PROJECT REPORT

On

RAKUTEN RAPIDAPI

By

DEEKSHITHA R

1NH18MBA18

Submitted to

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES

NEW HORIZON COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING,

OUTER RING ROAD, MARATHALLI,

BANGALORE

In partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of the degree of

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Under the guidance of

Dr. Smita Harwani

Sr. Assistant Professor

2018-2020

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that DEEKSHITHA R bearing USN 1NH18MBA18, is a bonafide student of Master of Business Administration course of the institute 2018-20, autonomous program, affiliated to Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum.

The project report on “ RAPIDAPI” is prepared by him under the guidance of Smita Harwani, in partial fulfilment of requirements for the award of the degree of Master of Business Administration of Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum Karnataka.

Signature of Internal Guide Signature of HOD Signature of Principal

Name of the Examiners with affiliation Signature with date

1. External Examiner

2. Internal Examiner

DECLARATION

I, Jana Jaya Sai Teja, hereby declare that the project report titled “RAKUTEN RAPIDAPI” with reference to “RAKUTEN” prepared by me under the guidance of Smita Harwani, faculty of M.B.A Department, New Horizon College of Engineering.

I also declare that this Internship is towards the partial fulfilment of the university regulations for the award of the degree of Master of Business Administration by Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum.

I have undergone an internship for a period of eight weeks. I further declare that this report is based on the original study undertaken by me and has not been submitted for the award of a degree/diploma from any other University/Institution.

Signature of Student Place: Date:

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I grateful to all those who has been an inspiration and supported me throughout in completing my Internship Report on Rakuten RapidAPI..

I like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Manjunatha, The Principal of New Horizon College of Engineering. And Dr. Sheelan Misra, Head of the Department, Management Studies.

I would like to thank my internal guide Sr. Asst. Professor Smita Harwani, for his continuous support and guiding me throughout the Internship. His constructive criticism, extensive comments and time dedication has a direct impact on the quality of this Internship.

I sincerely express my humble thanks to Mr. Yeshas Nag, Managing Director, Radical Frames and Media Works Pvt Ltd, Bengaluru who constantly assisted me in shaping and execution of my internship by giving me all the required data and support to complete my work and by constantly guiding during period of internship.

I would also like to thank you all the respondents who help me to complete the survey and collect the data regarding my topic on Rakuten RapidAPI.

I would like to express our sincere thanks to our college management, teaching and non-teaching stuffs for offering me various resources and all those who helped me a lot in finalizing this project within the limited time frame

I also thank my family and friend who have assisted me to complete my Internship work and report writing for the concerned topic.

DEEKSHITHA R

1NH18MBA18

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter Contents Page no. 1 Executive Summary 01

2 Key Activities and Results 02

3 Industry Profile 03

4 Theoretical Background 17

5 Analysis and Interpretation 34

6 Findings, Suggestions and Conclusion 50

Annexure

TABLES & GRAPHS

Sl.no Table Names Page No.

1 The API Strategy Blueprint 5 2 Companies gaining tangible results with 16 API Strategies 3 Product Details 41 4 API Management Market 43 5 API Consumption 45 6 Project Roadmap 47 7 Product Sales Funnel 49 8 Social Media platform used for B2B 55

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This project is based on a product from Rakuten, introduced in for Enterprises. The product is a management, governance, and monetization platform for APIs. APIs (Application programming Interface is a computing interface which facilitates smooth interface between software intermediaries. In simple words, it can be defined as a communication channel between apps and data.

APIs have gained tremendous popularity over the last few years, and are turning into a disruptive technology, changing the function of technology processes of businesses. Large codes are being replaced by APIs. This platform is one of its kind in the Indian market. There are very few companies that can be considered direct competitors.

This report gives an insight on theoretical aspects such as:

• Rakuten Enterprise • What are APIs • How APIs are changing Businesses • API Market • Future Scope of APIs Also, the report consists of my project at Rakuten and role I performed:

• Lead Generation • First Contact Establishment • Content Creation • Social Media Analysis • Webinar Lead generation • Website User-Interface analysis • Event Evaluation for sponsorships

1 KEY ACTIVITIES AND RESULTS

• Lead Generation – 3 Leads Generated

• Content creation –FAQs, Content for social Media, Content for Website

• Website User Interface Evaluation – 11 improvements suggested

• Driving Webinar Participation– 25 C-Level Participants

• Events Evaluation for Sponsorship – 5 Events

• Social Media Analysis- Action items for active social media presence submitted

2 CHAPTER 1

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1.1: What is an API? (Application Programming Interface)

API is the acronym for Application Programming Interface, which is a software intermediary that allows two applications to talk to each other. Each time you use an app like Facebook, send an instant message, or check the weather on your phone, you’re using an API.

When you use an application on your mobile phone, the application connects to the Internet and sends data to a server. The server then retrieves that data, interprets it, performs the necessary actions and sends it back to your phone. The application then interprets that data and presents you with the information you wanted in a readable way. This is what an API is - all of this happens via API.

To explain this better, let us take a familiar example.

Imagine you’re sitting at a table in a restaurant with a menu of choices to order from. The kitchen is the part of the “system” that will prepare your order. What is missing is the critical link to communicate your order to the kitchen and deliver your food back to your table. That’s where the waiter or API comes in. The waiter is the messenger – or API – that takes your request or order and tells the kitchen – the system – what to do. Then the waiter delivers the response back to you; in this case, it is the food.

Here is a real-life API example. You may be familiar with the process of searching flights online. Just like the restaurant, you have a variety of options to choose from, including different cities, departure and return dates, and more. Let us imagine that you’re booking you are flight on an airline website. You choose a departure city and date, a return city and date, cabin class, as well as other variables. In order to book your flight, you interact with the airline’s website to access their database and see if any seats are available on those dates and what the costs might be.

However, what if you are not using the airline’s website––a channel that has direct access to the information? What if you are using an online travel service, such as Kayak or Expedia, which aggregates information from a number of airline databases?

3 The travel service, in this case, interacts with the airline’s API. The API is the interface that, like your helpful waiter, can be asked by that online travel service to get information from the airline’s database to book seats, baggage options, etc. The API then takes the airline’s response to your request and delivers it right back to the online travel service, which then shows you the most updated, relevant information.

Your phone’s data is never fully exposed to the server, and likewise the server is never fully exposed to your phone. Instead, each communicates with small packets of data, sharing only that which is necessary—like ordering takeout. You tell the restaurant what you would like to eat, they tell you what they need in return and then, in the end, you get your meal.

