PROJECT REPORT On Rakuten Product Development “RGM as a Translation Service” By Smitha V 1NZ18MBA76 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 MASTER BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Under the guidance of Dr .Sheelan Misra Professor & HoD 2018-20 1 CERTIFICATE This is to certify that Smitha V bearing USN 1NZ18MBA76, is a bonafide student of Master of Business Administration course of the Institute 2018-2020, autonomous program, affiliated to Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum. Project report on “RGM as a Translation Service, Rakuten India” ,is prepared by him under the guidance of Dr.Sheelan Misra, 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 Principal Name of the Examiners with affiliation Signature with date 1. External Examiner 2. Internal Examiner 2 DECLARATION I, Smitha V, hereby declare that the project report on “RGM as a Translation Service, Rakuten India", with reference to “Rakuten India” prepared by me under the guidance of Dr.Sheelan Misra, Head of Department, Department of Management studies, New Horizon College of Engineering. I also declare that this project report 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 industry project 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: 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The successful completion of the project would not have been possible without the guidance and support of many people. I express my sincere gratitude to Niladri Shekar Halder, HR, Rakuten India, for allowing to do my project at Rakuten India. I thank the staff of Rakuten India, Bengaluru for their support and guidance and helping me in completion of the report. I am thankful to my internal guide Dr. Sheelan Misra, for her constant support and inspiration throughout the project and invaluable suggestions, guidance and also for providing valuable information. Finally, I express my gratitude towards my parents and family for their continuous support during the study. STUDENT NAME USN NO. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Contents Page no. 1 Executive Summary 03 2 04 Theoretical Background 09 3 Company Overview 25 4 Data Analysis and Interpretation 5 30 Findings, Suggestions and Conclusion Annexure 5 CHAPTER - 1 Executive Summary Rakuten, Inc. is a Japanese electronic commerce and online retailing company based in Tokyo , founded in 1997 by Japanese businessman Hiroshi Mikitani. Its B2B2C E-Commerce Platform. Rakuten Ichiba, is the largest e-commerce site in Japan 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”. I am part of the E-Commerce, Product Development Team. Ecommerce, also known as electronic commerce or internet commerce, refers to the buying and selling of goods or services using the internet, and the transfer of money and data to execute these transactions. Product development typically refers to all of the stages involved in bringing a product from concept or idea, through market release and beyond. In other words, product development incorporates a product's entire journey, including; Identifying a market need. Conceptualizing and designing the product. 6 CHAPTER-2 Theoretical Background Of The Study In business and engineering , product development covers the complete process of bringing a new product to market. A central aspect of product development is product design, along with various business considerations. New product development is described broadly as the transformation of a market opportunity into a product available for sale. The product can be tangible or intangible ,though sometimes services and other processes are distinguished from "products." Process Structure : The product development process is articulated and broken down in many different ways, many of which often include the following phases/stages: 1. Fuzzy front-end (FFE): is the set of activities employed before the more formal and well defined requirements specifications is completed. Requirements speak to what the product should do or have, at varying 7 degrees of specificity, in order to meet the perceived market or business need. 2. Product design: is the development of both the high-level and detailed- level design of the product: which turns the what of the requirements into a specific how this particular product will meet those requirements. This typically has the most overlap with the engineering design process, but can also include industrial design and even purely aesthetic aspects of design. On the marketing and planning side, this phase ends at pre- commercialization analysis stage. 3. Product implementation: often refers to later stages of detailed engineering design (e.g. refining mechanical or electrical hardware, or software, or goods or other product forms), as well as test process that may be used to validate that the prototype actually meets all design specifications that were established. 4. Fuzzy back-end or commercialization phase: represent the action steps where the production and market launch occur. Product Development Process : 1. New Product Strategy – Innovators have clearly defined their goals and objectives for the new product. 2. Idea Generation – Collective brainstorming ideas through internal and external sources. 3. Screening – Condense the number of brainstormed ideas. 4. Concept Testing – Structure an idea into a detailed concept. 8 5. Business Analysis – Understand the cost and profits of the new product and determining if they meet company objectives. 6. Product Development – Developing the product. 7. Market Testing – Marketing mix is tested through a trial run of the product. 8. Commercialization – Introducing the product to the public. Product Life Cycle : The product life cycle is an concept in marketing that describes the stages of a product goes through from when it was first thought of until it finally is removed from the market. Not all products reach this final stage. Some continue to grow and others rise and fall. The product life-cycle is an important tool for marketers, management and designers alike. It specifies four individual stages of a product's life and offers guidance for developing strategies to make the best use of those stages and promote the overall success of the product in the marketplace. The five stages in the product life cycle are : 1. Product development. 2. Introduction. 3. Growth. 4. Maturity. 5. Decline. 9 Product Development: The product development phase is the phase in which a company has a new idea for a product. For example, a fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) company comes up with a new idea for a weight loss supplement in the form of a milkshake. During this phase, the company is not making any money, because the product is not actually on the market yet. Introduction Stage: You can expect sales to be low while you perform introductory marketing to create awareness. Your primary goal during this stage is not to make a profit. Instead, you want to let customers know what your product does, and why it is special. Typically, you will introduce one product at a time, keeping the price either high for skim pricing--the most common--or low for penetration pricing. Initial distribution is selective, but broadens gradually based on your distribution plan. Early efforts focus on promotion and recognition. Until customers know about the product, they will not buy it. Growth Stage : The growth stage is all about increasing sales and gaining consumer loyalty. Competitors usually appear during the end of the growth phase. Increased advertising builds brand preferences. Continuing to roll out new product features, improvements or upgrades keeps your customers wanting more. If demand for your product remains high, you can respond by keeping the price at a high level or reducing the price to broaden your market share. Distribution should be intensive during this phase to get the product out to your entire consumer base. 10 Maturity Stage : If your product survives the first two stages, it will spend the most time in this phase. During the maturity stage, you will seek to maintain market share and extend your product's life cycle. Tweaking your product to make it unique helps it stand out from competitors. Keeping an eye on the competition and pricing your product accordingly conserves market share, while avoiding price wars. Widen distribution and offer incentives to sellers to keep your product on the shelf. Finally, promoting brand loyalty and offering consumer incentives spurs customers to switch to your brand. Decline Stage : During the decline stage, demand for your product decreases along with both price and profit margin. Now, you have three choices: maintain the product and hope competitors do not, harvest the product and continue making profit as long as possible, or discontinue the product. Reducing the number of products, and refreshing the packaging can make them look new again. Lowering prices helps liquidate inventory, but if your product continues to serve a niche market, maintaining prices keeps profits coming in. Phasing out less successful distribution channels and focusing promotions on brand image for future products is a good strategy. 11 CHAPTER_3 Company Overview 12 Rakuten, Inc. is a Japanese electronic ecommerce and online retailing company based in Tokyo, founded in 1997 by Japanese businessman Hiroshi Mikitani.