Strategic Outlook

Strategic
Outlook and
Future
Projections

Table of Contents
I. Executive Summary............................................................................................... 3
Highlights
Objectives
Mission Statement
II. Description of Business......................................................................................... 4
Company Ownership/Legal Entity
Location
Hours of Operation
Management
Financial Management
III. Engineering (UI/UX) ........................................................................................... 4
Process Analysis
Proposed Implementations (Short/Long term outlook)
IV. Operations ........................................................................................................... 20
Operational Plans
Security Plans
 Types of Content Moderation
 Competitor's Content Moderation Model
 Recommendations
Proposed Systems
V. Marketing ............................................................................................................ 20
Market Analysis
Market Segmentation
Competition
Launch Strategies
VI. Advertising and Promotion ................................................................................. 20
Community Strategies (Short/Long term outlook)
Marketing Strategy
Public Relations

VII. Appendix.............................................................................................................. 38
12-Month Cash Flow
Statement of Cash Flows
UI/UX Survey Results
Operations Systems Formulas
PR Pitch Samples

STRATEGIC OUTLOOK AND FUTURE PROJECTIONS - [SELECT DATE] 3
Executive Summary
Carousell is a mobile marketplace which aims to provide a simple and easy to use app where users can buy and
sell their items. The simplicity of such an app enables users from all walks of life to list virtually any* item that
worth something and sell it online.
The humble beginnings of Carousell started when its founders realized that there was no platform for users to
conveniently transact with each other. Most transaction were done through unmoderated forums, which may
prove unsafe for users in terms of transaction security. It was also a messy place as user had to **bump their
posts occasionally in a very fast paced environment. It was at the famous Silicon Valley where the founders
found inspiration to resolve this issue.
To date, it has 26 million listings with over 8 million items sold, and is only expected to increase in the coming
years. Carousell has also expanded into 7 countries in the region and is available in 4 languages, namely English,
Mandarin, Bahasa Melayu and Bahasa Indonesia. The firm also aims to expand into Europe and The Americas
in the near future.
* subjected to legality and laws, both religious and judicial, of the country.
** The act of moving posts to the top of the forum thread.
Highlights
Key Highlights
 26 Million listings since inception in 2012
 8 Million transactions
 50 items on average listed every minute
 Available in 4 languages and in 7 countries in the region
 #1 Lifestyle/Shopping app in Singapore since 2014
Objectives
 To improve the brand image of Carousell
 To foster a greater sense of community belonging through events
 To improve user experience through new interface implementations
 To improve user rating and security through content moderation and ratings
 To increase exposure of Carousell through various means such as events and media
Mission Statement
Inspire the world to sell.

Description of Business
Carousell is a mobile marketplace which provides a platform for users to conveniently buy and sell items. Its
tagline Snap. List. Sell. is also its mission; to create an accessible, safe and friendly environment for its community
to list their items and transact with people, and most importantly, to inspire the world to sell.
Carousell is currently ranked 1st in the Lifestyle App category in the App Store and 1st in the Shopping App
category in Google Play Singapore. It has become the most popular mobile platform, with over 26 million
listings to date and with bargain prices at and around 80% for items listed.
Company Ownership/Legal Entity
Carousell is a local start-up with 5 employees in 2012, consisting of 3 founders and 2 full time employees. This
number grew steadily over the years as the firm expanded. By 2015, Carousell had a total headcount of 25 full-
time employees and 20 interns.
Location
Carousell’s head office is located at 71 Ayer Rajah Crescent, Singapore 139951. This special location is under
the purview of the National University of Singapore, in partnership with Singtel Innov8 and the Media
Development Authority of Singapore (MDA). Known as Plug In @ BLK 71, this building houses a wealth of
local start-ups and is a place for budding entrepreneurs to bring ideas to life.
Hours of Operation
Carousell is unique that its hours of operations are defined by its users. Users have the freedom to choose when
they would transact with customers at any time of the day and week.
Management
Carousell operates in a relatively flat structure. Each department is headed by a Team Lead, which oversees its
operations. Although some functions were overlapping due to the nature of the organizational structure, there
was no concern of redundancy. The overlapping functions enable departments to have some knowledge of the
overall operations, and this being a start-up, would be advantageous to its employees. Also, since Carousell is
still in its infancy, most back office operations such as finance and risk management are carried out by the
founders. However, Carousell is looking to expand its operations and will include other departments in the near
future.

The culture of Carousell is very much opened and family-like. Company functions are organised occasionally
for bonding sessions and employees are also encouraged to bring their pets to work.
Carousell also emphasises on culture/job-fit abilities. In that respect, Carousell has a unique employment
process. Candidates are interviewed and assessed throughout the entire day by the founders and then given
tasks to complete with their peers. The founders will then assess on the interpersonal skills of the candidate
and decide whether he/she would fit well with the team. The dynamic approach to interviews allows Carousell
to find a candidate which suits their culture and also their ability to work with their peers, instead of the usual
norms of interviews which mainly assesses the candidates on their technical skills.
Financial Management
Because Carousell is currently not generating revenue, the firm is surviving on funding by various well known
investors and Venture Capitalists. However, as with all firms, a financial analysis breakdown must be done in
order to secure and improve the firm’s financial positions through various means.
The Finance Division has done and broken down its analysis into individual items, based on open source
intelligence, assumptions and also information gathered from the firm itself. After which, the division has come
up with several recommendations to improve Carousell’s financial position.
Analysis of Individual Expenses
Server Maintenance Expense
In tandem with interface implementations and future growth of Carousell, the finance team have projected that
Server Maintenance Expense will follow a step-up trend over the next 3 years. The reason for the step-up trend
is because cost increment will only take effect during an interface implementation and also factoring in the
increase in user base registration.
Server maintenance cost for the years 2012 to 2015 rose at a steady rate due to increase in user registration and
also attributed to the steady increase in listings on Carousell. However, for the years 2015 to end 2016,
maintenance expense remained the same due to project implementations for user interface and other features.
The reason for cost bearing no change is due to the fact that the new interface is still being rolled out and has
not had any effect on data storage.
For the year 2017, we expect costs to rise by 12.5%. This is due to the newly implemented interface for
Carousell, which entails larger data storage. The new implementation would also mean an expected increase in
user registration and an even larger number of listings. All these factors will contribute to the rising cost of
server maintenance. However, the cost will stay at the same level throughout 2017 to end 2018 as new projects
and implementations are expected to roll out at a steady rate. As stated earlier, this will result in a step-up trend
for server maintenance costs.
Besides fully utilizing the current dedicated physical Carousell owns, the finance team would like to look into
the prospects of cloud server hosting. As of now, the fight between cloud and dedicated server hosting remains
close, as each of them have various unique advantages over the other. However, we believe that cloud
technology will advance faster, and in the near future cloud server hosting will overtake dedicated server hosting

over performance, efficiency and cost-savings. Carousell should track the progress of cloud technology and not
hesitate to make the switch if the long term benefits overweigh the opportunity cost of obsoleting their
dedicated servers.
Marketing Expenses
An annual budget will be allocated for the marketing team. The marketing team is responsible to look for
various avenues for advertising, and try to stretch the budget for maximum online reach.
As Carousell expands further into other markets, more advertising costs will need to be allocated. Therefore,
the budget will be raised according to the periods that Carousell is trying to expand into new markets. The
marketing budget will be increased at an average rate of 30% from previous year’s amount.
Bank Charges
Bank charges are made up mainly of cross currency bank transactions and GIRO for salary payments. The
costs incurred are small and insignificant. By 2018, Carousell will have expanded into at least 10 countries.
However, the finance team has projected that bank charges will increase at a decreasing rate due to savings
through economies of scale.
Event Expenses
Carousell has always maintained a cost-neutral approach to events. The firm will approach sponsors who are
willing to offset logistical costs; therefore total costs incurred by Carousell will be minimal. Costs incurred
during events are usually that of miscellaneous items and transportation for certain required props. Following
the trends of event expenses of previous years, we have decided on an annual budget of no more than $5,000
for events expenditure.
i. Giveaways and Prizes
Carousell prides itself on being an inclusive community, as well as utilizing cost-neutral approaches to
hold events in an attempt to reach out to the community while creating brand awareness. With events
come giveaways and prizes, which might incur more spending. While Carousell implements such an
organic approach, it is not all the time that they are able to identify and strike collaborative deals with
sponsors or firms. Hence, there will be times where the giveaway expenses would require Carousell to
tap into investment funds, which might have been the case in 2013. Otherwise, the trend for giveaway
expenses have generally been stable and have not exceeded $600 per annum all the way until 2015.
From 2016 onwards, Carousell has indicated that they have expansion plans in terms of developing
their newer markets, as well as to penetrate into new markets. Keeping these plans in mind, the finance
team has forecasted that the amount of giveaway expenses will increase in line with event expenses at
20% per annum, and will hit approximately $1,037 in 2018, which is only 0.05% of the total expenditure
that year.
It is the finance team’s opinion that Carousell should reduce the frequency at which the goodie bags
or welfare packs are given out at events. Coupons or online coupon codes would be used instead of
the traditional goodie bags, or even substitute certain items that were in the welfare packs. We intend
to cap it at an amount of $10 at best, and others would have either different amounts, or a percentage
discount off overall purchases. The finance team has also thought of implementing a system whereby
a 5% rebate will be given to the first 200 of a particular category every 4 months.
Firstly, this could decrease the amount of time taken to source for sponsors and the likes. The coupons
would then induce spending since people are more inclined to utilize the coupon codes. This is in line
with Carousell’s mission, which is to inspire people to sell. Next, we would specify that in order to use
the coupons or to receive any rebate, users would be required to use the transaction feature on the app

