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dc.contributor.authorParsaieva, Valentyna
dc.contributor.authorWu, Xian
dc.date.accessioned2021-04-27T19:02:05Z
dc.date.available2021-04-27T19:02:05Z
dc.date.issued2018
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12127/6886
dc.description.abstractThis report provides an analysis of the problem that most startup Software as a Service (hereinafter-SaaS) companies are struggling with: the development of a pricing strategy for fashion startup Lys.Fashion. Often, SaaS companies do not understand how to price their product/service based on the value they provide. In most cases in real life, companies that do not have pricing models also lack customer development and, as a result, are not aware to whom they are selling their product to. This report explores the needs of the future customers of Lys.Fashion, investigates a pricing process as a paramount lever of growth and provides recommendations for a pricing strategy. The report first evaluates the key trends of the market and challenges of the fashion ecosystem, describes best practices of PaaS companies, identifies the forces shaping the fashion industry in 2018 and examines the main competitors and substitutes of Lys.Fashion business. The analysis of successful SaaS business models draws attention to the fact that platform businesses have changed the way of doing business and have become a driver of economic growth, but the level of failures in PaaS business is very high. Attracting and keeping users on both sides of the platform is crucial for Lys.Fashion to succeed. The report provides recommendations for Lys. Fashion to address the chicken and egg problem, such as: - Lys.Fashion should first invite a critical number of brands to create value before reaching the retailers. Lys.Fashion should build partnerships with industry experts or trade shows who already have large brands' and retailers' base. Lys.Fashion should focus first on the charged platform's side - brands within a specified cluster, e.g. premium market segment, and, afterwards, combine it with providing an easy and free access for retailers combined with referral programs. The report highlights that the fashion industry is currently undergoing a digital transformation. A lot of investments have been made in the direction of disruptive technologies that are quickly spreading within the industry. Lys. Fashion's PaaS business model is innovative itself. However, in order to stay in the market and survive the fierce competition, further actions in the direction of continuous improvement of users' experience are recommended such as: to consider functioning more than a digital catalogue in order to create perception of "emotional connection/personal touch" online to compensate the fact that people can no longer touch or fit before they buy. to reconsider the value proposition and include new possibilities offered by digital technology, especially profound data analytics tools. Creating highquality and personalized content based on data analytics should become the differentiator of the Lys.Fashion platform in order to deliver seamless digital experience that will guarantee the customers engagement and platform's sustainability. to become the digital fashion expert, influencer and trendsetter. The competitor analysis provides insights about their value propositions, about customers' willingness to pay and price sensitivity of different market sides. The point of differentiation of Lys.Fashion has been defined, which is inspirational platform for discovery and connection of brands and retailers, but not a marketplace for reordering. The substitute and complementary analysis show the costs made by Lys.Fashion's potential customers in the industry, that have become the foundation for our anchorbased pricing. However, among different price setting strategies, value-based pricing has been chosen as the major pillar of the recommended pricing strategy because the best way to understand the value of the product is to study the feedback of the customers who will buy and use it. The report draws significant amount of attention to the validation of brand and retailer personas of Lys.Fashion, their needs and channels to connect with each other, their current expenses and their willingness to pay for Lys.Fashion services based on interviews with more than 70 members of B2B fashion market. Finally, the report provides the recommendation on the optimal pricing strategy with a yearly "feature based" subscription model for brands and freemium "user-based" model for retailers. The revenue model based on the charge for access has been examined where two revenue streams for Lys. Fashion, such as charge brands for access and charge retailers for access, are envisaged. Based on the high price sensitivity of the interviewed retailers, the model, where the brands will subsidize the retailers, is recommended in order to address the chicken and egg problem. The report unveils the process of development of three pricing packages for brands based on: the needs of each defined brand persona; the right feature mix linked to the most valued features by each brand persona during the interviews; the value metric that enables Lys.Fashion to grow with the growth of its customers. Logical transition from one pricing package to the next, starting out from the "Startup" plan and moving progressively up in scale, has been developed in a pricing model for Lys.Fashion. The report also illustrates the uncertainties, the main of which is the time period that is sufficient for reaching platform network effect that directly depends on the efficiency of onboarding the users to the platform. The report also provides a road map of future action plan till the end of 2018, together with dynamic pricing strategies, in order to facilitate the process of Lys.Fashion acceleration.
dc.language.isoen
dc.titleIntelligent pricing strategy for B2B platform in the fashion industry
dc.source.numberofpages174
vlerick.knowledgedomainEntrepreneurship
vlerick.supervisorMeuleman, Miguel
dc.identifier.vperid58266
vlerick.companynameLys.Fashion
vlerick.companysupervisorBilliet, Patrick
vlerick.programmeMGM Leuven - MIE
vlerick.typebusresprojectIn-Company Project


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