Before buying an apparel in an offline setting like at a mall, I check

price of that apparel on AJIO app. This is to find out if there is a

better deal available via app online. I find it difficult to do so.

Current process: I must enter product details in search bar and try to
find the same product from drop down list.

What bothers me: Most of the times I don’t know exact details of
product for which I am trying to compare online –offline prices. Finding
out the exact same product on app is difficult. Currently, I have no easy
search option on the app to do so.
Prateek Nyati
prateek.nyati18@iimb.ac.in
7506485739
v.nnd.2015.06
CONFIDENTIAL
 Illustration of the issue identified:
Searched for this on
Saw this shirt while AJIO with basic details.
window shopping Found highly irrelevant
search results.
Filtered out relevant
Searched with bar code
brand, still Can’t figure
number on tag. Found
out which one is right
the same shirt.
out of these results.

Observations:
• Priority is given to AJIO label in search results.
• There is a database of barcodes available already. Items can be accessed via barcodes.
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 Ideas:

In app bar code search In app image search Improved text search

• Give an option to perform • Give an option to search • Recognize brand names

search using the bar code
on product tag.
• Via mobile camera, scan • App user will click picture
the bar code. Read and
send the bar code
number to the search tab.
similar looking items using
product image
of the product. Backend
will perform image
processing, interpretation
and search for the similar
looking product.
from search text and show
only relevant brand
products on top. Giving
priority to private labels in
search results can irritate
customers.
• Along with the drop-
down list of relevant
items, also give
suggestions to choose
from broad categories.

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 Market analysis and customer segment
Showrooming
•This is an increasing global trend. Customers visit an offline store to get touch and feel of
product and then buy product online due to price advantages. Reverse phenomenon also
occurs and is called web grooming.
•The feature suggested directly helps customers by making showrooming easier.

Why do we need an easy search feature?

•E commerce sales is still less than 5% of total retail sales in India and majority of sales happen
offline.
•Some people buying offline can shift to online purchase if price is lower and search on the
app is as easy as picking up the item. For apparels, price online is lesser than offline price in
lots of the cases.

Customer segment
•The target customer for the suggested feature is price sensitive. In terms of purchase cycle,
target customer is still in decision making mode and is impressionable. Customer is active
and is exposed to physical products already thus, have touch and feel of product. Chances of
purchase by this customer is thus very high.

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 Business value
Improved text search
(Basic feature)
• An efficient search feature is a
hygiene factor. A company
with customer orientation can
never compromise on such
features.
• Search should immediately be
made free of obvious biases.
When a customer specifically
searches for brand, private
label should not be the top
result.
• Improved search feature will
improve customer retention
and conversion rate.
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In app bar code search
(Performance feature)
• The in-app bar code scanner
will help in competing with
offline retail stores. Apart from
price, convenience becomes
the second most important
deciding factor for a purchase.
We must make product search
as easy as picking up a
product from shelf of a mall.
• Easy scan search feature will
give bring us at par with the
offline purchase at time of
decision-making once
customer has seen the
product offline. After this, AJIO
can compete on prices to gain
that customer.
In app image search
(Excitement feature)
• If we successfully give customer an
option where she can click picture of
any product image anywhere and
search algo. will direct user to
product page directly, customer will
be delighted.
• Use case: A customer while watching
her favorite TV serial likes a dress
worn by the Actress. She clicks a
picture of TV screen and app directs
her to the product page, this will
create an AHA! moment for the
customer.
• This feature will improve customer
loyalty, new customer acquisition and
retention. Repeat purchases will
increase
CONFIDENTIAL
 Feature prioritization and selection
“Reliance Retail starts assisted e-commerce for Ajio through Jio stores. This is part of Reliance’s strategy to
connect first time online consumers with its e-commerce platform.”- Economic times July 2019 *

The current focus of AJIO is customer acquisition, prioritization rule should be coherent with company
focus.

Criteria Improved search Bar code search Image search

Feasibility 5 (less tech resources 4 (bar code data already 3 ( significant tech& resource
needed) present in database) commitment)
Desirability 5 (hygiene factor) 4 ( Target customers will 5 (if done right, the feature will
appreciate the feature) bring delight)
Viability 1 (company focus is 2 ( This is again primarily 5 ( will help in acquisition,
acquisition not retention) for customer retention) word of mouth marketing)
Net score 11 10 13

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 Detailed logic of chosen feature (Image search)

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 key resources needed and metrics
Resources needed for in-app
image search
• A database of all product
images.
• Database of style codes for all
products.
• Additional hardware for data
storage.
• Search tools.
• Matching algorithms.
• Additional human resources
• Adaptive algorithms to
continuously improve searches.
• Additional Processing
capabilities.
Metrics to track feature
performance
• Number of searches
using image feature.
• Number of searches with
1+ search results.
• Time take to finish
searching.
• Number of searches with
successful hit (user clicks
the search result/lands on
product page)
Business metrics to
measure impact
• New customers
acquired
• Click through rate for
search results
• Revenue per existing
customer
• Star ratings of App

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 Risks
• Additional resources needed for the feature might be too high to justify ROI
• Poor search results may make customers dis-satisfied
• Existing technical assets and capabilities might get overloaded
• Significant marketing efforts may be needed to communicate the feature value to customers
• Getting used to the new feature will take time

Conclusion
• Image search feature will help AJIO in achieving its aim of customer acquisition through word of
mouth marketing.
• The data from image search can also help AJIO develop its private label. The images getting zero
search results could be used as design inputs for private label.
• Showrooming will become very easy for the AJIO users and thus feature will improve retention
• Price sensitive users will buy more from AJIO thus, some offline part of expenditure will start coming
to AJIO and thus revenue per customer will increase

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