APIs have become so valuable that they comprise a large part of many business’ revenue. Major companies like Google, eBay, Salesforce.com, , and Expedia are just a few of the companies that make money from their APIs. What the “API economy” refers to is this marketplace of APIs.

1.2: The Modern API

Over the years, what an “API” is has often described any sort of generic connectivity interface to an application. More recently, however, the modern API has taken on some characteristics that make them extraordinarily valuable and useful:

• Modern APIs adhere to standards (typically HTTP and REST), that are developer-friendly, easily accessible and understood broadly

• They are treated more like products than code. They are designed for consumption for specific audiences (e.g., mobile developers), they are documented, and they are versioned in a way that users can have certain expectations of its maintenance and lifecycle.

• Because they are much more standardized, they have a much stronger discipline for security and governance, as well as monitored and managed for performance and scale

• As any other piece of productized software, the modern API has its own software development lifecycle (SDLC) of designing, testing, building, managing, and versioning. Also, modern APIs are well documented for consumption and versioning.

4

Fig.1.1: The API Strategy Blueprint

5 1.3: The API Strategy Blueprint

1.3.1: Establish Digital Strategy

If there’s one stage in the API strategy blueprint that’s critical to the success of the others, it is establishing your organization’s digital strategy. Although it will morph over time, your digital strategy is your true north for the remaining three stages. Without a validated, well-articulated, and executive backed digital strategy (a truly strategic plan), it will be nearly impossible to organize for success, much less deploy the right technologies or court the most relevant constituents with whom you’ll work to co-create the long-term success of your ecosystem and ultimately your company.

Put another way, it’s one thing for the journey to end up a few degrees off of north, thereby requiring minor recalibrations along the way. It’s an entirely different challenge to pivot the entire business due to a serious miscalculation that sent you South.

Compared to the rest of the blueprint, which is very executional in nature, your digital strategy is far more theoretical because, to a large extent, it relies on digital instincts, creativity, and expertise; disciplines that may not be areas of strength for the existing organization.

Imagining realistic business outcomes such as new customer experiences (an important part of establishing your strategy) based on platform and ecosystem thinking is a muscle that many organizations have never effectively exercised before. So, it’s not surprising that many organizations struggle to establish great digital strategies.

While the second stage addresses organizational culture and build-out, it is imperative for the strategy-setting process to begin with your first organizational change by involving the assistance of someone with a history of game-changing, platform business outcomes. This could be a newly created role on the executive team such as a chief digital officer (CDO) or it could be a consultancy whose digital practice has a strong track record of driving successful business transformations. Either way, when it comes to crafting your digital strategy and getting on with your journey, it is no time for amateur hour.

Getting the assistance, you need, if you don’t already have it, will greatly improve your odds of success. From the executive sponsor’s point of view, properly resourcing this responsibility also

6 sends a strong signal to the rest of the organization that big changes are not only coming, but that those changes have executive backing and need to be taken seriously; an issue that’s further addressed in this paper’s discussion about organizational and cultural alignment.

Once key stakeholders, including business leaders from across the organization and an experienced leader for the process, are in position the next steps are straightforward. It’s important to note that to participate in the external API economy, businesses need to drive an internal API economy first.

Innovation at the edges doesn’t work unless a business can unlock its core, which is often made up of a big, monolithic infrastructure. By opening up APIs internally, businesses can free themselves from the limitations of their legacy systems, changing the way they deliver digital products and services to customers, partners, and employees.

7 1.3.2: Align Organization and Culture If you’re a regular air traveler and have flown United Airlines with any frequency, then you know that the air carrier’s mobile app provides travelers with access to a variety of United’s existing business capabilities; everything from booking new travel to checking award status to double checking departure dates and times. In addition, those standard airline app features, United also makes it possible for its passengers to access its in-flight entertainment options (movies, TVs, etc.) through their mobile devices. Instead of a seatback playback system that’s prone to failure, the flier’s smartphone or tablet serves as the in-flight entertainment hardware.

This digital strategy is brilliant because it incentivizes travelers who might not otherwise download the application to acquire the mobile app, and register to use it, thereby creating a longer-term digital engagement opportunity for United. Through the app, United can more easily notify customers of special, revenue-driving, and offers. If the app is capable of placing in-flight food orders, United can use that as well as the entertainment system consumption data to anticipate customer requirements.

Consider the organization-wide effort that it takes to achieve the desired business outcomes. Someone had to envision the mobile app as a new business channel that could keep customers engaged with a variety of United’s core competencies, driving more revenue. Maybe someone else with responsibility for in-flight entertainment spotted the opportunity to drive mobile application adoption by turning the passenger’s smartphone into an in-flight entertainment outlet. And somewhere along the line, the gate personnel and flight attendants got involved, driving passenger awareness of this new experience so that the mobile applications were installed and ready to go before take-off. This alignment of the organization and culture around new, game-changing digital experiences does not happen by mistake. It happens when the digital vision is socialized across the organization in ways that extend well beyond the buy-in of just the executive and management teams.

Rather, the entire organization is bought-in and driving as hard as possible towards the business and experiential outcomes that were outlined in the digital strategy. Cultural and organizational adjustments must be driven by the same executives that have backed the vision in the first place. Without the right organization and culture, the chances of your digital strategy succeeding greatly

8 diminish. In the blueprint’s second stage — Align organization and culture — there are several organizational and cultural changes that every organization must consider:

• Socialize API vision and executive mandate across the organization • Establish trust, security, and privacy as organizational values • Drive a services-oriented culture • Organizationally align teams by service boundaries • Institutionalize a product-centric approach • Hire domain experts • Democratizing innovation

9 1.3.3: Evaluating and building supporting tech With your digital strategy in place (but constantly evolving as it should) and your organization’s culture morphing into one whose priorities are fully aligned with that strategy, you’ll need the right technology to digitally engage your ecosystem.

As you no doubt have surmised by now, APIs will be the key enablers of your digital strategy. As you look to publish each of your new or existing business capabilities for consumption by constituents from across your ecosystem, each of those capabilities will be facilitated by one or more APIs.

Similar to the way the aforementioned Amazon has, over the years, assembled a portfolio of APIs (Alexa, shopping, cloud computing, etc.) that, taken together, form the basis of the Amazon platform (officially known as Amazon Web Services), your organization’s digital platform should consist of APIs that are easily discovered and consumed by the members of your ecosystem and the applications they use and build. These APIs will come as a result of any renovations of existing capabilities and systems of record as well as any API-economy related explorations of new functionality, potentially leading to new business channels, new business models, and new products.