and leave a review with the party involved. This would be easier for Carousell to track the number of
transactions more accurately, and obtain a measure of their KPI that is more specific and reliable.
General Expenses
General Expenses per head is $2,147 in 2015. This equates to $180 spent on one employee per month.
Understanding that general expenses is the only form of costs that Carousell can look to minimize, the finance
department has decided to attempt to reduce the budget to $1,800 per employee by 2018. This means an
estimated $340 reduction in spending per employee. By doing so, Carousell will be able to save $18,000 in 2018
alone.
The finance department has suggested 3 ways of reducing general expenses
i. Have cheaper gatherings
ii. Finding suppliers/ sponsors
iii. Substituting gatherings for charity events
i. Have cheaper gatherings
Gatherings can be made cheaper through a few methods. Less and cheaper food can be catered. This is the
most obvious method, but also has the highest potential to be disruptive to employees’ productivity, since they
may feel that the firm is prioritizing money over employees’ privileges.
ii. Finding suppliers/ sponsors
Carousell can source for sponsors that are willing to offset costs for team building activities. However, it may
be difficult to secure sponsors for company events. In addition, Carousell should look out for a range of
suppliers that can provide cheaper pantry stock and buy in bulk.
iii. Substituting gatherings for charity events
Instead of having lunch gatherings, Carousell can instead organize companywide efforts that will align
themselves with corporate social responsibilities. For example, employees will work together in an old folk’s
home on Friday afternoons.
This will nurture employees who are socially responsible, and inculcate a stronger company culture. Research
has shown that employees who believe that their company is socially responsible will identify themselves more
with the firm, and therefore result in the construction of a stronger company culture.
However, this method would be the hardest to implement. Employees that are less concerned with social
responsibilities will struggle to see the positivity in these events. Instead, it will look like a convenient cost
cutting measure and therefore make them feel less appreciated by the firm. The obstacle that Carousell faces in
implementation would be to educate employees on the purpose, and allow them to understand their social
responsibilities as an employee of the firm.

Revenue Forecast
In order to remain competitive in the market, we recommend that Carousell begin to consider monetization
plans so that they can keep afloat, and not be completely dependent on external investors. Though it might
seem that Carousell can still obtain the necessary investment funds, they are likely to run into hurdles eventually,
if they remain non-revenue generating. In order to start generating revenue, we have come up with 3 plans for
Carousell to consider, namely, having premium features, delivery services and selling data trends and
information
Freemium
This is a pricing strategy by which Carousell’s main service can be provided for free, but premiums are charged
for additional features on the app. The features include additional pictures, customized profiles and video
options. This will be likely to be implemented in March 2016.
Adopting the odd-even pricing method, features will be priced at the following: additional pictures for S$0.49,
customized profile for S$1.99 and video option for S$0.69.
An estimated percentage of 15% transactions would sign up for additional pictures for their products to be
sold, 15% of the users to sign up for customization of their profile page every year, and 5% of all listings to
have the additional video option. The revenue generated through Premium features is as follows:
Premium features 2016 2017 2018
Additional pictures $101,769 $423,360 $285,768
Customized profile $245,765 $546,374 $873,268
Video option $672,750 $1,453,140 $1,889,082
Revenue generated $1,020,284 $2,422,874 $3,048,118
Delivery
We also recommend another option for generating revenue via delivery services. Carousell should tie in with
SingPost and/or NinjaVan, to develop this service. This delivery service would serve as advertisement and
promotion for SingPost and NinjaVan. Carousell would then take a cut of the profits that these companies
would have made. The customer might pay $5 to $6 for the delivery service, of which $2 would go to Carousell
and the rest to the service providers. SingPost would cater to the deliveries that are not so urgent, and would
thus be cheaper, while NinjaVan would be for those deliveries that require overnight or within 24 hours delivery
services. We estimate that 15% of the transactions would use this service, allowing us to gain a revnue of
$46,047 in the first year. This will be likely to be implemented in July 2016.

Data Trends
This section would entail two recommendations, one would include selling data trends to customers while the
other would be to other companies. This will be likely to be implemented in July 2016.
Company
This section would involve the selling of customers’ information to data analytics companies. Carousell having
the patterns of lifestyles and trends, customer profile which includes, age, shopping patterns, buying patterns
and gender, would be able to sell this data to data analytics companies. The data of each customer is worth
about S$0.30, and assuming that the customer base increases each year, this would allow Carousell to generate
a consistent revenue using this method, starting with S$148,200 in the first year, 2016.
Customers
Different angles of the data collected would be available to the customers. When customers request for this,
there would be a fee of S$4.99 per user. Data that would be available consists of number of people who visited
their page, and the traffic of each listing, and patterns of their buyers. We estimated 5% of the total users to
apply for this additional features, because it would be extremely useful to the shop owners, or even businesses
that operate on Carousell. This would give a revenue of $123,253 in 2016.
Financial Statements and Breakeven Analysis
Twelve-month Cash Flow Statement
This cash flow is based on the following assumptions:
1. Revenue is collected immediately from users through credit card payments
2. Marketing budget is given out at the start of the year, allowing the marketing team to carry out their
activities swiftly
3. Wages are paid out monthly
4. Transportation claims are reimbursed monthly
5. Company’s stationery and office supplies are assumed to be replenished twice a year, on every January
and July for efficiency
6. Server maintenance is paid out monthly based on the amount of work done
7. Travel plans will be made for twice a year and we assume that the Carousell team will travel during
non-peak periods to save on air tickets
8. Accounting fees are paid monthly
9. Assuming that events are held on an average of once every two months to factor in time needed for
event preparation and achieving high effectiveness of the events
10. General expenses are incurred every month due to the restocking of pantry, weekly gatherings etc
11. Bank charges will be paid immediately
Cash flow for the first few months is expected to be remain negative as the revenue generating features will
begin around February and July. The team believes that most users will maintain a wait-and-see approach.
Similar to previous years, Carousell must continue to maintain a positive working capital to cope with the
negative cash outflow until July.
Three Year Profit & Loss Statement
As Carousell roll out plans to generate revenue in 2016, the company is expected to generate lesser losses as
compared to previous years. The huge spike in revenue in 2017 will lift Carousell to post their first profits of
$3,276,088. This can be attributed to the forecast of a 180% increase in listings from 2015, which leads to more
transactions and a rise in the user base. However, as total expenses continue to increase by 15% in 2018, a

growth of 30% of listings will only increase profits by 12% to $3,659,982. As the finance team uses a
conservative approach and assumes that the percentage of users who will sign up for the paid features to remain
the same throughout 2018, Carousell should begin to encourage more users to try out the paid features in order
to bump up revenue. With a comfortable profit in 2017, Carousell can afford to increase their expenditure in
their bid to build up their user base.
Breakeven Analysis
With the lacking of a clear variable cost, the finance team will use total expenses to calculate the required
revenue to breakeven.
2016 2017 2018
Total Expenses $1,590,267 $1,880,591 $2,162,109
Premium features
Additional pictures purchase 3,245,443 3,837,941 4,412,467
% of actual new transactions 45% 30% 26%
Customized profile signups 799,129 945,021 1,086,487
% of actual new users 81% 52% 37%
Video option purchase 2,304,735 2,725,494 3,133,491
% of actual new listings 5% 3% 2%
The above chart shows the total expenses for each year and the number of signups/purchases of the premium
features required to break even. The percentage represents the number of purchase/signups required as
compared to actual numbers available. As an example, if Carousell were to solely rely on “additional pictures
purchase” to generate revenue, it would require at least 45% of total transactions to have this premium feature
to break even. With the implementation of more premium features, Carousell should be able to break even
easily. In addition, the result from “video option purchase” shows the huge potential to earn substantial profits
by tying up a premium feature to listings. Therefore, Carousell should look into implementing more premium
features linked to listings in the future.
Note: Refer to the Appendix for Financial Statements

Engineering (UI/UX)
Process Analysis
Analytics Phase
An internal workshop amongst the Engineering Division to critique Carousell’s mobile applications followed
by brainstorming and generating of innovative ideas on how to improve the current application. This process
succeeded in identifying many issues in a short period of time. Several implementations were proposed and
categorized into two main categories: Short Term Implementations and Long Term Implementations. The
improved version of the Carousell application will enable the firm and its users to obtain a greater exposure,
expand usage of digital platforms, increase transaction process rate, improve brand identity and generate
revenue.
Survey Phase
A Survey questionnaire was developed and targeted members of the public and personal friends. By doing so,
it allows the team to understand the thoughts and preferences of the Carousellers on the types of
implementations that they would prefer so as to make sure that Carousellers benefit from these services. The
survey is a great way of finding out about the demographics of the population of Carousell users. Furthermore,
online surveys can reach a broad audience in a short period of time, and are best used for eliciting facts and
giving us a deep understanding of the various Carousell users’ behaviours.
Guerrilla user testing was conducted by visiting popular cafes in Singapore such as Starbucks and Coffee
Bean to ask members of the public who are currently Carousell users on what can be improved in the app
and what are some of the problems that they often face while using the app. Within a few days of questioning
and sending links to users of Carousell, a wealth of useful users’ insights were added to the review. All
relevant issues were also documented into and disseminated throughout the division to identify what were the
most favourable and demanded implementations from the public and what implementations were least
favourable and thus needed to be eliminated.
Design Phase
After studying the market and gaining a deeper insight on the most favourable and demanded implementations
by the general public, the division decided to work on the implementations that would best cater to the general
public and attract more users to join Carousell. For this phase, the division used Photoshop to design the new
interface. Wire framing was the first step in the design phase. This is when Static diagrams are used to represent
the framework of our implementation in which we will also explore contents interactions and navigations. In
this stage, the division also brainstormed and explored several interaction and design ideas based on feedbacks
and test results before we moved into development and graphic designing.
Validation Phase
A prototype design was developed after in-depth discussions amongst team members. By ensuring that every
member of the group shares the same idea and approves on the designs, the team proceeded with a clear
direction towards the goals that is to create a prototype design for our users. After several rounds of testing
and adding changes with our design, we eventually came up with the final interface to be implemented into
Carousell’s current app.

