A study about the current market scenario & the success factors for WhatsApp

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WINTER PROJECT REPORT
On
“A study about the current market scenario & the success factors for WhatsApp”
Presented By:
Name: Sean Rodrigues
Roll No: 96 Year: 2015
Under the guidance of
Prof. Simmi Prasad.

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4.  WhatsApp Inc. was founded in 2009 by Brian Acton and Jan
Koum, both former employees of Yahoo!. The company is based
in Mountain View, California and employs 55 people. It is in the
process of takeover after Facebook announced its acquisition of
WhatsApp Inc. on February 19, 2014, for US$19 billion.
 As of February 2016, WhatsApp had a user base of one billion,
making it the second-most popular messaging application.
 They started with 2,50,000 users and now have one billion users
worldwide
 CEO Mark Zuckerberg in 2014 agreed to buy mobile messaging
service WhatsApp for $19 billion , making it the company's
largest acquisition.
Company Profile
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5. 
 A mobile app is a computer program designed to run on
smartphones, tablet computers and other mobile devices
 Various platforms available since 2008
 Instant messaging (IM) is a type of online chat which offers
real-time text transmission over the Internet.
 More advanced instant messaging can add file transfer,
clickable hyperlinks, Voice over IP, or video chat
What Is Mobile Application?
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 Instant messaging has become the killer app on mobile as smart
phone adoption has grown across the globe and the Indian
scene is no exception
 Three out of every four smart phone user in India is now high
on mobile chatting making the market a lucrative one for chat
app companies.
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Social Messenger App’s
Available
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Whatsapp Facebook
Messenger
WeChat
BBM LINE Viber

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SnapChat Tango Skype

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Global Market Scenario
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According to a survey conducted by On Device Research, they surveyed 10,000
smartphone owners in 5 countries to get a global snapshot of popularity of
particular apps but also how people use social messaging compared to calling,
texting and emailing on their phones. The countries covered were the US, India,
Brazil, South Africa, and China.

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About Whatsapp
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• Is available for
Google Android,
BlackBerry OS, and
Apple iOS etc
• In a December 2013
blog post, WhatsApp
claimed that 400
million active users
use the service each
month.
• On February 19, 2014,
Facebook Inc.
announced it is
acquiring WhatsApp
Inc. for US$19 billion.

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Current scenario of whatsapp
11This chart illustrates the incredible growth of smart phone messaging
service Whatsapp

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 No Hidden Cost
 Multimedia
 No need to add new friends
 No need to Login/Logout
 Group Chat
 No International Charges
 Say no to PINs and Usernames
Advantages Of Whatsapp
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 Phones are increasingly more about data than talking
 That data is getting faster
 There is always need for 1-to-1 communication
 World is getting smaller
 World is getting more visual
Reasons For Instant Messaging
App’s For Being Such a Hit
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Strategies Adopted
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SWOT Analysis
Strengths:
• Loyal customers
• Market share leadership
• No need to login
• Group Chat
• Allow send videos, pictures,
voice notes
• You can put profile picture
• No need to add friends
• No need PIN or user number
• Available for all platforms
Weaknesses:
• Not diversified
• Weak distribution
network
• To access the account
can only be paid by
credit card only
• Only works with a
data plan or Wi-Fi

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Opportunities:
• Online
• Advanced technology
• Recognized application
• Modernization of people
• Increased demand for smart
phones
Threats:
• Competition
• Product substitution
• Similar applications
and free

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 To study the current market scenarios of WhatsApp
 To study customer behaviour on WhatsApp
 To find out usage pattern of WhatsApp
 To find out key success features of WhatsApp
Objectives
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17. The study is exploratory and descriptive in nature and
structured questionnaire was used. Some closed ended
questions were also framed to validate the responses.
 Sampling technique - Non-probability and Convenience
sampling method.
 Sample size - 184 Respondents.
 Area Of Study - Mumbai
(vasai,borivali,bandra,churchgate,andheri)
 Primary sources - Youth & Professionals using
Smartphones(M/F) from Mumbai
Research Methodology
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Data Findings And Interpretation
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Overall Demographics
Male
53%
Female
47%
Gender
15- 25 years
29%
26 – 30 years
43%
31 – 35 years
23%
36 – 45 years
4%
above 46
years
1%
Age

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Student
47%
Service
34%
Professional
11%
Home maker
6%
Unemployed
2%
Ocuupation

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Q.1 Do you to be in touch with the people by using Apps?
PARTICULAR FREQUENCY
YES 179
NO 5
TOTAL 184YES
NO
INTERPRETATION
In the above table and graph we
can say that, out of the 184
respondent , 179 respondents
want to be in touch with the
people by using Apps.

