Sushant's blog

IRCTC redesign- part 2

2011-12-17T23:39:00.000-08:00

Extending the my idea of how the IRCTC website should be.

One should be able to view the train details upfront and also book the ticket upfront.

At least there should be no need to log in until you finalize your travel details like number of passengers, type of ticket etc..

IRCTC redesign

2011-11-20T07:02:00.000-08:00

Every time I wanted to find out a train from location A to location B on IRCTC, I got irrtated for some or the other reason.

There were multiple reasons
1. Needed to log in before finding the relevant travel information like trains running on specific routes and their schedules.
2. I forgot the username and password every time I went to the website. So I had to request to change password. I was sent a mail. So had to log in to mail, click on it and change the password. SO many things to do just ot check the availablity of trains and their schedules.
3. The website is slow, so even after doing all this there was no assurance that I would get the required information.

So thought the site would have different interface that can actually give me needed information without making go through frustrating process of logging in.

The images show my idea how the homepage should be...

Why Nano did not sell?

2011-01-11T01:59:00.000-08:00

1. Buying car is a family decision. Would all the family members like a car like Nano. Younger members of family would definitely want a car with good looks and better power. Nano doesn’t fulfill any of this criteria.
2. Car is a status symbol in India. This is especially true for the user segment Tata were targeting. So why would a person buy such a car which does not improve or enhance his status in society.
3. Nano caught fire and this news spread, well not like a fire but still it was there in all print and electronic media.
I heard a story that Ratan Tata thought of this car (concept of Nano) when he saw a family of four going on a scooter in rain. But why did that family of four prefer to go on the scooter? They could have easily hired a auto rickshaw if they wanted. But they thought it fit enough to somehow put all four family members at risk by going on the small scooter. So does that mean that the family was poor and can’t afford to pay for auto. Most probably not. They earn enough to spend money on rickshaw. But as Indians it’s our nature to save as much money as possible. This is more applicable to the target user/customer the Tata’s were targeting.
Well ….such a tricky user/customer group Tatas are targeting.
Aspiration or desire to own a car is definitely there in the user/customer group. But would they want to buy Nano.
Its cheap, accepted. So the wage earner thinks this criteria as plus point of Nano.
But the woman and children in family are definitely not satisfied with that. Does Nano look good, attractive, cute, classy… None of these adjectives fit to Nano. So these stake holders say that its better to not buy a car than buying a Nano.

Difficult to see Nano selling......

So is the market research enough for introducing such a product??

Or does one need user behavior research for such eccentric products..

I guess they needed behavior research........

Kern Communications in Flat World

2008-07-05T05:10:00.000-07:00

Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here I am with my first real post for my blog. I was reading Thomas Friedmans "World is Flat" and realised the company I am working is smartly taking advantage of this flat world. The way our company works convinced me that Thomas Friedman is right and I gave presentation on it. So if you are intrested in knowing few more details just take a look at the slides of my presentation.

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