Express Hospitality: The supermarket has become more than just a place to buy; it is increasingly becoming the place to hang out or unwind.
Supermarkets are slowly replacing bakeries, becoming hangout zones for youngsters, where the cold drink is colder and the snacks are less cumbersome to manage. For men, supermarkets are taking the place of paanwalahs, where they can come in for a quick break and buy cigarettes and cool drinks. The working community looks to these supermarkets as places to unwind before heading towards work or home. These shoppers typically hangout at the doorstep after their purchase and are prime shoppers for impulse products.
These are some of the trends that have been observed based on intensive work that have been done at modern format food and grocery outlets. Action on these lines will not only result in better revenues but will also enhance shopability for the consumer and ultimately lead to enhanced loyalty for the store.
TrendHunter: Shopaholics rejoice! Let us do the dance of joy! On Tuesday Amazon launched TextBuyIt, letting people text the name of a product, description, UPC or ISBN to the numbers “262966” (which is Amazon on the keypad), so we can buy from our cell phones, including from inside stores.
The service returns two results at a time, where you can buy one of the first two selections by texting “1” or “2,” or you can ask for more info by texting the letter “M.” Enter the e-mail address you have with your Amazon account and your shipping zip code and wait for the service to call you. They walk you through the checkout process with an automated voice system. You then get confirmation by text message and e-mail and as well as view your order online.
Merchants of Green Coffee is a Toronto, Canada based wholesaler and retailer of coffee beans, but with several twists that make them unique and therefore of interest to readers of coolbusinessideas.com.
The owners and employees of this company are passionate about the search for the perfectly brewed cup of coffee. They teach their shoppers about the three steps to great coffee: the highest quality coffee beans, the freshest roast, and proper brewing.
Therefore, they sell only the best arabica beans sourced from small, shady, organic certified plantations in countries like Ethiopia, Kenya, Sulawesi and Costa Rica. They have a strong commitment to fair trade, and pay a fair price for the product in most cases directly to the farmer. A percentage of sales of their coffee goes to sustainable coffee programs.
The flavour and aromas of coffee are generated only after roasting brings out the essential oils and caramelizes the carbohydrates and sugars in the beans. Within minutes of roasting oxidation starts breaking down these oils, and will quickly turn the sweetness and complexity of aromas and tastes to bitterness. According to Daniel Byrnes of MGC (pictured in the photograph above), roasted coffee has a shelf life of only 3-5 days, regardless of how it's packaged. Ground coffee has a life of only 3 hours before it is stale.
So what is the key difference between Merchants of Green Coffee and your local Starbucks? MGC only sells green, unroasted coffee. Shoppers must purchase a small coffee roaster and roast the green beans at home - the store does not sell roasted coffee beans. Coffee is roasted at around 450 degrees F in small electrical appliances that resemble hot air popcorn poppers. The roasting process is complete is about 8 minutes.
The business model is also different. Customers generally pre-purchase 30 pounds of coffee for CDN$375, and receive the CDN$180 home roaster for free. They then drop by the store and take away coffee as they need in until their 30 pounds are exhausted. They can then continue purchasing green coffee at CDN$7-12 per pound - very inexpensive even by Canadian supermarket standards for arabica coffee.
With increasing consumer interest in trends like authenticity, provenance of products and environmentalism, organic green coffee that they can then roast, grind and brew at home is certain to gain more and more acceptance.
Graeme Spicer is a Canadian trendspotter, ethnographer and observer of all things retail. As Director of Retail Strategy at DW+Partners he spends his time consulting with leading retailers; presenting at conferences across North America; lecturing at OCAD, Canada's leading design school; and reading too many blogs.
SomethingStore is a fun new website that will send you "something", an item selected randomly among many things from their inventory, for $10 (free shipping) and you will find out what your something is when you receive it.
It may be something you need, something you want or something you desire. A cool gadget, rare book, handmade necklace, reverse clock or maybe a box of gourmet chocolates. Your something will most likely be brand new, though it may also be refurbished or antique. 4,917 somethings have been ordered since October 2007.
