operation pattern -Purchasing power of the French market Threats -Government regulations -Competition from other similar websites -Fear from consumers of scam Figure 2. SOOT analysis of Lebanon 2. . 2. Internal analysis: business canvas model For the internal analysis, we have create the following business canvas model: Figure 3. Business canvas model of Lebanon There are Strengths and weaknesses for each part: 1 . The customer segment: – Strengths: Lebanon have a better localization system compared to e-Bay and Scraggliest and a very good brand reputation. – Weakness: it is not available outside of France or for French-speaking persons and persons that don’t use internet. 2. Value proposition: – Strengths: there is no registration needed, this encourages people to use the website.
Moreover, Lebanon’s customers are very loyal. – Weakness: there are not enough categories to classify the search, you have to spend a lot of time for looking. There is no possibility to give mark or appreciation for the one you had deal with. 3. Channels: – Strengths: Lebanon is free and easy to access or use wherever you want. – Weakness: good quality of the staff you buy/sell is not guaranteed and payment problems are not handled by the company. 4. Customers relationship: – Strengths: it is very easy to use, the interface is really intuitive.
Moreover, the automatic data base create less work for the staff. – Weakness: there is no possibility to call them in case of trouble. There is no English version of the site. Finally, it is impossible to control everything post on the ad. 5. Revenue stream: meet the needs of professional service and consumers. Because it is not charged for ordinary consumers it is more attractive. – Weaknesses: the revenue sources still have space to develop, especially to expand the scope of E-commerce. 6. Key resources: – Strengths: Lebanon has an amazing increase of its workforce (1 people in 2006, +350 nowadays).
For 6 months, there is a new CEO who will bring innovations because of his own experiences, knowledge and skills. – Weakness: it only concern the higher salary costs. 7. Key activities: – Strengths: it is almost impossible to fraud or to sell illegal goods. It attracts more and more companies and so increase credibility and reputation. Weakness: the payment is not handled by the website. 8. Key partners Prt domino: – Strengths: this is a Opt P business, a new way to enlarge the scale of investment into the company. – Weaknesses: it is also an emerging industry which still lack in experience; the credit risks and scams.
Technology providers consultants: -Strengths: it make good use of the digital tools. It increase the ability of innovation and of data analysis. Professional partners or user by mouth to mouth speaking: -Strengths: provide more products and services and so create more attraction to consumers. Public and welfare organizations: Strengths: it create a very good reputation for the brand. 9. Costs structure – Strengths: there is high standard of salary which attract more technical and professional people to Join the Lebanon. Weaknesses: not enough fees for the rating system and security guaranteed. 2. 2. Market study and persona development 2. 2. 1 . Market Persona During this part, the purpose was to define some marketing persona. It means, to create different profiles of people who use Lebanon. To achieve it, we have followed this methodology: – Firstly, preparing the questions: after a brainstorming we have cited which questions we want to ask to people in order to know their behavior on Lebanon’s website. You can find the questions posted on the annex A. Then, finding the market: we have decided on which market we want to focus in order to have a real picture of the population. We have divided the market on several points: age, geographical location, basic profiles of typical buyers and sellers… Conducting the interviews: all of us have interview two persons in different market we have decided previously. -Analyzing the results: the results of our interview had low us to provide tree marketing persona. Here are our results: Jean Bouncer He is a 23 years old student, single and lives in Angers.
He mostly uses Lebanon to buy staff. Because he is a sportsman, he usually buys consumer goods related to his reason why he uses Lebanon is because it’s cheaper and there is a lot of choices. He can be interested in a home delivery because he buys his goods from all over the country Anne Enemy She is a 47 years old married woman who lives in Paris. She has two kids and is a French teacher. Mostly she buys household equipment and sell used children’s loathes. She always goes on Lebanon’s website on her computer, generally 3 or 4 times a year.
The reason why she uses Lebanon because it is cheaper. She is not interested in a home delivery because she doesn’t trust internet payments Justine Dodd He is a 58 years old man, married with 2 kids and 1 grandchild. He lives in Lie and is a car rental. The reason why he uses Lebanon is for both buy and sell staff because of his professional activity. Indeed, he buys old cars or wrecks and sells them after repairs. Concerning Lebanon, he both uses his computer or Mobile app, every day nearly. He uses Lebanon because there is a lot of choices and bargain to make.
