Venture Concept No. 1
Venture Concept No. 1
by Josh Korthuis
Opportunity:
I believe my product of custom toilet seats has a
great opportunity to reach a target market never reached before with a product
of this kind of innovation. The customers of the target market have an unmet
need of a better bathroom experience because it is something people use every
day and my product could greatly improve it. My main potential customers are
people who enjoy living the high life and have money to spend on improving their
homes with a product like mine. They also have a want for a more comfortable
and innovative toilet seat that has limitless features and have the creativity
to think of new things to add to its features. Geographically I think this
market is mostly located in the United States but If I were to find great
success I would consider expanding internationally. Demographically I think
this market fits all varieties of people but would probably range from 20+ old
range because they have to have their own money to buy this product. This
product has a big opportunity to become a normal household product and believe
this window will only close if we move away from toilets to a new product in our
bathrooms which I can’t see happening in the near future. This product could
truly change the typical American bathroom for the better if it were to become
successful and could positively affect people across the nation for decades to
come!
Innovation:
The product I am pitching is a custom toilet seat that
has endless innovational opportunities but has a few feature’s that come
standard on it. The toilet would seat would come standard with a fast acting
heating and cooling system installed in the seat, an aux cord/phone charger
installed conveniently to the side of the seat, and the ability to put a custom
image on the lid and seat such as the Batman symbol of your favorite football
team. These seats could be ordered online or at a brick and mortar location we
are selling them at and we would be available for calls during business hours
to talk about any customization you would like to install in the seat itself.
Lol I don’t know why I’m actually typing this all out like no one is going to
read this they are just going to ready my last paragraph and make up a comment
about what my product could use, but anyways back to the topic of toilet seats.
The custom ideas for the toilet seats will be researched and experimented by
our engineers to see if it is possible to install on the seat. Depending on cost
we will probably outsource the engineering department because of how expensive
it would be to have a team of engineers on staff just for the seats. Maybe my
company could even collaborate with a University such as the University of
Florida Engineering department and I could offer students incentives to come up
with new toilet technologies and give them internships over the summer to work
with our research teams to bring the toilets of tomorrow to real life. I have
no idea how to price the toilet seats because I have no real number for manufacturing
costs. I would probably try to outsource the manufacturing of the seats to save
money for the company and present a more competitive price to consumers because
if it’s too expensive no one is going to take a chance on it. Though if I could
keep the manufacturing in the United States that would be ideal to create jobs
for the American people and support our nation’s economy in a positive way. Hopefully
as the product increased in sales I could use the skimming process and slowly
decrease my price as I can buy in more bulk and expand my market to more
consumers.
Venture:
The innovation of my custom toilet seats will truly
wow consumers in my opinion especially if I can price it at an affordable
price. Knowing this is think consumers will switch to my product because once
they see it they will realize how much time they spend in the bathroom and how
much a product like mine could benefit their everyday lifestyle. They will also
look at what they have now and realize their toilet seat at home is just molded
plastic with no creativity put into and a think of how much they are missing
out on life. It will not be hard for these people to switch products because
our toilet seats have a guaranteed easy installation and all they would have to
worry about is buying the product and installing it at home. For competitors, I
am not aware of any other known company’s selling custom toilet seats to the level
of innovation I am offering. The only vulnerability I could see to this is if
my company were to expand that there could be others that try and enter the market
of custom toilets seats who have find a way to make a more innovative product
for a cheaper price. For a business I would try to have someone to run a
website and also try and enter some store fronts but try to keep employee numbers
to a minimum and just worry about manufacturing.
My most important resource would have to be the
engineering team because they could help design the product to work properly
and safely while experimenting with new product features that consumers are
looking for. What’s next for the venture is to make a prototype to test and run
some test marketing to see how consumers react to the product. What is next for
me is to try and run the business smoothly and effectively so we can survive
through the tough road of opening a new business to find success in the future!
Hi Josh,
ReplyDeleteI think that this product does have a lot of potential in the right markets. However, I think that you're correct about your company's vulnerabilities. Other toilet seat companies could definitely adapt and include this idea into their existing product line. The other potential vulnerability is having a pretty specific market, since other individuals may not be interested in spending money on this product. However, I think that both would be solved on your customer experience and loyalty. If your initial customers are impressed by the product and you spread across markets quickly, your product does have a lot of potential. Overall, I think this is still a great idea and this venture concept was very informative.
Hi Josh,
ReplyDeleteYour product is certainly different and I have never heard of something like it. That much being said you do have a prime advantage among other company's. But just like any product in the world there were always be people trying to imitate what you have created. The most important aspect of your customizable toilet seat product is that you must convince consumers that this is the best product and will continue to be the best product for years to come even if people attempt to recreate it. This could be compared to a Rolex for instance. Rolex was established in 1905 and continues to be seen and known as the highest end luxury watches. Although there are many other watch companies that offer luxury watches, a Rolex is what screams success. So all in all your toilet seats need to be the Rolex of all toilet seats if thats the road you wish to pursue.
Hey there Josh,
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you that the main market would be in the United States, however, I would not necessarily count out the possibility of your product being popular in a place like Europe. I do also agree that the price will be a major determining factor for the product, as if it can be relatively close to that of a regular toilet there would be no reason to not purchase your product. It would probably be good as you said to mainly focus on manufacuring and not huge numbers of employees, as this would save a lot of money. Good job with this assignment!