When an organization commits, as it should, to taking a product-centric approach to providing APIs, it should also commit to rigorous execution of what’s known as the full lifecycle API management lifecycle. Generally speaking, full lifecycle API management can be broken down into the phases listed below:

• Planning and initial design • Test-driven development • Flexible deployment • Secure operation • Governance and monetization • Analysis and testing • Developer engagement • Versioning and retirement

10 As the purpose of this white paper is designed to cover the four stages of the API strategy blueprint, we will not be providing an in-depth review of API lifecycle here. But, in terms of API strategy success, there are some important things to understand about the lifecycle.

First, since the lifecycle primarily consists of technical tasks, this is where your technical team will be stepping in to do most of the work, like establishing API architecture and standard API design principles. This is why it’s important to address certain API-specific roles like the API developer role early in the process. Depending on the extent to which your APIs will draw upon your organization’s existing IT estate, other technical stakeholders — everyone from database administrators to system architects to full stack developers — will need to be a part of the process too. Second, your successful execution of the API lifecycle will depend on the selection and deployment of a comprehensive platform for full lifecycle API management. This is where the business and technical teams will need to collaborate.

Whereas the technical team will have its own set of concerns to address, the business team must be assured that the chosen solution is capable of supporting the aspirations identified in the digital strategy. For example, if the digital strategy depends on thousands of unknown software developers gaining self-service access to certain APIs, does the management solution automate the provisioning of self-service registration? Believe it or not, many organizations are tempted by the idea of creating their own customized API management solutions from scratch. However, the further they get into such an endeavor, the more they realize how integral the system’s functionality has to be under the hood. For example, as APIs are being designed in one phase, the system should be automatically publishing the API documentation, consoles, and sample code for the online engagement phase.

Then as more APIs are published and your platform takes shape, the online publication of an ecosystem-friendly API catalog should be automatic as well. Perhaps most important is how your API management solution must be secure by design.

As said earlier, there are hardly any well-known internet brands let alone companies in other verticals that haven’t experienced an API security oversight if not a catastrophic exfiltration of sensitive information. It is within this stage that all of the security best practices and technologies must be activated. Organizations that cobble together their own home-grown solutions are virtually guaranteed of inviting hackers in through a back door. For this reason, it is also critical to

11 constantly test your security practices and technologies for potential issues, even enlisting your ecosystem for help using bug bounties as incentive. Given the risks to your brand, not to mention your customers, API security is not to be trifled with.

12 1.3.4: Engaging your ecosystem While it’s critically important to support your digital strategy with the right technology, it’s equally if not more important to recognize that your technology choices are really about enabling your ecosystem. But technology alone cannot galvanize and nurture that ecosystem. For example, the previous stage on evaluating and building the supporting technology includes mention of full lifecycle API management, one phase of which is online engagement.

As you may have guessed by now, that phase of the API lifecycle overlaps with this fourth stage. So, what are the key distinctions between the two? In much the same way your digital strategy will fall short of its potential if you overlook organizational culture, it will outright fail without a comprehensive effort to engage the intended consumers of your platform from across your ecosystem; an effort that, not coincidentally, also reflects the importance of your culture’s product- centricity. Whereas the online engagement phase of the API lifecycle is mainly concerned with the features found in API management solutions that cover specific engagement activities (e.g., API developer registration, documentation, consoles, sandboxes, mocking services, sample code, etc.), this broader stage of the API strategy blueprint is about those forms of engagement as well as all of the other online and offline activities that, taken together, represent the totality of your ecosystem engagement efforts.

Presumably, you’ve identified your target audience and modeled your ecosystem as a part of the digital strategy setting process. Chances are it involves different constituencies, each of which involves its own most effective channels of communication. For example, whereas one constituency is internal to your organization and reachable through Slack and email distribution lists, another might have its own Google Group. Or maybe you’ll have to conduct an awareness campaign, reaching them through more traditional marketing techniques like advertising and conference sponsorship.

When it comes to support of its APIs for example, Uber could have built its own custom support forums and hosted them on its domain at Uber.com. Instead, in true “fish where the fish are” fashion, Uber decided to meet its target audience where it felt that audience already spent a lot of its time; on the forums at StackOverflow.com. StackOverflow.com is an insanely popular website where developers know they can go to get expert help on just about any programming topic.

13 As Uber’s community on Stack Overflow grew, it started to become self-sustaining as members who didn’t even work for Uber began to answer support questions coming from other members. Recognizing this as a key part of its overall developer experience, Uber starting gifting swag to volunteer mentors which in turn generated good will across the community and more interest in the Uber API.

Build and nurture community Most of the activity in this stage will be driven by evangelists whose sole responsibility is to drive adoption and usage of your platform. As said earlier, depending on the breadth and depth of your platform, whom your constituents are, and where they are, that could be one evangelist for multiple APIs or multiple evangelists for one API. For example, it doesn’t matter whether you’re looking to drive internal adoption within your organization or external adoption. In either case, someone or some team has to take the full-time roll of API and platform evangelism seriously; treating the API as a full-fledged product.

When it comes to the myriad of ways to target members across your ecosystem — from traditional marketing to hackathons to incentivizing community partnership with schwag and bug bounties, an API/platform evangelist’s job is essentially to maximize the community of consumers who are rabidly enthusiastic about consuming your platform and APIs.

Recruiting an API or developer evangelist early in the process will not only expedite many such go-to-market decisions, it will jumpstart the co-creation of value across your ecosystem. Part of the API evangelist’s job is to work with the ecosystem prior to the launch of an API to gauge the likelihood of adoption. If the target members of your ecosystem can’t envision an exchange of value that’s commensurate with their efforts, they may reject the offering. But they might also offer some feedback on what works for them. The API evangelist is your liaison to this community and is essential to the success of your APIs and, in the bigger picture, your business as a platform.

Publish comprehensive developer portals and productivity tools Across the API economy, there are few topics regarding the practice of API provisioning that developers are more passionate about than the quality of API documentation.

API documentation is typically the most significant part of what’s known as a “developer portal.” Depending on the degree to which you intend to make APIs available to developers outside.

