industry for 3d printable design marketplace

5/25/2018 Industry for 3D printable design marketplace

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INFOSYS.110 BUSINESS SYSTEMS:

DELIVERABLE 2: BUSINESS SECTION

2014

Name Sam Lynch

NetID Slyn309

Group Number: 172

Website Link: http://infosys110group172.blogspot.co.nz/

Tutorial DetailsTutor: Day: Time:

Mira Lee Tuesday 2:00 pm

Time Spent on

Assignment:12 hours Word Count: 1500


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THE FUTURE OF 3D PRINTABLE DESIGNS

INTRODUCTION

3D printers today to most people are an expensive and impractical use of money. However Freedonia, a renowned research group, believe

The demand for 3D printers and software will grow 21% a year through 2017, at which point it will be a $ 5 billion dollar industry(Freedonia,

2013). It is because of this forecast, and the lack of current infrastructure, that I intend to deal with the problem of the lack of viable networks

of distribution of 3D design by creating a business that will run an online market place where 3D designs are bought and sold.

3. BUSINESS SECTION

3.1 Vision

To provide an online market place which aggregates 3D designs and sells them at affordable prices while providing commission for its

Designer.

3.2 Industry Analysis: Marketplace for 3D Designs

Industry: Printable 3D Designs.


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Force: High/Low: Justification:

Buyer power: Low There are two Main competitors in the industry

Thingiverse and Shapeways. Thingiverse is a site

that is free but is designed for a particular brand

of printer (makerbot) and has limited search

abilities. Shapeways is an online market place

with buyers and sellers though they print and

deliver the product for you. Due to the limited

number of sites and their caveats Buyers do not

have much choice.

Supplier power: High Buyers have few choices when looking for designs

and Fewer when looking for a site to host and sell

their own designs.

Threat of new entrants: High Creating and hosting a website is relatively cheap

and painless. Web admins are plentiful as well as

server rental being affordable depending on


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desired capacity and load.

Threat of substitutes: Low There are few substitutes to a 3D design market

place when looking for designs. The major

substitute is looking to purchase what you would

have printed or to design it yourself for solely

personal use.

Rivalry among existing

competitors:

Low The Research Done By Fredonia states that there

is little competition in the Current marketplace

due to the limited adoption of 3D printers and

the lack of overlap caused by limitations imposed

by the major sites.

Overall attractiveness of the industry: The Industry attractive as it is still young and the adoption of 3D Printers at the moment is slow.

However the research done by Freedonia(2013) States that the 3D printer industry is soon to experience huge levels of growth, which they

believe will create a gap in the 3D design marketplace which I hope to fill by creating and establishing my Site before the growth, in an

attempt to capture the first mover advantage, for a more inclusive site with market place functions to capture a large market share in the

industry.


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3.3 Customers and Their Needs

My Primary set of customers is those who own a 3D printer and are looking for designs to print off. This customer has relatively simple needs,

they will need; ability to search and find designs they desire. To be able to tell if the design is compatible with their 3D printer and its printable

dimensions. Finally they will need the ability to customise facets of the design. The need for the ability to customise the product may not seem

that important but the Harvard Business review recognize that the implication that 3D printed goods will be infinitely more customisable is

what is pulling consumers away from traditional manufacturing to 3D printing (D`Aveni,2013). The second customer who I must be mindful of

is consumers who are considering buying a 3D printer. For these customers I must show that there is valid infrastructure in place to serve their

post purchase needs.

3.4 The Product and Service

To meet these aforementioned needs the online marketplace, will need the following things; A strong system of indexing and categorising

designs in order to make sure searching is streamlined and easy, a feature other sites lack. Clear and prominent display of design specifications

so that users can check compatibility. As well as the ability to customise colour and scale of size to meet desired needs. If all these are meet it

will also show potential customers that there is infrastructure to support 3d printing.

3.5 Suppliers and Partners

My biggest supplier is the designers whose work is uploaded and sold. They are paid on a commission basis and the biggest concern around

them is to ensure repeat business. This can be achieved by ensuring an easy access and usage of the site by making their interactions with it as


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streamlined as possible. My other suppliers include the sites Internet service provider, the Company the domain is registered with and the

rental of servers to run the site off.

