Podcast - Business revision 2

In-Store Surfing Simulator

Instead of going to a water theme park, this is an alternative for people who likes surfing and it is an indoor environment that they dont have to worried about whether the weather is good or bad.

The FlowRider uses pressurised water to create an indoor simulation experience with wakeboards, which they provide an unique retailing experience. It's an ideal attraction for the customers with the board-riding lifestyle and it allows the rider to drop in with unbroken wave, feel the power and acceleration...etc.

How does it work? It generates a thin sheet of water that flows over a stationary wave form. The resulting “wave-like” shape permits riders to slide down, carve a turn, and ride up the simulated wave surface. The strengths are obviously attractive for the customers but on the opposite side, the idea it needs a good location and a big range of area.

Drink-Mixing Vending Machine

A new idea of an interesting vending machine variation, a British comapny has created a machine capable of mixing drinks. The vending machine uses high technology offering new kind of drinks and also it's specific for its innovative internal pouch system.

The PouchLinkTM system is patented by Waterwerkz which it's being protected for its design. It enables water-based drinks to be freshly provided in a vending machine; in addition, the quality of the drinks is considered. Also it says, 'filled in resealable pouches and served chilled, on demand.' They use pouches to fill the drinks and put it into the machine, this is another good idea of reducing the cost for a business.

The feasability of the idea is working, hence 'The machine filters mains water and makes flavoured drinks using widely available bag-in-box syrups'. It therefore forms a new category called PostPack. On the other hand, the vending machine is able to hold up about 2000 pouches with capacities ranging from 200ml to 500ml. In fact, the idea eliminates the need of labour, transport, and bulky cans and bottles, which benefits our environment as well.

Podcast - Business revision 1

Business revision course - Tuesday

In today's lesson, I have began with Sources of Business ideas, which is how people get their ideas for setting up a business. It came out a conclusion of when people are getting/searching for the sources, it normally involves experiences from others, such as interviewing retired business people, checking out other people's marketing strategy...etc.

Next came along with our favourite part of business which we do it everyday in our blogs, EVALUATION. When we evaluate a business, what do we consider?

• Strengths and Weaknesses

In this section, we also talked about what are the components involved. Furthermore, we have a in-depth discussion about the importance of location for a business.

• Feasability (Is it possible to make or not?)


• Quality


• Market research (Primary & Secondary)


• Pricing


• Competition


• Patent, copytight, trademark


• How does the product work?


• Legislation


• Is there a company or not? (Sole trader, Partnership or Private company...)


• Market demand

Then when going on to the aims of business, which includes:

• Maximise profit


• Survive


• Benefit society


• Launch prestige products


• BREAK EVEN

Which consists no profit and no loss and doesnt consider the external environment.

What's safety margin? It's quite simple. The difference between current output and break even.

Lastly, we talked about the diagram of stock control.

Business revision course - Monday

It's necessary that we need to be clear with what's marketing (Identifying, Anticipating, Satisfying.) Therefore I started the course with Marketing Mix.

Obviously we all know about what's including in marketing mix, for example...

• Advertising


• Promotion


• Branding


• A.S.S (After Sales Services)


• Product life cycle --------->


• Pricing

And there are still other things that's involved. Meanwhile the 4Ps are important as well.

• Product


• Place


• Price


• Promotion

Then next we went on to the different types of pricing.

• Skimming - High price


• Penetration - Low price


• Psychological - Setting a price based on the expectations of the consumers within your target market.


• Predatory - Setting a price that is low enough to drive competitors out of the market.


• Loss leader - Price beneath the cost of product.

Also we talked about the differences between enterprise and entrepreneur. Thus the following related topics have been discussed as well.

• The characteristics of entrepreneur


• Risks and Rewards


• Opportunity cost of being an entrepreneur


• Government support

Finally came to the crucial part of starting up a business, MOTIVATIONS.

• Maslow - 5-level hierachy


• Herzberg - Praise and achievements; Motivators and Demotivators.


• Taylor - Tooling, Training, Pay and Organisation


• McGregor - The X & Y theory


• Mayo - Hawthorne effect


• Vroom - Expectancy theory

I hope that it would be a bit helpful for who came to the lesson. =)

Acting Troupe for Home Performance Hire

The idea is quite interesting and novelty which would probably attracts many families therefore can make a good profit. But what is the concept all about? Teatr Rozmaitosci in Warsaw, Poland. offer clients an in-home theatrical performance from a group of professional actors. What will the key word be? Yes, the word PROFESSIONAL will make an effect on attracting people to invest in this business.

It's fun that when they have a certain topic in a suitable location, which it builds a strong strength that can be supportive enough. On the other hand, the pricing may be expensive; according to the article, it says having a living room perfomance would costs GBP 103, which it might the cause of having professional actors to perform.

