case study (storeking) attached below

Answer according to this case.

Marketing Management Case ~ Storeking Assignment Questions 1. What approach should Storeking adopt to compete with similar assisted e-commerce companies? What approach should it adopt to compete with Amazon' Udaan?In June 2019, Sridhar Gundaiah, the founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of StoreKing, faced the challenge of meeting his target of recruiting 100,000 retailers in India by 2020. StoreKing was an assisted e-commerce rural distribution company that sold consumer products across rural India through designated retailers. These retailers were supplied with tablet computers (tablets), which they used to help rural consumers buy goods on the StoreKing platform (see Exhibits 1 and 2). As of June 2019, StoreKing had only 39,000 active retail franchisees. Gundaiah knew that increasing participation to 100,000 retailers would be a difficult task for two reasons: the emerging competition from similar businesses and the fact that the current level of retail coverage had taken six years to attain. Gundaish was keen to find a way to achieve his goal for 2020 and also to secure a long-term competitive advantage in relation to mainstream e-commerce platforms. STOREKING StoreKing launched its operations in 2012 with the aim of becoming India's largest retail company by reaching 70 per cent of India's population. StoreKing sought to be the digital touchpoint for rural India as well as to enable rural Indians to access technology. According to Gundaiah, "I come from a rural background myself and being a technologist, I wanted to simplify the existing e- commerce model and cash in on the rural market potential. We in fact are not an e-commerce company but rather the carriers, and aim to be the biggest rural I distributors in the world, in the years to come." The founder and CEO of StoreKing had an entrepreneurial spirit that enabled him to action the challenging idea of bringing assisted e-commerce to rural markets (see Exhibit 3). Growth Strategy StoreKing grew at a rapid pace, and by 2018, it had entered nine states in India. It started with 200 stores in Karnataka. In 2013, StoreKing launched its operations in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Andhra Pradesh, entering 500 towns and villages. In 2015, stores were launched in Goa, Maharashtra, and Telangana, and in 2016, stores were added in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. The states that StoreKing operated in included approximately 180,000 villages (see Exhibit 4). StoreKing also increased the number of stores it operated within the geographical area. In 2012, it had 200 retailers, although the number increased to 800 by the English (US)This document is authorized for educator review use only by Emmanuel Quara, Prairie View A&M University until Oct 2021. Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Permissions@ hbap.harvard.edu or 817.783.7860 following year. In 2014, it had 2,000 stores, while by 2015, this number had increased to 8,000 stores. StoreKing operated 25,000 stores in 2016, 40,000 stores in 2017, and 50,000 stores in 201 (see Exhibit 5). However, approximately 20 per cent of the retailers were inactive retail franchisees. These retailers did not use the StoreKing platform for their retail business. StoreKing grew not only with regard to its geographical expansion and enhanced retail coverage but also in terms of its range of products and services, which was accomplished through partnerships with e- commerce retailers such as Clues Network Pvt. Lid, GFOI Retail Pvt. Ltd., and BrainBees Solutions Pvt. Ltd; fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) manufacturers such as Labhaya Impex Private Limited; and digital service providers such as One97 Communications Ltd. Amazon India had also signed a partnership agreement with StoreKing concerning the opening of exclusive StoreKing-Amazon stores (see Exhibit 6) in small towns in India. As of 2018, these retailers were making