3.6 Strategy: Cost Leadership

As 3D printers become more prevalent the 3D design industry will become more crowded. This combined with the belief that once 3D printers

become popular revenue streams will shift to companies that produce the filament and to designers (Cohen, Sargent, and Somers. 2014)

means that it is imperative to gain market share early before the market is flooded. To do this I believe it is necessary to adopt a cost

leadership strategy which is both low cost and targets a broad market. The low cost factor will help combat consumers hunting for free

alternates, while the broad market approach will help draw a larger range of users.

The overall strategy is therefore Cost Leadership.

3.7 Value Chain Activity: Market and sell the product

The most important value chain activity for this business is, Market and sell the product.

As my site is an online market place, marketing and selling the product is crucial to my success. Firstly marketing peoplesdesigns they have

submitted is important as I must make sure they are seen by consumers. While selling is crucial not just because it is my own source of income

but it is the income the designers earn which is also important and is what will keep the designers uploading new designs.

3.8 Business Processes


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3.8.1. DISPLAYING THE PRODUCT PROCESS This is concerned with making sure the designs are seen by customers. This is achived by ensuring

the design is indexed and categorised correctly. When done correctly the design should be able to be easily found by any interested

consumers. This process is crucial as it will help the customer find designs which can ultimately lead to purchases.


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3.8.2. SALES PROCESS This process is concerned with the sale of the actual design. It follows consumers from the search for a product to the

choice and decision then to the point of sale where funds are received and divided between the site and the designer. This process is

important to the value chain as it involves both the receiving of income and the payment to designers, which is what will inevitably keep

designers coming back with new designs to sell.


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3.9 Functionalities

3.9.1. DISPLAY OF PRODUCT PROCESS

Categorising and indexing of design Storing of information in a database

3.9.2. SALES PROCESS

Distribution of funds between designer and the site Assign download of the design from database to customer.

3.10 Systems

3.10.1. ORDER PROCSESSING SYSTEM This is used to process orders or in my case purchases of designs. It records what design was purchased

and who by. The function supported by this process would be assigning of downloadsas the system processes then fulfils the order by giving

the consumer the purchased design to download.

3.10.2. ACCOUNTS PAYABLE SYSTEM This system keeps track of the accounts payable namely people who we owe money too. The system

supports the function of distribution of funds. This is because designers who are owed money from sales of their design will be in the

companysaccounts payable and this system manages these debts and their payment.

3.10.2. DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM This system manages the operation and usage of the business Databases. It supports the functions

of categorising and indexing of data as well as the storing of information in a database. This system is also important to decision making as it


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tells the company if it needs to invest in more databases for storage or reduce existing levels. This can be beneficial when trying to cut costs in

the business

3.11. Summary Table: Value Chain to Systems

Value Chain

Activity

Processes Functionalities Specific Information

System(s)

Broad Information

System(s)

Marketing

and selling

the Product

Displaying

the

product

process

1. Categorising and indexing of design2. Storing of information in a database Database managementsystems. Decision support systems.

Inventory management

systems

Transaction

process

1. Distribution of funds between designerand the site

2. Assign download of the design fromdatabase to customer.

Order Processing system

Accounts payable system

Transaction processing

system

Executive information

system


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CONCLUSION

In Conclusion the 3D printer industry though infantile currently, shows great potential for

growth and with that growth there will be a shortage of available designs. With the

implementation of the processes functions and systems outline my site would be a valid

solution to the problem and likely a profitable endeavour worth pursuing.

REFERENCES

Cohen D, Sargeant M, Somers K. 3-D printing takes shape. Mckinsey Quarterly[serial online]. March 2014;(1):40-45. Available from: Business Source Premier,Ipswich, MA. Accessed May 24, 2014.

D'Aveni R. 3-D PRINTING WILL CHANGE THE WORLD. Harvard Business Review[serial online]. March 2013;91(3):34. Available from: Business Source Premier,

Ipswich, MA. Accessed May 24, 2014.

Docksai, R. (2014). 3-D Printing Keeps Growing. Futurist, 48(3), 11-14. Makerbot (2014). Thingiverse. Retrieved May 23, 2014, from

http://www.thingiverse.com

Shapeways (2013). Shapeways. Retrieved May 23, 2014, fromhttp://www.shapeways.com/
http://www.thingiverse.com/http://www.thingiverse.com/http://www.thingiverse.com/

industry for 3d printable design marketplace

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