Opportunity
As I start locally, my potential customers will be anyone living in Gainesville that would like to feel more safe and protected during Hurricanes. This would only include those who do not evacuate before a Hurricane. My main market segment will be college students because college students have parents that have a min concern of safety when it comes to natural disasters. This would eliminate a lot of the elasticity that comes with college students and their lackluster wallets.
The nature of the need is simple. In fact, this need is the base on the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs: safety. Everyone wants to feel safe and in a secure campus like UF, it isn't that hard. However, natural disasters are unstoppable, unpredictable, and can't be detained by UFPD. This causes a frenzy every time a Hurricane is potentially coming our way, with people lining up outside of Publix for water and working through the day to install shutters. Because of that, the need for my product will never go away, as Hurricane season arrives every year.
Without the HSK, customers now use a lot of time and money traveling to different stores to collect various emergency items that they may not use and never need until the next storm. This is how the HSK fits the niche. The HSK has everything one can possibly need for a storm, allowing customers to save time, money, and worrying. This opportunity, if it picks up in popularity, is tremendous.
Innovation
Right now there is a secret hole in the market for preventative supplies. Of course, emergency supplies are always offered individually at many different individual stores. However, not only is the process of obtaining them costly, but it also requires a lot of knowledge about Hurricanes, and it prevents discounts from buying all of the supplies in bulk at once. On the other hand, there are Hurricane Survival Kits for sale online, but those are ridiculous as well. Some kits go for upwards of thousands of dollars and contain things like a mobile AED and a month's supply of food. Who would ever wake up and decide to spend $4,000 on an AED? The Hurricane Survival Kit fits right in the middle of those two extremes.
The HSK will contain every basic but essential item to get anyone through a one-week storm. The kit will sell for a ballpark estimate of $40 and will contain emergency food, emergency supplies, emergency power, and physical discounts for local generators and shutter companies. It is expected that once one kit is used, another one will be purchased. The kits are personal pouches too, meaning a family of 4 should spend around $160 for four kits in order to ensure everyone will be fully prepared for a one-week storm.
The canned food and emergency supplies will all be bought in bulk at wholesale. They will then proceed to be split up into 'servings' and placed into each HSK. The discounts for local businesses will be a deal to exchange a small fee and free promotion for the ability to secure these discounts. These discounts will be given out on physical coupon cards that are packed away within the HSK. Starting costs will obviously be higher, but overall a profit of about $10-$15 will be made on each HSK. If bought online, the customer will pay for shipping.
Venture Concept
The innovation I have will be successful because it is better than the alternatives. Both alternatives to the HSK provide the same feeling of safety, but at a much higher cost, and perhaps a little bit more work involved. The HSK will allow customers to satisfy their need of safety while also satisfying secondary needs, like financial needs or convenience needs.
It will not be too difficult to get customers to switch to my product. The product is a great alternative, so the only issue with a potential blunder of sales is that customers are not informed or fully-informed about the product and its ability.
The only competitors I have are those who sell all-inclusive Hurricane Survival Kits online. They do a great job of making their customers feel safe in times of need, but by far their greatest weakness is the price of the product. The HSK trumps all competitors with its price, creating a value that is unmatched.
Packaging and customer service may play a big role. I am pretty good at digital design, so I would be able to make a reeling design on the package. Customer support will be a challenge at first if I am the sole proprietor. However, I believe my experience in customer service will aid my ability to provide it until the venture at least accrues enough money to bring in new Customer Service Representatives.
At first, I can literally buy and sell all of the materials online. However, for the local population, it would be imperative for me to have a brick-and-mortar too. That may be somewhere down the line, along with additional employees. As long as I don't top 10 sales a day (average), I don't see much of an issue.
Three Minor Elements
The most important resource I have is digital design. Especially in an industry that primarily focuses on safety and effectiveness, design is not nearly a top priority. However, the online marketplace and packaging will create an overall brand for the company, something that gives life to the organization and allows customers to easily identify it.
Next, in addition to college students, I will try to target a different target market. In the future, I will begin to target the elderly. I will do this by marketing this product as a once-in-a-lifetime breakthrough. Many elderly people have lived through many, many hurricanes and have family members all around them to help them out in a time of need. Many elderly people also have a lot of disposable income from retirement. So, I will market the product as something so new and innovative, something that would keep them so safe that even friends and family support would not be a proper substitution for its safety. That way, many elderly people would take a look at the low price and buy it without asking questions. Students and the elderly are two of the most looked-after and protected units of the family model. This will allow the market to be widened, as middle-aged customers may purchase the HSK as a gift for their child or their parent.
Lastly, the end-all be-all of this company will be to open a brick-and-mortar along with the online marketplace, and start operating nationally for different disasters. Right now HSK is limited to eastern coastal areas. But an earthquake survival kit and a flood survival kit could sell really well in the mid-west and western United States.
Feedback
The feedback I received encouraged my idea to venture out to a different market. However, the feedback I received also questioned how I would make the push to the elderly segment. It asked why elderly people would purchase my product if they have most likely lived through many hurricanes. I decided to do some research and update my venture concept accordingly.
How I Changed My Concept
I decided to put more information about how I will attract the elderly population. I will do this by marketing the HSK as a once-in-a-lifetime innovation. That way, most elderly people with a disposable retirement income will feel inclined to make the decision on the spot.
