29A- Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity:

            

            Everybody has daily tasks that take valuable time that could be spent doing more enjoyable things.  These tasks are time consuming and tiring, but many people view them as a fact of life- they don’t have to be. I am selling smart home bundles; which contain products designed to lighten the load of these daily tasks.  Ultimately, the bundles are designed to make the consumers’ life easier and less stressful.  In the end, I believe that I’m selling convenience. The kind that can lead to increased productivity, as well as leisure time.   This convenience is my company’s “secret sauce”.  My aim is to make convenience what sets my company apart; during each step of the buying process.

While pretty much everyone has this need, not everyone falls into my opportunity boundary.  Through multiple rounds of research, I believe I have rounded out my prototypical consumer.  In the broadest terms, my consumers will be middle-to-upper class people who own their own home and appliances, and manage their own domestic affairs.  This is my established boundary for a few reasons. To buy these products, the individual must be relativelywealthy, due to the high cost of the products.   The person must own their own appliances (as opposed to those who live in furnished apartments), so that they have the authority to replace them.  They also must manage their own domestic affairs.  If they already have someone to perform these tasks for them, then the products would not add much to their lives.  I think this leaves a large piece of the market available for capitalization. My boundary includes successful young people, older people with a good handle on technology, and families.

This is an emerging opportunity that came about because of the growing nature of the smart home market.  The world is moving towards a more technological future, and many believe that smart home tech is the next big thing.  This market is obviously the largest in developed countries, and most popular among the wealthy.  However, as the market grows, the products will become more accessible to everyone. The price points of the technology will drop, and my opportunity boundary will grow.  There is no doubt that this market is set to get bigger before it gets smaller.  I think that it will be around for many years to come (at least 10), and the products will only get more intuitive and more helpful.  I think this means that this has the potential to be a huge opportunity. This is especially true because many of the tasks these products set out to solve must be done by hand now.  Smart home devices are easily the most intuitive and easiest way to take care of these tasks.

Innovation:

            My business will change how people purchase their smart home products.  The business will basically be made up of two parts: the website and the service department. On the website we will sell smart home bundles- in sets of 3, 5, and 10.  Each of these bundles can be customized according to what products the consumer wants.  We would buy our inventory in bulk, directly from smart home suppliers, to guarantee the best prices and quality.  This would allow us to sell the bundles for less than the combined retail prices of the individual items in the bundle.  The website wouldn’t only save customers money, it would save them time too.  Each product will have an easy-to-understand description of what exactly it does, how it works, and what it connects to.  All of our bundles will contain products that connect to each other, and any kind of smart phone.  This will save the consumer valuable time that is usually spent doing research on the products.  

            Once the consumer orders a bundle, they can elect to have it professionally installed by our service department.  There will be an additional fee associated with this, dependent upon the size of the bundle.  The cost will probably be between $50 and $100.  I think that a lot of customers will use this service, because it will give them the peace of mind that their products were installed correctly and that they are ready to use.  Before each bundle is shipped, we will enclose detailed instructions about set-up and use.   So, even if the customer doesn’t pay for the installation service, they will know how to install the products themselves.  Once the products are installed, the enclosed instructions will guide them through how to use the products effectively.  This will make it easier to the individual to learn how to use the products, and make my company even more convenient to buy from.

            I think that the next step for my company is to expand our service department in the future.  It’s inevitable that some products don’t work right, or get broken. To increase convenience for my customers, expanding the service department to do repairs should be the next step.  This kind of service would allow customers to rely on us for every step of the smart home process. I think another step could be creating our own smart home devices. While I’m not sure exactly what they would do, I think that they would give our brand some name recognition.  If we were the only ones who stocked our products, consumers would have to come to our website to buy them.  This would help us attract even more people.  

Venture Concept:

            The smart home market is new, and there are many misconceptions about the products and how they work.  I think a lot of consumers are scared to invest in such expensive pieces of technology without fully understanding them.  Since my company is out to help consumers understand these products, I think that it will encourage them to buy them.  As I have said, there is nothing on the market as intuitive that helps people with their daily tasks.  I think that a good understanding is the only thing standing between consumers and these products.  My business will be trustworthy and convenient, which will give us an edge against the competition.  Our products and services will be better and cheaper, which will allow us to reach a broader audience.  Our main business platform will be the website- which will help us maximize profit while keeping costs low.  In five years, I would hope to expand the business internationally to reach more people.

            

Feedback and Changes:  I received only positive feedback on my last venture concept. This allowed me to keep a majority of what I already had.  I took some feedback from my “What’s Next” exercise.  I changed my opportunity a little bit to incorporate more consumers, and I described in more detail where I thought this opportunity will go in the future.  A couple people I interviewed suggested that I create my own products.  I put this in as a suggestion for a next step the company could take.  I think that my venture concept is now well rounded and reflects the consumer’s wants.