Ipu Business Plan

IPU(I will protect you)

1. Executive Summary:

Our company provides a customized safety assurance service for women going back home late in Tokyo. “Going Home Safely” is a service in which women working or drinking late takes a shuttle bus driven by a female driver and when she gets off near her home, the app will monitor her in real time by GPS. Also, through a community platform users can ask questions related to security or safety and communicate with residents in the same region and experts from security companies

1. Vision

This business is exciting as it is an unprecedented service in Tokyo. Taking taxi is low in demand due to its high cost; however, our service can save people’s budget by sharing a bus. As a result, it improves working environment for female workers and compensate existing company welfare system.

Our vision is to expand our service nationwide by making a contract with major bus company in each city by next 10 years. We assure that more and more Japanese women can enter the workforce by offering a job. Also, we will collaborate with Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and get support from them. Our goal is to disrupt a big security company like SECOM (COCO-SECOM) and occupy the security market.

The first step towards achieving the vision is getting fund from organizations like Asia-Japan Women’s Resource Center (AJWRC).

1. Functions

1. Uniqueness of the Service/Product and Business model

IV  MARKETING PLAN

1. Targeted group:

• Our targeted group mainly focuses on young female from 20 to 25 who go to the night club, as well as female workers from 25 to 35 who stay up late for work and attend the  business dinner after work, going home late at night.
• When the platform gets completed in the future, we can promote our platform nationwide.

1. Marketing Background:

According to the article by the famous security service company SECOM, female in their 20s, 30s and 40s who have to go back home late at night feel insecure and anxious all the time in their daily life. And, SECOM estimated that the violent crime which occurred to young women frequently these days is one of the reasons for this. For example, it is estimated that Tokyo has the highest rate of female sexual crime of all prefectures in Japan. Under these circumstances, the assurance of female safety should be put onto agenda as quickly as possible. However, few companies have offered specific security services to this group of customers so far. Namely, there do not exist many competitors in this niche market.

1. Survey Analysis:  

Our team surveyed 30 young female (from age 19 to 33) in Shibuya, Asakusa and Sumida the results are following:

• Almost everyone (99%) feels insecure living alone in Tokyo. (One person said that having good relationships with her neighbors makes her feel secure)
• 21 people (70%) answered that they do not take any action because they don’t know how.
• About 50% of people answered that they only know the name of SECOM and among them they do not use it because of the high price.
• 23 out of 30 (76%) people regard it interesting to use a “GOING HOME SAFELY” APP, whose willing prices range from 100 yen to 1000 yen per month.

1. How old are you?
2. Do you live alone in Tokyo?
3. If you do, do you feel insecure going back home late alone in Tokyo? If not, do you think people going back home late alone in Tokyo will feel insecure?
4. What kind of actions do you take to prevent insecurity?
5. Do you know the SECOM system? If you do, do you use the service?
6. Would you like to use the APP for female security for going home safely?
7. Do you think you have close relationship with some other females who feel insecure the same as you do? Do you want to build up the relationship with them?
8. Do you think it will be more convenient and efficient if experts can give advice to your safety problems online?

1. Customer analysis:

• It is estimated that the early-adopters of our service are office ladies from investment banks, consulting firms and so forth.

IV  MARKETING STRATEGY

• It provides one month trial version. Users should share the APP to other people and persuade others to register our APP, then users can use the APP for free for one month.

• Pay for the advertisements in APP Store recommending list in iOS system and Android system.
• Release information and advertisements on female websites and magazines.
• Cooperate with investment banks and consulting firms who can provide their female workers with welfare of going home safely by our shuttle bus.
• Send permission-email to certain groups of customers.

IV  COMPETITION ANALYSE

1. SWOT analysis

1. Competitors in the market

• The Coco-Secom, which belongs to the famous security service company SECOM, has attracted 135,000 subscribers. Unlike cell phones equipped with GPS that merely provide alarm and location functions, Coco-Secom service can dispatch security guards almost everywhere around the clock with 2,100 emergency takeoff bases around the country. It also developed a tracking service that connects to integrated circuit tags using radio frequency identification technology as well as GPS. However, the targeted group of Coco-Secom is not female, which results in “non- pertinence”

• The GIRLS CHANNEL, a popular website in Japan, provides a chatting forum concerning interesting topics for female only. It is said that in the first week of release of the APP, GIRLS CHANNEL has attracted 106000 female users.

However, security topics only take up for a small part and female are more interested in gossips and other entertaining topics. Plus, users in GIRLS CHANEL have weak relationships with each other.

V  Financial Plan