In fact, the idea is part of the entertainment to which people would seen it as a new interest, therefore they would invest the business without hesitation because it's a break for relaxing and watch. This makes another benefits for it.

Hair Straightener Vending Machine

What a wonderful idea for female user! Well, not exactly. As we know that some guys are starting to use this product just as often as girls; or even more often! Therefore the idea of having a vending machine for hair straightener is logically profitable as time goes by.

We all know that what the advantages for having a vending machine are, such as making shopping more efficient, saving time, greater convenience...etc. Besides, a hair straightener is getting more and more popular among the females and some males day by day, therefore a consideration of putting them in a vending machine would make the business a good profit; IF the machine is placing in good location.

What's the function of hair straightener? Basically it's for beauty in general speaking, but also to get hair from fuzzy into smooth and shiny. I guess the product will hardly never get out of fashion because some people just love them so much.

Free Photocopies on Advertising-Sided Paper

The business idea is pretty novelty that they offer free photocopies especially for students, while they would get an advertisement on the other side of the paper. This shows an importance that how a business get into a market by advertising.

Tadacopy is an innovative Japanese company that offer university students free photocopies, simply by setting the machine at some campuses to attract student's attention. The so called 'free love' indicates nice stuff that comes for free and gratis. Therefore, the business could make profits thoughout an amount of students who often need a lot of photocopies. It's a good idea that they targeted on the audience who has involved such necessaties.

On the other hand, it sells its own branding as well as the reputation. As everyone get to know the product and the brand, they also know the features and the usage. The more famous it becomes, the more popularity it will be; thus the business will gradually come to a success.

Half-term Revision Course

Everyone of you are welcome to the half-term revision course for Economics and Business Studies! If you want to improve your knowledge or even just have some revision for you January exam, then remember to come to the revision course!

Here are some details:

• Economics : Mon. - Wed. [12 am - 1.30 pm]
• Business : Mon. - Tue. [1:30 pm - 2:30 pm]

MARY ----> Economics teacher

ME ----> Business Studies teacher

Lessons will be held in one of the classrooms in the Cherwell building.

If you'd like to bring some money with you, you're welcome and it'll be great! All the money will be send to the charity to help people with lung cancer.

Thank you. =)

Soccer Ball Vending Machine

Here we have vending machine again! Basically, the purpose of having vending machines is really simple that the business reduces their cost by replacing staff and premises into a technological vending machine!

Remember what's guerrilla marketing? Nike football vending machine has built up an effect for promotion of an excellent guerrilla campaign. It's an advantage to promote the products throughtout a machine, which gives consumer an ideal of novelty.

Meanwhile, not only the machine will impressed consumers but also the image of branding, which Nike is a famous brand that can attract people to buy their products from a vending machine! Also, the idea saves time for consumers; as an instant that they dont have to listen to any staff in the store, they can just buy it straight away without any interruption. It's really convenient.

T-Shirt Air Cannon

With people shouting and screaming at a sport venue, we can see that there are many different logos on their t-shirts in which indicates what team they support. This novelty idea of T-shirt air cannon would be interesting, especially for those people; in addtion, we could say that the business is trying to earn their proftis from them because they know that those people are loyal to their specific interest.

On the other hand, of course, the product is not only for people who has a team to support; also as it mentioned in the concept that it can be used to promote businesses and for company promotions as well! For instance, people who are helding a concert, selling cheeseburgers, corporate training, Free product give-a-ways...etc. Therefore I think it's a worthable business idea to invest on due to its wide scope of usage.

As they say that their t-shirt cannons are the most popular choice for fun interaction, there are reasons why they succeed.

• Customise an Air cannon for consumers

They listen to consumers' own idea and concept, which they work on specialising in custom of production. Furthermore, the service would satisfy the customers with their wants and needs.

• Built to last

What does it mean by the word 'last'? Surely that they used high quality material and constructions techniques to build the product; also they attached a lifetime warranty for the customers which give them a feel of buying a secure product.

'Living' Triceratops Toy

Kids might like this very much! The picture shows us who are the target audience for their market and obviously it would be profitable if the feedback from consumers are positive.

The structure of the product is quite fascinating, which the size is about 40" tall and it's a simirobotic Triceratops that can move its head, mouth, horns and tail in addtion to movement sensors. To what extent I think that the product is profitable or not; let's imagine parents are taking their kids to shopping and the children noticed this Triceratops toy, then they started shouting and crying over it, just to let parents buy it for them. As a result, a market that is selling products especially for kids, they somehow can win the children's heart by certain special, attractive features or appearance; therefore the so called 'pester power' is actually powerful enough to affect a business!

Are there any competition going on at all? Yes, of course. So if the price of the Playskool Triceratops toy goes up, consumers may go to other stores instead of buying it from them; thus we can tell that the demand of price elasticity is elastic. On the other hand, though, this may related to income elasticity of demand as when consumers' income goes down, they would probably lost some profit by comparing to other cheaper stores.

