This week's readings about market segments, targets and positioning made me think about the complications of 'testing' a target market via a pilot for a potentially large-impact social venture. Once I've done the research and completed the feasibility plan for my 'Diaspora Connect' idea, I think the next step will be to partner with a technically capable group within the CMU community to build the tech platform to pilot the idea. Right now I can segment my market by national origin, age and occupation, average income, or frequency and size of remittances, among other characteristics. I can also segment based on the various values of the service: those who seek smaller fees, those who will be attracted by the social enterprise investments, those who are anti-corporate money transfers...etc.
Right now I envision the ideal target market as immigrants/residents/naturalized citizens who are professionally established (regardless of age) and frequently send significant amounts of money 'back home'. This brings up the first challenge - how do I identify this pocket of the population when the best source of this information would be Western Union, possibly my most daunting competitor? Next how do I ensure that the pilot 'does no harm' especially considering the inherent risks in international money transfer and financial management? I may be jumping the gun, as I am still in the research/feasibility phase, but it seems that a lot of foresight and reflection on these issues is necessary to successfully manage the expectations of one's target market and anticipate competitive response. Is anyone else having trouble with this? Thoughts? Advice?
Right now I envision the ideal target market as immigrants/residents/naturalized citizens who are professionally established (regardless of age) and frequently send significant amounts of money 'back home'. This brings up the first challenge - how do I identify this pocket of the population when the best source of this information would be Western Union, possibly my most daunting competitor? Next how do I ensure that the pilot 'does no harm' especially considering the inherent risks in international money transfer and financial management? I may be jumping the gun, as I am still in the research/feasibility phase, but it seems that a lot of foresight and reflection on these issues is necessary to successfully manage the expectations of one's target market and anticipate competitive response. Is anyone else having trouble with this? Thoughts? Advice?
Hi Courtney,
ReplyDeleteBefore today's class, I too had difficulty trying to determine my target market. I realized that unless I could reasonably define it, I could not anticipate competitive response from the other players vying for the same 'customer dollar' in my target field. Some of my doubts about this were clarified by Prof Zak in class today. For your project, I cannot imagine how a 'pilot' would do any harm. Unless the operators (your money transaction partners on either end) fraudulently misused the funds or fudged amounts, what is the inherent "risk" to the payor and payee or the designated charity recipient? You would have to conduct a trial of your operating system to finesse all the technicalities before launch. You would definitely need to survey your target market to understand their expectations, uncover the benefits they perceive and the degree of risk they are willing to take in transferring funds. When you address these elements through the optimal design of superior service/price ratio that Diaspora Connect promises to deliver, you will steal market share from Western Union.
I heard the terms " Stated Preference vs Revealed Preference" which enable a good marketing expert to understand customer/consumer's need for a product and their behavior when presented with the product. The two are not necessarily congruent. Eg. If designing bus routes - initial survey customer states "will use 4 or more times per week" . However when the actual frequency of use is measured, the customer travels on this bus route only once per week.
Hope this helps,
Sangeeta
Thanks for your response Sangeeta. Some of my questions and concerns were also addressed in the last class, but I appreciate your advice and encouragement!
ReplyDeleteI think my greatest concern is being able to handle the sophisticated partnership and operations required in global money transfers. Unfortunately the more I learn about Western Union and other large MTOs, the more I realize what a secure monopoly they hold on the market due to exclusivity agreements and global networks...etc. It's daunting, but not impossible!