25A- What's Next?

 25A- What's Next?

Existing Market. 

After talking to different customers, I was able to get a clear sense of what I should start to work on and be able to advertise better as well as what I already have a good niche in and to turn my focus to other areas. Most of the customers agreed that the idea itself was captivating enough that it would be able to grab the attention of different groups of people. They said that they would think that most people would be interested enough to at least see it play out in their business for a week or two at a time to see if the benefits are actually there. They also were in consensus that since the product is so simple, being that it is just a plastic covering there is not much more in the realm of new product development that can be done, which I agree with. It is the simplicity of the product and the service that it provides that makes the product unique and useful, not the gadget and gizmos that could be added on top of it.

What they did tell me that I should focus on now is the numbers of it all. Break down how much it could save versus how much it might now cost in straws. Compare that with how much time will be saved, and therefore money will be saved, based off of end of the night cleaning. Make the product more marketable through actual facts and figures and that would put me in a good place. I think that was exactly where I was wanting to go with it, so all is well.

New Market.

I think the market that is radically different than the one I am going after now, is the one that I initially sought to go after which is the students, young people going to these bars and clubs in the first place. While they would be the ones benefitting off of the product, I changed my way of marketing it to the managers of the clubs instead of the students because it seemed more feasible, but since it is really the club-goers’ input that would make these managers and the product the most successful it seems apt that I would interview them for their thoughts.

It was interesting hearing what my peers, the people who would be benefitting from this product and who I now had to market to, had to say about how I could adapt it and make it marketable to an individual. They came up with different ideas like making a cap that is reusable, almost like a reusable lid. What they liked most about the product is that it sounds like it could be made in an environmentally friendly way. That is probably what surprised me most. They were definitely fascinated and liked the idea of not being spilt on. They also said that they could be willing to purchase the product if it was sold individually at these specific places that they go out to. They pointed out that it would be hard to sell individually because if only a couple people had it while, yes it would keep them from pouring on themselves, it would not keep others from pouring their drinks and them; they followed that by saying that they thought that is why, me marketing it to the managers of these places and having it as something that everyone has is a great idea.