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Analytics Innovation Lifestyle Management Marketing Uncategorized

My Reflections on 2020

2020 might be remembered in history as a year of widespread epidemic and economic recession by many, but to me, it was a really interesting year. It was a year which challenged me to do the best I could.

1st Half of 2020

Kick started my first half of 2020 with my final semester at Nanyang Technological University, taking 3 modules, inclusive of the legendary killer Capstone Business Analytics Module in NBS, Business Analytics Consulting. I had the chance to interact with the brightest minds from business, as well as computing, to deliver viable business recommendations in health insurance strategy to our client company, Aon. Click here you’re interested to know more about why I chose business analytics.

As if dealing with one company was not enough, I took on a Regional Digital & Product Marketing internship with dental company KavoKerr, which recently spun off from Danaher Group. Through the internship, I had the chance to conduct market research, create marketing collaterals, do customer analytics, as well as social media marketing on Facebook. Halfway during my internship, it became a work-from-home arrangement, do read this if you’re interested to know how it is to experience both work in office and at home.

Right after finishing my final class in business school, I managed to secure a job and it was in semi-lockdown in Singapore. Instead of just wasting the time away, I decided to upskill myself through distance learning on Coursera, here are some of my reflections.

2nd Half of 2020

Kick Started the second half of 2020 with my first job on a Graduate Programme with Dairy Farm Group, a multinational company in the retail and fast moving consumer goods scene. Managed to get a chance to learn a lot at work through rotations in Commercial, Operations and Supply Chain. I am really fortunate to have had the chance to interact with many senior business leaders as well as mentors to guide me along the way, and looking forward to more growth in my career. If you’re interested to find out more do reach out to my LinkedIn, where I have documented many posts on the experience too!

For the last few months of the year, I made the choice to return to campus in NTU, to further my understanding of the business sector by taking on a MiniMasters in Marketing Management. While it has been tiring to juggle work with studies, it has been really fulfilling to tackle marketing problems with the brightest minds. (Some have even been in the industry for years!) If you’re considering going back to school while working, do click here!

Last but definitely not the least, I am happy to have consistently posted blog posts this half of the year despite never quite getting myself started previously. Thank you all for the readership this year and we look forward to your continued support over 2021 where we will bring you more posts about analytics, management and innovation.

My thoughts for 2021

Moving forward to 2021, it will be a year of accelerated learning at work, while also completing my MiniMasters programme by the end of March! (Hopefully graduation too, but I am not too sure if it will ever happen now.)

Most importantly, I realised I have not been the most consistent in posting this year, sometimes disappearing occasionally when busy. A resolution for this blog is to consistently generate at least one post for each topic in analytics, innovation and management on a monthly basis, while also not forgetting some of my readers who are still in school as well. Do look forward to more about my past university experience as well as a fresh employee at work perspectives.

2020 has been great, 2021 will be even better!

Tan Wei Xiang

Do follow our blog by bookmarking the page, or following our LinkedIn.

Image Credits: Photo by Ray Hennessy on Unsplash

Categories
Analytics

Text Analysis: Christmas Song Lyrics

Merry Christmas! (Slightly late!) Growing up, Christmas jingles seem to be the part and parcel of every Christmas season, being played at many retail spaces around Singapore (and I’m sure it is in many other parts of the world too.) We’ve decided to carry out analytics on some common Christmas Songs which we recall from a list found online. We then searched for the lyrics data through Google before analysing the data. Presenting to you the word clouds for Christmas. Hope you will like the post and do follow us on our LinkedIn.

Twelve Days of Christmas

Well it comes as no surprise for this to be the word cloud for the Twelve Days of Christmas, given that “for the x day of Christmas my true love gave to me … a partridge in a pear tree!” gets repeated 12 times and the whole phrase has no repeats.

Jingle Bells

Well surprisingly, sleigh appears to be the most common word used, because we only inputted the chorus in once, and the verses mentioned sleigh a few times.

Santa Claus is Comin to Town

Whoever wrote this song was definitely really sharp at using better in a lot of phrases, along with good coming in next place. Despite having shout and cry in the lyrics, the word better has been strategically used to give off the positive connotations in the song to be good and better. Did you realise that previously? Let us know in the comments below.

Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer

No wonder we remember reindeers are supposed to have red noses!

Rockin Around the Christmas Tree

Rock around the Christmas Tree! Another catchy song which repeats the same over and over. Maybe this is the secret formula to a great Christmas song.

