GreenLight Planet

A Market Analysis Report

Submitted by: Group 10
Kumaravel S (1402002)
Sai Ramesh T (1401050)
Vishal Virola (1401053)
Keshav R M (1401056)
Priyanka Dewri (1301084)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
1. Introduction1
2.History.
3. Situation Analysis
3.1 SWOT Analysis
3.2 Porters Five forces
3.3 Ansoff Grid
4. Segmentation
5. Targeting and positioning
6. Product
7. Price
8. Placement
9. Promotion
10. Recommendation and suggestions
11. Conclusion
12. Appendices





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INTRODUCTION:
The use of non-conventional, eco-friendly, energy resources is an emerging industry in the
Indian market. It is observed that there has been a 30 percent rise in demand for solar
products in the past few years and the enquiries have gone up by 200 percent. With the view
to eliminate kerosene lamps in the rural areas and provide more environment-friendly lighting
solutions, Green Light Planet (GLP) was started in 2005. The mission of the company is to
change the world by providing innovative energy solutions to the under-privileged. The
project aims at analyzing the companys product offerings, target market, its distribution
system and pricing strategies, thereby providing recommendations for improving value
offered to customers.

HISTORY:
Green Light Planet, a VC-funded, impact-focused, US-based business was founded by T.
Patrick Walsh, a University of Illinois student.The seeds of Sun King took root in non-edible
oil seeds. It started in 2005 when Walsh spent three months working on a rural electrification
project in Orissa as part of Engineers Without Borders, a group that connects student
organizations in the U.S. with communities in the developing world. Several villages in
Orissa were off-grid (i.e., no electric lines) and used diesel powered generators for electricity.
Diesel was an expensive fuel and at the same time the engineers found that the land was
dotted with oil seeds bearing trees. The engineers created processes to extract biofuel from
these seeds. But, when the team returned after a year and a half, they observed that the
villagers had connected light bulbs to the engines. This set off the light bulb in Walshs mind.
Electricity was primarily for their lighting needs. He saw that the residents, users of
ubiquitous kerosene lamps, were not charity cases. Rather, they were savvy consumers
demanding a better product. He designed and sold the first solar-lantern prototypes in 2006 in
the state of Orissa: brighter and healthier than kerosene lamps, but affordable enough so
people could purchase without subsidies. The idea of Green Light Planet was born. In 2007,
Mayank Sekhsaria and Anish Thakkar joined Patrick as co-founders and the three set out for
India and China to make Green Light Planet a reality with the vision that smart design,
efficient engineering and innovative distribution strategies that could make dirty kerosene
lanterns a thing of the past.


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SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS:
Current Standing of the Company:
The following facts are suggestive of the current position of the organization:
4 Products: SunKing (Eco, Solar, Pro, Pro2)
SunKing available in 30 countries
6,000 SunKing micro-entrepreneurs
630 full-time employees
Over 100 distribution partners
290,000 tons CO
2
offset
1,500,000 Households have Sun King
7,500,000 Happy users

SWOT ANALYSIS:

Strengths:
Energy everyone can afford: The organization, although a profit making one,
provides eco-friendly, renewable and cost effective solutions to villages with no
access to electricity.

Effective Perfect for the pocket Product: The product mainly targeted the rural
off- grid regions the product was designed with a rugged construction. The product is
portable and is designed to adapt to extreme situations, including floating on water.
Apart from lighting solutions the product also offers phone charging options.

Direct to Village (DTV) distribution network: Unlike the traditional distribution
channel, GreenLight Planet (GLP) employs micro entrepreneurs i.e. LIC agents,
teachers, farmers and housewives for deeper market penetration. These associates also
act as after sales support to the customers.




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Weaknesses:
Lack of Awareness: Being a product that is aimed at solving the needs of rural
customers, the lack of awareness of the existence and benefits of such a lighting
solution weakens the prospects of the company.
Unknown brand name: Semi-urban or urban population are unaware of existence of
such a company or the products that it offers, even though they are environment-
friendly.

Opportunities:
Massive Untapped Potential: In India, more than 450 million people live without
electricity and 94% of them are in rural areas. This calls for the need of market
penetration.
Partnering with Government/ NGOs: There is a scope for the company to look for
organizations that aim at similar objectives and establish a partnership. There exists a
possibility for the firm to approach ministry of renewable energy and look for
opportunites in various schemes implemented by government.

Threats:
Subsidies on kerosene: The Company has to compete with government subsidy on
kerosene. Availability of kerosene is high through Public Distribution System.
Domestic Competition: Indian solar products have longer life span and high
reliability, which may give domestic solar manufacturers a competitive edge in the
future, when our dependence on imports is over.









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PORTERS FIVE FORCES:



Bargaining power of suppliers: The product components mainly consist of solar panel,
connecting chord (nokia mobile phone cord), red-yellow lamp, unbreakable plastic shell and
a lithium ion battery in a plastic casing. The manufacturing unit is setup in an SEZ in
Shenzhen region, China. The SEZ consists of a lot of industries manufacturing electronic
components. Due to a large availability of these components with easy access the suppliers
bargaining power is very low.

Bargaining power of buyers:




Industry
Bargaining
Power of
Suppliers -
Low
Bargaining
Power of
Consumers -
Low
Threat from
substitutes -
High
Threat from
Competitors
- Moderate
Threat of new
Entrants - High
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SEGMENTATION:
It is essential to use multiple bases of segmentation to reach the right target group and
crystallise their needs. First, being a product that depends on copious amount of sunlight, the
geographic areas to be chosen are those that have sunlight for more than 300 days per annum.
Then moving on, these areas can be further divided into rural and urban markets.