Proposed Implementations
Short Term:
i. Payable options to increase listing pictures from 4 to unlimited pictures
ii. Include “seen” icon or 'bluetick' button added in the chat interface
iii. Enable users to list items under max. Of 3 categories (eg. For Him/For Her/Luxury goods)
iv. Smart Search function (similar to Google search)
v. Implement different sub-categories on users’ profile pages (eg. Shoes, Bags, Electronics)
vi. Payable options to for users to customise/design your own profile wall
Long Term:
i. Introduce a credit payment service (eg. Paypal)
ii. Display full Transaction History of Carouseller
iii. Payable option for Video (360 degree view)
iv. Wishlist function with gift-wrapping
Coordinate with E-commerce Logistic/Delivery Service Companies such as Singpost and Ninja Van
Note: UI/UX Survey results will be included into Appendix

Operations
Operations Plan (Singapore)
Manpower operations
In an attempt to keep lean, a secure and pleasant user experience has been neglected. This in turn reduced users'
interest in engaging the application and brought about an increase in negative feedback from the users.
Therefore, there is a need to increase the manpower in the operations team to increase efficiency in content
moderation and customer support service. With the increasing number of listings on the application, there is
also a greater need for more efficient content moderation. As the team intends to adopt a more proactive
approach towards content moderation, more manpower is needed to cope with it. It will come in the form of
hiring interns who are currently pursuing information technology related studies. The cost of hiring interns will
be relatively lower than hiring full-timers. However, these interns require training which would have to be
considered in the planning process. Through this process, the company is able to meet its objective to keep
lean while ensuring the manpower need is satisfied. With reference to the key performance indicators (KPIs)
set by the content moderation team, the hiring of three interns should suffice to reach the targets.
Growth strategy
As part of the growth strategy, there is a need to consider alternative options in ensuring a more efficient
content moderation system. Hence, it is good for the company to look into the probability of outsourcing its
content moderation function. Taking into consideration the dollar spent per listing, it is more cost-effective to
outsource the growing task of content moderation to labour-intensive countries such as India than hiring more
manpower locally to deal with it.
Data Analytics
To deal with the incoming data from the users, the operations team will be setting a database. Information such
as age and gender will be exported out of the database for a more detailed analysis. The database will be linked
with the rest of the departments for their individual use.
Operations Plan (Malaysia)
The expansion to Greater Kuala Lumpur (KL) meant a surge in the number of targeted users. In order to cater
to this expansion, there is a need to increase the manpower in the Malaysia team. Currently, there is only one
full-time employee situated in Malaysia's launch team. A marketing personnel, public relations (PR) personnel,
community personnel and two operations interns will be hired to assist the current operations. The marketing
and PR personnel will be in charge of increasing Carousell's brand awareness. As Carousell is only limited to
Kuala Lumpur for the time-being, it is not easily recognised nor known to the targeted population. Furthermore,
Carousell's intention of an expansion to Greater KL requires a more aggressive marketing strategy. Secondly,
engaging the community personnel is in line with the company’s desire to construct and maintain a vibrant
community within its application users. It is especially important for a relatively new launch team to build the
foundation of its user base. Lastly, to cope with the growing use of the application, content moderation in
Malaysia will also have to be upgraded. Hence, the hiring of the operations interns will serve that purpose. In
terms of hiring, engaging the locals will be preferable as they will have a better understanding of the local culture
and practices to develop strategy plans more effectively.

Security Plans
Types of Content Moderation
Content moderation can be done in various ways based on their capacity and needs. There are mainly four
methods of content moderation, namely pre-moderation, post-moderation, reactive moderation and user
moderation.
The pre-moderation method involves the approval of a listing by moderators before it is released to other users.
The post-moderation differs in that the moderation is done progressively after the items have been listed. This
system though, allow users to contribute in the moderation process by reporting a specific listing and letting
the owner respond to it. The reactive method only relies on users reporting an alleged violation on a listing.
Lastly, the user moderation method involves users rating a listing and once the review reached a certain negative
critical threshold, the system will automatically deal with the listing accordingly.
Carousell currently adopts the reactive method to deal with their listings. Under their terms of service, it is
mentioned that “sellers/buyers are solely responsible for their behaviour and activities on Carousell (Carousell,
2015). It does not pre-screen any of their users, listings or content and users can report any listings that they
found to be inappropriate or violating the community guidelines. Carousell uses different reporting categories
such as “Prohibited item”, “Nudity/pornography/mature content” to allow quick sorting of the alleged
violation. After a report is received, content moderators will evaluate the alleged listing and decide if the removal
or the modification of the listing is necessary. However, Carousell is not obliged to inform the seller regarding
the outcome of this process. If the seller notices that their listing was removed and wish to enquire or appeal,
they have to directly email Carousell. This method is regarded by their team to have saved the time and effort
needed to review all listings.
Competitor’s Content Moderation Method
Carousell is not alone in the third-party platform industry and faces competitors such as Shopee, Duriana, and
Trezo. In order to enhance the quality of Carousell’s content moderation, understanding the strategies of
competitors is necessary to maintain a lead in the marketplace. Hence, an analysis of the competitors’ strategies
with respect to content moderation will be done. Below are the findings of the competitor’s operational models.
1. Shopee
Shopee adopts the reactive method with regards to content moderation. As
mentioned in its terms of service, the application does not “pre-screen users or the
content or information provided by users” (Shopee.sg, 2015). However, violations
of the terms of use such as the posting of impermissible content will be dealt with.
The violations can be raised by the users of the application or dealt with by the
application administrators and its designees. The reporting process for possible
violations come in the form of clicking the “Report this Product” or “Report this
User” button from the dropdown menu in the product or the user page. On the
moderators’ end, an evaluation of the alleged violation will occur and a successful
report will result in “an email, system message and push notification to the seller”
(Shopee.sg, 2015) on the removal of the listing from the application. In the event
of a questionable listing, there is an alternative avenue for users to voice their doubts
via direct mail to the application’s support team.

In view of such a moderation method, the application becomes heavily dependent on the users for the safety
and security of the application. Some users might be put off by the inappropriateness of the listing and hence,
be reluctant to engage with the application thereafter. However, this method is cost-effective and does not
require much effort from the administrators. Furthermore, they ensure that it is the onus of the user to
moderate the content that they view on the application. This lifts off the responsibility, be it legal or moral,
from the application.
2. Duriana
On the other hand, Duriana adopts a combination between reactive and user moderation method for their
content moderation. According to their community guidelines, Duriana has a strict policy against users who
post mature or prohibited images and attempt to list them on the app (Lisa, 2014). Like Carousell, they do
moderate listings that are reported by users through the “report this item” button at the user’s item page.
However, they do moderate listings at its own pace, removing listings that they deem unfit for the application.
The terms of service for Duriana states that “You acknowledge that Duriana does not pre-screen items or
content, but that Duriana and its designees shall have the right...in their sole discretion to refuse or remove any
items or content…”(2014).
It is noteworthy that Duriana provides informative, helpful and clear guidelines in their Frequently Asked
Questions (FAQ) column which helps the users to understand behaviors that are deemed inappropriate. The
column also addresses common issues regarding listings that most users may encounter. Below each FAQ, a
comments section offer interaction between users with queries and other users with possible answers or the
administrators themselves. This provides faster response to queries as users do not need to rely solely on the
administrators. If the content is deemed inappropriate by the moderation team, the listings will immediately
be removed from the user’s account and an in-app notification and an email will be sent to notify the user of
the removal. If a user believes that his or her items were wrongly removed, Duriana, like Carousell, allows for
email as a channel of feedback.
Upon signing up, Duriana also sends its users a WhatsApp or Viber number as an alternative contact point.
This allows staff to deal with users with urgent matters directly, bettering its customer service.

