Account Management Case Study

Prepared by: Nishant Aggarwal

Account Management Case Study

AM-Sellers Current Structure

After analyzing the seller joining date dump and sales numbers for the
month of August and September, I like to mention here that at first there
is no clear alignment visible between account managers and sellers.
Account Manager Total No. of Sellers
It is evident from the data that an
Akki
42
account manager is handling multiple
Omi
445
sellers in different states of the country.
Rishi
272
However, After carefully examining the
Sid
16
data given, the trend emerges and as
Vinod
5
per my understanding key sellers seem
Grand Total
780
to be allocated to the experienced
account managers according to the
Top 15 sellers contribute more than 80% of the overall sales. Out of
product categories handled.
these top 15 sellers, 8 are managed by Sid and 6 are managed by Akki.
For details, please refer to the sales data workbook.

Conclusion: Sid and Akki can be termed as key account managers as

they are handling the key accounts for the company
Account Management Case Study

AM-Sellers Proposed Structure

CupCake, HoneyComb and KitKat are the top three selling product
categories contributing more than 90% to the overall sales in August and
September.
Account
Manager

HoneyCo Ice Cream

mb
Sandwich

CupCake Froyo

Akki

30,447,50 1,608,96
7
8 21,114,110

Omi
Rishi
Sid
Vinod

Grand
Lollipop Total

Jellybean KitKat

60,254

71,406,10
8

6,361,389 488,762 10,239,380

750,719 2,782,344 631,852 187,329

21,441,77
5

2,661,643 684,614 4,724,655

545,854 3,202,265 1,868,326 844,916

14,532,27
3

83,306,58 1,578,61
2
2 66,335,361

1,567,542 5,779,682

43,780 1,076,799
276,000

10,828,04
5

10,481,20
7

162,822,3
41

276,000

I propose that Sid be given CupCake product category, Akki be given

122,777,1
4,360,95
102,413,5
13,117,0
1,092,4
270,478,
HoneyComb
product
category,
Omi be given
KitKat23,809,4
product
category
Grand Total
21
6
06
2,907,895
90
30
99
497
and Rishi be given rest of the product categories.
Reason: The reason why I am proposing this structure is because it
will have a focused approach towards managing different product
categories in terms of 4P execution and will also give us the
experience of Sid and Akki
in managing
key
product categories.
Account
Management Case
Study
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Plan for engaging with sellers

Communicate..Collaborate..Recognize : A way of engaging with sellers
Sellers are the most critical link in ensuring the customer shopping
experience and one bad experience can lead to the loss of customer
acquired through high acquisition cost. Therefore, it is necessary to
continuously engage with sellers through regular communication and
meetings depending upon the sellers classification basis sales.
Sellers can be classified into three groups on the basis of their sales
through our ecommerce marketplace.
a) Sellers above 10 million of sales b) Sellers between 1 to 10 million of
sales and c) others
Weekly one to one review with the sellers above 10 million of sales to
understand their
Concerns and provide whatever necessary support they require in terms
of
logistics, information and any other help.
Discuss with them their performance, improvement areas and plan of
action for future. The
aim here is to build a long term strategic mutual benefit relationship with
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them.

Seller Evaluation Framework

It becomes utmost important to put in place a stringent and standardized
seller evaluation framework to measure the performance of all the sellers
and identify the areas of improvement to ensure seamless customer
experience.
The matrix that I am suggesting will objectively measure sellers
performance on key parameters such as successful deliveries, order
cancellations, out of stock situations, customers returns, number of
shipments and delivery timeframe.
I have assigned weightages to all these performance
indicators according
Out of stock Customer
Returns,
situations, 5%customer experience.
to what I think their importance is to the overall
5%
Successful Deliveries : 30%
Delivery Time
: 30%
Order Cancellations
: 20%
Number of Shipments : 10%
Out of Stock Situations: 5%
Customer Returns
: 5%
Total

Number of Shipments; 10%

; 20% Successful Deliveries

Order Cancellations

Delivery Time

Account Management Case Study

: 100%

; 30%

; 30%

Seller Evaluation Framework

To objectively measure the sellers performance on key parameters
mentioned in the previous slide, I have gone through the case study excel
file in detail and have arrived at the scoring mechanism for each one of
those parameters.
I have looked at the vendor wise order status details and then found out
the percentage contribution of each type to the total so that the scoring
mechanism can be arrived at. Please refer to the shipping data workbook
for the working.
Successful
Delivery Order
Number of
Out of stock
Here is the scoring
for each
of these parameters:
Deliveries
Time mechanism
Cancellations
shipments
situations
>=92.5% - 5,
>=85%<92.5%
4,
>=77.5%<85%
3,
>=70%<77.5%
2, <70% - 1

