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Let’s begin with some validation for Scrap Uncle!

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These reviews are from the app store. They clearly show all three user personas- Eco-conscious & tech savvy, looking for convenience + reasonable rates, complaining about serviceable areas!

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My Elevator Pitch for Scrap Uncle-

Have you ever dealt with the hassle of dealing with your “building wale bhaiyaa” for scrap disposal? Ended up succumbing to his pressure & selling your scrap at “market me isse zyada koi nai dega” price and felt unsure if it’d even be appropriately recycled?

Fret not; Scrap Uncle is here to the rescue!

With the Scrap Uncle app, you can conveniently book a pickup for your scrap, get the best rates, and rest assured that it will be recycled in the best way possible! 

Understanding Scrap Uncle-

1. Fundamentally– a need or a want?

Depending on the person you ask, this is both a need and a want. It is a need for low-income folks who are serious about the rates at which they sell the scrap. Someone high-income with an eco-conscious bent wants the convenience of doorstep pickup and the assurance that the waste will be adequately segregated and recycled.

2. Basic features & functionalities?

Scrap Uncle is a simple product. It helps you–

>Book scrap pickup from mobile/ web

> Get doorstep pickup

> Get guaranteed accurate weighing and immediate money transfer to your account. 

> Assures appropriate disposal of gathered scrap (segregation + last mile)

3. If not Scrap Uncle, how do the users solve this problem?

Some just put all recyclable scrap in their trash cans 🙁

Online scrap disposal is a relatively new category. Scrap Uncle is 4 years old, and most competitors are <2 years old. 

Scrap disposal has been traditionally handled by local kabadiwalas. This segment is ripe to transition from an unorganized to an organized sector. 

With the growing environmental consciousness among Indian urban youth, selling scrap is transitioning from being seen as a tactic to earn money to one way to curb one's carbon footprint. This changing attitude will ensure that more high-income households participate in scrap selling.

With reference to Kotler and Kellers five product levels, to be on level 5- “Potential Product” SU can provide tracking of scrap from users' doorstep to the partner recycling facilities with steps being

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​They could publish a list of all partner recycling facilities & vendors they sell scrap to. 

This will be a significant differentiator and a feature of interest for the high-income, eco-conscious group. 

(It is ideal to target them as they will not run to the competitor to get a better price)

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My experience with Scrap Uncle-

1. I used the Scrap Uncle webpage to schedule a pickup back in 2023. Beyond that, I have recommended it to multiple friends (without referral bonus!) because of how smooth & fast the entire process was. I am an iOS user, so do do not have direct experience with the app.
   
2. I spoke with 7 users on the phone to understand their experience with SU & their frequency of using the app. My top insights from the user research-
   A. 4/ 7 said they found out about SU through a friend. (strong word of mouth.)
   B. 1/ 7 said they used another vendor after installing SU  (high retention)
   C. 4/ 7 said they used WhatsApp for successive orders after their first one. (high retention)

3. For my secondary research, I analyzed Google search results, reviews of SU and competitors, and primary messaging on competitors' web pages to understand the industry. Everyone is targeting the value-conscious user.

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Understanding Core Value Proposition

​Fundamental problems being solved are 

1. Saving the customers time they’d spend enquiring about scrap prices by ensuring SU has the best price 
2. Saving them time by offering doorstep pickups.

The emotional highs a user would experience-

1. Happiness for getting good value for their scrap 🙂
2. Feeling tech savvy for being able to schedule a pickup on an app (true for older customers or customers based in areas with lower tech adoption) 😎
3. Bragging to neighbors & other acquaintances about getting good prices 🤑
4. Feeling good that their friends can get the best rates for scrap because of their recommendation 🙂
5. Feeling nostalgia & a sense of continuing tradition to calling the kabadiwala home & getting money for scrap, especially around festivals/back-to-school season. 😀
6. Feeling good about doing the environmentally responsible thing & disposing of their trash well ♻️

Here’s a journey + experience map

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Understanding the Users

Scrap Uncle is in a unique category of services that the user doesn’t have to pay to avail its services. This forces SU to give users an experience worthy of sharing with friends. Nobody’s talking about scrap otherwise! 