3. Trezo
Lastly, Trezo is the youngest among its rival as it is established by Singapore Press
Holdings’ Digital Division earlier this year (Ting, 2015). In terms of content
moderation, Trezo have strict regulations especially towards plagiarism. It is
stated on their terms and conditions that a user is not allowed to reproduce or
use any content uploaded by another Trezo user without permission. Under the
‘Use of Trezo’ section in the application, we can also find the characteristics of
items that Trezo have banned.
To further regulate their content, Trezo’s community guidelines can be found on
its mobile application. These guidelines dictate how Trezo members should
behave, which in turn, create a safe and friendly platform for users to buy and
sell. A specific list of items that are prohibited in Trezo’s listings is available for all users.
Trezo’s content moderation utilizes both post moderation and reactive methods. When Trezo’s team detects
any forbidden item, the item will be removed within the few hours after being posted, without any prior or post
notice to the user. Other users can also report items that they deem to be inappropriate through the “Report
as Spam” icon available under each listing. The system will then direct them to compose an email directed to
Trezo’s support team, voicing their concerns. If the reported items are proven to be violating any of their
guidelines, a response in the form of an email will be sent within a week’s time, followed by the removal of that
particular listing.
The unique strength of Trezo identified is its collaboration with the application, Straits Times (ST) Classified.
ST Classified is a popular online portal with a large consumer outreach. It is also a recognised brand that pushes
for items which are reliable and secure. Hence, Trezo benefits from this collaboration as its listings are able to
be featured in the abovementioned portal. However, many of Carousell’s listings are not within its control and
thus it is tough to verify and guarantee their reliability. As the brand grows, it would offer more reliability.
Recommendations
FAQ Button
With reference to Duriana’s functions, there are several improvements that can be learned to improve Carousell.
The current FAQ button in the carousell application is not user-friendly, given its location in the settings button
found within the user’s profile. To resolve this, the recommendation would be to institute another button in
the taskbar beside the user’s profile. Another improvement would be to include an FAQ comments section in
all of Carousell’s FAQs so that users can get faster response to questions they may have. Users can offer their
experience and help each other, fostering a community culture of helpfulness and care.
Report Follow-Up
The user’s report follow-up system is another area that Carousell can improve on. Currently, once a report is
made, there isn’t an option available for users to track the review process. This leaves users wondering if their
feedback to Carousell has been successful. Moreover, Carousell has been known to take a significantly longer
time, on a range of three to seven days, to send back a response. As the email option is the only available form
of communication between Carousell and its users, it will be troublesome for the users to clear their doubts. It
might cause users to feel that their feedback is being neglected and not taken seriously.

Nonetheless, providing a WhatsApp or Viber number like what Duriana do is not a suitable choice. This
method is very likely to trigger spam calls and it will be labour-intensive to deal with the responses. So, a
modification is needed. It involves adding a follow-up option as part of the message that pops up right after
the user has made a report. Users who chose the option will then receive in-app notifications regarding the
review status in their profile. It improves efficiency as it is targeted only at those users who are interested in
follow-ups.
Mature 18+ Category
We also acknowledge that Carousell prohibits any item which contain mature content. However, more often
than not, listings in Carousell that violates this rule do exist. For example, photos of sexy lingerie advertised by
real models are seen in the application. To overcome this problem, specific protocol should be enacted. The
protocol would see all new users requiring to key in their birth date during registration to confirm that their
eligibility to view listings suitable for users above the age of 18. By doing this, all such listings, placed under the
mature 18+ category, cannot be accessed by users under 18 years old. It helps in the moderating of such content
and keeps the application legally relevant.
Integrated Rating System
At the moment, Carousell adopts a simple rating system where feedback regarding interaction experience with
other users in the process of buying and selling is categorized as satisfactory, normal, or bad, shown as a happy
face, an expressionless face and a sad face respectively. There are several identified problems with the current
rating system. Firstly, a good buyer is not necessarily a good seller and vice versa. Under the current system, a
seller who have received bad ratings in the past can negate the impression by purchasing items and receiving
positive feedback as a buyer. Their overall profile will look better thereby tricking unwary customers who does
not do a background check on the seller. This system can be abused easily since getting a positive feedback as
a buyer is not as difficult as getting a positive feedback as a seller, given that most sellers will reciprocate if the
buyer leave a positive feedback. Secondly, all feedback is treated equally with the same weightage. Reciprocation
is common in Carousell and receiving a negative feedback due to leaving a negative feedback happens. Hence,
having all feedback carry the same weight would be unfair to users facing the abovementioned situation.
Lastly, there are listings created for the purpose of trading likes to increase listing exposure, which greatly reduce
Carousell’s credibility.
This system is intended to address these problems and provide a better and fairer experience for Carousell users.
In brief, the proposed system will give hidden numerical values to a user’s feedback based on past interactions
and reputation.

Proposed Systems
Introduction and the Interface
The proposed rating system will have seven tiers to be displayed, separately as buyer and seller,
from top to bottom namely “Excellent”, “Very Good”, “Good”, “Neutral” or “None available”
if there is less than 5 reviews, “Bad”, “Very Bad”, and “Horrible”. By creating a specific rating
for a person as a buyer and as a seller, the first problem can be addressed. The 5 reviews
threshold is needed since for the rating to be accurate, sufficient input is needed. To avoid
subjectivity in the grading, the system will maintain the traditional Carousell three classification
option in the feedback system (smile, neutral, sad) as the input. To be more informative, the
system will have seven tiers to grade the associated experience. It will offer more information
about the user’s behaviour and credibility to other users. The grading will be further explained
later.
This is an example for illustration purpose on how a profile will
look like under the proposed system. It can be color-coded or a
faint text may be displayed in the background to easily differentiate
them. By clicking the specific smiley rating (buyer/seller), users can
still review the feedback given to that person.
Grading System Mechanism
There are two hidden numerical values that will be used in the grading:
1. Seller rating (Sr) is the power rating of a person based on the person’s interaction as a seller of goods
to the consumer. Its original value is 0.5 and it can be increased or decreased based on interaction to a
maximum value of 1 or a minimum value of 0.
2. Buyer rating (Br) work in the same way as Sr, only it reflect the person’s interaction as a consumer
instead of a seller.
There are two modifiers that will be used in the grading. Further modifiers can be added in the future if needed.
1. Item sold or bought (Is or Ib) is a modifier intended to give more weight to active users who have
been actively using Carousell. The very low modifier for users who have not bought or sold any item
is used to make spam accounts less influential. The dramatic increase after the second transaction is to
limit the discrepancy of power between active users and newer users. This value will allow new users
to influence someone’s rating while still giving weight to active users. The numerical details of this
modifier can be seen in appendix.
2. Voting variable (V) is simply the variable input by the user. (smile, neutral, sad) The value is fixed at 1
for a positive feedback, -0.1 for a neutral feedback, and -1 for a negative feedback. The neutral feedback
is often used in Carousell when there is a concern about a user’s behaviour even though it does not
end with a bad experience. Thus, receiving multiple neutral feedback is a slightly negative indication of
the interaction experience.

There are two end products of this rating system:
1. Displayed buyer (dBr1) and seller rating (dSr1). Having a separate value for display is needed since even
if a user only receive positive feedback, it will take a lot of interaction for the Sr and Br to reach the
maximum number of 1. By using the dBr and dSr formula shown in appendix A, a number that reflect
the quality of past interactions can be obtained while keeping a separate value to grade the user’s
reputation power. The obtained value then will be converted to the appropriate tier. Negative value is
judged more harshly since it is harder to get and because Carousell will want to maintain high quality
of the general listings.
2. Listing rating (Lr) is an experimental value that can be implemented in the Carousell search engine.
The value reflect the popularity of a listing using a weighted grading system instead of the simple
addition of 1 per likes. Its original value is 1 and can be increased to a maximum amount of 2. The
formula can be found in Appendix.
Note: Refer to the Appendix for proposed systems formulas.

Marketing
Market Analysis
Market: Past, Present, Future
Past
The mobile marketplace’s market in the past was purely unexplored by companies. Traditional methods of
Consumer-to-consumer trading took place on forums and online communities, and there was no platform
application that supported these sales. The closest past market that existed for Carousell’s service was eBay,
who bridged consumers to consumers with an auction system.
Present
Currently, Carousell faces few competitors that are in direct competition with the service that Carousell
provides. Upcoming applications such as Trezo and Shoppee are intruding into Carousells market, while costs
are going up for Carousell to maintain the latest technology in their application while pricing remains at zero,
as Carousell has not monetized as of today.
Future
Carousell may face further competition from big service platforms such as eBay and Amazon should their
business take off and do well. To have a sustainable edge, Carousell would need to monetize their operations
to sustain increasing costs and to keep up with the market.
Additionally, as Carousell grows, they may need to expand the number of staff they have and along with that,
a bigger office space.
Market Cycle of Apps
Figure 1- Gartner Hype Cycle
http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/methodologies/hype-cycle.jsp

The Gartner Hype Cycle was used to interpret the innovation of any technology hype. Technology trigger is
when a new technology idea is created. This stage will generate proof-of-concept stories and generate
substancial media interest. Next, at the peak of inflated expectations, we can see that apps here will generate
success stories albeit not performing up to expectations and it comes with potential failes in this stage. The
third stage which is a dip in the graph tends to indicate that interests dies off as implentations and experiments
fail to deliver. This can be a crucial part of an app life in the market. Applications have to make significant
changes to satisfy early adopters in order for investments to continue supporting the operations. Subsequently,
by being in the slope of enlightenment stage will define how the technology can benefit the enterprise. Lastly,
plateau of productvity will include mainstream adoptions in the technology. If successful, the results will pay
off in the technology’s broad market applicability and relevance. Most mobile apps belong to the area as shown
in the graph with an arrow. They may garner attention and initial success but will eventually loose its standing
in the competition if they do not make accurate changes catering to their target market.
Product Definition
Carousell currently is a service platform application where consumers are able to buy and sell with other
consumers. Their main purpose is to bridge the Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) market and make it a simpler
and more efficient process. It is a service product that allows consumers to make most of the decisions
themselves. Their current KPI consists of the number of customers on board.
Market Segmentation
Customer Segmentation
The aim for the customer segmentation is to identify and group our customers according to similar behavioural
patterns.
Information gathered from surveys showed that Carousell users are selling their first-hand and second-hand
goods such as books, accessories, furniture, beauty products to clothes. Most of their customers are from
teenagers to young adults; from students to working or non-working adults. As such, the team decided to
narrow the age range for our marketing efforts to people from ages 17-25 which is where the majority of

