My new idea is DISCOUNT Books, a pop-up bookstore.
DISCOUNT Books would "pop-up" at the beginning and school semesters, while targeting high school seniors and college Freshmen to buy used books sold from upperclassmen.
Here are customer interviews of those who I expect in my market: young college students, aged from 18-25 years old. For textbooks, many people in this market search for them through Chegg.com, Amazon.com, and at their campus bookstore.
Customer #1 liked the idea of a pop-up bookstore. He was a bit confused on the discounts which would be offered. He also remarked on how profitable the opportunity could be if students realized the convenience of going to the store instead of trying conduct a textbook exchange through Facebook.
Customer #2 thinks one of the most unused products that most students buy are textbooks. He suggested selling the DISCOUNT Books service to students through coupon books and dining halls.
Customer #3 thinks the ideas could generate a lot of profit if it matched prices of online competitors. Most students buy their books in a bundle, and customer #3 essentially argued that the customer service of the bookstore needs to be able to compete with Amazon's and Chegg's.
SEGMENT Conclusion: To reach this market, one would need to reach customers through Facebook and other social media, through word-of-mouth, and through coupon books for other restaurants, products and services.
Brian,
ReplyDeleteI like that you target incoming freshman because this definitely will make it easier and more convenient for them as they adjust. The "pop up" aspect will definitely eliminate the fixed costs that would normally be year-round. However, I'm not sure how well it would perform with respect to it's competitors considering factors such as customer service (interview #3) or deferred payment (interview #2). Utilizing social media, on the other hand, will definitely give it a leg up in the local market by effectively spreading the word when it's time to "pop up."
Brian,
ReplyDeleteThis is an idea that has true potential especially with the target market you are going to approach. As mentioned by Bianca the idea of it being a "pop up" is great by eliminating the fix cost which is huge for a business that is starting up. And the use of social media will be great with getting the word out especially since there are so many Facebook pages out there with thousands of UF students that you can reach. This is something that if it can be competitive with pricing and convenience it will be have success in college markets.
This idea addresses the concept of "need awareness" very well. As the other students who have commented have mentioned the aspect of differentiation, an important thing to consider would be price-matching with online stores and advertising. Information search for used textbook prices is pretty easy to do thanks to Amazon. Thus, price matching would have to be your factor of differentiation. Saving on annual fixed costs would probably help with that.
ReplyDeleteBrian,
ReplyDeleteAs of right now my main source of books is renting them from offline. If you could provide a service to buy books that compared to the cost of renting I would do it. Further, the convenience of shopping online is apparent, but if there was a pop up book store right on campus, I could see myself going to that store during the first week of classes. Further, I notice that as I progressed through the years, I was less likely to buy books from the bookstore and instead looked to alternative. If you could make your alternative obvious to new students, I could see them popping on your books right away.
Hi Brian,
ReplyDeleteI love this idea and if it was around I would use it. I think one way to make sure that the pop up bookstore would be the most convenient place to buy books is to have multiple locations on campus such as libraries, the HUB, or the Reitz Union. I think your idea on how to reach people is great and it would be great way to help differentiate yourself from the competitors by letting people know about price and location. Great job!
Hello Brian, this idea is actually very close to the same idea I have and it is really cool to see the differences between our two ideas. I’m glad the consumers also believe that this is a good idea. Hopefully social media and local activity would work together to aid the business. Maybe consider having an outside company for marketing?
ReplyDeleteBrian, this idea is great but I feel as if it might have some serious competition. I am wondering how you are going to make this profitable, but I feel that these interviews gave you some solid feedback. I am not alone in wondering about the competition but having a successful and money saving book exchange would be successful. I hope you're able to take these interviews and grow your idea from them.
ReplyDelete