(Again 😅)

Elevator Pitch

Did you know that the average Indian household has spent 12% more on electricity annually for the last 10+ years? This means that you are paying 3 times the electricity bill you were paying 10 years back.

And this is expected to continue for the next 20+ years.

We know it's a problem, so we built a solution: Home Solar Energy System.

Bring your electricity bill down to ZERO for the next 25 years!

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BUT

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Solar Panels are a hassle... 😖

They don't last for 25 years... 🤔

The initial cost of investment is very high... 🤑

There are very few trustworthy brands... 😔

How do I decide how many solar panels are needed? 😵

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We heard you and brought you the solution. Our team at Luminous will take care of the end-to-end solution. Just book a visit and we will take care of everything from

🤔suggesting the most suitable system

🤨calculating your ROI

😗installing the complete system with all Luminous branded products

🙂helping you out with the electricity board

😁giving you an awesome maintenance plan.

And TRUST? Well, Sachin Trusts us, do you?​

Understanding the Product

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Understanding Core Value Proposition

• What are we building❓

Solar panel-based systems for Home and commercial applications.

• What problems are we solving❓

Reducing electricity bills, and dependency on the Grid, helping consumers move towards a sustainable lifestyle.

• How big is this problem❓

10 years ago, electricity bill was rarely a big expense for most people in India. As per the customer interviews (15+ random interviews/feedback), most people have started recognizing electricity bills as a major expense. Ask yourself: Was the electricity bill a big expense 10 years ago? is it a big expense now?

• What are some key features❓

A reliable integrated system including a mobile app, smart data logger, zero installation hassle, maintenance plans and amazing customer support.

Understanding the brand perception (as per customer interviews)

Why do customers choose us over other brands❓

Luminous is a Reliable and well-known brand, with better penetration in all sorts of demographics (cities and villages) than most competitors.

Why do customers keep buying our products❓

Luminous provides good Product Quality and Service. Also, it is a trustworthy brand which has been in the market for a very long time. Most shops have Luminous products.

What words do customers use to describe Luminous❓

• well-known
• experienced brand
• technically committed

Understanding the Users

Let's talk about Raju

-> Raju realizes that the electricity bills are rising

-> Raju starts looking for a solution both online and offline

-> He comes to know about Solar panels from one of his friends

-> He starts doing research over the internet.

-> But, wait there is very ambiguous information on the internet

-> Raju is not sure how much the system will cost him and how much will he be able to save.

-> On top of this, Raju thinks it's a hassle.

-> Raju goes to a local distributor and asks for details.

->The distributor also gives him vague information; Raju is even more confused now.

-> Raju now goes to his peers and checks if someone has installed this system.

-> He uses the same vendor for his installation. (This happens currently in the market)

Well, this is where Luminous needs to improve.

What should be done?

-> Luminous puts down a book-free consultation button on the website.

-> While doing online research, Raju finds the website and clicks on the button.

-> Luminous representative calls and guides Raju about all the questions.

-> The representative also recommends using the Luminous solution but also encourages Raju to talk to other companies. (This builds a lot of trust and confidence)

-> Raju goes through some more brands.

-> Raju comes back to Luminous because: Luminous is a good brand name, our solution is simpler, we are transparently giving all the information, and we have better technical competency. Overall, a better value proposition.

-> Raju books the system from Luminous, and voila: everything is taken care of: no hassle with installation, no hassle with the government, trustworthy solution is installed.

Understanding the ICP

Pranav

Pranav lives in a city apartment and can't use solar panels due to space availability. He has been noticing that his electricity bills have been going up and have become a significant expense for him. He has also done some research about solar panels. Though he is not looking for any solutions now, He is planning to move to an independent house within the next 10 months and is convinced that he will get a Home Solar Energy System installed.

Avantika

Avantika lives in a village in Himachal and has an independent house. She faces continuous problems with the Grid: voltages keep on fluctuating and frequent light cuts. She is looking for a Home Solar Energy System to solve both of these problems. She also is concerned about the environment and believes that she should reduce her environmental impact. She is unsure about which companies to reach out to. She wants a product which is good, reliable and from a known brand.

Samavesh

Samavesh lives in a tier 1 city in Gujarat and has an independent house. He installed the Home Solar Energy System in 2020 (not Luminous though 😫). At that time, the electricity bill for Samavesh was ~3500 per month. The system cost him around 1.25 lakh including everything. The installation was good, though he had to wait for government approval for a long time. There were no failures in the system for the last 4 years, however, the inverter failed recently which was fixed for free by the same Vendor. Instead of going with a brand, Samavesh went with a local vendor as this vendor had installed similar systems in his neighborhood. The important thing to know here is that Samavesh was aware of Luminous (being a trusted brand) but wasn't aware that Luminous also provides this system.

Radha

Radha lives in a small town in her independent house with her family. She installed the Home Solar Energy System in 2018 (not luminous again 😭), though her experience was not good. She got it installed from a local vendor who had also installed the system for some of her peers. For the first three years, the system didn't work at all. She had to pay extra money to get everything repaired. After all this, her system has been working fine for the last 2 years, and she has not paid any electricity bill. She thinks that this is a good solution, but one should go with a branded product only.

Note: It's important to know that two of our customers already have the solution installed and will not change to Luminous. However, to understand the ICPs for Luminous, we are assuming all 4 customers are not having any solution as of now. (As per the data from the Indian Government Solar penetration in homes is less than 1%)

B2C Table

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Assumption: All 4 ICPs do not have any solution installed as of now.