Carousell users are (Figure 2). Through segmenting, the team can better target our marketing and advertising
efforts and resources to meet each buyers and sellers needs and preferences.
The idea of targeting University and Polytechnic students would allow them to recycle their books when they
are done with that certain modules. First of all, it would allow the sellers to get the book off their hands and at
and the same time, the buyers would not have such a hard time deciding to purchase the book if it is at a
cheaper price.
Another targeted age group would be from ages 26-40. However, there is lesser focus on this group. People
from this target segment are young adults whose priority at this point is their work and family. They mainly use
Carousell to purchase things that are more practical such as furniture, handicrafts, tour packages etc. Therefore,
we could specifically promote items that are more relevant to their lifestyles. In this group, we will be narrowing
our segment even further by targeting only the lower to middle incomers (Figure 3). Lower income is defined
as having an annual salary of $500-$2500 while middle income is defined as having a monthly salary of $2500-
$5000
The team has made an assumption that high incomers will not be as interested in Carousell because price is not
their main concern and they prefer to patron physical, authentic stores to purchase their products. Therefore,
Carousell will be more appealing to the lower and middle income segments.
More importantly, these two target customer segments consists of people who favours shopping and enjoy
discounted rates. Thus, Carousell would appeal to consumers who have an open mind for a flea market concept.
These “bargain-hunters” will enjoy the lower price deals of goods that is available on Carousell and therefore
develop a special bond with Carousell that could increase usage.
The main target segments are students and young adults, especially working adults, who mostly have access to
the internet which helps Carousell market its services and products more easily. We can then place our
marketing efforts at areas that our customers most frequent. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter,
and Instagram will give us a greater exposure that would attract the right age group of people because they are
tech savvy and would not feel intimidated to use the Carousell app.
Amount of People

We also target schools for students, buses during peak hours, and carnival events to widen our reach towards
potential customers.
Business Target Segments
To allow Carousell to tap into a wider range of market segment, the team decided to reach out to online blog
shops and local fashion retailers. Target segments were further narrowed down to the more popular online blog
shops, fashion bloggers who blog about their own clothing experiences and local designers that have the highest
viewer ratings and good reviews. A higher status will also bring up the image of Carousel among its customers
and increase its competitiveness with other similar apps like Shoppee and Trezo. These businesses are relatively
small in size, and are in their growth to maturity stage which is similar to Carousell, and hence their marketing
efforts would complement Carousell in introducing new innovations and ideas. Moreover, they share similar
target segments.
Due to marketing budget constraints, the estimated amount of targeted customers within the target segments
will be approximately 10% currently (Figure 5). This amount will increase with time when awareness is raised
and planned promotional events take flight.
Figure 5 – Business budgets
Malaysia Target Segment
Flea Market Goers: Hugely based in large developed states, such as Johor Bahru and Kuala Lumpur. Age ranges
from 18-30 years. Dominantly female.
Retail shoppers: Huge segment. Carousell should target states that have a good infrastructure in place, to make
the meet-ups easier, such as greater KL and Johor Bahru. Age ranges from 18-40 years of age. Both sexes
should be targeted.

Student Population: English speaking University students. Due to the lack of a Malay language for Carousell,
targeting University students will eliminate the communication barrier posed by the language issue. Ages 18-23.
Also, meet-ups will be easy for students within the same campus.
Competitive Landscape
Direct Competition
Carousell faces direct competition from two distinct competitors which are Shoppee and Trezo. Just like
Carousell, they operate as a third party service provider through the mobile application platform. The
application (product) and functionality of these two competitors are formatted in an exact way to Carousell’s
application. By offering the same product, both Shoppee and Trezo’s target audience will fall in the same market
segment. They will be targeting the new breed of Generation Y users who are actively engaged in most social
media platforms.
Indirect Competition
Moving on, Carousell faces indirect competition from websites like Qoo10 and Zalora. They have a strong
presence online and are known for selling a range of products. Qoo10 market place has a mobile application
and an active website on the internet. Similarly, Zalora has her own mobile application to further facilitate
buying offline. They have a strong financial backing with operations in many countries. Qoo10 and Zalora has
an established image of having trustable security system, guaranteed mailed parcels, huge discounts incentives
and multiple active feedback channels.
SWOT related to Trezo and Shoppee
Trezo
Strengths Weaknesses
 Encourage new signups by rewarding them
with coupons that gives a discount for their
next purchase
They do not have as many users as
Carousell, resulting in less sellers and
buyers
 Web application as well as their mobile
application is fully functional, which makes
them one step above Carousell
They are relatively new
 Advertising aggressively on prints ads such as
banners across Taxis in Singapore.
Lack of clear instructions on how to use
it
 App functions are as simple as Carousells’ Advertisements are unappealing
Opportunities Threats
 Less buyers and sellers would mean lesser
listings, potential users may switch to Carousell
 Carousell users may flock to Trezo as a
alternative if they are unhappy
 No segmentation advertising, thus Carousell
can focus on the that market and gain
advantage
 Carousell users may switch to Trezo if
they could not find the item they want
on Carousell
 Trezo keeps signups happy by giving
coupons for next purchase which
entices users to be on Trezo

Differentiating Carousell
Carousell’s uniqueness comes from promoting and relating themselves to their target audiences as a family
community. They reach out to users and encourage them to actively engage in the Carousell family. On their
social media platforms, Carousell would feature some of the prominent sellers and their entrepreneurial stories
behind. To further keep in touch with the Carousell community, Carousell would organize exclusive flea events
just for their users. In terms of the application, Carousell’s user layout is designed in red and white. Red would
signify a physical color which calls for action to be taken; users will tend to be high in energy and strength
seeking attention and demands to be noticed. White conveys simplicity, pristine and open. The application
layout is unique from competitors.
Shoppee
Strengths Weaknesses
 They encourage new signups by
rewarding them with coupons to offset
their next purchase
Lack of advertisement and exposure
 Shoppee has a larger range of products,
and is also known to carry more brand
new items than 2nd hand items
Search function not very user-friendly
 Free like Carousell Customer Service and User Feedback
response time is slow
 Has a Shoppee Guarantee (Where
products that you do not receive are
immediately refunded)
 Encourages Bloggers to list their items
on their site
Opportunities Threats
 Shoppee users will eventually use
Carousell due to the larger listings
 Shoppee uses incentives like coupons and
reimbursement to retain and keep its users
happy
 Carousell has a better user layout and
function which may win over unsatisfied
Shoppee users
 Carousell users might switch over to
Shoppee due to security reasons which
Shoppee can guarantee their best interest
 Shoppee focuses on expanding and
advertising with its huge budget that might
capture rest of the market segment first

Launch Strategies
Launch Plan
Awareness and interest
A carnival and a series of advertisements will be launched to promote Carousell’s brand. A total of $9928 will
be spent on print ads, bus hangers and flyers to raise awareness. These strategies are expected to garner attention
and interests from our target audiences.
Intent
The sign-up booth at the carnival encourages new users to use Carousell when they intend to sell or purchase
items in the future. At the booth, new users will be given a step by step guide on how to use the application
and a task to sell an item that is provided by Carousell. Proceeds from the sales will go to them if they
successfully close a deal. This acts as an incentive for new users to want to sell the product and this process will
illustrate how convenient shopping is on Carousell.
Evaluation
At the event, customers will be able to get a first-hand experience of Carousell’s community spirit. They will
also be able to find a variety of items at the flea markets that they might not have seen on the application itself.
This would open their eyes to just how vast and extensive product categories are at Carousell. Individuals can
also expect to receive free red packets (empty), gift boxes and coupons where they will receive discounts on
any purchases made. A total of $1228 will be spent on these giveaways. The events will also serve as a way to
garner positive feedback from existing users when they interact with the Carousellers present at the events.
Purchase
With this new perspective of Carousell, new users are expected to use Carousell when they intend to buy or sell
items in the near future. To further enhance the purchase stage, the events give off coupons and discounts and
thus will lean the users purchase decisions towards Carousell.
Retention
A loyalty point system and good customer service feedback after a sale or purchase is made is crucial in customer
retention. In this aspect, we propose Carousell to send out a personalised e-mail or message to users after each
sale or purchase to garner feedback. Furthermore, the message should entail a link for the customer to leave a
feedback on Carousell’s Facebook page; which upon completion should be rewarded with a discount coupon.

