the wardrobe columbia

THE WARDROBEA trusted marketplace for college students to buy, sell, and rent their items

Tessa HurrJackie Li

Avanti ShroffAllison Peng

Christina Nguyen

Day 1Interviews Total: 10

Female College Students (17-22)

Possibly Male College Students

Students who want to upgrade their style and be connected to people who have a look that they want to emulate.

App maintenance

Support to customers

Marketing on social media

Connecting students to peer stylists in order to upgrade their wardrobes through personal meetings or tailored advice.

Helps students find outfits when they have limited time.

Provides means of styling for special events (1-time service)

Showcasing student stylists.

Student Stylists

Student Customers

Clothing Companies: sponsoring stylists

Student Photographers: reward stylists who do better.

80% to stylist, 20% to us - variable

salary to app developers - fixed

cost of domain and cost of maintaining servers - fixed

20% of payment to stylist goes to our company

You pay a base price for the first time, and then you pay their price afterwards.

Once you reach a certain number of clients, you get a larger cut

Company sponsors

Web App

Mobile App

Referrals

Stylists

App Developers

Customer relations reps

Capitalize on special events (formals, holidays, student events)

Ask for feedback about stylist interaction + client experience

Client reviews and ratings should be public.

» Female college students were interested, but the majority were unwilling to pay for styling services.

» Male college students were not interested in the styling service.

» People emphasized the need for one-time outfits, like formalwear or business clothes.

» We decided to pivot to a more niche area and transformed our platform to give college students a marketplace to buy, sell, and rent their clothing.

KEY LEARNINGS 4

Day 2Interviews Since Last Class: 13Interviews Total: 23

We are resegmenting an existing niche marketplace for college students to buy, sell, and rent their clothes

6

8. Key Partners 6. Key Activities 2. Value Propositions

9. Cost Structure

7. Key Resources

4. Customer Relationships

BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS - Day 2 7

3. Channels

1. Customer Segments

5. Revenue Streams

Sellers and loaners

- App developers - Customer relations reps

- App maintenance - Support to customers - Marketing on social media

- Get: Social media promotions, referrals, student ambassadors - Keep: Ease of transaction and seamless experience keeps customers - Grow: Reward system

- Web App - Mobile app- Referrals

College students (17-25) who are interested in selling or loaning their clothing to other students

Provides a platform where college students can earn money from loaning/selling gently used clothes

Cost of maintaining team of app developers and customer service reps (fixed costs) Cost of domain and cost of maintaining servers (fixed costs)Cost of transactions

80% to renter/seller, 20% to the company Ad revenue

Buyers and rentees

Easier, cheaper, faster alternative to buying clothes online or in stores for busy college students within a small campus distance

***Sections that have been changed are outlined in red

College students (17-25) who are interested in buying or renting other student’s clothing

» Majority of male college students were uninterested in buying, selling, or renting clothes

» Found that males were more interested in buying, selling, and renting other items instead of just clothes

» Wanted to increase profit margins → conducted more customer interviews

» We had to pivot to allow college students to buy, sell, and rent many different items, such as textbooks, electronics, furniture, etc. to other students, instead of only clothing items.

KEY LEARNINGS 8


9. Cost Structure

7. Key Resources



3. Channels


5. Revenue Streams

Sellers and loaners





College students (17-25) who are interested in selling or loaning their clothing, textbooks, electronics, furniture, etc. to other students

Provides a platform where college students can earn money from loaning/selling gently used items

- Cost of maintaining team of app developers and customer service reps (fixed costs) - Cost of domain and cost of maintaining servers (fixed costs)- Cost of transactions

- 80% to renter/seller, 20% to the company - Ad revenue

Buyers and rentees

Easier, cheaper, faster alternative to buying secondhand items online or in stores for busy college students within a small campus distance

College students (17-25) who are interested in buying or renting other student’s items

Avani» 19 years old » Undergraduate sophomore» Has a work study job» In a sorority » Likes: Rihanna, The Office,

has a travel blog

CUSTOMER ARCHETYPES 11

Nick» 22 years old » Undergraduate senior» Planning on a postgrad trip

to Europe» Likes: his Warby Parker

glasses, basketball

AvaniPains:

» Needs a formal dress for an event ASAP » Doesn’t have time to shop downtown

Gains:

» Can try on dress in person before renting/buying quickly

» Short travel distance » Buy/rent from trusted seller

CUSTOMER ARCHETYPES 12

NickPains:

» Needs to get rid of his textbooks, TV, and stereo system ASAP

Gains:

» $$$» Getting rid of unwanted items quickly» Easy to schedule meetups

Top 10 Items Sold/Rented1. Textbooks2. Clothes (formal dresses, interview clothes, ties, etc.)3. Refrigerators4. Electronics5. Furniture and housewares6. Air conditioners7. Cookware8. Video games9. Bicycles

10. Cleaning supplies

TOP TEN ITEMS SOLD/RENTED 13

» Found that students typically made two types of purchases in a peer-to-peer marketplace

» Urgent and casual purchases» Majority of students were unwilling to forfeit a 20%

commission» Students wanted a way to ensure their items weren’t

damaged if they were loaning valuable items

» Pivoted to decrease commission rate from 20% to 10%. Added another revenue stream that allowed sellers to promote their posts for a nominal fee. Added a 5% insurance fee and changed cost structure to include reimbursements for damaged goods.

