- March 31, 2017
Background
In 2017, we began to formulate a plan to diversify our revenue streams, going further from hardware sales as a pivot point. Partnering with medical institutions, insurance firms, and fitness/healthcare retail businesses, we have created a new IoT platform for our “D2B (Device to Benefit)” Business.
- D2B Business – Our new vision for growth containing O2O (Online to Offline) services that provide users with benefits in return for their participation and engagement.
- The Balance – As part of our D2B business, we launched an IoT platform “The Balance” that benefits users with rewards within the value chain we built.
- White Labelling – To put more weight on acquiring as many users as possible for the service, our aim was to produce low-priced hardware to achieve wider adoption.
Brief
ZIKTO Pay is a usability research project that aims to undercover new opportunities and extend the existing brand experience to offline payment with NFC + EMV Standard to eventually implement seamless ‘O2O’ (Online to Offline) experience with ZIKTO devices.
IoT Payment / Growth
Teaming up with the growth unit for initial business development, our ultimate goal was to create a value/supply chain and infrastructure that help accelerate transition to IoT payment (from mobile payment) as a paradigm shift.
Business Development
We have partnered with NFC/EMV solution firms and contract manufacturers to formulate a product strategy with new hardware. Given that our accessory business has steadily been one of the most profitable revenue streams, delivering 60% of returns (gross profit) in overall product sales (COGS) in 2016, our plan was to combine NFC with the straps, so we can promote the service with our cash cow. We expected 20% of ROI with ZIKTO Pay at the initial phase, considering production cost, customer acquisition cost (CAC), etc.
*Click the image to expand. 🔎
My Responsibilities
My role included a range of responsibilities from business development, mapping out a supply chain (NFC & EMV solution, credit card companies, contract manufacturers, material suppliers, etc), design research, to final product design where my creativity comes into play.
- Project Management
01 Competitive Analysis (Design)
02 Calculating ROI to persuade management
03 Forecasting Sales Volume
04 Pricing Strategy (MSRP – BOM)
05 Value/Supply Chain Mapping
06 Formulating Production Plans
- Usability Research
01 Persona (2-3)
02 Defining Design USP (Pivotable Design)
03 Daily Report & Survey
04 Expert/Sample Group Interview
05 Lo-Fi Prototyping + Field Testing
- Design Execution
01 Product Architecture & Internal Layout
02 Design for Manufacturing (DFM) + White Labelling
Usability Data
Spearheading usability and design research, I have reported insights on a weekly basis internally so everyone is on the same page. Our findings reveal such agenda as 1) possible location of an NFC chip on a device, 2) whether it needs any visual indication, 3) users’ behavioural patterns when refilling cash, 4) their frustration whilst using similar products, etc.
Persona
We selected Millennials who are economically active as a focus group since they tend to display frugal spending habits, use public transport (target market), value flexibility, and more importantly, are open to advanced technologies.
*Click the image to expand. 🔎
White Labelling
Our plan with ZIKTO Pay was to implement ‘low price strategy’, producing cheaper hardware so as to quickly acquire users for the service. Through partnership (MOU) with a large-scale manufacturer, we were able to minimize major production risks and eventually moderate the pricing.
*We also reengineered the straps (band) as well as the body.
