1) Once I have developed a functional dollar superstore with an established customer base, I intend on selling the company to either a dollar store, such as Dollar Tree, or a larger retailer, such as Walmart. I would also be open to selling the company in an earlier stage of development. I do not intend to continue with the company long-term.
2) I have selected this particular exit strategy, because retail is not an industry that I would be interested in pursuing long-term. I would rather sell the business early and then pursue other interests.
3) This exit strategy has influenced my decisions for the business, because I have kept all of my plans for the business relatively short term. Therefore, the opportunities I have identified mainly relate towards short term gains, such as cutting expenses by using a self-checkout system. My exit strategy has influenced my growth intentions, because I don't plan on investing resources into the business that would expand it to a national or international scale. I intend on selling the business before it would reach that point.
Friday, July 27, 2018
Celebrating Failure
1) Fitness is one of my favorite hobbies. Earlier in the summer, I injured my elbow lifting weights. I had a goal of rehabilitating the injury and getting back to my previous bench press personal best, 245 lbs, in one month. Over the month, my elbow began to recover and I attempted to bench press 245 lbs. However, my elbow began hurting almost immediately when I started and I was unable to complete the exercise. Afterwards, I attempted 225 lbs, but was unable to complete that as well. Since then, I have continued trying to rehabilitate my elbow.
2) From this experience, I learned that some things just need time to improve and I can't rush them. This experience taught me to be more patient and smart about how I deal with injuries.
3) Failure is something that is very difficult. However, if you never experience failure, that may mean that you aren't setting high enough goals for yourself. When I experience failure, I try to learn from it and not stress out too much about things that are in the past. Since I began this class, I would say that I am about as likely to take risks as I was before.
2) From this experience, I learned that some things just need time to improve and I can't rush them. This experience taught me to be more patient and smart about how I deal with injuries.
3) Failure is something that is very difficult. However, if you never experience failure, that may mean that you aren't setting high enough goals for yourself. When I experience failure, I try to learn from it and not stress out too much about things that are in the past. Since I began this class, I would say that I am about as likely to take risks as I was before.
Friday, July 20, 2018
Venture Concept - Dollar Superstore
Venture Concept - Dollar Superstore
Opportunity:
Consumers in the lower or middle classes are try to save money whenever they can. Additionally, there is a market of college students and young people who are looking to save money. These are the people who prefer to shop for dollar store price products, but would prefer the variety of a larger store. The increasing popularity of dollar stores is creating the need for more dollar store products. The market is defined as lower class consumers, middle class consumers, and college aged consumers looking to save money. Customers are currently satisfying this need by either shopping at dollar stores to save money, or shopping at larger retailers for the greater variety. This "window of opportunity" will be open for the foreseeable future.
Innovation:
The Dollar Superstore is innovative, because their are currently no dollar stores that have a similarly large supply and variety of products. This will help to attract consumers from both the dollar store market and the larger retailer market. This business will make money by purchasing cheap goods at bulk and selling them to consumers for a profit.
Venture Concept:
My innovation will solve this opportunity by offering a large variety of dollar superstore products to consumers for very low prices, typically $1. Consumers will switch to the dollar superstore from dollar stores in order to have more products to choose from. Consumers will switch to the dollar superstore from larger retailers in order to save money. I believe that I would be relatively easy to convince customers to switch to shopping at a dollar superstore. The top competitors are Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Walmart, and Target. Dollar Tree and Dollar General would be vulnerable, because they are a lot smaller scale than a dollar superstore. Walmart and Target would be vulnerable, because their products are more expensive than those of a dollar superstore. Price point is an essential factor in convincing consumers to shop at a dollar superstore. By selling most products for $1, many consumers could be convinced to shop their in order to save money. Business location is very important, because the dollar superstore would need to be located in a densely populated area. This location would make the dollar superstore more convenient for more people. In order to save money, very few cashiers would be employed and the business would feature many self-checkout systems. The business would have several employees in charge of stocking shelves and helping customers.
Minor Elements:
My most important resource would be maintaining a dialogue with employees in order to hear their suggestions on ways to make the business more profitable. This will help the business grow over time.
Over time, I will expand my business to sell goods online, and partner with a fast food restaurant to sell fast food inside of the store. This will increase the business's revenue.
Five years after the store's launch, I believe that I would be looking to sell the business in order to pursue other interests. I am more interested in a career in finance and doing part time humanitarian work.
What's Next? - Dollar Superstore
Existing Market:
Step 1:
The next step in the business would be to allow customers to shop online and have the products delivered to them. This would allow the business to adapt as online shopping becomes increasingly popular.
Step 2:
The first person that I interviewed said that the business could be modernized. Because the dollar store is bigger, creating an app to locate items could add to the store's convenience. When I asked her about online shopping, she said she liked the idea. However, she believed that bulk orders would be better, because money could be saved on shipping cheap items.