Customer
Returns
>=5% - 1,
>=4%<5
- >=4 - 1,
>=20% - 1,
>=2000 - 5,
% - 2,
>=3<4 - >=15%<20% - >=1000<2000
>=5% - 1,
>=3%<4
- 2, >=2<3
2,
- 4,
>=4%<5% - 2, % - 3,
- 3,
>=10%<15% - >=500<1000 - >=3%<4% - 3, >=2%<3
- >=1<2 - 3, >=5%<10% 3, >=100<500 >=2%<3% - 4, % - 4,
4, <1 - 5 - 4,
<5% - - 2, <100 - 1
<1% - 5 <1% - 5
Account
Management Case Study
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5

Seller Evaluation Framework

Finally, when we multiply the weightages with the scores for each of the
key performance parameters, we arrive at the overall evaluated score for
each one of the seller.
Here is how the complete seller performance evaluation matrix will look
like:
Successful Delivery
Deliveries Time
Weightage
Scoring
Criteria

Number
Order
of
Out of
Cancellati shipment stock
Customer Total
ons
s
situations Returns Score

30%

30%

20%

10%

5%

5%

=(.9+.9+.
(30%*3)=. (30%*3)= (20%*3)=. (10%*3)= (5%*3)=.1 (5%*3)=. 6+.3+.15
Final Score
9
.9
6
.3
5
15
+.15)

Account Management Case Study

Account Manager Evaluation Framework

Just as evaluating sellers is important, it is equally important to evaluate
the performance of the account managers so that the scope of
improvement can be identified and strategy can be worked out to close
the gaps in their overall performance .
The matrix I am suggesting to measure AMs performance includes key
parameters such as successful deliveries, order cancellations, out of
stock situations, customers returns and delivery timeframe. I am
knowingly not considering other parameters such as sales amount and
ASP because that may vary a lot with the kind of merchandise categories
handled by different account managers.
Weightages assigned to these performance indicators are as follows.
Successful Deliveries : 30%
Delivery Time
: 30%
Order Cancellations
: 20%
Out of Stock Situations: 10%
Customer Returns
: 10%
Total

Customer Returns
; 10%
Out of Stock Situations; 10%
Successful Deliveries

Order Cancellations

; 20%
Delivery Time

: Account
100%Management Case Study

; 30%

; 30%

Account Manager Evaluation Framework

Our main focus while evaluating Account Managers is on ensuring
maximum successful order shipments in quick time with minimal
Reason for Order Cancellations
% to Total
cancellations.
Change of mind
Out Of Stock
Order not verified
Customer cancelled because of shipment delay
Not happy with product quality
Faulty Product
Logistics cancelled
Wrong Product Delivered
Partial order received
Grand Total

Successful
Deliveries
>=92.5% - 5,
>=85%<92.5%
4,
>=77.5%<85%
3,
>=70%<77.5%
2, <70% - 1

Delivery
Time

Order
Cancellations

Out of stock
situations

43.27%
26.56%
9.94%
8.32%
3.87%
3.64%
2.11%
1.70%
0.57%
100.00%

Customer
Returns
>=5% - 1,
>=4%<5
- >=4 - 1,
>=20% - 1,
% - 2,
>=3<4 - >=15%<20% >=5% - 1,
>=3%<4
- 2, >=2<3
2,
>=4%<5% - 2, % - 3,
- 3,
>=10%<15% - >=3%<4% - 3, >=2%<3
- >=1<2
- Management
3, >=5%<10%
>=2%<3%9- 4, % - 4,
Account
Case Study
4, <1 - 5 - 4,
<5% <1% - 5 <1% - 5

Account Manager Evaluation Framework

We multiply the weightages with the scores for each of the key
performance parameters, we arrive at the overall evaluated score for
each of the Account Manager.
This is how the Account Manager performance evaluation matrix will look
Order
like:
Successful
Deliveries

Weightage
Scoring
Criteria

30%

Delivery
Time
30%

Cancellation Out of stock Customer

s
situations Returns
20%

10%

Total Score

10%

3
3
3
3
(30%*3)=.
(10%*3)=. =(.9+.9+.6
Final Score (30%*3)=.9
9
(20%*3)=.6 (10%*3)=.3
3
+.3+.3)

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Who is the best account manager??