Iconoculture: Forget refrigerators. Fashionistas can hang their kids' finger-painting masterpieces on their arm, with a custom bag from Scribble Couture, which displays the artwork on stylish purses.
'Rents (or doting grands) submit an original doodle or digital scan to Los Angeles-based bag designer True Cross, whose embroidery artists stitch the drawing on an oversize leather tote, canvas bag or cute silk clutch.
Celeb fans of the personalized brag bags ($129 to $329) include proud moms Reese Witherspoon and Brooke Shields.
Permanent online archives. Photo blowups printed on real canvas. Kid-art tattoos on Dad's shoulder. Add Scribble Couture to the growing list of “publishing” options for parents who want to preserve — and trumpet — their child's creative genius.
Bags that serve as wearable art galleries make great gifts for a youngster's fan club of family and friends.
Here's an update on ClayValet (clayvalet.com), an online personal shopping service which we featured sometime ago. The Seattle-based company just recently debuted an improved site design and several anticipated features.
ClayValet enlists real people to personally answer user requests. The service caters to people who don’t have hours to spend sifting through endless search results and comparing countless options.
New features recently unveiled include:
- New User Tutorial: The most common question heard at ClayValet is, "This is great! But how does it work?" Now, new users and anyone interesting in improving their shopping experience can learn how get the most out of ClayValet. A simple tutorial with clear instructions is now available on the homepage.
- User Advice: The more people use ClayValet, the more engaged they often become. ClayValet’s comment posting feature gives users a new opportunity to further participate in the shopping process by contributing ideas and posting shopping suggestions to others.
Babygadget: These Polar bear shelves have to be the ultimate in fun product design, though one has to ask if they'd look quite as good once stacked with random books and objects. Now, if you were enough of an obsessive to only store white-spined books on there, I could see the look really working. And having laid out over £2,000 (US$ 4,000), you'd really want it to work.
TrendCentral: Anyone whose family includes a dog knows that getting Fido to take his vitamins is even harder than getting the kids to eat spinach. Rather than having to shove a horse pill down your dog's throat or "hide" it in its food only to have it spit out, these innovative new vitamins from OVN can be added straight to the waterbowl or poured over food. And because they come in flavors like chicken, bacon jerky, and liver, your dog will be able to stay healthy and happy.
Crave: Sure, you can have the weirdest umbrella inventions, but none of these actually tell you when the rain is coming. Which is the whole point of carrying a brolly, right?
Apparently, the Forecast prototype goes all the way back to 2005 and the idea behind it is really simple. The umbrella comes with a docking station which is able to pull weather data off the Internet via Wi-Fi. Electric leads will then light up an LED on the handle with varying intensity to tell you the likelihood of rain. So you know whether to bring the brolly with you on your way out.
Sounds brilliant, as long as it doesn't get us fried in a rain puddle, or make us look like a goldfish-bowl Martian.
Gadget Reviews: If you like digital photography, and want to show your pieces of art to friends or family, you would probably prefer to watch them in a slideshow on a TV screen than on a tiny camera's display. Unfortunately, such task requires computer and some time to convert or select photos. This gadget will make this job a lot easier. In fact, it does not require computer at all!
Popgadget: It really bums me out to see a nice idea being implemented on a piece of outdated technology.
Take this palm-fit adjustable optical USB mouse from USB Fever, for example. It's got a pretty ingenious "lengthening" component that allows the mouse to become up to 16 mm (0.63 inches) longer. This ability to "grow" makes the mouse a compelling choice for travelers who have previously shied away from travel mice because of their diminutive size.
But why a USB mouse? Yeah, it's great that the USB cable is retractable and adjustable "to fit your application" and all that, but it's not 1990 anymore. Cut the cords, people.
