Progress on Mega Project
The progress we have made to date:
Visit the market and explore book stock
Initially, we analyzed the market and tried to figure out what type of books are popular among people. We asked our friends, exploring social media groups and other discussion platforms. This insight helped us know about the collection of books we should keep as stock. Therefore, our fellow, Israr Ali, who has an interest in books and vivid knowledge of the availability of cheap book stores, visited the bazaar. He toured the entire Sadar bazaar and explored quite a lot of bookstores in the heart of Karachi. Sadly, there were a few unexpected setbacks that we encountered.
Making an order form
There must be some easy and professional way to reach out to the customers right? So, we came up with the solution of making easy customer forms that would reflect the pricing and interest of customers simultaneously.
As we want to reach out to potential customers and receive orders more conveniently, that our enthusiast fellow Hajra Batool manifested a google form under which our communication process with our potential customers streamlined.
Creating social media posts
Social media content is at the heart of every marketing strategy. We tried to come up with such a theme that would not only engage the beneficiaries but also would provide them with a deep insight into the rich literary heritage of our linguistic plates. Therefore, S. Farwa Ahmad created content for Facebook as a marketing tool.
i.e.
We defined the purpose of Zambeel E Kuteb so benefices can better understand the goals behind the small little startup :
Marketing on social media platforms
We wanted to engage and attract as many people as possible, therefore we used all social media platforms at our disposal and conveyed our message to a large audience.
Each member shared the Facebook page link with friends, family, acquaintances and encouraged them to like and follow our Facebook page and further share with their friends of friends and family of family.
Challenges that our circle faced and how did we go about moving past them
1. Time Management
The biggest challenge in implementing our mega project was the investment of time, and in that regard, its management. We all considered the mega project of utmost importance and have been willing to give our best. Since our group members are university students, they have been busy with exams, quizzes, and meeting the cutthroat deadlines of assignment submissions. Therefore, there was a concentration gap rendering us quite helpless in the given scenario.
Solution:
We all have unanimously agreed over the solution that we all would cut an hour of our lives by either hook or crook and invest it in our group discussion. We also came up with the idea that the fellows who are free at some point would work anyhow regardless of overall participation or not and would facilitate each other.
2. Inflation due to Covid-19
Our other big challenge or rather shortsightedness was neglecting the impact of covid-19 on the market. Where covid-19 has led to the phenomenal rise in prices throughout the world, it has also impacted book prices. Unfortunately, our actual budget exceeded the estimated budget and caused us a serious deficit. We already aimed to sell the books at the minimum price for no profit, but buying a much expensive book without any backup financial aid and selling it at a far much-reduced rate is a serious setup for the sustainability of the project, even in the short run.
Solution:
Therefore, after thoughtful consideration and a prolonged brainstorming session together, we came to an idea. The idea is to go after quality rather than quantity. We aim to shortlist the books that are quite in demand of our beneficiaries and sell and deliver them as per our target. We aim to ask our beneficiaries, and only those beneficiaries who are actually interested in buying books from us to order them or tell us their desired reading list and we would, in turn, provide them with the best-reduced prices. This is for a short-term solution and in the long run, we would want to reach maximum readers in undeprived lands.
3. Decreased demand due to exams
Then comes the challenge of the reduced demand among the readers, all thanks to the exams season. Students are busy preparing, completing assignments/projects, and other stuff. As it is a time where students find very little utility in entertaining stuff let alone reading a quality book.
Solution:
We came up with the idea of enhancing or upgrading our marketing strategies. We settled on the concept of igniting the passion for reading by creating engaging content. For instance, the name of Alif Laila in itself makes a listener curious. This is what we plan to do by creating a story behind the name, and telling interesting legends from our forsaken literary heritage!
The impact of our mega project and beneficiaries
As can be seen below, Facebook page statistics show 47 views, 32-page likes, 33-page followers, and 37 post engagement. We received 5 orders from our beneficiaries and we have plans to serve them soon. The impact we have generated to date is that we delivered the books to our beneficiaries at low cost and to their doorstep because due to COVID mostly people do not prefer to go out. Moreover, we observed that, on some Facebook groups, people asked others if anyone can get a particular book they desire. For such an audience, our organization will be of great benefit.
Feasibility and sustainability of the mega project
— We have redesigned our strategy (not buying book lots, only buying when we receive an order) so that we have a minimum cost structure to ensure financial feasibility.
Plan:
— Creating some more visual content with regards to book reading and its benefits.
— Market textbooks and test prep books as well.
Changes and overhauls
Two significant changes :
— Joining relevant Facebook groups now and targeting the customer base we feel that will benefit.
— Will not be stocking books due to the high price of the lot ( inclusion of random books in the lot as well) and instead will buy books when we receive an order.
— Shuffling the tasks to get things running more smoothly.