Welcome to the very first issue of the
CoolBusinessIdeas Newsletter! Every two weeks, we'll be bringing you
the coolest and most innovative business ideas from around the globe,
complete with tips on how to immediately apply these proven business
opportunities to YOUR own business in Singapore.
So if you're an entrepreneur, CEO, senior executive, company director, business
consultant, marketing manager,
business analyst, venture capitalist
or just somebody who is interested in new, cool business ideas that
work...
...you'll LOVE our CoolBusinessIdeas Newsletter!
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The next issue is due on May 30, 2004.
•••••••••••••
Don't be surprised to see models walking around London's streets wearing small jackets that display light LCD screens prominently to understandably amused passer-bys. This brand-new "out of home, mobile, interactive media platform" called Adwalker is but the latest advertising idea to hit the United Kingdom.
The Adwalker, designed and created by a young
Irish firm of the same name, combines the strengths of the latest advertising breakthroughs as well as traditional forms of the media, thus offering consumers an all-in-one solution to their promotion needs. Hey, if you can make use of the visual impact of TV and conventional outdoor advertisements, the
engaging power of consumer interaction, the higher-than-average success rates of direct marketing, and the widespread accessibility of the Internet, you'll have a winning technique to market your products and your
brand!
How does the Adwalker works? It utilizes a LCD screen that is connected to the Internet, and this makes it possible to deliver dynamic sales messages in any location and to any group of consumers. This ensures highly relevant and targeted advertising to the target audience of Adwalker's advertisers. Also, a small printer in the device can instantly print tickets or vouchers for the products being
advertised. With such cool features, Adwalker can be used to deliver a wide suite of applications and services. Here are just some examples:
•Point-of-Sale: credit card and smart card transactions can be carried out via Adwalker anywhere. •Interactive games and
competitions: customised games can be played by the consumer on the
Adwalker. •Consumer data
collection: consumer data can be easily captured on the platform and uploaded to a database for analysis. •Information
services: real-time information updates can be downloaded via the Internet. •Multimedia
messaging: SMS and MMS are supported by the Adwalker, allowing mobile phone interaction between it and consumers. (Source:
Adwalker.com)
This cool concept has been licensed to outdoor advertising firm Poster Publicity, who serve clients like British Airways, Levi's and Visa.
(Source:
Thisismoney.com)
Let's
Get Down To Business...
Don't be afraid to try out new ways of interacting with your target consumer group. Yes, the crazy idea you have may not work, but who knows, you can just succeed simply because consumers notice your innovative and original way of reaching out to them!
Think interaction; traditional advertising media are limited to the delivering of your sales message to your consumers, nothing more. Only dynamic new forms of media can engage and interact with consumers effectively. Only active interaction allows for the tactical placements of ads for high impact targeting of key consumer groups.
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Have you ever wished that the sofa or cupboard which you've ordered after a painstaking search in a Courts showroom can be delivered right away to your house? A
furniture store almost accomplishes that - you order today, they deliver it tomorrow.
"Buy today...we'll deliver
TONIGHT!" - ambitious promise from Mealey's Furniture
(mealeysfurniture.com), but they have managed to make it their business. Typically, the furniture industry has to keep customers waiting for two or three days, sometimes even weeks, before they can deliver their orders to their living rooms. Mealey's Furniture, based in USA, differentiate themselves from competitors by promising same-day delivery on almost everything displayed in their showrooms to locations within 25 miles of their stores.
Sceptical? Anyone working in the furniture and logistics industries would naturally be, given the extraordinary operational complications. Here is the secret behind their remarkable logistical feat:
Plan ahead. In Mealey's Furniture's case, it takes between eight to sixteen weeks before supplies from manufacturers arrive, so the company estimates the sales rate of their furniture goods after two to four months from now and stock the necessary numbers in their large warehouse.
Track sales and inventory
levels. Mealey's Furniture does this intensively with an arsenal of advanced computer programs and responds to changes in sales and inventory levels by adjusting reorder levels when they next order from suppliers.
The all-important part
next: distributing the furniture once a sale is confirmed. Almost instantly, a copy of the order is sent to their distribution centers from their showrooms when a customer happily flashes the credit card. Then, the employees get into full swing. Assembly of the furniture starts, taking an hour or so, before it awaits the next truck to take it away. If that piece of furniture happens to be the only one awaiting delivery at that moment, it is placed on hold until more arrive. Once everything is ready, the truck gets rolling on the roads, the furniture is delivered, and the customer is satisfied at the end of another long day.