The second person that I interviewed suggested expanding the business to include online shopping, just as I had thought. This could benefit the business by increasing the volume of goods sold.
The third person that I interviewed suggested that the business expand to include food service. By offering cook to order food, customers would purchase food while they were at the store. When I asked the interviewee about online shopping for the dollar superstore, she said it is a great idea. Just like the first interviewee said, interviewee #3 stated that a minimum order price would be necessary to ensure money was not lost on shipping.
Step 3:
Based on these suggestions, I have identified two ways to grow the business: online shopping and food services. To bring in more customers, I would expand the business to provide home delivery. Free shipping would be provided on orders above a certain price. Additionally, I would expand the business by partnering with a fast food restaurant, such as McDonalds, in order to sell ready to eat food to customers in the store. Both of these expansions could increase revenues for the business.
New Market:
Step 1:
My business currently sells products to consumers. However, there is a market to sell these goods in bulk to businesses instead. Goods such as office supplies and some food products would be the main ones sold.
Step 2:
By providing office supplies and food to businesses at low costs, smaller businesses could cheaply get the products they need in order to save money. This can help new or small businesses to save money in order to be successful.
Step 3:
The first person I interviewed suggested that I adapt the business to sell all products online instead of in person. The property where the products are located would be a warehouse, not a store.
The second person that I interviewed suggested that I adjust the business to produce less variety of goods, but more of the same goods. Because individual customers would not be browsing for goods in the store, it would not be necessary to have a large variety. By decreasing variety, production costs would be reduced.
Step 4:
This new market seems to be much simpler and more similar to a supplier of goods. This market seems to be more attractive than the previous market, because less customers would be needed in order to sell the same number of products.
I was surprised how much simpler this market was than the dollar superstore market. Additionally, the people that I interviewed seemed to believe that the new market could allow the business to be more successful.
Step 1:
The next step in the business would be to allow customers to shop online and have the products delivered to them. This would allow the business to adapt as online shopping becomes increasingly popular.
Step 2:
The first person that I interviewed said that the business could be modernized. Because the dollar store is bigger, creating an app to locate items could add to the store's convenience. When I asked her about online shopping, she said she liked the idea. However, she believed that bulk orders would be better, because money could be saved on shipping cheap items.
The second person that I interviewed suggested expanding the business to include online shopping, just as I had thought. This could benefit the business by increasing the volume of goods sold.
The third person that I interviewed suggested that the business expand to include food service. By offering cook to order food, customers would purchase food while they were at the store. When I asked the interviewee about online shopping for the dollar superstore, she said it is a great idea. Just like the first interviewee said, interviewee #3 stated that a minimum order price would be necessary to ensure money was not lost on shipping.
Step 3:
Based on these suggestions, I have identified two ways to grow the business: online shopping and food services. To bring in more customers, I would expand the business to provide home delivery. Free shipping would be provided on orders above a certain price. Additionally, I would expand the business by partnering with a fast food restaurant, such as McDonalds, in order to sell ready to eat food to customers in the store. Both of these expansions could increase revenues for the business.
New Market:
Step 1:
My business currently sells products to consumers. However, there is a market to sell these goods in bulk to businesses instead. Goods such as office supplies and some food products would be the main ones sold.
Step 2:
By providing office supplies and food to businesses at low costs, smaller businesses could cheaply get the products they need in order to save money. This can help new or small businesses to save money in order to be successful.
Step 3:
The first person I interviewed suggested that I adapt the business to sell all products online instead of in person. The property where the products are located would be a warehouse, not a store.
The second person that I interviewed suggested that I adjust the business to produce less variety of goods, but more of the same goods. Because individual customers would not be browsing for goods in the store, it would not be necessary to have a large variety. By decreasing variety, production costs would be reduced.
Step 4:
This new market seems to be much simpler and more similar to a supplier of goods. This market seems to be more attractive than the previous market, because less customers would be needed in order to sell the same number of products.
I was surprised how much simpler this market was than the dollar superstore market. Additionally, the people that I interviewed seemed to believe that the new market could allow the business to be more successful.
My Venture's Resources - Dollar Superstore
Resources:
- First to enter this market
- V - Valuable, because it allows my business to capture a larger market share.
- R - Rare, because my business would be the only one in this market.
- I - Imitable, because more businesses could enter the market.
- N - Non-substitutable.
- Low priced goods
- V - Valuable, because it would bring in customers.
- R - Not rare, provided by dollar stores
- I - Not imitable, retailers who don't currently provide it would have trouble imitating.
- N - Non-substitutable.
- Wide variety of goods
- V - Valuable, brings in customers.
