quality management of second-hand goods trading platform

The Establishment of Second-hand Goods

Trading Platform of Darwin

Name： DAHUZHU

Student number： S306455

Group： Friday

Date： 15/08/2018

Page of Content

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................ 1

OVERVIEW ................................................................................................................................................ 1

REASONS/BUSINESS OBJECTIVES OF THIS PROPOSAL................................................................................ 1

PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT ................................................................................................................ 2

EXPECTED BENEFITS/CURRENT SITUATION AND MARKET OPPORTUNITIES ................. 2

MARKET ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................................... 2

SWOT ANALYSIS ...................................................................................................................................... 3

OUTPUT ANALYSIS .................................................................................................................................... 3

PROJECT REQUIREMENTS .................................................................................................................. 4

COSTS ......................................................................................................................................................... 5

MAJOR RISKS ........................................................................................................................................... 5

TIMESCALE............................................................................................................................................... 6

MAJOR MILESTONES OF THE PROJECT: ...................................................................................................... 6

GANTT CHART........................................................................................................................................... 7

CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................... 7

REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................................ 8

DAHUZHU S306455 1

Executive summary

The main reason for developing a Second-Hand Goods Trading Platform of Darwin (SGTPD) is

to cut down on the unnecessary waiting time, thus increasing the efficiency of buying and selling

used goods. SGTPD consists of a website and mobile applications for iPhone and Android phone.

People with unwanted items in households could post information on SGTPD, waiting for other

people who pay and finish the deal. The Platform can consider to purchase those items posted more

than three days according to the condition of these products and deliver it to the warehouse where

they continue displayed to waiting for potential buyer online or at the warehouse. Although

delivery service and warranty are offered for those items sold from the warehouse to increase the

chance of making a successful deal, the price would be slightly increased as well.

The target of the market is people who live in Darwin, especially those people who are poor in

time and make a sale or purchase as soon as possible. The market for used products has shown an

increase in the amount of people involved and the values of items traded, and therefore the market

is stable and the introduction of SGTPD will attract a decent number of customers.

Project requirements, detailed cost information and major risks are listed below in each section

respectively. The amount of time the project will take is around five months, including the

developing of website and mobile applications, as well as the integration of the SGTPD. The total

cost of the project will be up to approximately $49,000, with the majority of expenses coming

from labour’s wage.

Overview

Reasons/Business objectives of this proposal

The disposition of second-hand goods has been an issue of each household and business company.

It is not eco-friendly and uneconomic to throw used goods with great condition away, therefore

people in Darwin tend to sell used goods out to other people who need it no matter online, or at a

garage sale. In the meanwhile, some people are willing to purchase used goods due to its lower

price. The increasing demand of the trading of used goods of people and the expectation of less

trading time make it possible to introduce a specialized platform for Darwin.

People tend to visit markets or post information on Facebook or Gumtree to collect or sell items

online. However, there is no comprehensive platform for selling and buying used items without

quality and safety concerns. People often fail to purchase used items as their please because no

products available online or at market. Second-hand Goods Trading Platform of Darwin (SGTPD),

providing web service, mobile application service and a big warehouse, would allow communities

in Darwin to trade freely without the concern of time and space restrictions. The project would

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also allow for the possible of new job positions created for a small number of people who deal

with second-hand goods to make a living.

The expected outputs are:

• The ability to follow the schedule

• Senior software engineer to check the integrity of SGTPD

• Software engineer/Database engineer/Web designer/Technical assistants.

Performance measurement

The key performance measurement indicators are:

• An increase number of customers.

• A reduction of the amount time needed for a specific trade.

• An increase number of new and repeat site visits

• An increase number of SGTPD application downloaded

• An increase customer satisfaction.

Expected Benefits/Current situation and market opportunities

Market analysis

Nowadays, the number of used goods in each family increased due to the fact that people prefer to

buy second-hand products rather than new, not only can they save cash on new purchases but also

contribute to the environmental protection by reusing and recycling unwanted items. According to

the 2018 Second Hand Economy Report, Australia’s second-hand market is now estimated to be

worth a whopping $34 billion, with almost 100 million used goods were sold in the last 12 months.

The needs of selling used goods out to offset the cost of replacing a new one also increased because

around 56% Australians have sold items in 2017, with an average 11 items sold per person. This

has prompted the establishment to develop localized second-hand trading platforms with user-

friendly functions such as small item insurance and money back guarantee to positively contribute

to the development of the second-hand economy in Darwin.

It is obvious that the future of the industry is stable, as many Australians are turning to the second-

hand economy and making it work by collecting their unwanted items and selling them online or

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at markets. Moreover, the user-friendly functions such as delivery, insurance and money back

guarantee make the trading platform more competitive than others because trust and safety

concerns can be reduced dramatically.

SWOT analysis

Strengths:

1. Services such as delivery, money back guarantee and insurance attract more

people

2. Allows customers doing business without barriers

3. Fewer staffs needed

4. Creating relevant job positions

Weaknesses:

1. Small market scope (only in Darwin)

2. Less likely return within the first year

3. Less business-running experience compared to competitors

4. Less funds

Opportunities:

1. The increasing number of people turning to second-hand economy

2. Long lifespan used products are popular among people

3. More people are certain what items in their household are worthwhile selling

4. A great number of Darwin people are still use board to disperse selling

information

Threats:

1. Existed competitors with big market share

2. Competitors may offer similar services

3. Possible injury to staff during delivery

4. Safety concerns of warehouse

Output analysis

The market of SGTPD is primarily that of people who living in Darwin, especially those people

who want to make a quick trade of used products will be originally attracted by SGTPD when the

platform established. However, the market also includes potential customers who currently use

Facebook and Gumtree to collect and sell items as their priority.