14 1.4: Need for API Strategy: 1.4.1: Business Automation In today’s digitally disrupted economy, differentiation has become synonymous with convenience and speed. For example, in the financial industry, successful companies can now process online mortgage applications in minutes, instead of weeks. Delivering this speed to end-customers requires business automation—or streamlining and automating backend operations through technology.

However, business automation is not simply about streamlining or automating a process; rather, it is a fundamental change in how organizations get things done. Instead of thinking about automation in terms of “how do I digitize this process?”, organizations should ask themselves “what data do I need?” and “what are the common patterns for interpreting this data?” This line of thinking transforms the approach from centralizing process changes to decentralizing and enabling continuous automation.

Most companies have not made this transformation. Traditional approaches to business automation involve using custom code, implementing a standalone tool such as a Business Process Management (BPM) application, or integrating systems through point-to-point integrations. These approaches no longer suffice because they create tangled connections which, in turn, prevent visibility to data in underlying systems.

In this digital age, this visibility is necessary for business automation speed, especially since a single process can now span an average of 35 different systems. Organizations must move beyond traditional approaches to business automation and embrace a new approach: APIs. Using APIs, organizations can unlock data from back-end systems, then, provide stakeholders with governed access to this data so that stakeholders can automate processes.

APIs are key to business automation. Organizations such as Wells Fargo, the State of Colorado, Tic:Toc, and Addison Lee have realized tangible benefits from the approach—from increasing revenue to reducing the time spent integrating data for projects.

15

Fig.1.3: Companies gaining tangible results with API Strategies

16 CHAPTER 2

INDUSTRY PROFILE & COMPANY PROFILE

Rakuten, Inc. (楽天株式会社, Rakuten Kabushiki-gaisha) (Japanese pronunciation: [ɾakɯ̥ teɴ]) is a Japanese electronic commerce and online retailing company based in Tokyo, founded in 1997 by Japanese businessman . Its B2B2C E-Commerce platform Rakuten Ichiba is the largest e-commerce site in and among the world's largest by sales.

The company operates Japan's biggest Internet bank and number one credit card company by transaction value. It also offers e-commerce, fintech, digital content and communications services to over one billion members around the world and operates in 29 countries and regions. It is often referred to as "the Amazon of Japan".

In 2005, Rakuten started expanding outside Japan, mainly through acquisitions and joint ventures. Its major acquisitions include Buy.com (now Rakuten.com in the US), Price Minister (France, now Rakuten.fr ), Ikeda (now Rakuten Brazil), Tradoria (now Rakuten Deutschland), Play.com (now Rakuten.co.uk in the UK), Wuaki.tv (now Rakuten TV in Spain), Kobo Inc. (now Rakuten Kobo in ), (now Rakuten Viber), Ebates, (now Rakuten Viki), OverDrive, Inc. (now Rakuten OverDrive), Slice (now Rakuten Slice) and The Grommet.

The company also has an online marketing business, Rakuten Marketing, and has investments in companies such as Pinterest, Ozon.ru, AHA Life, Lyft, Cabify, Careem, Carousell and Acorns.

In 2015, Rakuten relocated its corporate headquarters from Shinagawa to the Tamagawa neighborhood of Setagaya-ku, to consolidate its Tokyo offices and to accommodate future growth. In 2016, the company's revenues totaled US$7.2 billion with operating profits of about US$347.9 million. As of June 2017, Rakuten reported it had a total of 14,826 employees worldwide.

On 16 November 2016, Rakuten announced a €220 million deal for global sponsorship with Spanish football club FC Barcelona starting in the 2017–2018 La Liga season through 2020, replacing Qatar Airways for this role. Rakuten's app Viber will also be the club's official communication channel. In May 2018, Rakuten announced a new wireless mobile network in Japan.

17 2.1: HISTORY

Since our foundation in 1997, innovation has been at the core of who we are. With the mission of "empowering people and society through innovation and entrepreneurship," and in line with our vision as a Global Innovation Company, we have engaged in a wide range of businesses and services. Here are some key milestones in the history of the Rakuten Group so far.

1997-1999: The founding of Rakuten and the early years of internet shopping mall Rakuten Ichiba

Fig. 2.2: The top page of Rakuten Ichiba at the time of founding.

In an era when everyone seems to be saying that people will not buy things on the internet, Rakuten Ichiba, a B2B2C marketplace, launches with just six employees, one server, 13 merchants and the strong desire to empower merchants that are small, regional or perhaps unfamiliar with computers and the internet.

18 2000: IPO and expansion of Rakuten Group

Fig.2.3: JASDAQ IPO

Rakuten enhances its brand awareness widely while accelerating M&A activities through an IPO on the OTC market, representing a major step into the new businesses and services that will ultimately constitute the Rakuten Ecosystem. 2001: A vision of Rakuten Group reaching 1 trillion yen in gross transaction value

Fig.2.4: Rakuten’s gross transaction value in comparison with the target of 1 trillion yen.

19 Rakuten announces the ambitious target of 1 trillion yen for gross transaction value, at a time when it has only 36-billion-yen gross transaction value. (The target was achieved in Q4 of FY2006.) 2002: Innovation of the Rakuten Ichiba business model

Fig 2.5: Launch of Rakuten Super Points service

To achieve a further win-win relationship with merchants, Rakuten Ichiba launches a "pay- as-you-go program,” as well as Rakuten Super Points service. Rakuten Ichiba welcomes its 6,000th registered merchant, just 5 years after the service launched. 2003: Enhancement of Group synergy

Fig 2.6: Rakuten's net profit growth after M&As

20 Rakuten Group dramatically expands scope and scale of operations by adding new core businesses. 2004: Entry into Japanese professional baseball

Rakuten enters the arena of professional sports with the formation of the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, the first new professional Japanese baseball franchise awarded in 50 years, instantly spreading the Rakuten brand nationwide. 2005: Strengthening financial businesses while making the first push outside Japan

Fig. 2.7: Launch of Rakuten Card service

Synergy of credit card and e-commerce services generates substantial profits for the Rakuten Group. Rakuten expands overseas for the first time by acquiring U.S.-based LinkShare Corporation (currently Rakuten Marketing LLC).

21 2006: Vision of the Rakuten Ecosystem

Fig.2.8: Concept of the Rakuten Ecosystem

Rakuten announces its vision for a "Rakuten Ecosystem" that encourages users to enjoy multiple services offered by the Rakuten Group, a one-of-a-kind member-based business model. 2007: Further investment in human resources

Fig 2.9: All Rakuten employees gather at a weekly morning information-sharing meeting "ASAKAI."

