Maintaining and continuing development on the app. Future developments include adding services to the
app, adding gamifying aspects and adding a referral system.
Maintaining the website, updating it with new information as we progress.
Marketing, both online and physical, for more information check out the marketing plan section.
The key resources needed are cloud services, active users and capable employees. Cloud services such as Google's Firebase Cloud Firestore, Microsoft Azure, or Amazon Web Services. The listings the users create are also an important resource, the whole service relies on user-provided data to function. If partnerships with companies are created to add the ability to rent out tools (as opposed to borrowing), they will also be considered key resources.
Our key partners are mainly the users themselves. The supply being the items they are willing to loan out. Another key partner is a cloud provider such as Amazon with their Amazon Web Services or Microsoft Azure. This partner provides the ability to create a web service so that users can share their needs through an app. Enforcing companies that can enforce penalties for stealing or not returning an item on time. This system is also interesting for landlords, as the app could be used to divide building resources. Renting companies could be a good option to get a larger initial supply for the service. Investors.
Convenience, when a user needs a particular item, think of a hammer, just after he has moved in, there will not be a WhatsApp group chat in place and the user will not be familiar with the people around him to go knock on their doors.
The inventory page brings structure to your borrowing and lending experience.
Users can save and make money on not buying products they just occasionally need and also earn money by lending items they do not need all the time.
Reassurance that you will get the lent item back, or at least financially compensated for it. Getting to know neighbours and connecting with people around you.
Environmentally friendly, as it reduces the need to buy new items all the time.
The business structure class is value-driven, as the business model focuses on creating value for a service. The fixed costs will be the salary of the employees. The variable costs would be the cost of renting the servers as that would scale with the number of users and the money that is invested as advertisement.
There are several revenue streams, some of them already implemented and some that might be implemented in the future. One that is already in the app now is the penalties for delayed return. If a user returns an item after the agreed upon date, the user will have to pay a fine. Kitley takes a portion of this fine. This revenue stream is similar to how Blockbuster used to work. The pinging system is another one. When users first download the app they get a free ping, but after that they will have to pay to use the pinging system again. This money goes straight to us. A possible future revenue stream could come from advertising certain items or services, by putting them near the top of the nearby offers list.
Kitley aims at acquiring initial customers by both physical and online marketing, for this we refer to the marketing plan section. Then we aim at growing the customer base through word of mouth and a referral system that rewards successful referrals with free pings. For communication with customers a chatbot will be used where possible, otherwise customer service via chat. Since it is a community driven platform, Kitley is very open to suggestions from the public about how to improve in the future. We aim to keep a very open and active communication going with our users.
The main channel is ofcourse the smartphone app. Later it could be complemented by a web-based interface. We are also keeping an eye on new devices that are becoming more popular in recent times such as smartwatches.
Mass Market: We are aiming at users of all age groups, genders and walks of life, everyone could need a tool they don’t have or be willing to lend one out. Of course we mainly focus on strong communities, situated in more or less densely populated areas. An example would be a college campus at the beginning of the year. There is a big need for tools to set everyone up in their new accommodation, people are looking to build a community and generally live close to each other. That is why for the initial launch we will focus on students and young adults.
Thank you for your attention. Do not forget to start using Kitley now!