Springwise: The line between kid and adult beverages began to blur a few years ago, when vintners began offering wines in Tetra Paks resembling juice boxes. Now, the confusion goes the other way with First Blush's Cabernet, Merlot and Chardonnay fruit juices. First Blush varietal grape juices are alcohol-free and entirely suitable for kids, with no added sugar or preservatives. Like wine, however, they're also full of polyphenol antioxidants. Launched last May, the drinks are available in upscale grocers such as Whole Foods and Wild Oats, along with delis and restaurants in select states nationwide. Retail pricing is about USD 4 for each 16-ounce bottle.
Juice is already well-entrenched in the world of 'snobmoddities', as we've noted before. But rather than focusing on organic ingredients, as so many others are currently doing, First Blush takes a different approach with its use of grape varietals. It just goes to show: not only can everything be upgraded, but there's usually more than one way to do so!
Merlot & other premium grape juices [Springwise]
Starting a home-based business is a huge undertaking. Creating an online presence for your business can be equally overwhelming. Where do you begin to learn the basics of creating your first website? It’s actually much simpler than you think.....
- Flip & Tumble Reusable Bag
- Eco Retail Shops
- DemoCamp 17 in Toronto
- Instant Fresh Tea Innovation
- StickK to Your Word
- Meaty Pod
- Scout Music For Cash
- When a Goal Become a MUST!
- 5 Great Ways To Use Spreadsheets and Stay Organized
- Choosing A Franchise
- Plan For Success
- Mutual Funds 101
- Incentive Planning Takes Two Brain
- Five Ways to Market Using Email
Can't stand your demanding boss anymore? Start your own business! Before that, be sure to subscribe to our free informative newsletter. BIZNESS! is jointly published by CoolBusinessIdeas.com and GetEntrepreneurial.com What you get in BIZNESS! - the latest new business ideas, small business advice, business tips and info and entrepreneur resources. Everything you need for your brand new business!
Free 20-pages PDF report (worth $38) - "New Business Ideas Report 2007" - included with your subscription.Learn more here.
Engadet: What's better than having a nice leather or cloth iPod sleeve to show off to your friends? If you're thinking one made of imitation meat -- you're dead right! Apparently, a company in Japan is under the impression that you want to wrap your music player in a grade A lookalike, undoubtedly to the thrill of your vegetarian friends and family. Of course, don't just get one for the shock value -- this thing oozes pure, sophisticated style. If you've got ¥6,800 (or about $66) and dignity to spare, it can be all yours.
NYT: MILLIONS of families once snapped Polaroid photographs and enjoyed passing around the newly minted prints on the spot, instead of waiting a week for them to be developed. Now, Polaroid wants to conjure up those golden analog days of vast sales and instant gratification — this time with images captured by digital cameras and camera phones.
This fall, the company expects to market a hand-size printer that produces color snapshots in about 30 seconds.
Beam a photograph from a cellphone to the printer and, with a gentle purr, out comes the full-color print — completely formed and dry to the touch.
The printer, which connects wirelessly by Bluetooth to phones and by cable to cameras, will cost about $150. The images are 2 inches by 3 inches, the size of a credit card. The new printers are so lightweight that a Polaroid executive demonstrating them recently had three tucked unnoticeably into various pockets of his trim jacket, whipping them out as if he were Harpo Marx.
Instant Digital Prints (and Polaroid Nostalgia) [New York Times Online]
You just turned away for a moment. You look in every direction - scanning the area. Your heart starts to pound as you call out their name. You start to panic and think the worst when your cell phone rings. A welcome voice tells you that they found your wandering child and all is well.
Has this happened to you? If you're a parent, chances are it's happened, maybe more than once. It's estimated in the US, that 2100 kids under the age of 18 go missing everyday. It's a terrifying situation, one that we all would like to avoid. Children wander, it's their nature. You have to do your best for them and hope for the best outcome.
Here is where Kids Safety Bands come in. Custom made of durable silicone rubber, the bands are laser engraved with your child's initials and your cell phone number(s). If your child gets lost, anyone can locate the cell number on the branded orange band and call you. The custom bands are $4.00 plus shipping.
