roject Overview- Hamleys

Please note: The file attached above has some additional links that can be helpful while attempting the project. We would persuade you to go through them thoroughly before/while attempting the project. (PFA business Problem & Business Model of Hamley's)

https://cdn.upgrad.com/uploads/production/fe03dade-c730-4171-9818-780cd9729b5a/Business+Problem_+Hamley's.pdf

https://cdn.upgrad.com/uploads/production/485fd09e-c1f0-4471-ad2e-6768d9d9e3f1/Hamley's_+Business+Model+(1).pdf

In this project, you will step into the shoes of a consultant dealing with a retail chain and formulate a plan to bring digital transformation and innovation into the business. The project is divided into three broad areas:

• Assess the current state of the organisation with respect to:

  • Level and stage of innovation

  • Type of innovation most suited and viable

• Identify areas and ways for digitisation using the business model canvas - with a focus on value creation

• Evaluate the digital business and recommend the way forward

Assessment Criteria

Skill	Weightage	Components of a satisfactory answer
Identifying areas of innovation for an existing business	15 Marks	The different areas of innovation should be relevant to the organisation and should add value to the different stakeholders
Formulating innovation strategies focused on value creation, using the business model canvas	21 Marks	The different strategies suggested for different components of the business model should be relevant to: The specific component of the business model canvas The organisation and objective
Applying the innovation process to arrive at relevant solutions to a given business problem	12 Marks	The different solutions suggested should be relevant to the organisation, should add value to the different stakeholders and should be viable
Identifying the appropriate metrics to evaluate the performance of a digital platform	3 Marks	The metrics should be relevant to the evaluation scenario at hand
Evaluating the performance of a platform and draw relevant insights	19 Marks	The metrics should be correctly calculated and the insights should be appropriate

Business Problem

Hamleys is one of the oldest multinational toy retailers in the world. The firm works on a very large scale worldwide and has multiple outlets across the globe. 90% of the companys sales are generated from retail stores. This is due to the value proposition of the brand that it has been offering its customers all these years.

Customer Experience at a Hamleys Store

Hamleys believes in creating an experience for store buyers. The retail shops size at Hamleys is three times the size of other retail stores. The store space is utilized not only for attractive visual merchandising (VM) but also for having different toy demonstrations.

• Toy demonstrations of the stores start right from the entrance, one sees Hamleys employees playing with toys like bubble guns, frisbees, etc.

• On entering the store, there are a set of toys kept open for display. For eg: electronic water resistance frogs jumping in a water bowl. These toys are used as props to attract the customers

• If you further enter the store you will find toys kept open for children to play. In fact, Hamleys also have a small sitting area where family members can enter the store and play different games. One of the best examples include a 100m robotic cars racing area,

• Store employees also have fun and join the family members and children to play. This keeps the customers engaged and also allows one to check the condition of the toys. If a toy is not in a working condition, it is removed and immediately a new toy is kept at the space place to keep the experience intact.

• Within 10-15 seconds of a customer entering you always have an executive who guides them in the store and encourages them to check different alternatives and at times try them too.

Since Hamleys has been offering this experience to its customers, it has also generated a trust level in them and at times parents leave their children in the stores to play with executives and also celebrate their birthdays.

Situation due to Covid 19

The pandemic has hit and affected various industries, the retail industry being one of the most affected. People are afraid of going out to the stores to get basic amenities for their day to day living. In such a case customers have been avoiding entering the Hamleys stores too in fear of them or their children catching the virus.

They believe numerous people would have entered the store and touched the toys and maintaining sanitation in such large stores on a regular interval is a difficult task. At the same time, the customer experience of the brand is completely focused on providing an experience in the stores and not any other medium

Due to this scenario, the sales of Hamleys has dropped significantly. Additionally, the organisation has a huge fixed cost in terms of the rent of the stores and employee salaries. This has led to huge losses to the firm.

Question 1. (15 marks)

Suggested word limit: 100-200 words

Based on the given information, fill the areas of innovation for Hamleys in the post-pandemic stage:

BEFORE PANDEMIC	INNOVATION AREAS	PANDEMIC AND POST-PANDEMIC
Various genre of toys for different age groups	Product
Enhancing customer experience through different types of toy demonstrations, friendly executives, celebrating childrens birthdays in the store	Service
PR/Marketing initiatives took place through toy demonstration in stores: product display, attractive VM, toy demonstrations	Marketing
Retail focused business	Organisation
Brick and mortar business model	Business model