Analytics | Process | Strategy | Innovation | by Tan Wei Xiang

Category: Innovation

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

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Image Credits: Photo by Ray Hennessy on Unsplash

31 Dec 2020
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
16 Dec 2020
Business Model Innovation: Photo Studio
For the first post in this Business Model Innovation series, I was inspired by a photo studio which I came across last week, I found the small business concept extremely innovative and decided that I would write the first post based on this. I’ll be analysing the business based on the Business Model Canvas. There may be many ways a business can be run, but I hope that this post can serve as a basis to explore your creativity.

Unique Value Proposition

To create and document unforgettable memories for (our customers).

To strengthen the Unique Value Proposition (UVP), there will be a need for a clear definition on the customers.

Customer Segments

There are a few customers who will document important memories, to list a few important life events:
1. Birth of a Child
2. Graduation
3. Wedding
4. Other memorable events
Based on this our target audience will be different. This is a segmentation by life cycle stage.

Other possible segmentations can be geographic, psychographic, behavioural segmentation.

Key Partners

For the ease of analysis, we have chosen the customer as graduates and next we can think of potential partners. A key question is where the customer comes from, secondary school, polytechnics, university. In order to reach the customer, we establish some partners. Potential Partners can be the Ministry of Education, the various higher education institutions, special education institutions, the various student clubs.

Key Activities

Some key activities in this business value chain is lead generation, sales, the photography services, editing, finishing, as well as packaging of the final product.

Other activities can include business functions like marketing, procurement, and other support functions.

Key Resources

The key resources of the business come from the partnerships, where you want to have exclusive rights to the customer, as well as potential incentives which you can offer. Having enough cashflow would also be important to ensure that the high overheads from studio rental. The staff would also be essential in securing sales and carrying out the business activity with standard.

Customer Relationship

The customer would first need to be baited in with something. A loss leader can be used or even offered for free to up-sell to different photography packages.

The customer can also have loyalty benefits, early discount to lock them in and returning benefits, referral discount, etc. This is also the place where you can exercise your creativity.

Channels

The channels for your photo studio can be offline or online. The offline channels which could be explored includes booths at the locations offered by various partners, where the customer will be at. For graduation, the added benefit would be also schools will usually have designated vendors for the various segments in the event, every student who wants to attend the graduation will likely take notice of your business.

Online channels through google AdWords or SEO can also generate potential leads to your website.

Costs

To list a few possibilities:
1. Rental
2. Salary
3. Cost of Materials (Photo Frame and Photos)
4. Cost of Capital (Photography Equipment, Photo Printer)
5. Cost of Freebies
6. Other Business and Support Costs
Revenues

To list a few possibilities:
1. First Photo Sales
2. Subscriptions
3. Deposit for Advanced Booking
4. Lifetime Membership Fee for future discounts
5. Additional Add on Packages (e.g. finishing, larger photos, repeat prints, embossing, waterproofing, soft copy)
That’s a photo studio 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 look at our analysis on hair salons too! You can also read our analysis on DIY Bakery.

https://tanweixiang.com/business-model-analysis-hair-salon/

Photo by Sven Brandsma on Unsplash
23 Aug 2020