Admittedly, same-day delivery of furniture is challenging, but it has succeeded in setting Mealey's Furniture apart in the industry. And oh, Mealey's Furniture's growth has soared from $23.1 million in revenue in 2000 to $30.8 million last year. (Source:
Bizjournals.com)
Let's
get Down To Business...
Can local furniture stores replicate Mealey's Furniture's success? As they say in Economics, where there's demand, there's supply. You would love to be able to try out your brand-new sofa immediately in the comfort of your living room, wouldn't you? It's not uncommon to find proud home-owners in Singapore who will search for months just to get that perfect piece of furniture, and
when they finally find what they want, they want it
immediately. That's where you come in!
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2 interesting business ideas in the F&B industry were reported in the Straits Times recently:
High-tech Dimsum -
Dimsum lovers can dine in a totally unique local restaurant
(iDimsum: Parco Bugis Junction, #02-53) that serves piping hot
dimsum on the conveyor belt. The innovative idea originated from the conveyor belt sushi. Instead of waiting for dishes to come from the kitchen or the old fashioned way - the trolleys - consumers can now choose and enjoy the
dimsum they like without having to wait. This fresh and new concept has enticed many customers and tourists to patronize the restaurant. (Source:
Straits Times)
Stylish Ramen - The simple and humble Japanese noodle dish has turned into a highbrow fare in the hands of skilful and innovative chefs who serve it with special pork and organic vegetables in as many dazzling varieties as could be improvised by a chef. The cooking style is different too - in these "stylish ramen" stores such as
Shiodome Ramen in Japan, innovative chefs entertain the crowd
with such antics as whipping a sieve through the air in a dramatic figure of eight when straining the noodles, and splashing scalding water against a window. The waits for the restaurant's stylish (and entertaining) ramen could reach a foot-aching four hours and long queues are a norm. (Source:
Associated Press)
Let's Get Down To
Business...
What can you learn from these unique restaurants? Two things:
innovation and style.
Just think about this: isn't it a most innovative way of dining - a wide variety of
Dimsum cuisines served "rolling hot" to you on conveyor belt? If you were any typical
"kaypoh" (curious) Singaporean food lover, you wouldn't mind spending more than what you usually do when dining out just to experience a totally
new and innovative way of dining, right? Go the high-tech way and you could really outshine all others in the F&B industry which isn't famed for the use of cutting-edge technologies.
See how the stylish Japanese ramen restaurants
repackage and reinvent both the food and dining experience to win over a new clientele. If you were a Japanese who had grown up eating standard ramen fare in dingy joints whose counters are forever crowded with chopsticks, seasonings and self-service water jugs, you would flock immediately to an upscale and high-class restaurant, wouldn't you? The point is, consumers are naturally intrigued by everyday food that is
suddenly repackaged into totally new and posh dishes. If you're creative enough in terms of redesigning
both the food and dining experience, customers will simply come after you and not the other way round!
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Having to spend almost 15 minutes just to select a couple of ripe and still-in-perfect-shape pears may soon be a thing of the past. A world-first, clever label that indicates ripeness of fruit has been developed by two New Zealand scientists and may be coming soon to supermarkets all over the world. Hooray!
Called ripeSense, this sensor label allows shoppers to select fruit ready for immediate consumption or firmer fruit suitable for eating in a few days, depending on their preferences. How does it work? The pears are placed inside plastic clamshell packages and inside each pack is an aroma-sensitive ripeSense label. As the pears ripen, they give off aroma compounds, causing the label to change
colour. Red means "not yet," orange "getting closer," and yellow "perfectly juicy." (Source:
Hortresearch Media
Release)
Although this cool innovation is currently being tested on pears, it sure looks promising. Work is already ongoing to develop sensor labels for
summerfruit, kiwifruit, avocado, melons and all those fruit that you simply love to eat.
Both consumers and retailers absolutely love ripeSense. To the consumer, ripeSense provides easy external recognition of fruit ripeness, choice and convenience (now that the consumer can select the fruit at their desired ripeness), and an improved eating experience. All it takes now with ripeSense to select fruit of a suitable ripeness is a simple observation of the colour of the sensor. Isn't that so convenient?