Inhabitat: It’s still surprising to see how few retail spaces there are dedicated to green products. However, hopefully this is set to change in Britain, with the arrival of Eco Age, a cutting-edge, high-end designer gadgets and interior designs store in the upmarket family district of Chiswick, London. The retail space enables customers to see, touch and smell products before purchase – essential for customers who want to make a considered purchase based on their appreciation of all of these sensory aspects, and crucial for products that want to break from the ‘instant landfill’ norm. It also makes it much easier for good intentions to be turned into green-minded action.
Aware that cheeky consumers may treat the store as a showroom before purchasing goods off the net for less, the store has integrated a range of services into its offer. The basement houses an interior design consultancy that recommends paints, wallpapers and home energy systems to individuals and businesses. The store is also intended to be used as a networking space for anyone who wants to know more about how best to do their bit. With this much convenience, advice and encouragement on offer, we’re expecting the store to be responsible for a lot of positive change in the capital.
It's Graeme - sorry for the long hiatus - but I'm back and have lots of interesting new ideas to share with our friends at CoolBusinessIdeas!
I recently attended DemoCamp 17 - an event in Toronto attended by software developers and other entrepreneurs (well, actually mostly software developers) looking to share their new apps with other geek-minded people and to attract VC money from some of the angel investors in the room. Yes, they truly are geeks - the typical overheard conversation usually sounded like "how long have you been on Twitter?" or "I love the new Apple SDK".
Each participant gets up in front of the assembly and gets 10 minutes to pitch their idea. It's that simple. Sometimes the demo works, and the creator presents a compelling case for his or her product. Sometimes it doesn't. But the crowd is forgiving, and it makes for a fun evening.
A few ideas pitched were:
PlanetEye.com - this contextual travel experience site is way cool, and has already attracted funding and development support from Microsoft. The demo was really interesting - the concept is to use geotags to add pictures to pretty much any location in the world. It's not just another Google maps, it has a clear tourist orientation and a unique interface. The site is live in beta - check it out.
GigPark.com - a social networking site designed by tech geeks, for tech geeks! Designed to help owners run small technology based businesses, it fosters the sharing of contact information for professional service providers (lawyers, accountants, etc.) and networking amongst its members. Cool. Up and running now.
A smart (and young) developer named Kaitlyn demoed her new app - AskItOnline.com. She conceived it, planned it, wrote the code and generally made it happen, by herself, and while holding a full time job somewhere else. It's an online survey application, similar to surveymonkey.com and questionpro.com, both of which she felt didn't have a sufficiently user-friendly interface. It a great tool - a trial account is free, give it a try.
Graeme Spicer is a Canadian trendspotter, ethnographer and observer of all things retail. As Director of Retail Strategy at DW+Partners he spends his time consulting with leading retailers; presenting at conferences across North America; lecturing at OCAD, Canada's leading design school; and reading too many blogs. Graeme can be reached at graeme.spicer@gmail.com.
Sense: Software developer Adobe are set to join the raft of online photo editing applications with the release of Photoshop Express.
Currently available in beta form Express will be completely web based so that users can use it with any type of computer, operating system or browser. Online photo editing applications have found huge popularity over the past few years and in releasing Express Adobe must compete against long established rivals such as Picnik and Photobucket. The release of Photoshop Express highlights a broader trend in which software developers are increasingly focusing on online services instead of stand-alone applications. Adobe hopes that Express will function as a marketing tool and part of a strategy to create up selling opportunities.
Popgadget: If you're taking part in an Indian celebration, have a kid who wants a tattoo but is waaaaaaay too young, or you're just a mad crazy fan of henna, then Henna Penna is for you. As the name strongly implies, this product is henna... in a pen. Which is a godsend, as anyone who's tried to do anything with henna (multiple hair dyes, here) knows how messy the darn thing can be.