Rakuten deepens its commitment to investing in human resources over the following 10 years, reflecting its belief that employee development is essential for Rakuten's growth.

22 2008: First e-commerce expansion overseas

Fig.2.10: Top page of Taiwan Rakuten Ichiba

"Taiwan Rakuten Ichiba" launches as first e-commerce business outside Japan.

In Japan, the Rakuten Group intensifies its focus on improving customer service. 2009: Strengthening the Rakuten Ecosystem

Fig 2.11: Expansion of the Rakuten Ecosystem

Rakuten further strengthens the Rakuten Ecosystem by expanding its financial services, such as banking and e-money.

23 2010: Transforming into a truly global company

Fig.2.12: Leaders of overseas subsidiaries and alliance partners at a global business strategy conference

Rakuten accelerates its global business, shifting from a Japan-based venture to a global internet services company. 2011: Rakuten Ichiba exceeds 1 trillion yen in gross transaction value

Fig.2.13: Rakuten Ichiba gross transaction value

After 14 years, Rakuten Ichiba achieves over 1 trillion yen in gross transaction value and 38,000 online merchants. Rakuten intensifies membership-based e-commerce business worldwide.

24 2012: Entering the business and the official start of "Englishnization"

Fig. 2.14: Rakuten enters the eBook market

Rakuten enters the eBook business by acquiring Kobo Inc. (currently Rakuten Kobo Inc.) in Canada and launching the kobo eBook service in Japan. Englishnization initiatives accelerate the smooth integration of group companies worldwide.

Rakuten Ichiba passes 100,000,000 product SKUs. 2013: Rakuten Eagles achieves their first ever Japan Series Championship. Rakuten, Inc. is listed on the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

25 Fig.2.15: The Rakuten Eagles' first ever Japan Series Championship

Fig.2.16: Ceremony for Rakuten's listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's First Section

Rakuten Eagles achieve first ever Japan Series Championship. Rakuten changes the listing of its shares from the JASDAQ (Standard) market to the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, aiming to further expand business operations and improve corporate value. 2014: Strengthening telecommunications and O2O Services

Fig.2.17: With its acquisition of Viber and the launch of low-cost calling service "Rakuten Mobile," Rakuten strengthens its telecommunications and communications services. Rakuten launches various new services including O2O services. Rakuten expands its global gross transaction value, adding next generation shopping mall Ebates.

26 2015: Strengthening sports and culture businesses. Expanding overseas financial services

Fig.2.18: Rakuten strengthens sports and culture businesses by adding to the Rakuten Group. Rakuten expands overseas financial services, starts to issue "Taiwan Rakuten Card." 2016: Developing new businesses, promoting diversity

Fig.2.19: Rakuten further explores new business models, such as a C2C marketplace and an open e-commerce platform, while also conducting a trial drone delivery service.

27 2017: Building Rakuten brand overseas through global partnership

Rakuten launches its global partnership with FC Barcelona, one of the most iconic and beloved football clubs in the world. Rakuten strengthens the Rakuten globally through brand unification. Total number of Rakuten Super Points awarded exceeds 1 trillion.

28 2.4: MISSION, VISION AND VALUES Mission

Contribute to society by creating value through innovation and entrepreneurship. Empowering people to realize their hopes and dreams, Embracing new thinking, Rakuten changes the world through innovation. Vision

Global Innovation Company

At Rakuten, we drive disruptive innovation, Engaging knowledge, creativity and passion from around the world To achieve ambitious goals and help build communities in which people can pursue their dreams and live in happiness.

Values and Principles

Rakuten Shugi (Rakuten Basic Principles)

The core values of the Rakuten Group, along with the values and principles understood and practiced by Rakuten employees, embody Rakuten Shugi. The two components it consists of are the Brand Concepts and Five Principles for Success.

With Rakuten Shugi as a common foundation, we place high value on the entrepreneurial spirit that drives us to get things done. By working with local communities and nurturing a robust corporate culture enabling each member of our diverse team to perform at their best, the Rakuten Group is committed to boosting corporate value and contributing to progress in society. The Rakuten Group Code of Ethic

In order to realize our ideal society, the Rakuten Group Code of Ethics governs our compliance when we carry out the Rakuten Group's mission as a member of society.

29 2.5: ACQUISITIONS AND INVESTMENTS In September 2002, the company acquired MyTrip.net, which was merged with Rakuten Travel the following year.

In 2005, Rakuten bought New York City-based LinkShare, later rebranded as Rakuten Marketing, offering performance-based online sales and marketing programs. The acquisition spearheaded Rakuten's new global focus.

In October 2005, Rakuten bought a 15% stake in Tokyo Broadcasting System, raising its stake in the broadcaster to 19%. Rakuten later withdrew its bid and sold its shareholding back to Tokyo Broadcasting.

In 2010, Rakuten bought French online retailer PriceMinister for €200 million and US-based Buy.com for US$250 million. The group had been a significant shareholder in Ctrip, a Chinese travel site until it sold it stake in the company in August 2007 and, in 2010, it announced a joint venture with Baidu in (Lekutian).

In June 2011, Rakuten acquired Brazilian e-commerce firm Ikeda — since renamed Rakuten Brazil. In July, it bought German e-commerce start-up Tradoria and rebranded it Rakuten Deutschland, and in September UK online retailer and e-commerce marketplace Play.com for £25 million (almost $41 million), which was converted into the points-based loyalty program Rakuten.co.uk. In September 2011, Rakuten took a minority equity stake in Russian online retailer Ozon.ru, dubbed "'s Amazon", which had reported 2010 sales worth US$137 million. A four-company-strong consortium, led by the Japanese group, invested US$100 million. Rakuten's stake was not revealed. Rakuten announced an agreement to buy Canadian e-book reader company Kobo from Books and Music, operated by (founder, Chair and CEO), in November, with the deal finalized in January 2012. The price was said to be US$315 million.

In July 2012, Rakuten led a $100 million investment in Pinterest, at a $1.5 billion valuation. Its partners were existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, and FirstMark Capital, and a number of investment “angels”. That investment marked the start of a drive to expand Pinterest's presence in Japan and Rakuten's 17 other global markets.