Even though it's true that children likes these novelty toys, but they may get bored of it somedays and then what will happen with the business? Well, I think until then the business will have to lower their pricing to get more profits. OR maybe not; in fact, perhaps they can think of some other new ways to renew or recreate the product to make it interesting for the kids again. Meanwhile, this is also a strategy that a business should keep their ideas fresh.

Fully Retractable Umbrella

An umbrella called'Lotus 23' has won Gold winner at the 2005 Australian Design Award-Dyson Student award with top honours. What makes this invention special is that the inventor has transfered a good idea into a good actual product!

It's important that customers would like to know what are the special features of the umbrella. Of course it's obvious that the product is creative enough therefore it inevitably attracts everyone. The design is fully retractable and it's fold into a low handle. As the most attracting part that caught my attention is that when retracted goes completely inside a durable handle, it squeezes the water out onto the sidewalk which is a brilliant thought before people walking inside a building/place.

The umbrella has been reinventing which has an effect on how consumers may wanted to buy or there might be some changes in our lives. On the other hand, how can a business gain their profit from it? For what we have to consider is that how has the product played a role in benefiting the business, also a business is always trying to reduce its cost and other drawbacks in order to achieve their final goal - Increased the profit day by day, month by month.

Portable Espresso Maker

Let's have a coffee break! With this high-tech camping equipment, we'll no longer have to worried about where can we get a cup of coffee or how long does it take to and from a store. A portable espresso maker makes people's life becomes easier.

Why did people invent this in order to build up a business? Basically, its strengths are pretty obvious that they're attempting to make consumers feel more convenient instead of worrying about HOW to get it all the time. Also it's a lightweight equipment so that people can use it easily and comfortably. For what it requires is the most attractive features that it only needs hot water to work the whole process!

Even though there are lots of advantages, but it still concerns with some weanesses due to its high-technology, which it may increase the cost of production. Meanwhile, hows the efficiency of the product? It might have some risks for the machine to be easily broken because it sometimes happens with high-tech products.

After all, the business of the espresso maker could have an insurance on the product in order to make customers feel more reliable; besides, this product can also be an indication of convenience for habit-forming people (who are addicted or used to drink coffee most of the time).

M&S decreased in sales and profits

During last week's Business lesson, we've been talking about the falling in M&S sales and profits. It's an interesting topic to discuss and Im also curious about it as M&S shops in Taiwan has closed down in about 2 months, which is a short period of time!

M&S sales and profits are falling, WHY? As we can recall that market research is really important, then one of the crucial reasons is that there are too many competitors in the market. By comparing the prices, M&S may have higher prices. For instance, Waitrose can be a powerful competitor from M&S food.

In the mean time, I think clothes selling in M&S have limitation in age, which consists in elderly women at about 30 to 40 years old. This has brought up a good point in cutting their original amount of consumers.

So far, we can now tell that there's a result which consumers demand would be elastic, therefore consumers' income is related to the business as it called income elasticity of demand; in addition, consumers could always go to another store and buy the same product with the price they can afford.

On the other hand, think more deeply to see that if the result can also related to price elasticity of demand. Firstly, we all know that M&S sells clothes (including shoes, accessories...etc.) and food. What are the normal goods and inferior goods? If price of all products went up, more of food will be consumed or clothes? Let’s think of this way, food is a necessity of our daily life that we buy them everyday but clothes aren’t. Therefore food is a normal good in which the price of elasticity would be inelastic. Conversely, the price of elasticity of clothes would be elastic because they’re usually inferior goods!

However, if M&S has starting to decrease their price, there might have some concerns from the customers to which they would think the quality of the products have been lowered. Thus, an in-depth market research should be done over and over until they can achieve the goal of not losing their customers by staying at the same price.

ASDA and Morrisons are the competitors of M&S. They all sell food therefore it would easily to be compared among consumers. M&S has higher price than these two but does that mean the quality of products are also higher? Not quite. In fact, they all got the same quality food but M&S has got different prices. The possible reason is that they live with their famous branding; in addition, this is a way of how they survived in the market. For example, imagine buying instant coffee in ASDA, Morrisons and M&S with their own labels. I believe that most people would buy it from M&S with its own label because as everyone knows that ASDA and Morrisons are usually cheaper than M&S, therefore they might not have better quality.

Overall, they should’ve consider about the importance of getting a clearer knowledge of qualitative research which is to investigates consumers’ behaviour/attitude toward the service; also quantitative research is the numerical information of showing how many people buy certain products.

To be aware in a competitive market, they must consider that if there are too many same kinds of product has been sold already? Or even they should have constant promotions for clothes or food? Meanwhile, having clothing segmentation would be a considerable suggestion that might help to increase the amount of customers.