Finally, he is not interested in a home delivery because he doesn’t need it. 2. 2. 2. User persona In order to create a typical profile of a Lebanon’s user, we have made researches on internet. Here are our finding: – Concerning the audience because of age: Audience because of age group Age Audience (in thousands of seen) Reach (in %) 15-24 2949 398 25-34 3961 508 35-44 4441 53,1 45-54 3861 50,6 55+ 4268 37,4 Table 1 : source:http://www. ]ornamented. Com/media/publishers/audience- Lebanon. HTML Most people who use Lebanon are middle age, between 25 and 50 years old.
Actually the customer needs attention even after the use of the platform to remind him about offers he checked for example and that could still be interesting for him. If not to remind him about what he missed or what could he be interested in then use these notifications to get to know him better and ask him about his satisfaction level regarding the platform, the seller or anything that could potentially benefit the company. This kind of attention is the one that can make the difference when it comes to developing your customer’s loyalty.
This way the customer can get back to Lebanon if his use was not fully satisfactory and then the company could add up all this feedback in order to increase customer satisfaction by making some changes depending on how much people have one kind of problem. For instance when a customer buys something on the platform he receives a notification on his phone asking him: “What did you think of the seller? ” or “Did you have any trouble using the platform? ” 2. 4. 2.
Create an official Faceable page as well as a Twitter account Currently the company does not have an official Faceable page or Twitter account but it does have the “Faceable connect” button which allows customers to share a specific ad with their friends or relatives. Going further by creating official accounts would largely benefit the website n terms of interactions with its users but it is also a good way to get feedback, to follow the virtual growth of your platform but also to manage customer satisfaction.
First, one of the advantages of these social Medias is that they are accessible from both your computer and your mobile phone (the two channels Lebanon is using). This way you’re able to be closer from your customers, for instance the brand could make a post at least once a day to be active on the Faceable page and then develop a of Lebanon with its customers but it would also be a good measurement tool. Indeed, the number of posts, shares, likes or comments give you valuable Intel to improve this customer relationship.
Moreover, having official accounts on social Medias like Faceable or Twitter is a great way to follow the growth in terms of notoriety with the number of fans/followers. Comparing the number of followers to the number of new followers is helpful to know what the customers are thinking of the brand and if there are new adjustments to be made. Finally, using social media in general is one of the best way to get some feedback on specific topics you want to address.
Customers, through their interactions with other customers or the brand, would help Lebanon to find what could be improved on the platform or added to the system, like a safe payment system for instance. 2. 5. E-mailing campaign 2. 5. 2. 5. 1 . Best practices to build e-mail campaigns When it comes to conduct a successful email campaigns, there’s a lot to consider. To get email marketing right, there are several aspects. Use a trustworthy & recognizable from name Encourage a friendly reply-to-you for further customer interaction Get the open with an useful an specific subject line
Take advantage of preview space Create relative content and organize the hierarchy Optimize the emails for images-off viewing Make the email actionable across all screen sizes-??mobile, website and desktop. Make the landscape clear, desirable, and easy for customers to follow Test the email to improve user experience 2. 5. 2. One year schedule of e-mail strategy Lebanon is a platform for classifieds ads, the users are huge. Compared with other companies, email strategy of Lebanon is special. In reality, users get few emails from Lebanon.
For instance, only two emails were sent within 3 months, one was for successful registration, the other was a no reply for renew the advertisement. One recommendation is to offer alternatives to different customer segmentations. Some may would like to receive some promotion emails, some are not. A successful email campaign means sending the right email to the right customer at the right time. According to the customer life cycle, the email strategy can be divided into four phases. Firstly, in the customer acquisition phase, Lebanon may acquire the relative data and then send email to targeted customers to build awareness.
Then, to develop he customers, a welcome email is necessary, in which a warm introduction is necessary. Lebanon may also offer some priority for new registers, such as ad an urgent logo for free for customers’ first announcement. Following the registration, Lebanon are able to get the information of customers’ district, interested sectors and so on. By analyzing the data, it’s possible to segment the customers to send personalized email. Last but not the least, based on the browsing history or customer interest, some promotion email may be sent to certain customers.