A brief summary of my user conversations-

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A chat with Bhavana- she was excited about the transparent pricing & loved the convenience of having doorstep pickups. Value-conscious user. (More details outlined in ICP profile)

A chat with Anusha- she is an eco-conscious user & loves that Scrap Uncle ensures proper disposal.

A chat with Veena- she is associated with an NGO, eco and social impact conscious. She has her reservations about moving to another scrap dealer as she donates her + her communities scrap directly to an NGO.

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With this in mind, I outlined the ICP.

Understanding Scrap Uncle's ICP

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(use this ICP prioritization table)

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Targeted ICP for this case study is Bhavana & Anusha.

Let's tackle the blocker/ influencer question to understand user behavior further.

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Understand Market

Since Scrap Uncle's space is mainly unorganized, putting together numbers here was challenging.

​Scrap Uncle is a new product in a new category.​

These are the numbers I have from the founding team of Scrap Uncle about the recyclable waste industry-

The estimated market size (TAM) of the recyclable waste industry in India FY 2021 is ~ $27.25 Bn.

The Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) was 3.3% between 2015 and 2021.

Market Size of recyclable waste industry expected to reach ~$41 Bn by 2025

Competitors in the unorganized/ offline space include local scrap dealers. 

Delhi alone is estimated to have 12,000 of these small players, which gives us a conservative estimate of 144,000 scrap dealers currently operational in India. 

(12,000 * 12 metropolitan areas in India, since these will be the areas players like Scrap Uncle will be interested in penetrating.)

There are ample competitors in the same online space. Some of the top ones include Scrapbuddy, Recyclebaba, Kabadiwala Online, Scrap Mantra, etc.

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TAM =

~ $27.25 Bn (number from Scrap Uncle Team)

SAM =

Since Delhi NCR is a very metropolitan area, the latest reports suggest it generates 12-15% of India’s recyclable waste.

References:

https://cpcb.nic.in/uploads/MSW/MSW_AnnualReport_2020-21.pdf  and https://www.teriin.org/sites/default/files/2023-10/1695795956State%20of%20Waste%20Management%20Report.pdf​

So, our SAM will be 15% of $27.25 Bn, approximately $4 billion.

SOM =

For calculating SOM, I will use Mukul Chhabra’s (founder + CEO) pitch on Shark Tank as a reference. 

He said, “This space has room for 2-3 players. It's a large space, and 1 player cannot adequately service it.” 

Let’s say we attempt to capture 25% of this market. This leaves us in an approximately $1 billion market with an early movers advantage!

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Low hanging fruits

Before we start with the heavy-handed acquisition efforts, here are some low-hanging fruits for the Scrap Uncle team to address- 

UI copy across the webpage & app

Make it clear that it is only operational in Delhi NCR.

This can be easily achieved by adding a screen to their Play Store images & by adding this in text over WhatsApp.

Edited their WhatsApp display picture + website landing page:

Edited their WhatsApp message + first image of Play Store:

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Designing Acquisition Channel

Point to note: 

Scrap Uncle has 105k Instagram followers and regularly posts educational content about the history of materials, promotes its product, etc.

I intend to leverage this large following by doubling down on content creation.

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A quick overview of all available channels:

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The best channels to design the acquisition strategy turn out to be 

Product Integration, Content Loops & Paid ads.

Referral programs have been tried but discontinued as the CAC is too high for the company's stage.​

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Organic channel-

For their organic channel, I did a quick Google search & here are my findings-

The ranking is pretty low for the most prominent search terms like

Kabadiwala Delhi, Sell scrap Delhi

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BUT they have good rankings for search terms like

Sell scrap Gurgaon, Sell scrap Noida

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Other phrases Scrap Uncle can target:

1. Sustainable waste disposal Delhi, Sustainable waste disposal Gurgaon

(These terms return educational links- no competitors here, organic CTR- 80%, not very difficult to rank)

2. E-waste disposal online

(Croma shows up here, organic CTR- 92%, not very difficult to rank)

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Apart from SEO, they have a successful Instagram page.