On 13 June 2012, Rakuten bought Wuaki.tv, a Spanish video on demand (VOD) service/company that is one of the largest in Europe and the market leader in Spain; as of July 2017, it has 5 million

30 users across 12 markets in Europe. The purchase opened new opportunities, directly challenging Amazon, Netflix and others for domination of the VOD market, starting in Europe. In July 2017, wuaki.tv was rebranded to Rakuten TV. In November 2012, Rakuten bought French online retail delivery company Alpha Direct Services, to increase speed and quality of delivery.

On 10 October 2012, Rakuten acquired French electronic publishing company Aquafadas via its Kobo subsidiary to strengthen its position in rich media categories.

In May 2013, Rakuten acquired a majority share in "citizen commerce" site Daily Grommet, since rebranded as The Grommet. In June 2013, Rakuten announced its acquisition of U.S.-based logistics and services company Webgistix, specializing in fulfillment technology for e-commerce retailers. The acquisition was Rakuten's second logistics investment outside Japan and enables prompt fulfillment in the U.S.

In September 2013, Rakuten acquired -based video site Viki. In November 2013, Rakuten led a US$800,000 seed round of funding for Singapore-based consumer-to-consumer marketplace app Carousell.

On February 13, 2014, Rakuten announced the acquisition of Tel Aviv-based web messaging company Viber Media for $905 million, to link up messaging with e-commerce. The Viber app is for making phone calls and sending free messages.

On May 29, 2014, Rakuten Marketing acquired DC Storm, a UK-based technology company which specializes in marketing attribution modeling and data-driven marketing.

In August 2014, Rakuten announced its purchase of Slice, a US company that provides online shopping services and sells business intelligence based on digital commerce measurement, for an undisclosed sum.

In September 2014, it was revealed that Rakuten would acquire US rebate site operator Ebates Inc. for approximately US$952 million to give the company more access to US consumers and help it grow abroad, as it takes on rivals such as Amazon.com and Alibaba. Ebates offers coupons and cash rebates to customers who shop at its more than 1,700 partner retailers.

In January 2015, Rakuten entered the sport of football by acquiring Vissel Kobe, a top J-League team formed in 1995.

31 In March 2015, Rakuten announced the acquisition of OverDrive, Inc., a wholesale distributor of e-books and other digital content that serves libraries and retailers, based in Cleveland, Ohio. The acquisition price was $410 million in cash.

Since 2015, Rakuten has invested in several ride-hailing services. In March 2015, Rakuten led a $530 million round of venture financing for Lyft, spending $300 million for a 12% stake in the company. In April 2016, Rakuten announced it would invest an additional $92 million in Cabify, which was founded in 2012 in Spain and is one of the largest ride-hailing services in Latin America. Rakuten previously invested $3 million in Cabify in 2015. Rakuten led a $500 million Series E round of funding in Middle Eastern transportation startup Careem, which closed out in June 2017.

In April 2016, Rakuten participated in a $30 million round of financing for investing app Acorns.

In August 2016, Rakuten confirmed that it had acquired the assets of bitcoin wallet startup Bitnet, with the assets to be used to create a research facility, Rakuten Blockchain Lab, based in Belfast that will explore the potential of the blockchain.

In April 2017, Rakuten invested US$2.4 million in Singapore-based MetroResidences, which allows homeowners to rent their properties out to companies and corporate tenants.

In January 2018, the Group purchased Asahi Fire and Marine from Japanese bank Nomura for an estimated 45 billion Yen. This will be the first foray for Rakuten into the general insurance market, and Asahi will become a wholly owned subsidiary. The company provides fire, automotive and accident insurance to consumer and corporate clients.

The company announced plans to launch its own cryptocurrency in March 2018. In June 2018, Rakuten purchased Palo Alto based retail pickup startup, Curbside Inc. In October 2018, CafeX Communications announced that Rakuten Communications Corp., the telecommunications company within Japan-based Rakuten Group, has launched 'Connect Live', a cloud service powered by CafeX that enables business users to collaborate more easily in web browsers and mobile devices. Employees, customers and online visitors can simply click a link in a web browser to connect without needing to download new software or step through a sign-in process. Attendees can also join from mobile devices too.

32 In December 2019, it was reported that Rakuten would be selling OverDrive, Inc. to Private Equity firm KKR. The price of the sale was not disclosed, though Rakuten said it would recognize about $365.6 million in profit from the sale in the first quarter of 2020. OverDrive's purchase from Rakuten was engineered by KKR’s Richard Sarnoff, a one-time executive at Random House who also was president of Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments until leaving for KKR in 2011.

33 CHAPTER 3 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 3.1 PRODUCT ANALYSIS The product I worked on is an API management and governance platform offering a range of features for developers, API creators and Enterprises. Below are the details of the Product:

Product Name Rakuten RapidAPI Launch July 2018

Product Emergence Rakuten’s strategic partnership with RapidAPI Mission and Vision: To empower developers to build transformative applications through the power of APIs Product Description Rakuten RapidAPI is an API Marketplace for developers to find, connect, and manage their API connections. Developers can find the APIs that they need for project, embed the API into the app, and track usage of all APIs through a single dashboard. If they have an API, they have created, they can use Rakuten RapidAPI to make it available to hundreds of thousands of developers already utilizing APIs through Rakuten RapidAPI. Product Vertices • API Marketplace Public Marketplace – Developer, Publisher Organization Account • Enterprise API Hub Vertical of Focus in India Enterprise API Hub Fig: 3.3: Product Details

34 3.2: ENTERPRISE API HUB AND INDIAN MARKET

With an exponential increase in the number of apps and smart devices required in the digital world, businesses need to expose more data through APIs, so that they can provide rich, personalized app experiences both for internal users, customers, and partners. Organizations across all industries need a robust life cycle API management solution that helps them measure the performance of their API-driven businesses. The solutions segment of the API management market has been segmented into API platform, API analytics, and API security. The need among organizations to seamlessly integrate system and components with apps and devices is driving the demand of API management solutions.

Cloud-based services reduce the overall costs, while providing highly flexible and scalable access to solutions. Companies are deploying API management solutions on cloud to improve mobility and accelerate the API development cycle. Security of APIs is higher in on-premises deployment type; however, cloud-based API management solution enables organizations to reduce the costs related to the solution, storage, and technical staff. Due to these advantages, many vendors are switching from on-premises deployment mode to the SaaS-based software.

The industry vertical segment in the API management market comprises BFSI, IT and telecom, retail and consumer goods, travel and transportation, government, media and entertainment, healthcare and life sciences, manufacturing, and others (including education, and energy and utilities). Among these, the BFSI industry vertical is expected to hold the largest market size, as enterprises in this vertical are adopting API management solutions to build a lean, flexible, and efficient approach and streamline their digital business for banking, insurance, trading, capital markets, and payments.