This socio-economic classification suggests that the R1 would be early adopters of
technology products. In addition, a need-based segmentation is employed to identify target
villages that are not electrified. As per Maslows hierarchy of needs, lighting would fall under
the basic needs for human survival. If shelter forms the floor of the pyramid, a well-lit house
is obviously a basic need.
The segments identified are measurable and substantiated.


FOUR PS OF MARKETING:
Product
Socio-economic
classification (SEC)
Rural demographic
characteristics
Rural Lifestyle
R1 Landlords (owns two-wheeler, TV,
LPG, refrigerator)
Technology Adopters
R2 Rich farmers (uneducated, owns
durables)
Consult friends & relatives for
technology adoption
R3 Average landholding Opts for time-tested technology,
low risk-taker
R4 Little or no land, agricultural labour,
BPL, purchaser from PDS
Laggards, averse to latest
technology, risk-averse,
uninformed
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Greenlight planet offers range of solar home lights: With years of experience working in the
energy space in rural India and Africa, Greenlight design products that are affordable, durable
and optimally useful in tough rural environments. The company provides four variants of Sun
King which are Eco, Solo, Mobile and Pro2. The lamps are designed to replace traditional
kerosene lanterns in the home which are hazardous to the health, and they offer adjustable
brightness settings. After a single sunny day of charging, it shines for four hours in its
brightest mode, delivering twice the brightness of a kerosene lamp. Alternatively it can be
operated on its low-brightness setting for over 30 hours. The lamp is portable and is designed
to adapt to extreme situations, including floating on water. It is multi-purpose and can be
used as a desk lamp, hung on the wall or ceiling to provide overhead lighting, to charge
mobile phones or can be held as a touch light while walking. The battery life of the product
lasts for five years. The product requires minimum maintenance and it involves only one time
cost which is incurred while buying the product.
When compared to traditional lamp it is an environment friendly product with zero carbon
emission. It helps people from remote areas in increasing their productivity after sunset by
working for longer hours.

Price:
The price of the basic lamp is kept at Rs 650 which is lower than that of the competitors
price and it is reasonable enough for the rural customers to recoup their investment in few
months and have continued kerosene savings. Even the most price-sensitive customers can
afford to buy Sun King products for their home. The price of the four products which are
Eco, Solo, Mobile and Pro2 is ranged from Rs 650 to Rs 2300. Eco and solo are basic
products which are priced below Rs 1000 and are targeted at rural customers whereas Mobile
and Pro2 which have added features such as charging are targeted at higher income group.



Placement:
Distribution network in remote areas:
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Greenlight Planet has developed a unique and successful direct selling model that uses locals
as sales associates. Rather than selling the products through small retail shops that represent
hundreds of products and lack the time to educate the consumer, their sales channel
proactively gets the lamps into the hands of the families that need them
Greenlight planet initially experimented with third party distributors such as SIM card agents
and non-governmental organisation networks. These agents had a rural foot print, but it was
not deep enough nor did they show urgency that a startup would need. This convinced
Greenlight Plant to set up its own distribution channel, Direct to Village (DTV).
DTV comprises of a network of rural entrepreneurs, Saathis, seeking to earn additional
income. Saathis could be LIC agents, school teachers or farmers with some basic education.
Saathis were trained about the product and they offer considerable credibility to local
customers. They also provide post-sales service. From a Saathis perspective, he /she could
earn an incremental income of up to Rs.3,000 per month, which in many cases was about 40
per cent increase in their monthly income. In addition, over time, Saathis have developed an
enhanced social standing in the village. The sales network has grown from 600 in 2011
to 6,000 current associates in five Indian states who sell 40,000 lamps a month.
Distribution in Urban Areas:
Greenlight planet uses E-commerce websites such as Flipkart and Amazon to distribute its
products to customers living in urban areas.

Promotion:
Greenlight faced a unique challenge when promoting their line of low-cost, solar-powered
lanterns in India. Almost every person who saw the Sun King in action wanted one for
themselves, but getting the word out using traditional forms of mass communication proved
challenging. People who had never been exposed to kerosene alternatives had difficulty
conceptualizing solar lighting through radio advertisements, printed fliers, billboards, and
wall paintings. The promotional collateral could describe the futures and benefits of the
product, but it was nearly impossible to understand how the product worked and how it could
be incorporated into daily life.
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To create a buzz that was long-lasting, Greenlight Planet built a large team of sales agents to
canvass the country and physically demonstrate the tangible features of the Sun King
product. However, they didnt employ a total market coverage approach. Instead, when they
launched in a new district, Greenlight Planet would send a small team to find a small number
of customers (say 3 for a population of 1500). The sales team was strategic in their choice of
customer. They were looking for influencers in the community, people whose opinions
mattered, whether they were school teachers or local politicians or police chiefs. These sales
might be the hardest sell for the team, but it was important for the agents to be persistent.
Once they successfully sold a few lamps, the Greenlight Planet team would leave the village
for a few weeks.
During this interim period, Greenlight Planet was waiting for a word-of-mouth buzz to start
circulating through the village. If the initial sales team had chosen their targets well and the
customers were happy with their purchase, then the hope was that the influencers would share
their positive solar lantern experiences with their existing social networks.
After several weeks, the Greenlight Planet team was ready to return to the region with a big
splash. They brought in a large sales team, covered the area with posters and marketing
fliers, inserted direct marketing material into the newspapers, and started partnering with
retail outlets. Using testimonials from customers who had already been using the product for
several weeks, Greenlight Planet set up shop in the village and began trying to drum up more
sales from the rest of the households.











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