Degree
Master of Business Administration
Faculty / School
School of Business Studies (SBS)
Advisor
Faisal Jalal, Visiting Faculty, Department of Marketing
Project Coordinator (External)
Mr. Zain ul Abba
Client
Munchies Pakistan
Committee Member 1
Faisal Jalal Visiting Faculty Department of Marketing Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi
Project Type
MBA Research Project
Keywords
https://ir.iba.edu.pk/do/search/?q=Q-commerce&start=0&context=8598587&facet=">Q-commerce, Dark store, Operations, Last-mile delivery, Inventory management system, Warehousing, Gross merchandise value
Abstract / Summary
For businesses in today’s era, it is very important for them to understand and analyze how they are doing in various aspects which include their supply chain, customer experience, technology infrastructure, labor, fleet management, etc., and then be able to compare that with the best practices of the industry. This would allow them to find the delta in performance and work towards improving their processes and overall business infrastructure. This case will discuss the research conducted, the issues found, solutions recommended, and possible learning outcomes for quick commerce businesses that may want to operate in the space.
Research Conducted
Throughout the exercise of understanding the operations of Munchies in the Quick Commerce space, various research was conducted. This included primary research by interviewing various team members including the delivery team and warehouse team as well as observational research of multiple components of the value chain. Research also encapsulated the competitive landscape, including the application journey and experience, and the market understanding of quick commerce in Pakistan and globally. There was also quantitative research to understand KPIs and how the data was responding on various onsets. Research also included understanding the tools and guidelines from the literature review to ensure that we are fully aware of the best practices and can draw the comparison accurately at the end of the report. Lastly, thematic analysis (word cloud) was conducted to analyze the customer reviews by all the reviewers on Facebook of Munchies’ official Facebook page.
Issues Found
Throughout our research and analysis, we found many issues and concerns that we feel made a lot of sense on why the Munchies business was struggling. We feel that the biggest and most important ones included missing inventory information due to a lag between the systems that were running separately on the application and the warehouse. Complacent and inefficient warehouse management systems leading slow delivery times and quite often canceled delivery orders. This also includes the disconnect between the dark stores and various partnered shops and stores that would act as a warehouse for Munchies. Lack of user experience management and quality leads the users to move to competitive applications resulting in loss of orders and eventually consumers.
Solutions Recommended
By drawing a comparison between the best practices offered in various literature and the current standing of Munchies, this research will offer a few recommendations that could pivot the overall framework in a positive direction. The first and foremost solution is to bring a more technologically advanced infrastructure to the application and inventory management systems. This would not only bring all the systems together rather than in the isolation they are currently in, but this would also bring a whole new capability set to Munchies technology by bringing modern-day fleet management modules as well accurate inventory and supplier integration and opening a new horizon towards cutting-edge technology and tools of big data analytics. All of this would result in a much more customer-oriented experience resulting in a positive overall sentiment of people towards Munchies.
Learning Outcomes
Looking at the difference between the best practices and current practices of Munchies, we can share what the quick commerce businesses in Pakistan and to some extent globally should not do to become a sustainable business and thrive in their respective demographics and markets. This research can be used as a guide to be understanding the best possible ways to avoid a quick commerce business from going into an operational non feasibility.
Recommended Citation
Ahad, A., Hashmi, A., Memon, M. H., Sadiq, S., & Ahmed, S. F. (2022). What measures, if not taken in the q-commerce industry, will result in the ceasing of operations – a case-study of munchies pakistan, an initiative by Unilever and venturedive (Unpublished graduate research project). Institute of Business Administration, Pakistan. Retrieved from https://ir.iba.edu.pk/research-projects-mba/245