Advertising and Promotion
The purview of Advertising and Promotion falls under the jurisdiction of the Community Division and the
Public Relations Division. The Community Division is in charge of events (flea markets, etc…) whereas the
Public Relations Division is in charge of putting out the word for Carousell and its proposed/implemented
strategies by the various divisions. Below are the details of such activities carried out by above mentioned
divisions.
Community Strategies
The Carousell Community believes in ensuring that every user of Carousell will have the best experience while
buying and selling on the application. It has always been carousell's priority to provide users with a friendly and
convenient platform where every users' needs are being taken care of. Over the past couple of years, the
community team has actively organized events for users to meet and interact with one another. To further
enhance users' experience and attract more new users to the application, we have proposed flea carnivals and
special collaborations as well as strategic plans to globalize operations. By indulging in these tactical and strategic
plans, we are confident that the carousell community will benefit significantly, thus leading to an overall increase
in satisfied current and new users.
The main aim of the team’s strategy is to improve on the flea events and collaborations, based on past events
and survey results, and to incorporate flea events and collaborations together to improve Carousell’s exposure
to a wider market.
Short Term (Tactical) Goals
Carousell’s short term goals include expanding its brand awareness, retaining existing customer loyalty, gaining
more users as well as enhancing the experience of the above mentioned existing and new members of its
community.
The Community department firstly aims to achieve these goals through implementation of flea events such as
the “Carounival”, which will act as a social convention to improve the overall trading experience for the
Carousell community. The events will allow existing users of Carousell to increase sales, while at the same time
also attract non-members into signing up for Carousell.
Collaborations with local designers will also be implemented to increase the brand awareness of Carousell. The
Community department intends to promote its brand and service through popular local designers while at the
same time establish a formal partnership with these designers for future ventures.
By creating such experiences, the Community department seeks to retain the loyalty of its existing and new
members. These experiences will be implemented not only in Singapore but throughout Southeast Asia in the
near future.

Tactical Plans
Carounival
A flea event would be held after the Chinese New Year of the year 2016. This event will not just be a flea
market, but a Carnival theme would be implemented. There will be attractions such as rides, games and food
and beverage booths.
Priority for booths will be given to existing Carousellers, and will be opened up to the public after a cut-off
date. This would give Carousellers the opportunity to have a physical store at the same time fostering a stronger
sense of belonging to the community. Booths will be located island wide at major hubs (Pasir Ris, Jurong,
etc…), allowing the public to commute to the event at their convenience.
An incentive will also be given to Carousellers who get the public to sign up for a Carousell account during the
event, for which they will be given a monetary discount off the next booth rental. This would expand interaction
between Carousellers and the public, at the same time allowing Carousell to gain traction.
Additionally, there will be a main stage showcasing special products that Carousellers have for sale. Carousellers
are encouraged to book specific time slots for the main stage to boost their products. A free photo booth will
also be set up and will be tied in with a lucky draw.
Caroulab*SG/MY
Collaborations are an effective method for Carousell to increase their reach and for the Community to grow
numerically and spiritually. The previous collaboration with AirBnB garnered a significant amount of support
from the Community as well as from the public, enabling the Carousell Community to benefit and grow from
that venture. However, due to a lack of long-term strategic planning, the collaboration became a one-off venture
and the increase in awareness of Carousell as a platform for buyers and sellers was limited.
Caroulab*SG/MY is a collaborative effort between local designers of Singapore/Malaysia and Carousell with
the aim of improving Carousell’s KPIs (number of users, number of listings and number of items sold) while
at the same time creating awareness for local designers to boost the local fashion industry. From the results of
the market survey that was conducted, majority of the participants responded that would like for Carousell to
collaborative with local fashion labels. As a result, the Community Team has short-listed 6 fashion brands from
Singapore and 5 from Malaysia that are potential collaborative partners.
Through integration of the conventional online/boutique fashion business model with Carousell’s pre-existing
mobile marketplace, both entities will stand to gain unprecedented advantages. Firstly, by registering an account
with Carousell, the designers will have an additional platform to market and sell their products. As Carousell is
an easy-to-use platform, this new channel will certainly add value to their businesses as listing of products and
mode of transaction will be enhanced through the mobile application and the website. Also, advertising space
will be allocated to these designers on Carousell’s app and web homepage in the form of an interactive banner.
These banner advertisements will be rotational, with one designer being featured for a period of one week.
With Carousell’s current user-base of 2 million, these advertisements will achieve a significant reach within the
Carousell Community. The exposure gained serves as a marketing tool for these designers, with the added
advantage of being cost-neutral. In addition, these designers will be given a booth at the Carousell Flea which
provides them with the opportunity to interact with consumers and obtain valuable feedback on their products.

Long Term (Strategic) Goals
Carousell’s long term goals include being the top recognized service for convenience and simplicity in e-
commerce, creating publicly anticipated experiences, and development into a worldwide service.
The Community department firstly seeks to achieve the long term goals through the development of its events.
Instead of standalone events, we envisage a lineup of formal recurrent annual events that will be highly
anticipated by both its existing and non-existing members.
Also, the Community department will focus on expanding and integrating Carousell’s collaboration in the global
market. Operating cross borders in the international field, partnerships will be acquired throughout the world,
with various brands featuring their products exclusively on Carousell.
Finally, the Community department will actively seek out publishers in order to establish and position
Carousell’s brand and service in the global market. Being prominent in the media is imperative for the business
to achieve worldwide recognition.
All the goals add together to spearhead Carousell into being the dominant service for a safe and prestigious e-
commerce service, with the added benefit of it being a simple and easy platform for the end users to enjoy.
In addition, with local designers joining the Carousell marketplace, Carousell will no longer be seen merely as
a ‘secondhand marketplace’ but rather a ‘one-stop mobile shopping paradise’. According to a survey conducted
by the team, 94% of respondents would like to see a clear division of new products and secondhand products
on Carousell
Carouscript
Carousell is constantly seeking various avenues to get its brand image out there, through schools and events,
from a phone app to a live website. A natural step to progression would be to pursue a publication and press
sector that provides Carousell with a new avenue to put its name out there, gives credibility to its brand image
and something that Carousell could call theirs. In addition, it allows Carousell to build its community image of
sellers and their products to the public.
Having a publication avenue would encourage more sellers to join Carousell as they have the potential
opportunity to have their work and products featured in the magazine. This symbiotic relationship of inviting
more sellers and sellers seeking to get featured, benefits both Carousell and its active users. With the frequency
of the publication to be determined, if it should be every quarter of the year, biannually, or monthly.

Marketing Strategies
One of the aims of our advertising strategy is to raise awareness about Carousell. In order to get the brand
name out there, a carnival has been planned and several advertisements created.
Details about Carousell Carnival
Prior to the event, e-mails would be sent to inform the existing users of Carousell and provide the opportunity
for them to book a booth in order to showcase and sell their products during the event. On top of that,
announcements would be placed on social media platforms to entice both sellers and buyers to participate. The
announcement will begin from teaser posters, raising curiosity as to what Carousell has in-stall for them.
Thereafter, posters intended to raise participation with more details of the event will be released. Also, to
increase the percentage of crowd turning out for the event, there would also be a handful of activities carried
out ; for instance, local singers are engaged to showcase their talent at certain durations, there would be booths
selling popcorns and cotton candies and to end off the night, a lucky draw winner would be announced. As an
individual steps into the carnival, he or she will receive free red packets with a Carousell logo imprinted on it
to commemorate the Chinese New Year occasion and a Carousell customized gift box.
Thereafter, the patron might purchase a $10 worth of coupon which has a perforated segment for the lucky
draw and the rest of the portion enables the user to purchase items at a discount from the carnival. From this
carnival, not only will Carousell be able to increase awareness to the public and increase sales for sellers, the
public would also be well aware of how Carousell takes care of the community through funds contributed via
the purchase of products from charity organizations. Besides that, through the “teaching booth”, participants
are able to experience the convenience to “snap, list and sell” and evolve as a Carouseller at the event itself.
Posters about the Carousell carnival will be placed on the notice boards of local tertiary institutions. Due to
budget constraints, only twelve institutions that have the majority of our target audience have been selected.
They are the National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore

Management University (SMU), Singapore Institute of Management (SIM) , Singapore Institute of Technology
(SIT) , Singapore University of Technological and Design (SUTD), Singapore Polytechnic (SP), Ngee Ann
Polytechnic (NP), Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP), Temasek Polytechnic (TP) and Institute of Technical
Education (Central and West).
Two posters will be put up at each institution about a month before the launch of the carnival. They are
expected to not only raise awareness about the brand itself, but also spark an interest since it is the first time
Carousell has ever held a carnival.
While Trezo is advertising heavily on taxis, Carousell would advertise on public transports as well. Public
transportation plays a pivotal role in the daily lives of millions of commuters in Singapore and the two main
options of public transport in Singapore are the MRT and bus systems. However due to limited budget, the
most cost efficient advertising in this area will be in the form of bus hangers. A total of 20,000 hangers will be
placed in 200 buses of random routes for 4 weeks.
A total of 10,000 A5 sized flyers will also be distributed at the bustling streets of Orchard Road to promote the
Carousell carnival. Many of our target audiences are expected to frequent these area especially over the
weekends. The flyers will be handed out a week before the launch of the event for two purposes. Firstly, it
serves as a reminder to those who have seen the advertisement about the carnival. Secondly, to draw in new
crowds and the one week period will hopefully be sufficient for those who are keen on joining but have to
reschedule their timetable for the event.
Changing perception of second hand goods
Apart from creating events to boost the number of users on Carousell, we also aim to increase the brand
awareness of Carousell to allow both users and non-users to understand what Carousell can do for them. To
build Carousell’s brand, it is important for the public to understand that Carousell can be used to make and
save money at the same time. There are also treasures to be found on the app, such as 1st-hand goods / luxury
goods on discount. We convey these messages by way of print advertisements, and also by collaborating with
popular blogs. These blogs are chosen based on the extent to which their contents are closely linked with what
Carousell has to offer.
We have also created a print advertisement that illustrates a variety of items such as a shirt, bicycle and bag
being mixed in a blender, and the end result would be ‘liquid’ cash. The purpose of this print advertisement is
to let viewers know that by using Carousell, they can transform their items into cash