To keep an eye on the position as we called it not to keep ‘head in the sand’, which we must be clearly acknowledged and understood about what has been going on; in both internal and external environments are crucial.

Switchboard Snowboard

This idea may be pretty much the same as the Snowter ski bike, but it differs from it because this is a snowboard, although it's way better than the conventional one. As the concept says 'The Switchboard is basically a snowboard with mountain bike handles that offers more stunt possibilities than a conventional snowboard' which it also featured specific stunt that may attracts people to consume on this product; well, only if they are interested in this kind of activites.

The Venom Switchboard is a cross between the two, and adds an aluminum steering bar for even greater control, this shows the great stability and control which would develop a good reputation of the product. What motivated them to make a snowboard better than the conventional one is that people usually WANTS new types and with more features with it.

The Switchboard is imported from the Netherlands which is now selling in the US for $590. Well, like I always say that this kind of product is for a specific activities which only people who are interested would buy it, therefore the pricing should let those consumers to decide whether it's reasonable or expensive.

'Snowter' BMX Ski Bike

What stimulates the business to get this idea? And they changed from idea to a actual product! There are some reasons that we are curious about. When people decided to go skiing, they have to prepare things like ski equipment, ski boots, snowboard and so on. If you have ever gone to skiing before, then you'll know the weaknesses about those things I've just mentioned.

What's their initial idea anyway? To begin with, they've considered about how heavy the ski equipments are, it's uncomfortable to wear ski boots and dangerous as well, and the snowboard would be too inconvenient for people who wants a sufficient speed during skiing.

They have started some research to find out if there are something similar or even already exist, but they couldnt find anything, therefore they went onto another way which is researching patent application. As we know the result came back as negative, so they decided to build it up on their own. As they said that 'we still follow our goal to build the most rapid and most precise winter sport equipment to be used "in the wild".'

Surely that this brand new idea makes the product works more efficiently. Plus it's more technological so that makes consumer a better reason to buy it.

Podcast

Finally here's my podcast. Well, it's not as good as others but... I tried...
Hopefully will be better and better as times passed by.

Kayak Hire/Tours

How exciting would this be! Operate a kayak tour or kayak/canoe hire business is quite similar to mountain climbing which Ive discussed it in the previous post. This is another outdoor activity which entertains people and it would probably make much profit from it.

There's a holiday called 'canoeing holiday' which is relaxing, fun and easy to get on with. People doesnt have to be experienced and then they can enjoy it without worries, the flow of the river does most of the word to get the canoe moving on.

They used quality equipments in which people usually really cared about it for safety considerations. Also the business targets people from any ages because this could be a family entertainment as well! Therefore it can be very profitable. On the other hand, if there's an inflantion going on and they have increased their pricing, customers might stop having these kind of activities because it's not necessarily needed; in addtion, the business would have the problem of income elastic from customers.

After all, the feasibility of their idea has worked out successfully, which comparing to some businesses couldnt possibly make their idea happen but only by thinking about it instead of doing it.

Mountain Climbing/Abseiling

It is a good idea to go out and have some fresh air sometimes, that's why there are people likes to have outdoor activities to which they can relax themselves as well. How would this be an effect to a small business to held classes/activities for mountain climbing or abseiling? We'll have a look here.

Basically, the business would have less competitors which they can therefore offer their own specific classes to get more people to join in. Meanwhile the location should be always have a spectacular view in a way of making people feel fresh and comfortable. But what are the weaknesses about this business? It's very simple. Imagine how they should get a nice environment for the classes/activities, what if it rains during the classes? Then they need to consider another place which is indoor and that would be smaller spaces and no longer having a spectacular area.

Nevertheless, I think that a business invests in this kind of outdoor activity is plausible by creating more leisure for people, especially who are stressing all the time during the week or someone who's interested in. Also they are providing people for getting extra knowledge by offering these outdoor activities.

Water Purifying Drinking Straw

According to the article, the sources say that half of the world's poverties has suffered from waterborne disease and nearly 6000 people - especially children - has died from drinking unsafe and unclear water. How can we reduce these kind of incident?

LifeStraw has created a water purifying drinking straw which can help with the problems in preventing diseases and saving the children's lives. In this case, not only they can make a good profit on it, they also saves people's lives which can be related to the ideal of business ethics. In addition, comparing to some unethical but legal business, this water purifying straw would be having both benefits in ethical and legal.

The product is unique, it helps people obtain safe drinking environment, which I think it is worthable for thinking how people live within a quality life. Not only for this water purifier but also it considers about the way they sell this product, which it somehow affects the solution of a business.