KEY LEARNINGS 14


9. Cost Structure

7. Key Resources



3. Channels


5. Revenue Streams

Sellers and loaners







- Cost of maintaining team of app developers and customer service reps (fixed costs) - Cost of domain and cost of maintaining servers (fixed costs)- Cost of transactions - Reimbursements for damaged goods

- 90% to renter/seller, 10% to the company - Additional 5% insurance fee - Sellers promote posts- Ad revenue

Buyers and rentees



Get Strategy 17

Traffic to our website and

mobile application

Social media promotions via Facebook and Instagram ads

Student ambassadors

Referrals from existing

members / word of mouth

5% commission

for user’s first transaction. 10% after.

KEY LEARNINGS 18

» Most students did not feel that student ambassadors would persuade them to use the app

» The majority expressed more interest in using the app if most of their friends were using it

» Students would rather be charged an extra 10% service fee for the transaction as a buyer than be charged a 10% commission fee as a seller.

» Most students preferred an optional rather than mandatory insurance fee

» Pivoted to remove student ambassadors as a “Get Strategy” and emphasized referrals. Added 10% optional insurance fee and 10% service fee for buyers as revenue streams


9. Cost Structure

7. Key Resources



3. Channels


5. Revenue Streams

Sellers and loaners







- Cost of maintaining team of app developers and customer service reps (fixed costs) - Cost of domain and cost of maintaining servers (fixed costs)- Cost of transactions - Reimbursements for damaged goods

- 90% to renter/seller, 10% to the company - 10% service fee for buyers- 10% optional insurance fee - sellers promote posts- Ad revenue

Buyers and rentees



REVENUE MODEL 21

Web and Mobile App

» Transaction fees» 10% service fee for

every transaction » Advertising

» Promoting items» Insurance

CHANNEL

Dire

ct

REVENUE STRATEGY

» Referral revenue» Back-end offersAn

cilla

ryPRICING TACTIC

Users will set the price for their items, and we will collect a 10% service fee from all transactions.

Company

BuyerSeller

$ for Item

Gives item

10% insured item service fee,Cost to promote a post Updates on

available items

Send promos

10% service fee

PETAL DIAGRAM 22

Secondhand Retail

Social MediaSharing Economy

Marketplace

Renting

TheWardrobe

HOW WE ARE DIFFERENTIATING OURSELVES 23

Filtering Based on Items or

Categories

The Wardrobe

Quick, Last Minute

Shopping

Feedback / Rating System

No Shipping

Costs

On Campus Meetups

Optimized Scheduling

Community Trust

Extra Income for

College Students

WHAT WE’RE DOING NEXT 24

» Continue searching for revenue, pricing, and logistical strategies via customer discovery

» Test an MVP of the service and collect feedback

APPENDIX

TEAM MEMBERS TESSA HURR CHRISTINA NGUYEN JACKIE LI ALLISON PENG AVANTI SHROFF

Degree Program / Department (Major)

B.Sc. in Computer Science

B.Sc. in Operations Research




Provide your LinkedIn public profile URL /in/tessahurr

/in/christina-h-nguyen

/in/jacqueline-li-b07b5989

N/A /in/avanti-shroff

Pick a role you think you most likely will

play on this team (Hustler, Hacker,

Designer or Product Picker)

Designer, Product Picker

Designer, Hustler Hacker Hustler Hustler

Fun Fact Pole vaulted in high school

Moving to Vietnam postgrad

Played softball in college

Is right handed but only uses left hand

when throwing frisbees

Has a turtle

COLUMBIA IEOR E4560: THE LEAN LAUNCHPAD 26

MARKET SIZE 27

20.09 Million

20.5 Million

13.86 Million

Total Addressable Market: All U.S. College Students*

Served Available Market: U.S. College Students who own a laptop, smartphone or tablet (98% of U.S. College Students)

Target Market: U.S. College Students who are inclined to participate in peer to peer shopping (69% of U.S. College Students who own a laptop, smartphone or tablet)

* Inflated number because it includes college students outside the 17-25 age rangeReferences: Yahoo Business, Pearson Higher Education

Channels 28

Revenue to seller/loaner Cost of business maintenance Company Profit

Based on customer interviews we decided to use both a mobile application and website as our channels.

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Company Revenue

WHAT WE LEARNED 29

Type Hypothesis Experiment Result

Customer Segmentation

College students want to buy, sell, or rent second-hand items.

We asked college students if they would be interested in buying, selling, or renting second-hand items

88% were interested.

Value Proposition

College students are comfortable with using second-hand items or allowing others to use their items.

We asked college students if they have ever bought, sold or rented items before.

76% have.

Channels College students would prefer both a mobile and web application.

We asked potential customers if they would prefer both a mobile and web application as opposed to only one option.

96% were interested in both.

Revenue Streams

A 20% commission is reasonable and customers are interested in an insurance policy.

We asked potential customers if a 20% commission was reasonable and also if they would be interested in an insurance policy.

16% thought the commission was reasonable.

82% were interested in an insurance policy.

OUR PROPOSED EXPERIMENTS 30

Type Experiment Pass/Fail

Channels Interview customers and ask if there is a preferred action on each channel (e.g. selling via mobile, buying via web). Determine if students would be willing to refer the app via social media.

Pass: If more than 50% find use for each channel

Fail: If less than 50% find use for each channel

“Get” Strategy Would you be more incentivised to use the platform if for the first item you rented/sold the service on takes 5% instead of 10% of the revenue from the transaction? Would you appreciate receiving referrals from friends? Are you interested in being a student ambassador?

Pass: If 50% express interest

Fail: If less than 50% express interest

Revenue Model Is a 10% cut reasonable? 15% cut for insurance? Pass: If 50% say they would.

Fail: If less than 50% say they would.

the wardrobe columbia

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