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Q.2 What do you prefer more for staying in touch with people on your
phone?
107
52
20
5
Social messaging
Apps
Voice calls SMS Email
INTERPRETATION
107 out of 184 respondents
prefer Social messaging Apps
for staying in touch with people
from their phone followed by
Voice calls. Whereas SMS &
Email are less preferred now a
day, So Social messaging Apps
have overtaken traditional SMS.

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Q.3 Which social messaging app do you use?
83
34
25
11
21
3 3 4
INTERPRETATION
WhatsApp is widely
used social messaging
app, followed by
facebook & WeChat

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Q.4 Do you use WhatsApp on an active basis?
All The Time
48%
Most Of the
Time
44%
Sometimes
5%
Not At All
3%
INTERPRETATION
From the above graph we can
interpret that, 48% people use
“WhatsApp” all the Time and 44%
people use it Most of the time. It
indicates that the majorpart of our
samples use WhatsApp frequently.
And, 3% people are not using
WhatsApp as they are using
alternate app like Facebook or they
are not having Smartphone with
data/Wi-Fi connection.

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Q.5 Tick the reason(s) why you do not use WhatsApp ?
0 0
4
1
0
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
Did not know
WhatsApp
Existed
No data
plan/lack of
easy access to
WiFi
Not enough
friends using the
same application
Using Alternate
Messenger (fb,
WeChat, Etc)
Unreliable (Poor
Connection,
WhatsApp
unable to work,
Etc)
INTERPRETATION
From the above analysis
I can interpret that, from
3% respondents which
are not using WhatsApp,
major reason is Not
enough friends using the
same application

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Q.6 Have you purchased Smartphone, only because you can use
WhatsApp?
YES
26%
NO
74%
INTERPRETATION
26% of respondent have
purchased Smartphone, only
because they can use
“WhatsApp”, this shows that
WhatsApp has been the one of
the driver for smartphone
penetration in India.

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Q.7 From which medium you came to know about WhatApp?
Word of
Mouth
78%
Internet
20%
Advertisemen
t
2%
Newspaper
0%
INTERPRETATION
From the above analysis, Word of
Mouth is the major source of the
awareness for ‘WhatsApp’ and after
that Internet publicity has also
worked well for the WhatsApp. And
Advertisement is very less effective.
So it’s easy to conclude that a Mouth
Publicity & People recommendation
plays highest role in popularity of
WhatsApp.

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Q.8 Which WhatsApp features impresses you?
22%
20%
12%
29%
17%
Ease of Navigation/ User
Friendly Interface
Groups chatting
Speed
Cross-Compatibility (Apple,
Android, BlackBerry OS,
Nokia, and Windows
Phone)
INTERPRETATION
Almost every features of
WhatsApp impresses
respondents, but major
feature which impresses
respondent is Cross-
Compatibility (Apple,
Android, BlackBerry OS,
Nokia, and Windows
Phone)

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Q.9 Which features you would like to suggest in WhatsApp to
enhance its appeal?
23%
39%
17%
14%
4% 3%
Video Calling Services
Support voice calls
Support For PCs to
PCs/Phone Vice Versa
Privacy - who can view &
add
Increase Group Chat
Participants from 100
Other
INTERPRETATION
Because of the good services,
features of WhatsApp, most
of the consumer are satisfied
on the existing features. But
Respondent believes that
there are some features
required in WhatsApp for
better messaging.
The major feature which are
suggested by respondents
are Supporting voice calls
which is already
implemented

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Q.10 As a social messaging application, how would you rate
WhatsApp? From a scale of 1 (Least satisfied) to 5 (Most satisfied)
0% 2% 4%
28%
66%
Least satisfied(don’t
download)
Dissatisfied
Neutral
Satisfied
Most satisfied (A must-use
application)
INTERPRETATION
Most of the respondents are
satisfied by using WhatsApp.
66% of respondent are most-
satisfied means WhatsApp is
must-use application, 28% at
“satisfied” level, only 4%
people are neutral. It means
WhatsApp earns very good
customer satisfaction level
among social messenger apps.

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Q.11 As the success of WhatsApp depends on being wider spread among
users, would you recommend WhatsApp to your friends, families,
colleagues?
100
0
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
YES NO
INTERPRETATION
From the above analysis, 100% of
respondent are going to
recommend and suggest to use
WhatsApp to their friends,
families, colleagues in future.

