iTute marketing plan

1.0 Introduction & Company Background

The private tutoring marketing industry ion Australia is worth $1.25 billion with a yearly growth rate of 4.1% as per Australia Tutoring Association (ATA) (Armitage, 2017). English and Maths subjects are considered to be the most demanded subjects by the students. Much recently, the industry has suffered a certain impact due to slowdown in world economic growth. According to ATA (2020), the number of students seeking academic support in Australia is around 25%. Around 80,000 students engage in some form of tutoring in Australia while 17% of the families consider tutoring for one or more of their children (Dooley, et al., 2018). 

In light of the promising scope of tutoring services in Australia, this situation analysis will examine the aspects of the tutoring industry within Australia, specifically for university students as they transit into their higher degree studies. The aim of iTute is to increase the academic results and personal wellbeing of the first year university students across Australia. This report will review the tutoring market and the macro environment surrounding this sector, in the form of PESTEL examination. The further sections will discuss micro environment entailing major competitors and SWOT analysis of iTute. After examination, the marketing objectives of iTute will be set for rolling out the business idea. 

1.1 Company Background

iTute is an online tutoring service platform aimed at helping the first year university students as they transit into higher degree studies. iTute will be offering online tutoring services for the local as well as international prospective students who would be needing assistance throughout their educational journey. The services will be provided to students enrolled in top 20 universities of Australia initially. The aim is to roll out the services to top 50 universities in Australia within 3 years of operating. Tutoring will be available in English, Maths, Accounting, Finance, Calculus, Economics and Statistics. Further assistance will be provided for homework, study skills, academic writing techniques and exam preparation.

1.3 Aim

“Personalized Tutoring for Success”

1.4 Target Market

Graduate quantitative segment will be the core focus of iTute, however much time will be dedicated to development of undergraduate segment. The potential market amongst the grad students is finite while the undergrad market is 10 times larger as it includes the largest international student population. The non-quantitative segment of undergrad students is difficult to services as there is variety of courses that students might need help with. For now, only the core classes for graduation will be serviced. The current target market is hence the “quantitative graduate students enrolled in top 20 universities in Australia” with aim of expanding into undergraduate quantitative segment in top 50 universities in Australia over next five years of operation. 

2.0 Market Situation

2.1 Market Analysis

The Australian online tutoring market is expected to grow to $1.7 bn by 2022. This industry is set to grow amidst the increasing demand by students for education services and technology innovation. Over 15% of the Australian startups target the online tutoring industry as a prospective business (see figure 1 below).

Out of all the students’ demand for tutoring services, 31.9% secondary school students demand online tutoring services followed by 25.5% university students and 24.4% of primary school students. The Australian edtech solutions industry provides support to the online learning platforms for improving the quality of services offered (D'Mello, 2018).  Over past five years, the online tutoring industry has evolved due to technological developments and positive public perception of the online learning. Many educational institutes have already harnessed the reliability of internet connectivity and mobile technology for delivering to more students. The current trend towards reskilling is considered as a key to growth in online education. Currently, more than 1000 online education providers are working in Australia while generating approximately $3.3 bn in the revenues (Dooley, et al., 2018). The major online tutoring services are provided by Club Z, Daekyo, Educomp Solutions, JEI Corporation, Mathnasium, Studiosity, Smarthinking, TutorVista Global and Tutoring Club (Dooley, et al., 2018).