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The more people turning into the member of SGTPD, the more convenient for people to make a

deal with the assistance of a warehouse. This is because the selling time dramatically reduced with

the help of platform which is popular among sellers, and therefore attracting more potential

customers. People can sell used goods with good condition quickly, and the less popular items may

display on warehouse as well as SGTPD website to wait next buyer.

Since SGTPD is a totally new platform to be developed that only works for Darwin, the project

may face issues that comes from the development of website and mobile applications. For example,

first version of website and applications are less likely to offer customers user-friendly operating

experience due to the lack of customers’ feedbacks.

Project requirements

The requirements needed to carry out this project:

• Approval from relevant authority section to begin design and develop website and mobile

applications

• Senior software engineer with the ability to work around developing process

• One unit rented as office for staffs to work

• Materials for developing (i.e., Desktops, Specialized software, etc.)

• Tightly related questionnaires need to contribute to design section

• Scheduled time for staffs to work

• Detailed plan on how exactly the website and applications will be developed

The possible assumptions for this project:

• Only those with suitable qualifications will be hired to work as a team

• Only those desktops with great performance will be bought

• Flyers and posters can be posted around to inform potential customers the platform to be

released soon

• The plan to convert a unit into an office with excellent working atmosphere

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• Relevant research for the decision of warehouse location

The constrains for this project:

• There may be a shortage of qualified labour (i.e., Senior software engineer)

• The desktops and other materials needed will be available for purchasing in Darwin or

arrive on time if bought from other places

• Unit converted office may cause lower work efficiency due to the small space

Costs

The total costs of the project will add up to roughly $49,000 out of $50,000 given, with the majority

of the costs coming from labour, followed by the expenses on materials and house rent.

Specifically, according to PayScale (2018), the average cost for labour is approximately $25/hour,

and therefore the amount of money spend on labour is added to approximately $32,000. The

following large section of the cost comes from the expenses on desktops, servers, specialized

software and other paid materials, which would add up to about $8,000. The last section of the

costs would come from the office rent and decorations, with $450 per week and thus the total

money spend on the office would add up to another $9,000.

Major risks

There are a number of risks involved in the process of the project, each of them will be identified

and certain solutions will be given to minimize the negative effects.

• There is a possibility of project delay, which could be caused by the heavy workloads that

software engineers fail to manage, and therefore takes longer time than expected to finish

and goes over the budget as a result. This risk could be dramatically minimized by setting

strict schedules to follow. Staffs must follow the schedule when the project is in process,

any work delay must be patched as soon as possible.

• Due to the fact that the majority of tasks will be taken by the assistance of computers,

there is definitely a risk of data crash either caused by the crash of a certain software or a

computer crash. Setting up a redundancy or using data backup process could reduce the

DAHUZHU S306455 6

possibility of data crash occurrence and thus keep data safe. Two ways can be adopted

simultaneously to ensure the safety of data if possible.

• There is a potential risk of leakage of project information. Everything either detailed

project design information or the process of the project should not be disclosed to the

public. This is because the negative effects caused by competitors if they release new

versions of substitutes with new features that we own faster. The risk of information

leakage could be minimized by writing relevant confidentiality policies or standards in the

contract.

• The feasibility and flexibility of design is key to the success of project, and therefore low-

quality design is a risk. A possible solution for the low-quality design is to increase the

number of designers and receive user’s feedback through questionnaire.

• External forces such as laws, regulations and markets could be a risk to the project’s

success. The whole project could fail if the process touches compliance-sensitive

processes regulatory. The risk could be minimized by setting relevant strict regulations to

follow.

Timescale

The amount of time that the project will take to complete estimated to approximately five months.

It is an estimate according to Bill Erickon’s article, in which he states that a typical website will

take 14 weeks at a minimum from start to launch. This includes 2 weeks discovery, 3 weeks design,

3 weeks design revision, 3 weeks initial development and 3 weeks of modifications. A mobile

application can be developed from scratch to the release point in about three to four months, which

is estimated by Bartosz Bielecki. So, the development of mobile applications can be done

simultaneously by another small group of software engineers. However, the estimated amount of

time takes to finish the developing of website and mobile applications of project is roughly 14

weeks, six more weeks are given for marketing, integration of SGTPD, other preparations as well

as the offset the risks of unexpected delay.

Major milestones of the project:

• Project approval

• Establish a schedule

• Hire qualified staffs (senior software engineer, software engineers, Database engineer, Web designer, and Technical assistants)

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• Begin the developing of website and mobile applications

• Finished the developing of website and mobile applications

• Lease a warehouse

• Finished the integration of SGTPD

• Release the first version of SGTPD

Gantt Chart

Conclusion

In conclusion, the establishment of SGTPD will approximately take five months to complete, with

roughly $49,000 out of $50,000 spent on the whole project. The release of SGTPD will positively

contribute to the prosperity of the second-hand economy of Darwin.

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Project approval

Market research

Material preparation

Establishing schedule

Hire staffs

Debrief staffs on project and project planning

Begin the website and application developing section

Complete the deveoping section

Lease warehouse

Integration of SGTPD

Launch SGTPD

Start Period

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References

Gumtree. (2018). 2018 Second Hand Economy Report. Retrieved from

https://www.gumtree.com.au/second-hand-economy/

Bill Erickon. (2016). How long does it take to build a website? Retrieved from

https://www.billerickson.net/how-long-does-it-take-to-build-a-website/

Bartosz Bielecki. (2018). How long does it take to develop a mobile app? Retrieved from

https://insanelab.com/blog/mobile-development/how-long-does-it-take-to-develop-

mobile-app/

PayScale. (2018). Salary Data & Career Research Center (Australia). Retrieved from

https://www.payscale.com/research/AU/Country=Australia/Salary