Indian Kirana League

Kirana Club

Role
Product designer
Timeline
1 week
Team
Product Manager and Co Founder
The Indian Kirana League title card, beside a phone showing a live quiz question

Overview

Kirana Club is a dedicated platform tailored to address the challenges faced by Kirana store owners in managing their shops.

Specifically, I will delve into the creation of the Indian Kirana League, a quiz competition that attracted participation from over 1 Lakh Kirana stores. This competition not only contributed to the app’s enhanced user retention but also positively impacted the Daily Active Users (DAU) to Monthly Active Users (MAU) ratio.

Kirana Club is built for the people who run India's neighbourhood shops. The Indian Kirana League was a quiz competition inside that app, asking about FMCG products, the maths of profit and margin, and the advertising retailers live beside every day.

More than a lakh stores played. It pushed retention up, and it moved the ratio of daily active users to monthly active users.

How it started

An invitation landed from our founder one ordinary working day, for a meeting called KBC. I had no idea what it was about. We met in KC Park, the patch of fake grass where meetings happened.

The plan was a large quiz for retailers, run through the app. Forty players would be carried through to a second round held on Zoom.

One day, while we were busy working, I got an unexpected email invitation to a meeting called “KBC” from our founder. I was curious about what it could be. The meeting took place in KC Park, our spot with fake grass where we usually have meetings. He explained that we are planning to organise a big quiz for retailers using our Kirana Club App. The quiz would cover questions about FMCG products, math problems about profit and margins, and also ads related questions. We planned to pick 40 retailers from this quiz for a second round, which would happen on Zoom.

Why it was worth building

The league handed retailers a way to turn years behind a counter into something they could win with. It paid, and it broke up a day that rarely changes.

Indian Kirana League (IKL) offered retailers a platform to leverage their years of shopkeeping experience, allowing them to monetize their acquired knowledge. Not only did it provide a source of income, but it also injected some much needed entertainment into their otherwise monotonous routines.

A prize worth playing for

One lakh rupees at the top, won on knowledge retailers already had. Nothing new to learn, which is what made it land.

A break in the day

Research put more than 70% of our users as unhappy with how repetitive their days were. The league gave them something to look forward to.

An idea already tested

A smaller quiz before this had been popular. Splitting the league across the app and a Zoom round showed the format would hold at size.

Questions we started with

  1. 01How might we shape the quiz so it stays close to what a shopkeeper actually does all day?
  2. 02How might we give Kirana store owners a reason to take part at all?
  3. 03How might we make signing up quick enough that nobody drops out of it?
  4. 04How might we reach retailers across very different regions?
  5. 05How might we run both the app round and the Zoom round without the seams showing?
  6. 06How might we write questions that suit a very wide range of knowledge and experience?
  7. 07How might we hear back from players so the next league is better than this one?
  8. 08How might we tell whether any of it moved retention and engagement?

Building the buzz

A quiz nobody hears about is a quiz nobody enters. The plan leaned on the two things Kirana Club already had: a community that talks to itself, and retailers inside it whom other retailers believe.

To amplify the buzz for “Kaun Banega Kirana Quiz Champion,” it’s essential to engage the Kirana Club community and onboard influencer retailers who have credibility and reach. Here’s a step by step GTM strategy that leverages these two critical elements to create hype and engagement:

  1. 1. Pre launch phase (5 to 7 days)

    • Community polls and teasers. Post teaser polls and questions within the community to generate curiosity and gauge interest.

  2. 2. Influencer retailer involvement

    • Influencer identification and onboarding. Identify top retailer influencers in the Kirana Club and brief them on the event.
    • Influencer teasers. Encourage influencers to post teasers about the event on their social media and within the Kirana Club App.

  3. 3. Launch phase

    • Official announcement. Share an in depth post detailing the event, rewards, and how to participate.
    • Q&A session. Host a Q&A session within the community where members can ask questions about the quiz.
    • Launch announcements. Have influencers post about the launch, explaining why they’re excited and why their followers should participate.
    • Instagram and social media stories. Ask influencers to update their followers regularly through short social media stories.

  4. 4. Mid event phase

    • Weekly updates. Post leaderboards, event updates, and highlight top participants within the community.
    • Member spotlight. Feature interviews or profiles of community members who are excelling in the quiz.
    • Weekly challenges. Collaborate with influencers to create weekly challenges that encourage more community participation.
    • Progress updates. Have influencers share their progress and encourage their followers to catch up or compete.

  5. 5. Final phase

    • Countdown to finale. Start a countdown thread with daily updates leading to the finale.
    • Behind the scenes access. Give influencers exclusive access to share behind the scenes content from the final event.
    • Final thoughts and recap. A post event influencer round up, discussing key moments, and congratulating winners.
The buzz plan mapped out as branches, from community channels and the feed to push notifications and dedicated sections

Pre Buzz Designs

A countdown timer on the app feed, leading to the league's landing page
The screen where a retailer finds out which team they are on
Entry banners on the feed, sending users to the quiz landing page

Key user flows

The user flow through the league, from the feed through registration and the quiz to the leaderboard

Final designs

The landing page, built around one large play button and the prize on offer
The quiz screen, where a retailer answers each question
The leaderboard, switching between team standings and player standings
The rules screen, setting out how scoring and timing work
The screen a retailer sees once they have used their one go for the day
The league's landing page, with the prize and the button to play
The leaderboard in the green team's colours
A quiz question under the blue team's header
The team reveal for Deccan Dukandaar
A question being reviewed, with the answer checked
The come back tomorrow screen, once the day's go is used
The player leaderboard, with the reader ranked fifth
The rules screen, setting out scoring and the one go a day
A quiz question under the red team's header
The team reveal for Ganga Grocers
The leaderboard in the orange team's colours
A question in English about where the Kumbh Mela is held
The come back tomorrow screen on a zero score
The same leaderboard switched to team standings
A quiz question under the green team's header
The team reveal for The Royal Traders
The leaderboard in the blue team's colours
A question about the company behind the Amul brand
A question whose four answers are themselves colours
A second come back screen, counting down to the next day
The team reveal for Mithila Merchants
The leaderboard in the red team's colours
A quiz question under the orange team's header
The same question with an answer chosen and marked correct
The score screen at the end of a round, with the trophy
The rules screen before any question has been answered

Impact

More than 1 Lakh Kirana’s participated in IKL which helped in increasing our retention.

Retailers found great enjoyment in the quiz and the episodes of round 2 that were released on the app over a 6 day period, airing at 8 PM to accommodate everyone’s viewing schedule. Additionally, we conducted interviews with all the finalists, where they shared their experiences playing IKL. Many expressed surprise at discovering a platform where they could truly utilise their talents.

These are the metrics the league was judged on, with retention as the north star. The rest of the numbers are Kirana Club's, so they are not mine to publish.

Retention metrics

Retention after the leagueDaily actives against monthly activesPlayers who come back the next day

Participation metrics

Stores that playedRegistrations off the feed bannersPlayers who finish the day's goRetailers who reach round two

Qualitative

What retailers post in the communityWhat the finalists said afterwards

Below I have attached some recordings from the second round which happened over zoom.

Thanks for reading.