35 API MANAGEMENT MARKET, BY REGION (USD BILLION)

Fig. 3.1: API Management Market

APAC is expected to provide lucrative opportunities for the API management vendors, as the enterprises in the APAC region are leveraging APIs to strengthen the necessary elements for success in the application economy.

21 major vendors offer API management solutions, platforms, and services across the globe, and they are IBM (US), Google (US), Oracle (US), Red Hat (US), Software AG (), Axway (US), MuleSoft (US), Microsoft (US), SAP SE (Germany), AWS (US), CA Technologies, a Broadcom company (US), TIBCO (US), Kony (US), Rogue Wave Software (US), Sensedia (Brazil), Torry Harris Business Solutions (US), Tyk Technologies (England), WSO2 (US), Osaango (), Dell (US), and Postman (US).

Most of these large companies having their foot set in India, provide a great potential for API management and governance platform like Rakuten RapidAPI. Disruptive technologies are being adopted along all industries in India to gain competitive advantage. An API Platform like Rakuten RapidAPI that transforms and creates revenue would be a sought-after product.

36 3.3: MARKET SEGMENTATION

Rakuten RapidAPI is a technology product for companies using APIs extensively. At this time, most companies having even little technology dependency use APIs to run their businesses.

Even businesses like Ola, Uber are companies whose apps completely run with the support of APIs. The target market for the product includes all industries and firms that are technology dependent. However, the way they use the API technology is completely different from each other.

Generally, open APIs are made available on the Internet and are shared freely. A software development company might publish a series of APIs to encourage third-party developers in different vertical industries to be innovative and figure out new ways to use the company’s software product.

Focus for Rakuten RapidAPI are the companies creating and using their ow n internal APIs, using external APIs and Companies monetizing their APIs form partner Companies.

The product is same, each industry request to fulfill a few compliances to use the API technology in the market. We are focusing on capturing clients across most segments of integration markets with API presence/usage. However, that is not a specific target.

37 3.4: INDUSTRY FOCUS All industries are not equal in API adoption, some industries are adopting APIs more rapidly than others. Banking, Insurance, Financial Services, Retail, Telecommunications, Government, Healthcare, Automotive, Travel and Transportation, and Technology/Software

Show more activity in the case of API technology adoption. On the slower uptake list – Metals and Mining, Chemicals, Manufacturing, and Utilities. Many others are somewhere in the middle.

Fig,3.2: API Consumption

Part of the reason for the quicker uptake is regulatory requirements and industry standards. Some governments have issued requirements for Banking, Government (open data) or Healthcare requiring external access to assets in these industries. This is most easily accomplished through APIs. Other industries where standards have already existed for interoperability (e.g. Telecommunications) have recognized that modernization of the older standards would be beneficial.

38 There are many industries moving quickly without these drivers and many use cases beyond what is required for regulatory or standards compliance.

39 3.5: PROJECT ROADMAP

January • Training • Understand the product

February • Develop Social media Plan • FAQs • Content Creation • Lead Generation

March • Lead Generation • Email Scraping for leads • First Lead generation Campaign

April • Lead Generation Campaign • Follow-Up Campaign • Lead Generation for Webinar

May • Email and LinkedIn Campaigh for Webinar • Webinar Invites and Registration Mangement • Lead Generation Campaign for new leads collected

Fig. 3.3 :Project Roadmap

40 3.5.1: Lead Generation and First Contact

Outbound lead generation is my primary role in the project followed by establishing first contact and guiding them through the sales funnel.

Lead generation process started with shortlisting the target companies for the product. Starting with a research on the target market players that can be potential customers, set of companies were shortlisted with significant IT employee numbers and API usage.

Target Selection Approach Used:

Three filtrations were used to shortlist the target companies for lead generation:

1. Company’s IT Advancement – More IT advancement/ technology-oriented company, the more is the need for API management systems. As the number of APIs, they use increases, management of APIs becomes difficult. Hence, increasing the need for our product. 2. Company Size – Rakuten API Enterprise Hub is a product focused on companies with large teams. Hence company side would have to be more than at least 500 to make product relevant. Also, the size of IT team was considered. 3. Company revenue – Even with high involvement in technology and good company size, company’s capability to shell out the products costs depend on the revenue. Hence the revenue filter helped in filtering out companies that could not afford investment on the product.

41

3.5.2: Lead Generation Process Prospects Qualified Lead Pitch Demo Proposal

Close

Fig 3.4:Product Sales Funnel • Prospects – Target leads are contacted through mails with product pitch, requesting for a meeting to discuss the product • Qualified Lead - Lead interested in the product. More details of the product are sent if required to have a fruitful meeting. Meeting is scheduled. • Pitch – Product is pitched to the target with the detailed presentation on how others are leveraging the technology and product. Quick demo of the product concept is shown. • Demo – Technical demo and discussions are run to help the client understand the product, technicality, and compliance system well. • Proposal – A deal is proposed based on the client requirement. PoC is run to evaluate, • Close – Deal is closed as per client’s decision to invest in the product or not.

42

3.5.3: Lead Generation Channels and Tools LinkedIn Sales Navigator

LinkedIn has revolutionized the way over 500 million businesspeople from 200 plus countries connect with one another, making it an incredibly valuable resource for B2B businesses. Getting started with social selling can be a daunting task, but in today’s day and age, it is vital to the success of B2B business. LinkedIn Sales Navigator was used for two purposes:

• Lead generation process LinkedIn Sales Navigator offers many filters and tools that will allow you to further narrow your search and find your ideal customer profile, build the perfect list of customers and greatly increase your chances of conversion. You can segment from millions down to the most relevant leads for your business helping you connect to potential clients.

• First Contact With Sales Navigator, you can keep up to date on your buyer’s LinkedIn activity to know when to reach out, send them InMail to make sure your messages go through, and craft messages that invite an extended dialog. That’s the kind of relationship-building that leads to social selling success.

Cold Mailing The goal of cold outreach is to identify an ideal customer, acquire their email, then send them a cold email to pitch the offer, product or service.

Customer identification was done through the medium of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, keeping the company decision makers as the target.

The emails were scraped using third party email scrapers like:

• Rocket Reach • SalesQL • Get Prospect Targets were reached out through a cold email pitch with an insight to product detail.