Basis the data and evaluation framework, Omi is the best account
manager among five of them. Please refer to the account manager
evaluation workbook for calculation of their scores.
Weightage

Account
Manager
Akki
Omi
Rishi
Sid
Vinod

30%

30%

20%

10%

10%

100%

Out of
stock,
Successfu Average
Order
Reallocate Product
l
Delivery Time Cancellati d to diff. Returned Total
Deliveries ( in days )
ons
seller
to Seller Score
0.9
1.2
0.6
0.2
0.3
0.9
1.2
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.6
1.2
0.4
0.4
0.3
0.9
1.2
0.4
0.4
0.2
0
0
0
0.5
0.5

3.2
3.3
2.9
3.1
1

Omi has performed comparatively better in four out of five parameters

and is on the top in the tally.
He has managed 79.53% successful order shipments in 1.41 delivery
days on an average with 13.78% order cancellations.
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Levers to Increase Sales in an ecommerce company

Sales in any retail set up whether brick and morter or ecommerce can be
increased by focusing upon key performance parameters such as
number of customers visit, conversion into purchase and average ticket
value. The function of all these 3 parameters gives us the output that is
sales. Sales = No. of customers visit*Conversion%*Average Ticket Value
Now let me put my thoughts on how sellers can work on these three
parameters to increase their sales.
Ensure 100% stock availability as per his planned assortment
Upsell and Crosssell by recommending best buys and other
complementary products
Check competitors pricing regularly and offer the best price in the area of
operation
Work on increasing the level of customer service by shipping the orders
same day and ensuring zero defects
Keep track of each single order and follow up with the customers until
they are satisfied post purchase
Post correct and complete information on website about product
description, pricing, availability, freebies, payment terms, returns,etc
It may sound obvious but sellers who offer free home delivery have higher
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chances of getting the sales

Levers to Increase Sales in an ecommerce company

*Similarly

its sales.

Snapdeal can also work on levers to increase

Increase number of sellers and tap smaller potential cities

Work on the product assortment. Add new product categories and increase
the width and depth in the categories already present
Invest in online marketing. Focus on SEO & SEM to drive customer visits and
conversion
Make the UI more customers and sellers friendly. Facilitate real time
information passage between buyers and sellers and keep a tab on all
transactions between them
Build the customer trust by implementing stringent sellers selection
criteria, customer friendly service level agreements, and an atmosphere of
excellent customer service
Focus, Focus and Focus on Logistics to iron out the challenges faced by the
online sellers. Get into the agreements with 3rd party reliable logistics firms
to deliver the shipments safely to the remotest of the areas to serve the
untapped customers.
Bring a sense of competition among sellers of same categories by
continuously sharing important data points with them
Finally, give customers a chance to visit our website again by ensuring
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seamless purchase with excellent customer service guaranteed by Snapdeal

Challenges Sellers Face while doing online sales

Order Status
80.00%
60.00%
40.00%
20.00%
0.00%

Looking at the order status in the case study, one can assume that online
sellers are facing challenges in fulfilling the customers demands. That is
the reason why Delivered order status is 76.77%.
The Cancelled order status percentage is more than 16% and the
reasons could vary from sellers to sellers and I have tried to mention
some common challenges that online sellers face today in an ecommerce
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environment.

Challenges Sellers Face while doing online sales

Logistics The biggest challenge faced by online sellers is the logistics
concerns as they have to rely upon inconsistent 3rd party service
providers. Moreover, The postal addresses in India are not standardized
sometimes leading to the delay in delivery of shipments.
Logistics is the cause of many other challenges faced by online sellers.
They are under tremendous pressure to deliver the shipments as fast as
possible. The ecommerce industry players are trying to set the same
day delivery as benchmark for online sellers.
High Return Rates Online sellers are trying to cope up with the high
return rates due to several challenges such as wrong shipment, delay,
change of mind, damage during transit leading to the financial losses to
the sellers.
Unreliable payment gateways Indian customers are still cautious of
online payment gateways and large percentage of them still prefer to
pay cash on delivery leading to logistical issues for online sellers.
Incomplete Order Information Online sellers sometimes have to cope
up with Incorrect and Incomplete order information where in they find it
difficult to process these orders.
Real Time Information on website The online sellers are struggling to
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maintain the real time correct
and complete information
of product and