Mail-To-Images Scanning & Recycling Service

By saving time, money and our planet, Earth Class Mail which has changed the way of how postal mail is delivered. They replaced the physical postal deliveries that involving a lot of fuels for plane and trucks, also it's dependent into an online postal mail deliveries. The change has actually dominates people, businesses and national post office due to its quality of instant service.

It might relates to 'the information age' which indicates that most people in nowadays couldnt live without internet access, in addtion, we usually get lots and lots of information throughout online services and Earth Class Mail has achieved the goal of what consumer's needs and wants.

I can still remember when I was little, my parents, teachers are always emphasising the siginificance of why should we do the recycles and also ensuring if we've done it properly. According to Earth Class Mail article, it says 'In 2008, our goal is to recycle more than 200 tons of paper, and that’s just the beginning'. To improve our environment, they have developed this online postal-mail delivery system scalable to an entire country’s postal mail, which means that it's getting more sufficient with improving our environment and for people to see it instantly.

They've got patented for its own right and really important for its transformative technology in which by sorting mail faster and also it reduces the cost of other productions. Therefore the business is actually appropriate for everybody and it saves the planet we're living.

$10,000/£5,000 Car Wash For Celebrities

What a surprising price for a car wash! Is it a worthable washing or it's just selling its branding of the special wax? Well, I wouldnt have a car washing for $10,000 but still, I'll find out what is this all about, in addition to figure out if there's something important that we've left out.

An entrepreneur in Surrey says this is the best car wash in the world which I would've put an doubt on it; Not for its scarcity of the special wax called Zymol Royale but for its quality and their reputation for the service. He charges $11,500 per car for the 61-step wash treatment. Is this reasonable at all? By thinking that even though it takes so many steps for a complete car wash but it might needs more employees which it's an increasing costs for the business as well.

Perhaps it's true that this may only be suitable for celebrities who want their car to look as new as a brand new car or people who are rich that they want to keep their car to have a good quality appearance. This is just an assumption because the price for me or some people with low income, it is actually too expensive for a single car wash!

Clean up your old car or just buy a new subcompact. This is a suggestion that came along with this business article, which I absolutely agreed with it. People should just take care of their car and clean them up more often instead of spending in such a luxury car wash. Even in an easier way that is to buy a new subcompact, which means a way smaller car so that would be much more convenient and easier to clean up.

Gold/Gemstone Prospectors Store

It's pretty cool that there's an online store which sells prospecting for those amateurs/semiprofessional gold or gem prospectors. How do they usually get their business idea from? Simply that some people has interested in or seen this as an outdoor hobby, therefore customers would find it more convenient to buy it online instead of going to shops in certain locations.

Let's take A&B Prospecting Supplies as an example, they've been serving professional and recreational prospectors since 1979. They are one of the most trusted sources within their prospecting selling service. What are they?

• Metal Detectors
• Dredges & Highbankers
• Drywashers
• Smelting, Refining, & Assaying Supplies
• Books
• Prospecting Tools

This is quite amusing that they actually offer these much things. Also the business is very special as it's for people who has specific hobbies or amateur who has an interest to know more about it. What I was trying to implicate is that their market may not have an intense competition due to its specialisation.

On the other hand, the prospecting online service could have a discussion group throughout the website among customers and suppliers, which it's a good way to exchange any information including experiences, questions...etc. Thus I think it's a really good idea of having an prospectors store with their own website built up.

Old-Fashioned Barber with Cheap Men’s Haircuts

Most people loves to go to salon and have a nice haircut or what so ever. The question is that, does salon always has good quality and reasonable pricing? Although this business idea is for men only, but I would still like to say that salon DOES have more higher price with the same quality with other competitors sometime, which leads to 'what's the point?'.

The Belmont Barbershop in Chicago, USA, they offer men's haircut and shaves. The price is pretty reasonable which $15 for a haircut and $30 for a shave (When mentioning about shaving, it makes me think of Sweeney Todd...). Anyway, the reason why the price doubles on shaving because the service needs more effort when doing it and also more things like hot towels, shaving oil...etc. Furthermore, it takes longer time and they need to make customers to feel comfortable as well.

What about their competitors? In fact, competitions in this career is quite intense which salon may perhaps be comparing among customers. In this case, what they need is good advertising, good reputation which need to get the trusts from the customers and also reaonable pricing as I've mentioned before. It wont be impossible for them to win the competitions in the market whilst they make promotions to get profits.

What to suggest for the cafeteria?

There's a suggestion box in the cafeteria which I've never been putting any suggestions until now. The purpose for the suggestion box is to get more sources of business ideas.

I have a simple idea for the cafeteria, which is not impossible at all. As we know every lunch time, we have to be prepared to have changes for buying a meal or sandwitch. Some people has suggested that they should set a cash machine in there; but for what I think is to have a Finger account which means we open an account by registering one of our fingers!

