1) You. I am a rising 3rd year Management student with an entrepreneurial spirit and a passion for the beauty industry. Starting a company like this would be exactly what I would want to do after college. With skills in management and experience in start-ups specifically, I think that this dream could really take off. If I were to start this business, it would be my entire life; I would put my heart and soul into it and work every minute until it is a success.
2) What are you offering to customers? I am offering an affordable, high-quality haircare line for consumers who have a desire for high-quality haircare products but do not have the money to purchase the current options available.
3) Who are you offering it to? My demographic is all ages of consumers, but specifically saturated with women between around ages of 18 and 35, who have the need for high quality haircare products, can't currently afford the luxury options available, and favor quality over the convenience of drugstore brands.
4) Why do they care? Customers care because with this line (1) if they use drugstore haircare currently then they can purchase better, higher quality products for the same or less money than they pay now and (2) if they use luxury brands currently then they can get similar high-quality products for significantly less money.
5) What are your core competencies? We have a business model that has been extremely successful in other similar markets and has not been used yet in haircare. We are offering a product at a quality level and price level that has not been seen yet.
These elements absolutely fit together! There is a strong need and reason to care about this new company and opportunity for consumers. The weakest point of the business model is definitely the aspect of convenience; with such low margins and as a start-up, it would be very difficult to get into stores at the beginning, which would mean that the cult-following we would hope for would have to start online (which hasn't been a problem for Colourpop Cosmetics, Morphe, or Fourth Ray Beauty, but it is still a concern to address and make a plan of action to surpass!)
Olivia,
ReplyDeleteYour background in management and experience with start-ups is a great foundation for business creation. Not many are willing to take the plunge, but it’s clear you would live and die by your business! Your product certainly has room to grow into a large demographic, probably fitting all ages, and I think you’ve chosen a great target demographic to enter as a tight market. You’ve identified low margins as a weakness in your startup, but it sounds like that’s normal and as the business grows, so will the size of production purchase orders and, in turn, margins will increase as costs go down. Amazon, for example, fights their way into markets without too much worry about profits. Once they’ve established market share, they shift.
Jonah Brafman