43 Sending out emails with product pitch without the person on the other side expecting such mail does not always provide fruitful results. There are high chances the mail can land in the spam or get deleted without having read by the receiver. It also often makes the receiver consider it as a promotional mail, even when cold business reach-out and promotion have a great difference.

However, a follow-up mail will help to grab attention of the receiver with a relationship building text attached with the mail. Cold mails are one of the most sought-after methods for reaching out to business potentials.

Though the response rate for cold mails are significantly less, there are significant chances that, responded targets might get you a deal.

44 3.5.4: Lead Generation Outcome

Around 200+ companies were shortlisted for the first campaign and 650+ LinkedIn contacts were developed. Out of the 650 Contacts, 450 were Successfully pitched through cold mail.

Positive responses were established from 5 large companies in India. Two of which are being taken to next steps of the funnel. Generated 3 leads for the company

45 3.5.5: Marketing and Communication One of the best ways to generate leads for a product is through marketing. For a technology product like Rakuten RapidAPI, marketing becomes an essential part as it lies at the bottom line of the product awareness in the market for lead generation. Marketing doesn’t just involve shelling of a lot of money to help the product information reach the target. It also involves a few basic techniques that a company invests in; Like, a good website for the clients go through the product, good content to absorb, contact or revisit.

Below are a few marketing segments I worked around for Rakuten RapidAPI:

Content Development

Content on the website and other platforms plays a major role in making an impression on client. Unlike lead generation, content marketing is something that provides to the customer.

With the right content put across the sites about the product, the viewers would be getting some valuable information before the product is sold to them.

This subproject involved, creating content for:

• Product website • Social media network • Product blogs FAQs

For a technology product, a client going through the product may have tens of questions based on several factors based on:

• Their need • Compliance • Suitability • Compatibility with current systems • Their Additional requirements • Security

46 Most questions on these topics are common for most businesses and are asked quite often. Answering these repeated questions can be avoided significantly with the development of a FAQ document which consists of all the potential questions that most clients could ask.

FAQs help in saving the client’s time as well as the consultant’s time, escalating the process quickly.

A set of 39 possible common questions that could be asked by clients was developed by me. This document would be provided to the clients for clarifying any doubts they had. The questions can be improvised and built-up timely when new questions are encountered.

Website User-Interface Evaluation

B2B buyers have little patience for website features that waste their time or delay them from getting down to business. A website with bad user interface or mistakes, can be trivial things that can make a bad impression of the product.

A complete review of website functionality and interface issues were addressed. In this task:

• A complete review of page functioning, user interface, content and site structure were carried out • Page loads, language translation, contact page optimization requirement was realized Event Evaluation for Sponsorship

Events are a great way to gather potential leads that can boost sales and company revenue. However, the success also depends on what type of event is to be conducted and how much to invest. One best way to get great leads without having to shell-out a lot of money on organizing an event is, through sponsorships. Sponsoring an event is a lot easier than organizing a whole event itself. Also, having thousands of events being organized nationwide, there are a ton of options to target events where there is an excellent lead generation opportunity.

Under this, two sponsorship requests were evaluated, to see if they are a potential for generating leads. Also, a list of 6 Events was curated from hundreds of events happening around India in 2020. These 5 events were shortlisted based on:

• Location – Bangalore, Pune, Delhi

47 • Type of crowd – How many C-level participants, VPs, and others • Sponsorship Packages • Footfall in the event Social Media Analysis

Businesses that are actively engaging in social media are the B2C businesses. There are hardly any IT or B2B companies promoting on social media. However, social media plays a significant role for any business in engaging audience rather than just doing business. Social media is a powerful tool to help information reach all over the globe. A good piece of content can grab all the attention and make even a boring industry look good.

Social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, Reddit are used for gaining visibility and creating opportunities out of them.

Fig.3.3: Social Media platform used for B2B

The social media Analysis of Rakuten and Rapid API Platform includes:

48 • Current social media presence of company and product • How other similar technology pages are doing? • Which social Media Platforms can yield good results? • What kind of posts people find interesting? • Frequency and types of posts to be put • Goals to be achieved with different social media • Tactics that can help the product gain social media Visibility Webinar for Lead Generation

Webinars are a powerful way of obtaining leads and letting them understand more about the product. It provides a platform to interact with the potential clients before pitching the actual product.

A BFSI industry focused webinar was organized, with a target of 100+ companies. Registrations was seen from 20 Companies.

Lead Generation channels for Webinar:

• Cold Mailing • LinkedIn Sales Navigator

49 FINDINGS, SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSION Findings and Suggestions Rakuten RapidAPI is a unique API management solution in the market with a few or no direct competition in the Indian Industry. The product has a large scope in the market, providing a cost- efficient way of utilizing a rapidly growing technology. The solution is a disruptive technology which will boom in the upcoming years; Rakuten RapidAPI being one of the first players in the market, is providing the solution at low costs compared to industry players whose products are priced very high.

The product being very new to the Indian market, and the brand having low visibility in India is a potential hindrance. However, a good marketing plan can help the product grow in India. The lack of a marketing strategy for the product is a setback in terms of lead generation and product visibility.

The current channels of lead generation involve cold-mailing and LinkedIn Reach-out, and webinars. There is a large scope for lead generation through events, sponsorships, social media, E-books, white papers etc. These strategies can help get more easy leads.

Employee advocacy can be a great strategy to bring in employees to refer potential leads to the funnel. According to many researches, there are more chances of lead conversion when it is recommended by someone they know. Employee advocacy is being used by many companies to leverage their resources to the fullest. Reward programs for the same have been proved to bring good list of potential deals.

50 CONCLUSION

Business development for a new product is the most complex process, especially for a B2B product. There is a lot of investment that goes in the way to generate new revenue. The aim is to generate profits with a new product or service and a new business model in an untested market.

Product awareness and visibility is necessarily important for the product to generate leads and smoothen the lead conversion process. The traditional methods of generating leads like, cold mailing, LinkedIn Reach is a good strategy. Although, there is a need to adopt new business development strategies to up the game.

Creating good deals creates a buzz in the market, helping the product gain visibility, resulting in good lead conversion rates.

51 ANNEXURE

BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. https://global.rakuten.com/corp/ 2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakuten 3. https://www.mulesoft.com/de/ebook 4. https://english.api.rakuten.net/

52 PLAGIARISM REPORT

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ORIGINALITY REPORT

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