The category of content they already create-

1. Awareness about local scrap dealers vs. Scrap Uncle (marketing)
2. History of materials & how their usage evolved (plastic, paper, etc.) (educational, shareable)
3. Stories of their scrap collectors (covers stories of young boys from underprivileged backgrounds & how Scrap Uncle has given them respectable employment) (builds emotional connect + trust)

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The kind of content I would add to the mix-

1. Customer testimonials (the customer speaking will share this!)
2. Educational content on waste segregation (highly shareable, plus attracts opportunities to speak at environment-focused events, which raises brand awareness & trust)
3. Behind the scenes of Scrap Uncle segregating the collected waste (building trust in the audience)
4. Tour of the partner facilities SU sells the scrap to (building trust in the audience)
5. Get Mukul’s interview on pages like GurgaonFirst.org to reach a good audience & have good web presence for Scrap Uncle/ Host a workshop with them. https://gurgaonfirst.org/

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Content Loops-;​

(Targeting Anusha ICP)

A simple form of content loop that the company can generate is>

After a user successfully gives scrap to the agent & gets the payment, they can be sent a shareable image- (AHA moment, hook)

Something that says they helped the environment while helping their pocket

(Scrap Uncle is the content creator; sample content is attached)

This creates buzz & brand awareness & can be reshared by Scrap Uncle on their Instagram page, motivating others to share their posts too 

(users sharing to social media are the distribution channel)

This, along with other campaigns for festivals can be used to generate  more buzz.

​Paid ads-

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The paid ad strategy for Scrap Uncle will inculcate offline ads as well to leverage the value conscious and for the users who we will not be able to reach on the “kabadiwala delhi” search as our ranking is very low for that search query.

Offline Ads for ICP 1 Bhavana

Ads in regional newspapers– considered Meri Delhi for this case study.

This is a Hindi language newspaper with a 28k circulation & weekly distribution. 

A quarter-page ad for the last page would cost us INR 8,000.

The creative here would be Hindi & QR heavy. Sample creative below.

Assuming a conservative scan + download rate of 0.5% of 28k -- we get 140 downloads.

Cost per download- 8000/ 140= ~57 INR

Reference: https://www.themediaant.com/newspaper/meri-delhi-main-hindi-advertising/quarter-page

Autorickshaw ads start at INR 200, go upto 1000 per week with an average minimum lock-in of 4 weeks. So the cost of this campaign would be INR 800 to 4000 monthly.

We can use custom QRs to track which auto gave us how many website visits & signups.

An average auto travels 60kms on the lower end and 120kms on the higher end.

Assuming 2 scans per km (guesstimate + increased interest in traffic/ signals) gives us 

120-240 scans & 1 download per 10 scans 12- 24 downloads; this gives us a Cost per download of 66 INR to 33 INR.

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Online targetting for ICP 2 Anushka

Organic content on Instagram via the Scrap Uncle page

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Product Integrations-

The integrations I chose for t this case are Zepto & RWA collaborations.

~ 4800 registered RWAs across Delhi NCR, with the highest density being Delhi (2500), Gurgaon (400), Noida (350, lot more upcoming)

Getting app downloads & thereby direct users is not the aim. Ensuring the scrap generated here does not go to local scrap dealers is important. 

For Delhi, on avg there are 250 housing units associated with an RWA (with some exceeding 1000 units)

For Gurgaon, this average is higher, given the higher prevalence of multi-storey buildings in Gurgaon. The average of housing units in a RWA here stands at 350. This number is already at 200 for Noida, with massive potential for growth- given the extensive urban planning.

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The waste segregation laws in Delhi NCR are such that Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs) and bulk waste generators, such as large residential complexes, commercial buildings, and institutions, must manage their waste at the source. They must have their own facilities for composting or biogas generation for biodegradable waste, and they need to ensure proper segregation and handover of non-biodegradable and hazardous waste to authorized collectors. This means RWAs must sort & sell their scrap regularly.

Getting 15% of Noida + Gurgaon’s RWAs (15% *(400+350)) ~ 113 RWAs will give us access to scrap generated by a community of ~ 550 high-earning families + the scrap generated by the housing society in the maintenance of the buildings.

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