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

Speaks for itself, just repeat the title non-stop and you’re ready to launch your next Christmas hit! Thank me when you’re famous.

Jingle Bell Rock

Well the writer of this song definitely took repeating the title non-stop to a whole new level, even including jingle and bell in the verses. Jingle was repeated for a total of 28 times!

Last Christmas

Well we finally have another formula for Christmas songs, it is to make the audience feel special and the idea of giving gifts and all through negative words with positive meanings. The writer is using the Santa Claus is coming to town formula to succeed.

Conclusion

Overall, if you want a hit Christmas song, think of Jingle Bells or the thought of giving, or just mentioning the word Christmas works too. You could give it a shot using negative lines but add words with positive connotations or just repeat the title non-stop.

You are now on track to become the next Christmas Song writer! Hope you liked the post, do follow us on LinkedIn, and Bookmark this site. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Image Credits: Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash

Like more text analytics? Do look at our post here!

Categories
Innovation

Business Model Innovation: Hair Salon

Realised it’s been a while since we last posted a Business Model Innovation analysis ever since we launched the series. Thanks for the few readers who pointed out! Back by popular demand, we are adding a new chapter to the business model analysis series!

Today, we are doing a quick analysis, to help you create your hair salon business. As usual, we will be doing our analysis with the business model canvas.

Unique Value Proposition

The UVP is to create the best haircut experience tailored to (our customer).

To strengthen this UVP, we have to deep dive into what our customer segments are.

Customer Segments

Some ways to look at the customer segments is through income levels, whic would determine whether the customers can afford the service, and gender, as male and female customers typically tend to have differing needs and preferences. Behavioural segmentation could also be explored, whether customers believe in salon as more of an experience or just to solve the functional need to get their hair trimmed and look professional and well-kempt.

Key Partners

Some of the key partners for this business could be companies in the area of operations, or even the mall which your salon operates in. The salon could also work with suppliers of products in lowering costs, or co-developing strategies to improve sales, which is a win-win for both sides. Some salons even work with advertising agencies too (more of that in revenue.)

Key Activities

The key activities in the business is attracting the customer to the location, the actual haircut, the value added service (perm, wash, etc.), product sales.

Other functions like human resources and training may be required as the salon is in the service line and is very much a people’s business.

Key Resources

Some key resources in this business model is the people and the location. Hair cut is treated as a convenience good by many, and the visit may be influenced by proximity. Finding a prime location might mean more foot traffic for the business.

As with most service sectors, the people in the business are the key touchpoint with the customers. Investing in proper training in sales and relationship management may make a satisfied customer a happy returning customer.

Customer Relationship

In terms of customer relationship, a customer would enter a salon for the first time, usually through proximity, brochures, or word-of-mouth. After sales service and loyalty memberships are techniques which can be explored by the business to retain customers, perhaps through stretch incentives like a free 10th haircut.

Channels

In terms of channels, an offline channel is the most straightforward approach for a haircut. Using print media may be the way to reach those of a later life cycle stage.

Online work could still be done by creating a good website to tell your customers where you are located. This could be a long term view to create a demand pull for the business.

Cost

To list a few possibilities:

  1. Rental
  2. Salary
  3. Cost of Material (Comb, shampoo, hair dye, razor blades, etc.)
  4. Cost of Capital (Chair, mirror, razor, scissors, interactive displays etc.)
  5. Marketing expenses, advertising, digital marketing fees, etc.

Revenue

To list a few possibilties:

  1. The haircut
  2. Shampoo and wash
  3. Hair colouring
  4. Rebonding
  5. Lots of other value added services where you can imagine the possibilities. Some salons even have image consulting services!
  6. Hair product sales (Notice the Kerasys or herbal solutions and organic hair wax placed in the salons? They usually serve as add on sales.
  7. Advertising revenue (For instance express haircut place QB house has these screens which show bite sized advertisements to patrons from their partners.

That’s a hair salon business summarised in one page, do let us know if it worked for you and do let us know the other business models you may be interested in!

Interested in exploring other business ideas? Do drop us a note at businessmodel@tanweixiang.com.

If you loved our post, follow us on our LinkedIn for updates: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tanweixiang

Do check out our business model analysis on a photo studio, or on a business model innovation on DIY Bakery.

https://tanweixiang.com/business-model-template-photo-studio/

Image Credits: Photo by Adam Winger on Unsplash