This seems to be very technological but it Does happened in my old school from Northamptonshire. It's amazing to make this happened and also it would be more convenient as we dont have to worry about cash problems. Simply, you only have to go to the finger machine and put your finger on the right place to let it verify. That's it!

Well, I hope this would be helpful, even only a little bit. =)

'Affordable' Recreational Submarine

See how interesting to get deep into the ocean and have a look? The idea of recreational submarine is actually great as it has such novelty features like 3.5 mph for its top speed, can submerge to 50 metres and weigh around a ton...etc. And the thing you cant miss out is the price of this submarine, it's approximately $130,000 per submarine, which is 'affordable' as written on the title.

Of course, consumers always care about products' price, quality, structures or special features if they do offer, ASS (After Sales Service)...etc. There are few several notions for us to get a little bit of information of this recreational submarine called, 'U-Boat Worx' submersible.

• Germanischer Lloyd Classification - Got patented, which has granted by this classification for their design approvals on all systems.
• Lithium-Ion Battery Technology - They used lithium-ion battery instead of using lead-acid batteries.
• 6 Hours Endurance
• Surface Speed 4 Knots
• Unrivaled stability achievement
• Variable Ballast Tank - This is set to be integrated for easily in changes of different number of levels of passangers.

It's totally technological business which I think it may not have too many competitions going on in their market. However, it's still important for the business to have a deep primary (desk) and secondary (field) research which they've been classified as Market Research. As we have remarked it over and over, the reason is that we shouldnt make stupid mistakes because of not having any market research!

There are 2 models which they called it 'C-Quester2' and 'C-Quester3'. It's obvious that they have different functions and it's useful for different needs from the consumers.

'C-Quester2' - A Dedicated Superyacht Submersible; this is an unique advantage for yacht which it has:

• limited weight
• low storage height requirement
• limited operation’s crew requirement
• The possibility to venture uncharted undersea sites

This is more professional usage as a choice for consumers getting to choose from it. It accentuated in not having luxury superyacht in undersea site, this has differ from 'C-Quester3'.

'C-Quester3' - The Personal Tour submersible; it has a higher standard which usually get used by hotels or for tourism. It benefits in:

• A significant passenger payload
• Quick turnaround times
• easy and safe embarkation and disembarkation (It basically saying that they're also focusing on health and safety for the passangers.)
• Powerful air conditioner system
• A splendid view for its passenger of the underwater world (This is amazing, I'd really like to have a try with it.)

With all these information, I would also like to consider about some disadvantages for this product. In my point of view, for its highly technological structure, the business should have been invest pretty much on the cost of the production and maybe their target audience might not be for everybody? Such as kids, hair-dresser, chef...etc. But still, they would have get a certain amount of customers as in nowadays, there are quite a few people is interested in which it may can be called as an leisure or entertainment, isnt it?

Gourmet Ice Cream/Frozen Yoghurt Stand/Gelato Stall/Shop

What is gourmet firstly? Gourmet is a cultural ideal associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drinks. It's really fascinating if you've seen it for the first time. The purpose of this idea is to achieve the goal of impulse-buying behaviour at which the attractive appeal can be considered as one of the market oomph development. Besides, its position in the market may be higher than the others, such as ice cream in Mcdonald's.

A gourmet ice cream/frozen youghut stand...etc. It always looks nicer and more delicious for consumers who want to buy them. For the suppliers, they may have a fortune on their cost of production, which they need things to decorate the product. They also may need more money to employ more people to get all the products done in a fastest speed, thus to make an efficiency on their service. Moreover, more people then there must have more new ideas/suggestions about how to improve the product.

The business can become very popular during a period of time like special days, such as Valentines' day, your friend's birthdays, Mother's day...etc. Or it may be a seasonal business which people might think in such a cold/hot season, they would buy it specially.

Imagine a food product without good packaging, it would be nothing! Consumers wont be interested except the certain product is famous or well known. As we know gourmet is a special ideal to make food/drinks' appeal more attractive, therefore I think this feature doubles the value of the product.

Division of Labour

$1/$2/$5/$10 Store

How can I describe what was my reaction after seeing this business topic? I was extremely in shock... Well, maybe not. But this is very fimiliar for me because I used to have this store in the town at where I used to live!

What's all in this kind of store? Let's take Poundland for an example. If you've ever walked into the store or even have looked at the website, you would be amazed by the unbelievable price, everthing is £1 !! How cool is that? The business wont have income elasticity from the customers because everthing would be cheap as ever for everybody to afford. Although the price is low but it therefore can increased demand for more profit, they wouldnt need to worry about their revenue.

Nevertheless, we do still have to think more about this business. Does it have any disadvantages/weaknesses? Yes, of course. If everything in the store is only £1, dont the consumers care about the quality at all? Despite the low pricing, have suppliers consider about how long will it take for having break even? Poundland has represented their concept as a range of more than 3000 items, each offered for sale at only £1 each. Will this lead to a concern of economic problem?

