Group Discussion Week4 Group6

 Group6

Zhu, Can

Li, Heyi

Hu, Jiayi

Zheng, Haixiang

Duolingo

Group discussion 1: Blue ocean strategy

• Market
  • Language learning
  • Competing products: Baicizhan, Bubeidanci, Liulishuo, Babble
• Eliminate
  • Traditional teaching mode: Different from traditional language teaching methods, Duolingo uses a morerelaxed method of teaching, hoping to make language learning more fun, making an "anti-humanity" learning tool fun, so that users stay in the product for a long time.
  • Translation: Duolingo focuses on gamified language teaching with fewer tool attributes than competing products that integrate features such as translators and wordbooks
• Reduce
  • Theory of language: Aiming at daily conversation, not stressing the systematic and theoretical nature of language learning.
  • Exam-oriented teaching: No test-taking content related to language level examinations.
• Raise(Do what rivalries are doing)
  • Interactivity: Interact with users in a personified manner, increasing user engagement and interactivity through rewards and feedback.
  • Multiple languages：Duolingo offers instruction in more than 40 languages, outperforming most competitors in terms of volume.
  • Gameplay: There are game mechanisms such as avatars, MEDALS, leaderboards, winning streak days, etc., to enhance the interest of language learning, make the learning process simple and easy to understand, and improve user experience.
• Create
  • IP: Created the image of a small green bird that forced users to punch in to learn, determined the social first marketing strategy, scrambled time with entertainment content on social media, and made local adjustments to different markets (the United States is quirky, Brazil and Mexico are more enthusiastic, Japan is cute).
  • Underwater mission: Through the leaderboard and winning streak mechanism, the pursuit of human nature for a sense of order, so that users will remember that they have not punched the clock even when doing other things.
  • Natural learning habits: Applying a game-based and fragmented language learning model, providing multiple language teaching resources and teaching in a subtle way, which is in line with humans' natural language learning habits.

Group discussion 2: Porter's five forces

• Intensity of rivalry among established Firms
  • Firece competition：Language learning APP and Language Matting(搭子) APP.
  • They cannot beat Duolingo no matter by technical support, users' volume and consuming geographical range, since duolingo is world-wide popular.
  • Pros for Duolingo: Playfulness and multi-language learning pattern
  • Pro for other apps: More effective and suitable for impending exams and tests such as IELTS or TOEFL.
  • Cons for duolingo: Still relatively overpriced in terms of payment mechanisms, some customers may quit in this case.
• Bargaining power of suppliers
      Vendors, including software developers, content creators, and cloud service providers, offer standardized services (such as cloud services, advertising services) at a lower cost of change, which reduces the bargaining power of suppliers.
  • Content supply
    • IP images: Duolingo content creators produce vivid cartoon characters as your learning companies, helps students exprience real conversation and make deep impression of these IP images is also a way to propaganda its brand.
    • "Friends"function: You can use duolingo as a social media platform, making friends and learn together. This function encourages users to share the app to their friend and expand its user amount, enhance the interactive of the platform.
    • Learning inventory: Duolingo includes 40+ languages to learn in English.
• Bargaining power of customers
      Duolingo offers free basic services and attracts a large number of users with its high-quality teaching content and user experience. Moreover, the unique gamified learning experience and community functions enhance user loyalty. In addition to the free model, Duolingo provides value-added services to meet the needs of users.
• Threat of substitution
  • Same type of language learning APP
  • Other learning methods: school courses and textbook
  • However: its users have great community exprience and brand loyalty
• Threats of new entry
      Successful brand marketing and network effects raise the bar for other software that wants to enter the industry. And Duolingo continues to innovate its services with the launch of Duolingo Max and the use of AI technology to improve teaching content, raising barriers to entry.