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Shejin Velayudhan

Solution to case study 4, Vedantu, Assignment 1, UpGrad

Vedantu’s Target Group

Vedantu’s USP are personalization and democratization of education. Personalization is facilitated by enabling live 1-to-1 interaction between the tutor and the student with technology bridging the geographical divide whereas democratization is ensued with the target student stakeholder being able to search, discover and choose to learn from an online tutor of his/her choice.

Vedantu’s target group and its specific characteristics can be described under the below parameters:
• DEMOGRAPHIC 
• GEOGRAPHIC 
• PSYCHOGRAPHIC
• BEHAVIORAL

DEMOGRAPHIC PARAMETERS:
• Age group: 11–18 years, spanning the spectrum of middle school, high school and pre-university students, starting from grade 6 and going on to grade 12. This is the age group that is already using offline tutoring methods, and they will be happy to get the same service in the comfort of their homes. Vedantu wants to offer them a differentiated approach in terms of offering a live 1-to-1 anytime and anywhere learning opportunity from a tutor of their choice.

• Gender: Vedantu may want to show it is gender neutral by equally distributing its targeting mechanism among boys and girls but its online delivery of education naturally would be skewed in favor of girls, helping them avoid the inconvenience of traveling, affording safety, privacy and comfort at a secured location, although this is not a universality and can be beneficial to the other gender as well. This should not matter much; however, girls are more likely to take to Vedantu.

• Income level: With a one-hour session costing a student a minimum of Rs. 250 on Vedantu, it is best primed towards mid-level to mid-to-upper level income households that would not mind the spend for something as important as education that helps shape the lives of their kids.

• In the offline market, per-hour tutoring charges are between Rs. 200 and Rs. 1000, and in a group class, the cost is shared by all the students in the class. In 1-to-1 tutoring, one student should be able to afford the same tuition fees, also the student should have a place and an internet connection to receive the tuition. On an average, if a student takes 4 classes per subject in 2 -4 subjects, parents should be able to spend around 3–5K per month, so parents with monthly income of more than 60K should be able to afford Vedantu’s model of education delivery.

GEOGRAPHIC PARAMETERS:
• Urban versus rural: Mostly urban due to better broadband penetration and higher incomes in urban areas. The urban landscape is also home to many traditional modes of education delivery, but with Vedantu’s cutting-edge WAVE (Whiteboard Audio Video Environment) technology, even rural areas can be brought on the horizon as and when internet penetration becomes better and tutor prices are driven downward with increased on-boarding of teachers.

• Students in Tier-I and Tier-II cities are more likely to opt for Vedantu because of increased awareness about education, adoption of internet-based technologies and also better broadband penetration.

• Potential returning NRI students whose parents are coming back to India could also comprise a promising target group for Vedantu, helping them get acclimatized to the Indian education ethos before making the final leap to return to their roots. This also could be used by Vedantu as a launch pad to make further future forays into overseas markets as and when they hit the ground running and scale up.

• Also, people who want to teach will increase because of the convenience afforded by technology. They do not have to commute to a classroom to take tuitions. So, the average time spent is 1 hour rather than 3 hours (including travel time). This will help other interested experts and professionals to join the bandwagon as tutors. Parents who live on the outskirts of cities and who do not have time to drop their kids and are concerned about the safety aspects of their kids travelling are more likely to say yes to Vedantu’s offering.

PSYCHOGRAPHIC PARAMETERS:
• Lifestyle: In this age of instant gratification, Vedantu’s anytime doubt-solving solution guarantees to get students up and over the speed breakers in no time, and that means less time stranded in no man’s land for the student. With ever decreasing attention spans, Vedantu has positioned itself as a good choice for students who seek better engagement with tutors.

• Students who are not satisfied with their current method of tutoring are most likely to make the switch. Typically these will be the average to poor students. These students may not be able to keep up with the pace of the teachers and often feel left out and dejected. This is hope for parents as well who do not have a choice otherwise.

• Personality: Technology-savvy young personalities, out-of-the-box thinkers and experimentalists who dare to think beyond traditional books and libraries for new learning experiences. Students that want more than just boring recorded lectures and who defy assembly line, one-size-fits-all solution are what Vedantu would do well to target, ensuring knowledge transfer happens with high levels of student engagement and dynamic support. Parents who are technology savvy and internet aware are more likely to help their wards switch to this way of learning.

BEHAVIORAL PARAMETERS:
• Personal beliefs: Students that are reluctant to ask doubts in a crowded classroom environment have a better alternative in Vedantu where 1-on-1 interaction with the tutor leaves no room for external influences. These students love individual attention and direct interaction. They also like to learn at their own pace, which is a proposition that Vedantu envisages.

• Personal choices: Students wanting to avoid the inconvenience of traveling, wanting to leave less of their share of carbon footprint by deducting vehicle commute from the learning activity and conscious of saving time and energy are a target group for Vedantu as well. Students that want mentorship from superior teachers apart from their own realm of regular teachers could be mapped to Vedantu’s target group.