With all these questions, we must find out what is really going on here and what is it actually behind the scene. For instance, I had an experience of buying a cheap product which is only £1, it came out with really bad effect for sure. The most funniest thing is that I bought it because I thought it was the brand I wanted, but by merely copied the colour and with a similar name, it actually WASN'T. This is what I wanted to accentuate that NEVER buy a product without consideration, there are too many low price product with poor quality...!

Making break even in a business? Chris asked us today in business lesson, he said if the price is low, would it take longer or less time to make break even? I hesitated for a long time... Then it came out a following answers as LESS, which Chris would state this as an Asch effect. But why does the lower price takes longer for making break even? The reason is because if lower the price is, you'll have to sell more products and it takes more time! Wouldnt it?

This kind of business can strongly shows its strengths and also its weaknesses, thus we must be aware of it as a consumer ourselves.

Novelty/Fancy Dress Costumes for Kids

Just by looking at this business idea, the first thing came into my head is that Halloween is coming soon... at the end of this month. Is there anything relevant to the topic? Well, kids love to wear different style of costumes because it's interesting and fascinating for them! As a result, when would this business get a lot of profit? I think it probably would be in Halloween!

Why would parents buy all those costumes for kids? One of the best reason is Pester Power, which is actually very powerful obviously. Therefore the business would have work really successful, isnt it? But remember there are still lots of competitors who sell or rent costumes for consumers. Thus it is very important they have to ensure their budget and all the financial including how to get more profit among the competitions.

Also, they have to be aware of their reasons to be tangible and clear enough to persuade consumers to buy and on the other hand, by offering new style of costumes to achieve the goal of being novelty, which it's really important to have an in depth observation of their market research.

As the picture seen above, the price is reasonable that people would buy it for entertainment. £14.40 for this costume, it's pretty worthy as kids would be satisfied and parents could get peace because theyve bought it, also it's quite cheap.

I would say that selling fancy dress costumes for kids is a profitable business but also have to be careful of its position in the market.

Guerrilla Marketing

What is Guerrilla marketing? An unconventional marketing intended to get maximum results from minimal resources. It also can be described as an aggressive marketing methods generically.

The term is coined by Jay Conrad Levinson in 1984 within his book Guerrilla Marketing. Unlike other normal marketings, guerrilla marketing is more about matching wits rather than matching budgets, which their low budgets are relying on time, energy and imagination instead of big marketing budgets.

How do we use this term in the business? It's pretty flexible that it usually used to describe extreme, creative, and generally non-traditional marketing methods. As you can see the picture above, it's a very creative advertisement within the marketing campaign.

Overall, the useful feature is that it turns the individuals, such as tourists or people as a consumer, their attention would be caught and take pictures of those phenomena. Next, by sharing it online or in person with friends and family. Also to set the goal of being off-guard, and advertise in unexpected places. In this case, consumers wont even realise the marketing efforts as advertising.

Guerrilla marketing is one of the most successful marketing methods available. It satisfied and solved the concerns of business failure. Here are 3 main reasons.

• Lack of financial planning


• Poor sales skills


• Poorly planned and executed marketing

At last, it's specifically set for the small business and entrepreneur and it's necessary to use current technology as a tool to empower the business.

Smoothie/Juice Bar Operator

The RIGHT franchise with the RIGHT product at the RIGHT time.

Smoothie and juice is really popular because people usually buy it without hesitation and in most time are quite in a sudden. It makes up a probability of how often they can get their consumers and how much do they actually get for the profit, which looks rather like a unsubstantial business. Do you really think like this as well? If you do, somehow it'll proves that you're wrong.

According to some informations of smoothie franchises and the juice bar operation, it says the business has been the first success story in the 21st century. That's unbelievable, isnt it? Well, more facts about the UK smoothie market as it says, it worths £134m a year, which represents significant growth over 1 year and a staggering 523% over 5 years. Furthermore, this is just for the starters. How incredible is that!

The smoothie appeal is universal and has increasingly being seen as a meal replacement by people. There must be some reasons that why people like them, its taste is great and also good for you! As a result, I totally agreed with this statement"Smoothies are the ultimate fast food and this is therefore the ideal time to take advantage of our business franchise opportunity." Viewing the point as a customer, it's persuasive enough for both of their advertisements and real product tastes.

Car Valeting/Washing in Supermarket Car Parks

In nowadays, people usually go to the supermarket by driving their cars to which it's a better way comparing to carry it by themselves. Therefore, while customers are consuming, why dont they get their cars washed? In this way, they'll have a clean car and lots of shoppings after leaving the supermarket!