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Findings
• According to survey, I have found that around 58% peopleprefer Social
messaging Apps for staying in touch with people from their phone.
Whereas SMS & Email are less preferred now a day. So WhatsApp has
overtaken traditional SMS.
• Students formed the major percentage of the respondent, followed by the
service category.
• Almost 95% people use WhatsApp, so this shows that Whatsapp is most
popular amongst chat appslike Facebook, WeChat.
• WhatsApp is popular among youth & professionals with respect to the
demographic variables (like gender, age, income); Youths are using
WhatsApp most of the time compare to that of Facebook.
• Word of mouth is major source of spreading of WhatsApp popularity, here
the friend’s recommendations, as most of them are using and
recommendingit; inspire the person to use WhatsApp.

32. • Some special data-plans by telecom companies (like DoCoMo), advertisement
by smartphone companies helped WhatsApp to gain market, so indirectly
WhatsApp has been the top driver for smartphone.
• The features like Cross platform compatibility ,Groups chatting, easy Sharing
(e.g. Video, audio, Photo, Status etc.) and User Friendly Interface of WhatsApp
have earned very much customer satisfaction, and these three features are
becoming a brand identity of the WhatsApp Messenger.
• General suggestion about WhatsApp from all the users is same. Most
respondent who use WhatsApp want video calls as one of the features and
privacy is also on priority of most of the user.
• Satisfaction level of WhatsApp is high but it should focus on adding some new
and attractive features in order to stay ahead in competition as apps like
WeChat, Line are ahead in features, which will increase competition in future.
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• The respondents are using the application for chatting, sharing , transferring
data
• The respondents like the apps because they are friendly to use and easily
compatible with their phones. The major reasons for dislike is the lag due to
use of this apps
• Maximum respondents said that the first word that comes to their mind after
hearing the word Whatsapp is simplicity ( easy interface)
• Few respondents say that company should allow sharing the photos, and
videos of any size & Documents as well
• Peoples now a day are giving more preference to Privacy in internet. So,
Social Messengers should look after the privacy of people and give good &
safe social connectivity options. And we all know that finally WhatsApp has
introduced the new Privacy options from March 2014.

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Recommendations
• You cannot use the same whatsapp account on multiple devices (e.g. a
tablet, a PC and a cellphone). The account is tied to the device with the
specific cellphone number. That also means that there's no sync since it
doesn't keep conversations when switching operating systems or devices.
• Whatsapp should allow sharing photos and videos of any size &
Documents as well
• Allow video calls
• It's not free, like many competitors

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Limitations of the Project
• As the research was conducted only in mumbai , the location was a
constraint
• Time constraint
• As the quantitative research was conducted using online surveys,
there was minimal control over the composition of the respondents in
total sample.
• Another limitation of the study is that, Findings of the study are based
on the assumption that the respondents have given correct
information.
• Respondent Bias was one of the major limitations of research, and
there might not be perfect positive response from all the respondents.

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Conclusion
• WhatsApp has been in market for quite some time and is being used
by most and offers functionality like text based messaging and files
transfers. WhatsApp is clearly emerging as an alternate for SMS and
MMS messaging. Demographic ratio does not affect the usage of
WhatsApp.
• The word of mouth has given great advantage to aware the customers
about the productsuntil the recent advertisements(online > television).
With increasing smartphone market WhatsApp has captured the
market but company has to keep innovating to maintain the
satisfactory level of existing customers.
• Because with given enough time facebook messenger, WeChat are a
capable product and in the future they hold the potential to overtake
WhatsApp, unless some new innovations is adopted by the world
leader in messengers.
• Widely accepted and user friendly by all most of the respondents with
reference to age

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References
BOOKS:
• NareshK. Malhotra, “Marketing Research: An Applied Orientation”4th
Edition. Prentice Hall, 2004.
• Philip Kotler, Kevin Lane Keller, Abraham Koshy, MithileshwarJha.,
“Marketing Management – A south Indian perspective”- 13thedition.Pearson
Education, 2009.
WEBSITES:
http://www.whatsapp.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WhatsApp
http://www.frost.com/c/10392/blog/blog-display.do?id=3313452
http://www.cxotoday.com/story/is-whatsapp-overtaking-the-sms-
soon/
http://www.wikiswot.com/SWOT/4_/Whatsapp.html
http://www.dqweek.com/dq-week/news/174992/whatsapp-flipkart-
vodafone-tops-nielsen-india-consumer-ranking

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