25A- What's Next?
Existing Market
I believe the next steps for my venture is to identify which
stores I can implement my system in, that I have not already. My focus has been
personal care stores, apparel stores, shoe stores, and grocery stores. There is
an array of store types and I am sure there is some that are suffering from a
drop in sales because of customers walking out empty handed due to pushy
service.
The customers that I focused on throughout my venture was managers
at stores like Bath and Body Works. I interviewed these types of people because
this is a store that I find pushiness can be very present. If I were to ask
them what I should be doing that I am not currently with my venture, I feel it
would be to make my product the style of their store. For instance, my venture
just consists of providing different colored bags to stores like Bath and Body
Works, but maybe I need to make them certain colors that match the stores theme
or have them decorated in a way that they blend in with the stores theming. I
feel this is something they would want me to implement because customers will
feel more engaged in the store experience rather than just holding a plain
colored bag.
I think in order to continue prospering in my existing
market I will have to bring into play theming into the system I offer to my
customers and continue looking for different stores that may need my services.
New Market
Rather than catering to businesses, I can approach the
people who shop at the businesses. For example, I would have to aim for a
person who goes to a mall or a person who frequently shops and would get
annoyed by pushy sales associates.
In order to cater to this audience, I would have to change
my project to be a more affordable implementation. Instead of carts and bags I
would have to consider something like pins. Pins are cheap and very easy to
make in bulk. I can create two different pins and the meaning of them will
become universally known. The simplest way to do this is to provide a green pin
to people who enjoy receiving help in a store and a red pin to those who want
to shop on their own without interruptions.
This can be successful because It will be an affordable way
for shoppers to get what they want. They will pay a small amount for the pins
and it will be easy for them to store so that they can use it when they are in
a sales environment. This new market can be promising because these people are
easily annoyed and feel as if going shopping cannot be a leisure activity
because they just become frustrated with the salespeople.
Hi Brianna, well done with your blog post! I really liked how you talked about the theme system for your product. This is definitely something that will be appealing to potential buyers, especially as your company grows and people want to customize. Just keep in mind that that would be something you could charge more for! In addition, I like the creative idea of the pins and making them universal for shoppers. So long as you could educate people on your product, it could be a major hit! Keep up the great work!
ReplyDeleteHi Brianna. It is really a special value to recognize that there are certain things you haven't done yet that would help, and that is exactly what you do when you say next you want to identify other stores that can use your services. This goes along with the fact that you did an excellent job of identifying a new market, and the best way to engage in that new market. Awesome post.
ReplyDeleteHi Brianna. I really like the idea of customizing your shopping bags to fit the theme of the store. I agree that that would certainly be a great next step. However, like you mentioned, it is important to get the opinions from both sides: the customer and the business. I like your suggestion of the pins, however, you would also have to consider the problem of customers walking out of the store and forgetting to take the pin off. More than likely, the business would end up losing many of the pins. Great work, Brianna!
ReplyDeleteHi Brianna!
ReplyDeleteGreat work, I thought your analysis of how leaders within the sales industry would respond to your product was especially impressive given our inability to go interview people physically, but I agree that color distinction to match a brand style would probably be necessary to cater to each store's specific needs. Also your analysis of the market of direct consumer sales was well done, though I agree that your best bet is probably marketing to business owners.