To the retailer, ripeSense will undoubtedly boost demands and increase sales. Before this technology was conceived, shoppers often have to squeeze and damage the fruit as they make their selection. You would give poked and prodded produce a miss, wouldn't you? That's why retailers are so excited about
ripeSense: its clamshell packaging protects fruit from crushing and bruising, permitting retailers to sell tender juicy ripe fruit without wastage. Indeed, consumers who have responded in preliminary tests have overwhelmingly indicated they would buy more pears using the new labels (Source:
USA Today).
Let's Get Down To Business...
In this knowledge-based economy, it is absolutely crucial to
invest in R&D. Be constantly on the lookout for innovations that
add value to the shopping experience of consumers. Turn your inventions into commercially viable business concepts.
Singaporeans are increasingly getting more health conscious. So, CoolBusinessIdeas.com expects consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables to rise in the future.
Convenience and taste are key drivers to encourage increased consumption. Be sure to incorporate these two points in your business!
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Quick: name me any e-tailer that comes to your mind right
now. Amazon.com? You're right! With heavyweight online
stores dominating the e-tailing landscape, it isn't easy
at all to succeed selling online. So it's a pleasant
surprise when CoolBusinessIdeas.com spotted an online
toyshop that has succeeded in cyberspace.
Kidrobot
(www.kidrobot.com) specializes in selling premium limited edition collectible toys called "urban vinyl action figures." They're odd but interesting figurines, like a 9-inch nightclub DeeJay with his own tiny turntable, or "Barro," a six-inch glow-in-the-dark vinyl head, or "Bounty Hunter," a 20-inch robot-like statuette (Source:
ecommerce.internet.com). Designed by underground artists in Asia who blend urban street culture with hip-hop style, these toys define a unique culture with its own
language and identity.
The toys are limited edition and are produced in quantities of only 100 to 500. Hence, established toy retailers do not stock such items, allowing Kidrobot to compete in a totally different niche. Although most of its action figures are priced in the $50-60 range, it is also dedicated to collecting and selling very rare (read: very collectable) limited-edition merchandise. Quite a number cross the $200.00 mark. Big heavyweights like
Toys"R"Us simply cannot
sell such limited edition figurines, since such toys embody a whole culture in themselves and they'll lose their shine when commercialized just like any other merchandise.
Selling online also makes it easier for Kidrobot to encourage the growth of this nascent cultural movement. With some clever online marketing, it has managed to entice many toy collectors and shoppers to collect its interesting figurines. By paying or giving rare toys to smaller fan-based sites in exchange for ads, Kidrobot has built up a clan of like-minded websites. It also has an online gallery where photos of everything that it has ever sold are posted, much of which are limited editions. This attracts serious toy collectors who think nothing of spending hundreds of dollars on rare collectibles to its site. By having an
online forum, Kidrobot inspires loyalty and facilitates the growth of a community with its very own culture.
Kidrobot is making a kill in the trendy online business. The site is so well received that it generated profits shortly after its debut!
Let's Get Down To
Business...
Any toyshop would seem inconspicuous anywhere but Kidrobot has successfully set itself apart from its competitors by providing an environment for the growth of an entire culture and by deploying effective online marketing strategies.
Unless you're bent on taking on a billion-dollar corporation like Amazon.com, you should zoom in on a
very specialized niche that is small yet full of potential. Retain faithful customers through
community/loyalty-building initiatives. See how Kidrobot taps the Internet and becomes a global
e-tailer almost instantly. Think about it: instead of making a long trip down to a shop, wouldn't it be wonderful to view and purchase what you want online from within the comfort of your own home?
Lesson: sell online if you can help it!
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Our next newsletter is due to arrive in your mailbox on May 30, 2004. Watch out
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To the retailer, ripeSense will undoubtedly boost demands and increase sales. Before this technology was conceived, shoppers often have to squeeze and damage the fruit as they make their selection. You would give poked and prodded produce a miss, wouldn't you? That's why retailers are so excited about
ripeSense: its clamshell packaging protects fruit from crushing and bruising, permitting retailers to sell tender juicy ripe fruit without wastage. Indeed, consumers who have responded in preliminary tests have overwhelmingly indicated they would buy more pears using the new labels (Source:
Unless you're bent on taking on a billion-dollar corporation like Amazon.com, you should zoom in on a
very specialized niche that is small yet full of potential. Retain faithful customers through
community/loyalty-building initiatives. See how Kidrobot taps the Internet and becomes a global
e-tailer almost instantly. Think about it: instead of making a long trip down to a shop, wouldn't it be wonderful to view and purchase what you want online from within the comfort of your own home?
Lesson: sell online if you can help it!