But what is it all about? The Waves Car Washed Limited supplies hand car washed and valeting sevices to supermarkets, property owners, retailers and car park operators across the UK and Ireland. This isnt some random business but acutally they've got their patent in which they developed a brand, service, specialist equipment that provide a highly professional level of service. Here are some ways of how they keep their business running.

• Customers enjoy a premium service at affordable prices


• Clients enjoy a guaranteed revenue stream as well as the enhanced loyalty of their customers from a quality supplier


• Franchisees / managers operate a proven and successful business model

When back in Taiwan, Ive seen this in the supermarket and the service was actually fantastic! Not only its quality of washing cars but also their customers service and promotions have been an effect of getting more people's attention and trusts. They've given out a VIP card for people who usually have a certain schedule of shopping in the supermarket or even just feel like whenever they need/want a car wash.

However, when observing deeply into this business, is it true that there arent any weaknesses? Not quite. Let us think it this way, car valeting/washing in supermarkets car parks usaully need both machines and employees. In fact, this indicates the business needs an amount of labours to keep the service working, although they may substitutes them with machineries. The implication shows the wages for employees would be increasing.

For all these examinations, it concludes a result of having both quality services at the same time could be an improvement and crucial influence for businesses. Think about it, who doesnt want a premium service after all?

Waterless Urinal

This product has a range of benefits that conducted a reasonable, logical and profitable business.
Zeroflush, the waterless urinal. Let's see what are they.

Zero urinal water usage - This is an ability to save the large amount of water as we normally used. It save over 150,000 litres of fresh water per year/per urinal plus an attractive pay back of under 12 months. Just like an extra credit!

• Lower installation costs - Without any water flush pipework and value controls, the product surely costs less than others. Moreover, it's simple and stylish at the same time.


• Unrivalled performance - It has a unique patented cartridge free design that can prevent for other systems to to be same, in addition to match the performance of Zeroflush. The significance to be patented is really important if you have a specific product in your business.


• Odour free - This is intelligent. It cuts out any fragrance used letting the waterless environment to provide a superior hygiene solution, which it has low bacteria levels.


• Maintenance contracts - Given out a piece of mind and a planned budget to make the product seems to have an insurance. Maintenance contract is made for easier for the consumers, when they got any problems with it. It's really thougthful.

This is a techonological product that has an investigation on male. Here's a fact states as Human male urine is approximately 96% water. This conducts the concept of Zeroflush waterless urinal.

Why use water to move water? It utilised time tested, proven methods and technology to move urine into the waste system and eliminate urinal odors. It's interesting that they have made this product with such intension of considering the environment. It's absolute worthy of having these especially in an office building, school...etc.

Ice Cream Vending Machine

Why do we need an ice cream vending machine while we have ice cream stores everywhere? Well, would the reason be like it's more convenient again? I dont think that's the point of having this ice cream vending machine.

As they says they are a team of ice cream experts and world-class engineers committed to innovating ice cream and changing it forever. The indication tells that they have the strength to give more ways of supply. MooBella has created multi-patented, fully automated process that will change the ice cream forever, which builds up an interest of consumers and their difference in tastes.

MooBella ice cream vending machine has approximately 12 flavours with up to three min-ins, which makes a total of 96 combinations. This is absolutely amazing for a vending machine! I think there's something that consumers might really cared about is the portion size of the ice cream. Basically, it produces a 4.5 oz scoop of ice cream, that's quite a good deal.

However, a vending machine competited to the real ice cream store, which of them would be more profitable and more attractive towards the consumers? In fact, they both have their own strengths and weaknesses. For instance, a vending machine can be available at anywhere the supplier want them to be. On the other hand, an ice cream store needs employees to runs it, therefore it might cost more than a vending machine.

We've been talking about vending machines over and over.The concept of the vending machine is an efficient way to make an effort on a business, just like an additional good.

Ipod Vending Machine

An ipod vending machine? How convenient is that! In nowadays, people purchase this product a lot, which every 10 people, there'll be about 8 people have an ipod in their hand. The Apple shop has considered about consumers' needs and wants, therefore they build up a vending machine to stock the products in.

How to use this ipod vending machine? It's very easy actually, just simply swipe your credit card and then an ipod comes out! Conversely, if consumers need to pay in cash, that might be a problem there. In addition, this kind of scenario makes up one of a drawbacks.

Nevertheless, they dont only sell ipod in the machine but also stocking in batteries, digital camera and other photo accessories, which an ipod mini and shuffle would be willing to served as well. The best thing is that you can buy it straight away instead of listening to those Apple sales staff promoting all the way through. It would be a waste of time, isnt it?

According to a VP of Business Traveler Services, "We've done about $55,000 in a month in gross sales just for the one on Concourse A. This is becoming the future for some high-end products in places like airports where space is at a premium." This is true as some people thought it would be another failing business, but this proves it not. As consumers are willing to buy the product, it illustrates this ipod vending machine concept is efficient.