Henna Penna pens are available in a range of colors including emerald and traditional brown and black, and can be used with stencils or freehand. At $25.75 per pen (from Nonstop Bazaar) they're not dirt cheap, but they are all-natural and not tested on animals, so you your kids can play without fear. (Although I must advise some caution: designs fade, but can't be erased, so not something to play with on the face, perhaps...)
Flip & Tumble is an unique and modern reusable bag created by Eva Bauer and friends right out of graduate school. While in graduate school at Stanford’s Product Design Program, they began researching how people use reusable bags because while almost everyone owned reusable bags, most didn’t remember them until they reached the checkout line. Flip & Tumble came out of an idea to design a bag that people wouldn’t forget. In their own words:
We felt that there had to be a good way to keep your bag with you all the time. For us, that meant two things. It had to compact easily so you could stash it in a messenger bag or purse, and it had to have a flexible “go anywhere” style.
We played with a variety of compacting systems, but ultimately took our cue from sockballs, those little balls formed from rolling your socks and stretching the end over. Our final design uses an elastic pouch system that works pretty much the same way.
Simply place your hand into the attached pouch, scrunch up the bag, stretch the pouch panels over the bag, and your bag is ready to tumble along.
TrendCentral: The newest entry to the world of online communities is weplay, a social network for youth athletes and their parents and coaches.
Young athletes can create their own profiles in which they can post news, photos, and videos. Through such, they are able to connect with friends and teammates, manage their practice and game schedules, talk to coaches, view sports tutorials, find out about local sports events and, in what is expected to be one of the site's main draws, interact with pro athletes including Peyton Manning, LeBron James and Derek Jeter.
Fujitsu Ltd. is a natural to adopt the concept of a notebook PC model, which will be held in Milan, Italy Design Exhibition "-JAPAN DESIGN INNOVATION-2008" exhibition. Will be held on April 16 to 20 (local time) for five days.
Engadet: That's Fujitsu's WoodShell concept PC. It joins an increasingly common trend of so called "natural" products already demonstrated by MSI, ASUS, Olympus, LG and others. No specs are provided on this feel-good piece. However, we presume it's powered by the blood and tears wrung from the baby Gore's heartbreak.
With a twist of the air-tight cap, 1.4 grams of traditional Kyoto matcha (high-grade green tea) is released into the mineral water below, creating a serving of fresh (yet instant) tea with no added chemicals or preservatives. In the same fashion, CIC Co. also offers Ukon (tumeric) and Aoijiro (kale juice) health drinks.
TrendCentral: Whether your personal goal is to drop 20 pounds, quit smoking, hit the gym, or even stop biting your nails, stickK uses the power of a "commitment contract" to encourage you to "stickK" to your word.
Developed by two Yale professors with backgrounds in law and economics, the stickK concept is based on the idea that most people will commit to something if either their reputation or their funds are at stake. With this in mind, users are asked to create a Commitment Contract in which they choose a goal and a timeframe, add stakes (completely optional), choose a referee (sister, coworker, etc.) to monitor progress, and choose supporters (your cheering section). The Commitment Journal, in which users leave detailed accounts of their progress (or lack thereof), facilitates an honest, well-documented account of the journey to success or the shameful downward spiral to failure. Add optional stakes? Success gives you your money back, and Failure gives the money to charity (or the lucky someone you've chosen).
Iconoculture: For anyone who has ever said, "If I had a dollar for every time I turned a friend on to a new band … " — well, now you can cash in, thanks to Surrge.
Publicly launched at this year's South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas, Surrge is an iTunes for populists, empowering its listeners, dubbed “scouts,” to act as amateur A&R teams for the online music store. Beyond the usual rewards for exposing undiscovered bands to the masses, Surrge ups the ante by throwing in cold hard cash.
Fans referring bands listed on Surrge to other fans get a percentage of sales on any referrals, and “scouts” who sign up new artists to Surrge get 1% of all future sales from the artist on the site.
