https://doi.org/10.1177/2043886920910432
Journal of Information Technology
Teaching Cases
1–10
© Association for Information
Technology Trust 2020
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/2043886920910432
Journals.sagepub.com/jittc
JITTC
Company background
Digikala, founded in 2007 by two brothers named Hamid
and Saeed Mohammadi, started with seven employees and
gradually increased its employees over the years. Focusing
on providing technical content on digital products like cell
phones and cameras in Persian, Digikala quickly attracted
audiences. The main focus of the Digikala website was a
comprehensive review of digital products (mobile, camera,
and laptop) in 2007 and it was also possible to contact—
through phone or SMS—consultants on products and their
prices (Mostakin, 2017).
Along with Digikala’s main purpose of content genera-
tion, a new service related to producing different videos
on education and review of digital products was added to
Digikala in 2012, which indeed also saw the birth of
Digikala TV. Digikala expanded the sale of the product
group of mobile, camera, and laptop to all digital products
and its employees increased to 200. Adopting the Sarava
Pars Investment Fund proposal was another main event in
Digikala in 2013, which made it possible for Digikala to
reach its goal in a shortened time frame (Khalili, 2017).
Digikala accounted for more than 85% of Iranian elec-
tronic retail in 2014 and its staff increased to 700. Talk
about Digikala in popular media, such as The Economist
and the Washington Post, saw the site stand out as what
was called the Iranian Amazon. Digikala was also ranked
as the largest online startup in Iran with a value of
US$150 million (The Economist, 2014) according to The
Economist statistics, Digikala was also recognized among
the top 10 entrepreneurs in the world at the 2014 World
Value creation analysis using
atomic business models:
The case of Digikala
e-retailer – Part B
Payam Hanafizadeh
1
, Saeedeh Mehri
1
and Hamid Hasanabadi
2
Abstract
One of the reasons most startups fail, despite their growing number, is the inability and lack of flexibility of their business
models in responding to market changes. In addition, due to the uncertainty of the startups’ environment, it is difficult
to gain competitive advantage; startups need to continuously change their business models. One of the most common
electronic business models is the electronic retailer. Despite the many challenges facing e-retailers due to market
changes and customer preferences, Digikala has been ranked as the most popular and most visited website and has
managed to gain over 85% of the Iranian retail market share. The purpose of this study is to analyze the value creation
in Digikala in order to answer the following questions: Through which atomic business model can business value be
realized? What change strategies should be applied to be able to provide a unique and stable value and be successful?
Keywords
Value creation, electronic retailer, business model, change strategies, atomic business models, Digikala
1
Allameh Tabataba’i University, Iran
2
University of Tehran, Iran
Corresponding author:
Payam Hanafizadeh, Department of Industrial Management, Faculty of
Management and Accounting, Allameh Tabataba’i University, Dehkadeh-
ye-Olympic, West End Hemmat Highway, Tehran 1489684511, Iran.
Email: hanafizadeh@gmail.com
910432TTC Journal of Information Technology Teaching CasesHanafizadeh et al.
Teaching Case