We got an opportunity to get a practical exposure of how simple business research via pilot study is done. In our rescuers project under the guidance of Dr. Bhavneet Kaur ma’am, we got to know the insights of how a research can be done and should be done. We read a lot of literature reviews during the course and also studied competitors.
In the first phase of the study we had put a stall to do a feasibility study of on-demand express delivery services. It was done for one week from 12 Feb 2020 to 18 Feb 2020 for free for JIMS faculty and students. As there were limited resources and we students were only travelling for pickup and delivery of the order, it was done under the distance of 10 kms near Rohini. It was to observe the response of students and faculty to such services and study key variables that were figured out during the course. This step was completed successfully and feedbacks were taken from people who availed our limited period free delivery options. The consumers included many students as well as faculty members (Dr. Disha Grover) who forgot her important medicines at home and was in need of somebody who could fetch it for her. We also received many queries and feedbacks, and we found that people were interested if at all it is provided in the right manner at the right time.
We 5 members used to sit turn by turn, in which, 2 used to go for picking and delivering the orders, 2 used to sit at the counter which was placed near the cafeteria area and 1 used to go and make announcements in classes to make students and teachers aware of the pilot study being done in the college.
The second phase was to put the same stall infront of a mall/a place where we can target a greater number of people which was a plan to be executed in March but could not be done given the pandemic situation. We were also planning to launch the application named ‘Rescuers’ where any person can login and update the pickup, drop location and other necessary information about the package (size, weight). If given a chance again we could complete our study to gain better understanding.
Key learning’s- this market is not explored properly in India, the potential is huge and under right circumstances could be considered seriously for a start-up.
It was a great experience and learning for us. We thank JIMS for allowing us to do our research on the same inside the college premises.