Suzy Xu
Knight Refueling Platform
The Cloud Based B2B2C Digital Payment and Marketing SaaS Platform serving 460 independent gas stations and handling 10 million transactions annually.
Content
1.Product Impact
3.Business Model
5.GTM Strategy
Product Overview
As of 2021, China had a total of 112,000 gas stations. Among these, 50% were state-owned, 48.1% were privately owned, and the remaining 1.9% were foreign-owned.
In the era of digitalization, the privately owned gas stations are facing the following main challenges:
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Finding ways to increase revenue and prevent it from being squeezed by state-owned gas stations.
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Establishing trust between the station and the users.
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Implementing a cost-effective approach to embrace digital transformation.
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Lack of expertise in technology and marketing operations.
To help private owned stations to gain revenue and retain users, the cloud based SaaS platform was initiated with main features of digital payment, marketing campaign solutions, loyalty system, virtual fuel card and station inventory management system.
Product
Budget: $2M
Annual Revenue: $0.6M
Customers
460+ Gas Stations
7M+ Users
Team Members
15+ cross functional members
Tech Stack
Vue, Node, Spring Boot, Spring Cloud, Microservices, Ali Cloud, Docker, Kubernetes, RocketMQ, Kafka, Quartz, Redis, ES, CI/CD, MySQL
My Role: Head of Product and Technology
Product Roadmapping and Product Strategy
Voice of Customer
Cross Functional Coordination
Agile and Waterfall Methodology
System Architecture and DB Design
GTW Strategy
Product Vision
To create a transparent and reliable fuel supply solution to foster a healthy business environment among independent gas stations in China.
Product Gallery
Customer Segmentation
Gas Stations
- State-Owned
- Privately-Owned (target clients)
- Foreign-Owned
Regulators
- Environmental Protection
- Safety Supervision
- Firefighting
Others
- Banks
- Third Party digital payment providers
- Oil depot
- Logistics
- Carrie
Personas
The target customer segment, small and medium-sized privately-owned gas stations, can be further broken down into three subsegments. These include independent single gas stations, branded independent gas stations, and corporate-owned gas stations.
The persona of independent single gas station owner
The persona of operation director at a corporate owned gas station
The persona of branded independent gas station owner
The persona of the parent company's operation director at the branded independent gas station
The persona of financial staff at an independent single gas station
The persona of refuelling staff at an independent single gas station
User Journey Map
Target Customer Segment's Pain Points and Solutions
Solution Prioritization
Customer Loyalty and Marketing Sub Solution Prioritization
User Stories and Acceptance Criteria
Usability
01. As a gas station owner, I want to access the pricing-oriented marketing campaigns data in real-time so that I can change the campaign strategy accordingly in the time manner.
Acceptance Criteria:
The statistics for all ongoing campaigns should be updated in real-time to provide the most current information, with a maximum delay of 5 minutes.
02. As a gas station owner, I want to download the pricing-oriented marketing campaigns data so that I can create analytic diagrams and charts based on my business need.
Acceptance Criteria:
The system shall provide the option to export or download the campaign statistics in CSV and XLSX format for further analysis or reporting.
03. As a refueling staff member, I want to get notified about drivers’ digital payment result immediately so that I can efficiently serve more people during rush hours.
Acceptance Criteria:
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A receipt should be printed on the portable POS machine within 5 seconds after drivers successfully make the payment.
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The voice announcement on the portable POS machine should confirm the successful payment within 5 seconds after the payment is competed.
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In case of any payment failure or errors, neither a receipt nor a voice announcement should be generated.
04. As a driver, I want to know how much money has been saved on fueling monthly so that I can feel better about my spending.
Acceptance Criteria:
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The system should calculate and display the monthly total amount that should be paid, the actual amount paid, and the difference between them.
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The monthly statement should include the current month and previous 6 months.
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If there is no refueling transactions for a specific month, the statement should indicate this clearly.
Availability and Reliability
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The system should have an uptime of at least 99.99%.
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The system should provide redundancy and failover mechanisms to ensure continuous service availability.
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The system should have automated monitoring and alerting to detect and respond to downtime quickly.
Scalability
The platform should be able to scale horizontally and vertically to accommodate of the increased user load.
Data Managment
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Data backup should be performed every 24 hours and securely stored.
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Sensitive data should be encrypted using appropriate encryption mechanisms
Security
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Any APIs which are exposure to the internet should be encrypted using industry standard protocols (eg. SSL/TLS).
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The platform should operate using the HTTPS protocol.
Performance
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Response times for critical functions like digital payment should not exceed 2 seconds.
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The system should be able to handle 1,000 concurrent users without performance degradation.
Product Roadmap
Business Model Canvas
Competitor Landscape
Difference of Geographic Distribution of Target Gas Stations
Product Comparison
Ecosystem Flow Architecture
Product Function Diagram
System Architecture
Deployment Architecture
Pricing Strategy
GTM Strategy
Step 1: Formulate varied pitch messaging based on different users’ pain points
Step 2: Market Analysis
Step 3: Market Strategy
GTM Strategy - Sales Channel
GTM Strategy - Sales Funnel
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Risks
Market Risk
The product might be subject to low customer adoption.
Regulatory Risk
The risk of not allowing to use mobile to make payment in the gas station.
Technical Risks
1.The technical team lacks knowledge of cloud-related tech stacks.
2.The instability of the offline Wi-Fi network will affect the payment process.
Business Risk
Failing to generate revenue.
Security Risk
The risk of unauthorized access or manipulation of the data or system.
Intellectual Property Risk
The risk of having the platform’s own IP rights infringed upon.
Budget Risk
Running over budget due to unforeseen expenses.
Mitigations
Market Mitigations
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Work closely with customers to prioritize features that deliver high value.
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Keep stakeholders involved.
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Assist the technical team in adopting agile methodology.
Regulatory Mitigations
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Equip the gas station with explosion-proof POS machines.
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Require users to make digital payments inside the car.
Technical Mitigations
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Upgrade members’ skills in cloud computing through training.
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Recruit a technical leader to lead the adaptation.
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Equip the portable POS machine with a SIM card.
Business Mitigations
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Set a clear timeframe, budget, and revenue targets and conduct regular reviews.
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Work closely with customers to deliver high value features that customers are willing to pay for.
Security Mitigations
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Develop a robust security plan that prioritizes data protection.
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Implement appropriate security measures, including encryption and firewalls.
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Conduct regular security screening.
Intellectual Property Mitigations
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Register the platform’s own IP and similar IPs to protect it from infringement.
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Patent innovative ideas and technical solutions.
Budget Mitigations
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Create a buffer in financial planning.
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Prioritize the most essential features and allocate resources appropriately.