Generating more Interest and Intent
One of the blogs that we have chosen to collaborate with is the MoneySmart blog. Moneysmart.sg is a website
that consolidates product/financial information into a single platform. Its blog releases articles that provides
tips and tricks on anything money-related, and are written in a light-hearted way in a bid to entertain their
audience. Further, the blog has a reach of ~200k visitors a month, which was a compelling factor when we
were choosing between various blogs. The article that we intend for them to write on is titled ‘5 Ways to Save
Money on Carousell’, and the 5 ways are as follows:
• Request for Certificate of Posting
• Use the filter function (Price Low to High)
• More savings with >1 purchase
• Always compare product prices and quality
• Stop bargaining, start negotiating
This article will then be shared and promoted with Facebook’s and Instagram’s advertising services.
Public Relations
The job of a Public Relations (PR) department, whether internal or outsourced, is to manage the image of the
organization. Communicating the right message and maintaining uniformity is vital to the organization when
they ‘speak’ to the general public, customers and investors. By portraying a positive image for the stakeholders,
the organisation is able to improve overall sales and help improve their bottom line. The following sections are
the strategies of the Public Relations Division in their capacity to portray a positive image of Carousell through
various means.
Short Term Goals
Charity
The team decided to cover Carousellers who themselves believe in giving back - giving part of their proceeds
to charitable organisations. Carousell is “on a mission to make online buying and selling accessible to all, while
creating a safe, friendly and playful community of happy individuals”. Many have the wrong perception that
Carousell is just another platform for individuals to buy and sell their personal, pre-loved items. Thus, we
decided to cover charitable Carousellers to break that misconception. But more importantly, it reflects good
corporate citizenship behavior that is part of Carousell’s culture.
In line with Carousell’s first ever pet adoption drive, the team felt that it would be appropriate to feature stories
of Carousellers who donated part or all their proceeds to charitable organizations. Similar to Carousell’s ‘Paw-
radise’, an event focused on pet adoption for dogs, it was apt to include the contributions of users such as
@cutie3.142, @Allurekingdom and @Mailorder who actively promote animal welfare. Some of the items that
they sell include calendars, customizable scrapbooks and pet beds.
In order to spread the word, the PR department has decided to pitch this story to the relevant Medias. We have
chosen a variety of platforms such as the ‘Pets’ magazine (print), MediaCorp (television) and AsiaOne Singapore
News (online). It is appropriate to pitch to ‘Pets’ magazine because it is Singapore’s leading magazine for pets
lovers. Therefore they might be interested to feature people using the application to promote the same cause.
Last but not least, we chose to spread the word through the use of online news platforms so as to reach a wider
target audience. Not only is this platform a popular and convenient way to stay updated with news happenings
but AsiaOne Singapore has written articles related to pets and have also featured Carousell in the past. For

these reasons, it would be desirable if we could collaborate with these media platforms to produce a cover story
for Carousell. (Refer to Appendix C)
Vintage
Another story that the PR Division has chosen to cover is on the category ‘Vintage & Antiques’. Rather than
recommending items for sale, the team has handpicked a few Carousellers that are selling vintage items that
collectors will drool for. Other than selling possessions online for profit or clearing their closet off old items,
carousellers have used this platform to explore new ways to sell their vintage and collectible items. It is difficult
to find vintage and antique items in the market, and Carousell has provided a platform to sell these precious
memorabilia.
The obsession for old coin coins is ever living. Collectors both young and old are usually intrigued by these
prized possessions. Coin collecting is a famous hobby, and many are interested to acquire these antiques rich
in history. Carouseller, @neil.william, has a huge collection of vintage coins from various countries, of various
time periods; China’s early 1900s coin and 1897 USA Coronet Head $10 gold coin. Carouseller, @sleow, has a
notable collection of old Singapore notes, from the first ever Orchid series (issued from 1967 to 1976) to the
Ship series (1984 to 1999) of different denominations. They are sold at a slightly higher price than the note’s
value in circulation because of its value as a collector’s item, as well as a memorabilia of Singapore’s progress
since gaining independence. Carouseller, @tjy1404, also has many listing of old Singapore notes, but he also
has an interesting amount of notes with serial numbers that might garner interest for some collectors.
Kitchen and dining ware combined with vintage properties will surely bring back lots of nostalgia, not to
mention the unique and fascinating designs found only on these aged items. People who are intrigued by vintage
kitchen and dining ware will be overwhelmed by carouseller, @heritage, and their collection of vintage items.
Vintage set of tea cups, procelain spoons, peranankan vases and retro glasses are just some of their many
intricate listings. It would be a pleasure looking at these beautiful items but it would be a great to ponder about
the history behind each of these items. (Refer to Annex 2.02 for the pitch)
Campus
The PR department would cover on how Carousell has partnered students of University at Buffalo to foster
experiential learning, creating an out-of-class classroom experience. The reason why we thought to feature
Carousell is that it would be in line with their support for young and energized youths.
Increasingly, the people living in this world are getting more educated than ever. In recent years, it is evident
that grades alone are not enough to distinguish one excellent student from the other. There has been a shift in
the importance of mere grades to include the ability to handle real life scenarios. Carousell staffs has stepped
in and generously gave up their time to guide 41 students in operating as a small scale company making revisions
and improvements to the Carousell application.
The main target audience would be students, and we would pitch to campus publications and magazines. This
allows students to understand not only the need for grades but the need to be able to react in real life scenarios.
This is also in line with the shift in teaching styles and material that can only be achieved beyond textbooks and
the four walls.
With regards to this particular type of story, the PR department will be pitching to campus related publications.
In specific, CAMPUS.sg magazine and teenage magazine. Whose target audiences are mainly students and

therefore the articles written in these magazines are sculpted for and would be of interest to them. (Refer to
Annex 2.03 for the pitch)
The Short Term Goals for Malaysia would be similar to the Singapore plans, with the exception that the media
pitches would be tailored to the Malaysian Media instead. The relevant pitches would be available in the
Appendix.
Long Term Goals (SG Plan)
Moving forward, within the next two to three years, the PR Department has plans to expand. These expansion
plans applies not only to the growth of department members but also in the expansion of the number of
projects that we will take on. A project that the PR department can take on with the increase in manpower
would be to cover changes that various departments have decided to make in the near future.
Besides highlight interesting stories of Carousellers to the various media platforms, the PR department has also
decided to approach various related media’s to cover changes and improvements made by Carousell’s other
departments. Namely the UI/UX department and the Community department. For both departments, changes
will be further divided into short term plans (that will take place the following year) and long term plans (which
duration spans across 2 - 3 years).
Community (Short/Long Term Plans)
Carounival
The Community department’s short term plan is to host a carnival themed flea market on the 14th and 15th of
February 2016 onwards at 111 Somerset. Hosting it close to Chinese New Year, the carnival will be decked in
festive celebratory lights and decorations. In addition, the Community department hope that people would
uncover many items that can be sold after they have done their spring cleaning. Therefore this flea would be
an effective avenue to sell these items.
Aligned with Carousell’s values of creating a friendly and close knitted community amongst all Carousellers,
the flea will have carnival rides, live band performances and photo booths, curating a pleasant and fun
environment for people to mingle. In addition, opened to both users and non-users, this flea is a good way for
participants to better use and know of the application. Ultimately, this carnival themed flea will help to hone a
stronger sense of belonging and camaraderie amongst all Carousellers.
The PR department has decided to pitch this story to Teen Magazine and Her World Magazine. Teenage
Magazine focuses on lifestyle and fashion and it is highly relevant to Carousell’s target audiences which
comprises of young adults. On the other hand, Her World Magazine focuses on a different but highly relevant
target audience which comprises of mostly females. Therefore, these mediums would be a good platform for
this story to be featured on. (Refer to Annex 2.04 for the pitch)
Based on the degree of success of the Carounival that would be held in February, the community team would
evaluate if they would put together another Carounival in the following makimg it a permanent annual event.