Calculation of TAM 1

Based on data from 2009 and 2011 from the Indian Government:

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Cumulative TAM = 2,24,000 Cr

TAM for ICP 1 = Urban * people between 45 to 55 years = 55,000 Cr * 0.1 = 5500 Cr

TAM for ICP 2 = Rural * people between 30 to 35 = 1,69,000 * 0.07 = 11300 Cr

TAM for ICP 3 = Rural * people between 45 to 55 years = 1,69,000 * 0.1 = 16900 Cr

Note: ICP 4 is unlikely to pay in the next 10-20 years.

Understand Market

For services offered, I have considered only services in the specific solar energy domain. These companies do offer more services.

Luminous has over 3000+ offline touchpoints in India (Currently being used for other product lines). We can target 80% of the customers using this distribution.

The market has currently 4-5 major players and most of the market needs are taken up by small vendors. (The market is unorganized) We can target a market share of up to 30% to be the leader in the market.

Key Opportunities

• PM Surya Ghar Yojna is giving a good boost to solar panel adaptation. The government is giving subsidies to people, making it easier for them to buy this system. This is also helping to build a better trust in the Home Solar Energy System Solutions.
• India's grid is also unstable: in both rural and urban areas, people experience power cuts and voltage fluctuations. This is one of the things that our system solves.
• One of the resistances people face before using this solution is the lack of proper information and the operational complexity of getting this system installed. This can be taken care of by making a very good implementation plan.
• Many people in India who are currently living in apartment buildings are aspiring to move out to their own independent houses. The number of customers will start increasing as these people start to build their own houses.

Designing Acquisition Channel​

CURRENT STAGE: Early Scaling

Organic: This is a very good channel for us to scale. The channel is getting sustained interest (google search) for the last one year.

Paid Ads: There are many users though who are unaware of Luminous having a solution for the current problem statement. To reach out to these users and promote Luminous as a brand, Paid Ads will be a better approach. These include TV Ads, OTT Ads, Facebook and YouTube Ads and Instagram Reels.

Referral Program: We understood in the research that most of the customers ask their peers (specifically the people who have already purchased) before going for a purchase. The referral program will help in ensuring that most of these customers are being converted for Luminous.

Product Integration: Though we can partner with some apps and companies, the effort here will be high with the expected returns being low. So, we will keep this at a lower priority.

Content Loops: The product we are selling is a one-time product. So, the intent is not to grab customer's time or the frequency of purchase. We can still have some content loops in place (like reels) but the impact on customer acquisition will be less.

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Detailing the Acquisition Channel

LTV can be assumed to be INR 1,00,000 (solar energy systems vary from INR 60,000 to 5,00,000+) as this will be a one-time purchase.

CAC per user has to be below 20% (~20,000) to maintain a healthy ratio under the assumption that the profit margin per product will be more than 30%.

Organic Channel

P1: Organic Channel

Why this is P1?

• Most people go to Google/YouTube to find reviews and details about this solution.
• Many people also reach out to local shops and friends for the same.
• The effort for SEO will be low. Also, leveraging the existing offline distribution channels and the effort for organic growth offline will be low.
• This channel is also very flexible and fast. With a good potential for scaling (data attached below)

The number of searches being done in India is 85k per month.

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Luminous already appears in the top 2 search results! GOOD SEO!

The questions asked are usually around the type of technology, the technical specs needed, and the overall feasibility and RoI. Luminous can solve for all these!

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As per the insights from user research, very few users are aware that Luminous has solar panel products. We can see that Luminous is one of the top results for the Solar panels keyword. This tells that the search is guiding traffic to the Luminous website, but the Website is not providing the required information to the customers. A quick review of the website shows that there has to be a significant improvement on the website to bring in more trust and transparency.

We also need to build a better offline presence. Currently, people are aware of Luminous as a brand (the website gets a traffic of around 0.75 million per month!). The problem is that people are not aware of Solar Energy systems being part of Luminous' product offering. We need to start promoting this through our 3000+ offline touchpoints. This should be done by putting in posters/ads, and by giving better incentives to distributors and shopkeepers.

We should also start optimizing for YouTube Search as a large chunk of our ICPs use YouTube regularly. For YouTube, we should start optimizing for the same keywords as Google search and also work with content creators to make videos and shorts.

Some Keywords we want to optimize for:

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Next, we should optimize for paid ads.

Paid Ads

P2: Paid Ads: Since most of our ICP use YouTube, OTT, TV and Facebook, Paid ads will be a good way to reach to them.

Our ICP use the following channels regularly:

• TV
• OTT
• YouTube
• Instagram
• Facebook

We can focus on 3 categories of Ads:

Referral Program

P3: Referral Program: In my search, I came to know that many users look for peer reviews before going for the purchase. Hence, Referral program becomes a good option for us.

How?

0. The Home Solar Energy System is installed and is live.
1. AHA! Moment 1: First month electricity bills come down to 0!
2. AHA! Moment 2: Next couple of months, the electricity bill is again 0!
3. Validating User Happiness: Send a push notification to the User on the App for feedback.
4. 1. Why is there an app? Well, we provide thee app to continuously monitor the installed system. The app shows amount of energy generated, Carbon Footprint reduced, expected savings, etc. Also, the app is not our primary product, rather a secondary product to improve customer experience.
   2. This notification will be sent every couple of months after the electricity bill is generated for the specific state.
5. If the user gives ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating, Start the referral flow.
6. Upon Referral the user will get:
7. 1. Extended warranty: Increase the warranty on the complete system by 1 month. (Current warranty is 25 years)
   2. A pro account on the app: this will enable better insights and historical data on their energy usage, grid conditions, energy generation, etc.
8. The referee will get a flat discount on the complete system. (This can be INR5000 off)
9. Another Aha! Moment: The Referrer will start getting a monthly insight on how much carbon footprint he/she was able to reduce via referrals!

Product Integration

P4: Product Integrations: Let's think about these but not put a lot of effort as the expected outcome is low.

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Voila!

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