In a rapidly evolving music industry where individually powered blogs can wield more consumer tastemaking power than major record labels, old-school concepts like A&R are competing with more egalitarian models. How long before a rash of other user-driven content sites start cashing in on this model?
What happens to all the moisture when a juicy hunk of sirloin is transformed into chewy beef jerky? Truth is, we don’t know. But the salty, savory flavor of this vitamin and mineral packed concoction will make you think we collected all that sweet, meaty juice just for you.
Springwise: Who hasn’t checked their coat at a restaurant or other venue and worried about losing the claim ticket? London-based Idscan aims to put those worries to rest with a biometric cloakroom system that it claims is a world's first.
Cloakscan records a customer’s thumbprint via a small scanner, while a digital camera records the transaction. When customers return and touch the thumb-scanner once more, their pictures show up on a monitor, allowing the cloakroom attendant to verify their identity and quickly see where their valuables have been stored. Idscan explains that Cloakscan eases stress among customers and staff alike. Customers needn’t fear that a dropped claim ticket will be found and redeemed by someone else, while staff can use Cloakscan’s touchscreen monitor to log checked items faster and more accurately. Cloakscan even prints out reports if valuables do become lost, to aid in police or insurance investigations.
TrendCentral: For parents, leaving children unsupervised with the Internet is basically as scary as sending them to the playground alone. Created for kids ages 3 to 12, this G-rated browser takes out the fear and intimidation of web surfing for both parents and children. Kids can explore and research any topic as all links offered have been approved as child-friendly by parents and teachers. For example, if a child wants to watch skateboarding videos on YouTube, KidZui has already made sure that the videos available to them are appropriate (according to age, reading ability, and developmental readiness). Additionally, the site encourages learning by providing other topics of interest related to the search subject; a search for skateboarding may lead to surfing, then perhaps water and dolphins. Parents are alerted (via email) to the topics their kids search, so not only do they know what their kids are doing online, but they also have another window into their interests.
Trendwatching.com:DNA 11 creates personalized art from DNA and fingerprints. For DNA art, a simple method of non-invasive collection includes a mouth swab. The company then harvests a sample of the client’s DNA to capture their genetic fingerprint and transforms it into an artistic representation of a person’s life code. Prices range from EUR 299 to EUR 892. To get started, clients simply select a size and custom color. DNA 11 then sends out a FingerPrint collection kit that includes: a fingerprint collection card, easy-to-use ink strips, and step-by-step directions.
Gizmodo: This oversized cartoon-esque pistol can be filled with your favorite condiments and fired at your food for the ultimate in BBQ fun. Naturally, the temptation to misuse this device will be overwhelming, but at least you can take solace in the fact that you will have the upper hand in any food fight you instigate. Tabasco anyone? Available soon for £14.95.
For most small businesses, all marketing is local marketing — as it should be. But even if your company is regional or national in scope, it's a good idea to "go local" to select, targeted communities. The keys to effective community marketing.....
- 5 Top Tips For Managing Your Emails
- If Confucius Is Your Public Speaking Coach
- Influencing And Reinforcing The Behavior You Want
- Is It Possible To Work From Home?
- 8 Easily Avoidable Causes Of Business Debt
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- Why Working For a Startup Isn’t So Risky
Can't stand your demanding boss anymore? Start your own business! Before that, be sure to subscribe to our free informative newsletter. BIZNESS! is jointly published by CoolBusinessIdeas.com and GetEntrepreneurial.com What you get in BIZNESS! - the latest new business ideas, small business advice, business tips and info and entrepreneur resources. Everything you need for your brand new business!
Free 20-pages PDF report (worth $38) - "New Business Ideas Report 2007" - included with your subscription.Learn more here.
TrendHunter: Shopaholics rejoice! Let us do the dance of joy! On Tuesday Amazon launched TextBuyIt, letting people text the name of a product, description, UPC or ISBN to the numbers “262966” (which is Amazon on the keypad), so we can buy from our cell phones, including from inside stores.