Caroulab*SG/MY
Caroulab is a collaborative initiative pieced together by the Community Department. It will be based on
collaborations with local designers from Singapore or Malaysia. Designers are able to have their own exclusive
collection category on the Carousell application itself. Users are able to make use of this collaboration initiative
to conveniently search for exclusive local designer products just by scrolling through the categories. This will
also dispel the myth of Carousell being just a secondhand marketplace.
The PR Department has selected JUICE Magazine and ZIGGY Magazine for this new project by the
Community Department. JUICE Magazine has a section for local designers which is highly relevant to
Caroulab, therefore, its readers might take interest in this new project of ours. ZIGGY magazine too, has an
audience that has a similar interest and would support this new project of Carousell. (Refer to Annex 2.06 for
pitch)
In the long run, Caroulab would be a worldwide event and Carousellers and non-Carousellers alike would be
able to use the application to buy and sell stuff. Increasing not only the number of people using the application
but ultimately seeing the Carousell application as a one stop shop application.
Carouscript
Carousell’s community department aims to launch their own bi-annually in-house digital magazine. Managed
by both freelance writers and issuu.com, this digital magazine - Carouscript, will be filled with interesting stories
of Carousellers that will captivate its readers. An added feature unlike other digital magazines is the ease for
readers to purchase items from the featured Carouseller directly from the article that is being read. This allows
for greater convenience for readers and Carousellers alike, not only fostering immediate sale but purchase as
well. Carouscript will not only act as an avenue where users can keep up with changes made on Carousell but
it will also help to foster closer relationships with the current user community. Relationships are fostered
through the hand-picking of special, unique sellers that will be featured on Carouscript.
Before Carouscript’s inception, the PR department will help to pitch the launch and existence of Carouscript
to various related mediums. Though the community department will be spearheading Carouscipt and the
various stories that will be featured, the PR department will aid in identifying interesting content such as success
stories, entrepreneurs and fund-raising activists using Carousell as well.
Since Carouscript is a new project venture, the PR department will need to engage the media to promote the
induction of Carousell’s very own publication. We are planning to approach names such Techinasia. It is an
online platform which features and are supportive of start-ups like Carousell, and gives it an opportunity to be
known. (Refer to Annex 2.05 for the pitch)
Eventually, Carouscipt will be featured as a monthly digital magazine, whereby, more Carousellers would
feature, and will ensure that a closer Community will be formed.

Engineering (UI/UX) Plans
Short Term
The short term plan for the UI/UX department focuses on improving the functionality of the current
application. Currently, the app offers 4 pictures for free. With the new update, the amount of images that the
Carousellers can upload for each item has increased from 4 images to 8 images, with a small nominal fee of
$0.49. The sellers, are now able to showcase their goods in more ways, benefiting both sellers and buyers.
Secondly, messages sent in the chat between the buyers and the sellers would have the “seen” indication when
either party has read the message. This particular feature benefits both the buyers and sellers, as now, they are
able to view whether their message gets through, and would also reduce the waiting time on either side when
either party fails to reply or disappears.
Thirdly, more sub categories will be added on the user's’ profile page so as to help them better navigate within
the application itself. There will also be a smart search button where Carousellers. This will enable the buyers
to see the recently searched items, as well as related items. With the new search feature, the buyers will find it
easier to find, and purchase the goods. Carousellers will also be able to customise their profile to their own
preference. This feature allows the Carousellers to be unique, and showcase their individuality.
There are several platforms that the PR department has chosen to feature these cover stories. One of the main
platform would be Techinasia, which is a popular online network for Asia’s tech community. Since Carousell
has previously collaborated with Techinasia, we believe that Techinasia would be an appropriate platform to
feature the stories. Another platform would be Techcrunch, which is the no. 1 business blog, with 6.5M readers
from across the tech industry. Digital News Asia, and Thenextweb, is also chosen as a platform to cover our
stories. (Refer to Annex 2.07 for the pitch)
Long Term
The long term plan of UI/UX focuses on improving the design and usability of the application. Certain features
that will be updated and improved on would include a new section on Transaction History. There will be a
button which will link the users to see what they have sold or purchased.
With the current method of payment, it requires both parties to meet up to deal which is of a great
inconvenience to both the buyers and sellers. Hence, a new method of payment, such as Paypal, will be
introduced to the users which will improve the transaction process. The new transaction method not only is it
convenient to Carouseller, it also ensures that the Carousllers are well protected. In case of delivery failure, or
damaged goods, Carousellers would not be liable, as Paypal would take responsibility to refund the buyer. With
the added feature, sellers would feel more secure to deliver their items. Since Carousell has coordinated with
Delivery service: Singpost and Ninja Van, it would definitely benefit buyers. Singpost, which is the no.1 delivery
service in Singapore, will deliver items promptly. Ninja Van which specializes in next-day deliveries will benefit
Carousell buyers who are urgent of getting their items delivered fast locally in Singapore. Items can be delivered
within 24 hours.
With a new and improved “Wishlist” feature, Carousellers would now be able to pin their desired items in the
wishlist. This function will definitely be useful in festive seasons, and special occasions, as Caurouseller will be
able to know what their loved ones wants, and buy the items as gift. These items will be delivered via our
effective delivery services, Singpost and Ninjavan.

The new Data Analytics function, will enable the sellers to view additional information such as the number of
people who have viewed their profiles, the number of items they have sold, and their rates of selling items.
These data will allow the sellers, to gain details about their buyers. This function will be priced at $4.99 a month
which gives Carousellers the option of renewing the service monthly. Lastly, Carousell is looking to explore a
new video option which allow users to a 360 degree view of their items.
The PR department has decided that when the updates are finalized and ready to launch, pitch these new
updates to Techcrunch (number one business blog for startup and investment news, with the readership of
about 6.5 million readers across the technology industry and having about 13 million social media followers),
Digital News Asia, Techinasia (the go-to online platform for Asia’s technology community) and Thenextweb.
(Refer to Annex 2.08 for the pitch)
Overall PR Plan
Following Up of Media Pitches
Should the selected media reply with enthusiasm with regards to any of our pitches on the respective stories,
the PR Department will follow up with the individual media representative on a one-to-one basis. This would
allow invaluable relationships and connections to be formed that would aid Carousell in the long run.
Frequency of our stories
The PR department has scheduled a timeline to pitch stories, cover updates and take on event coverages to
selected media. We have decided to approach the selected Medias every quarterly, this is to prevent media
fatigue.
Trying to pitch to Medias too frequently may leave a negative impression on the media. It may also come across
as aggressive advertising on the part of Carousell and put off current and potential users. Currently, Carousell
is very active on social media and the platform provides ample information about upcoming events to keep
Carousellers in the loop. Thus, pitching stories to the media would be a complementary approach to cover
events that are truly newsworthy and keep the Carousellers up to date.
Rough estimate of financials
As how public relations have always been like, stories are covered on the various media platforms due to close
relationships between the PR personnel and editors. The PR department continue on this practice therefore
not incurring much costs in this area. The only cost incurred in the near future would be the amount needed
to hire another full time PR employee to work alongside Valerie Tan, the only PR personnel Singapore has at
the moment.

Appendix
12-Month Cash Flow

Statement of Cash Flows

UI/UX Survey Results
Survey Questions Yes No Remarks
Are you currently a Carousell User 76% 7% 17% in the past
Do you ‘repost’ unsold items after a
month
26% 74%
Good idea for ‘repost’ item to be
implemented
57% 5% 38% said Maybe
Different sub-categories on profile page 89% 11%
Allow more categories per item 47.5% 5% 47.5% Maybe
360 degree view option for listing 82% 18%
Analytics for product information 89% 11% Paid premium
Increase from 4 pictures to 8 pictures per
listing
77% 23% Additional pictures chargeable
Most commonly search items displayed
in search box
82% 18% Similar to Google Search
Integrated payment services 89% 11% PayPal, DBS PayLah, etc…
‘Seen’ Icon in chat in interface 84% 16% People who answered ‘No’ provided
reason such as privacy reasons, conflicts
and unnecessary features.
Sub categories in personal store profile 87% 13%
Customisable profiles 75% 25%
Problems encountered with Carousell 18% 82% People who answered ‘Yes’ cited the lack
of transaction histories, search filter
loopholes, scam payments and
lowballers.

Operations Systems Formulas
Item sold and bought modifiers
Items 0 1 2 5 10 15 20 30 40 50+
Modifier x0.1 x0.2 x0.6 x0.7 x0.75 x0.8 x0.85 x0.9 x0.95 x1
Formulas:
0 subscript indicate feedback giver, 1 subscript indicate feedback receiver
Hidden rating calculation:
Sf = Seller’s feedback = Br0*V*Ib/50
Bf = Buyer’s feedback = Sr0*V*Is/50
Lf = Listing’s feedback = (Sr0+Br0)/2/50
Sr1 = MIN ((0.5 + sum (Sf1, Sf2, …)),1)
Br1= MIN ((0.5 + sum (Bf1, Bf2, …)),1)
Displayed rating calculation:
dBr1 = Displayed buyer’s rating = (sum(Bf1, Bf2, …)/sum(|Bf1|,| Bf2|, |…|)
dSr1 = Displayed seller’s rating = (sum(Sf1, Sf2, …)/sum(|Sf1|,| Sf2|, |…|)
Lr = MIN (sum(Lf1, Lf2, …)),2)

Displayed rating conversion table
Example:
A buyer give a negative feedback to a seller who have never sold anything before. The buyer have bought seven items in the past and have a buyer rating of 0.56
The Sf value based on the formula Sf=Br0*V*Ib/50 is 0.56*-1*0.7/50=-0.00784
The resulting Seller rating due to the negative feedback is a decrease from 0.5 to 0.49216
A seller received 4 positive feedback and 1 negative feedback. The values are +0.00976, +0.0126, +0.00856, +0.00784, and -0.0182. The displayed seller’s rating
based on the formula dSr1 = (sum (Sf1, Sf2, …)/sum(|Sf1|,| Sf2|, |…|) is 0.02056/0.05696=0.3609. The resulting tier shown to the end user is one smiley face
or “good”.

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