- R - Not rare, provided by large retailers
- I - Imitable by dollar stores who expand their product variety.
- N - Non-substitutable.
- Innovation encouraged, employees monetarily rewarded for saving
- V - Valuable, would help to cut costs
- R - Rare, many organizations don't encourage low level employees to innovate.
- I - Not imitable, it is difficult to change corporate culture.
- N - Non-substitutable.
- Self-checkout used to save money
- V - Valuable, would help to cut costs
- R - Not rare, many organizations use it.
- I - Imitable, other stores could install self-checkout systems.
- N - Can be substituted with a cashier.
- Located in a heavily populated area
- V - Valuable, access to more customers.
- R - Not rare, many stores are located in highly populated areas.
- I - Can not be imitated without developing a new store location.
- N - Can not be substituted.
- Human capital - I would be managing the store
- V - This would be valuable, due to my business knowledge and work ethic
- R - This is rare, because I wouldn't be working for any other business
- I - This is not imitable.
- N - This could be substituted with another manager at a different store.
Friday, July 13, 2018
Elevator Pitch 3 - Dollar Superstore
Reading Reflection - How to Fail at Almost Anything and Still Win Big
1) The general theme of How to Fail at Almost Anything and Still Win Big was that successful people learn from their failures and aren't afraid of failing. In the book, Scott Adams told the story behind his major successes and failures, described what he learned from them, and gave tips on how to be more successful in business and everyday life.
2) This book definitely connected with what I learned in this class. Adams was a serial entrepreneur, so he provided some great insight on how to be more successful in entrepreneurship.
3) If I had to create an exercise for the class based on this book, the exercise would involve analyzing one of Adams' "failures." The students would have to choose a failure, describe it, explain why it failed, and create suggestions on how to make it a success.
4) My biggest surprise was that he offered so much accurate advice for everyday life. An example of this is his advice to have a system instead of a goal. He claimed that people lose motivation to progress further when they achieve a preset goal. This resonated with me, because all summer I had been working to achieve my goal of running a six minute mile. A few weeks ago I reached that goal, but then lost a lot of progress by not running for two weeks afterwards. Just like Adams claimed, I lost a lot of my motivation to run when I reached my goal.
2) This book definitely connected with what I learned in this class. Adams was a serial entrepreneur, so he provided some great insight on how to be more successful in entrepreneurship.
3) If I had to create an exercise for the class based on this book, the exercise would involve analyzing one of Adams' "failures." The students would have to choose a failure, describe it, explain why it failed, and create suggestions on how to make it a success.
4) My biggest surprise was that he offered so much accurate advice for everyday life. An example of this is his advice to have a system instead of a goal. He claimed that people lose motivation to progress further when they achieve a preset goal. This resonated with me, because all summer I had been working to achieve my goal of running a six minute mile. A few weeks ago I reached that goal, but then lost a lot of progress by not running for two weeks afterwards. Just like Adams claimed, I lost a lot of my motivation to run when I reached my goal.
Growing My Social Capital - Dollar Superstore
1) For my domain expert, I reached out to the manager of a local dollar store to get feedback on my business idea. The manager told me that he had some concerns about the business idea from a cost point of view. He told me that the reason dollar stores are able to maintain the best prices is because they are so small scale. By ramping up the scale of the store, expenses will increase and it will be difficult to maintain low prices. The information that he provided was definitely helpful to my understanding of what makes a dollar store successful.
2) For my market expert, I spoke to the cashier at that same dollar store and asked her what sort of customers shopped at that dollar store. She informed me that the typical customers were middle class parents who were looking to save money. She mentioned that when parents take their children shopping for college supplies, they tend to go to the dollar store to pick up cheap supplies. The cashier at this dollar store helped me confirm that the main market I would be going after is those who currently shop at dollar stores.
3) For my supplier expert, I spoke to the manager of another local dollar store. She told me that they receive weekly shipments of most of their goods. They tend to order the same or a similar amount each week. Once they sell out of a certain good, they are unable to sell it until the next shipment. This conversation provided me with a better understanding on the supply to dollar stores and why they frequently lack a variety of products.
In my previous interviews, I wad able to find enough interviewees among my friends and family to complete the assignments. However, for this assignment I had to seek out people that had certain information, so I ended up interviewing complete strangers.
2) For my market expert, I spoke to the cashier at that same dollar store and asked her what sort of customers shopped at that dollar store. She informed me that the typical customers were middle class parents who were looking to save money. She mentioned that when parents take their children shopping for college supplies, they tend to go to the dollar store to pick up cheap supplies. The cashier at this dollar store helped me confirm that the main market I would be going after is those who currently shop at dollar stores.
3) For my supplier expert, I spoke to the manager of another local dollar store. She told me that they receive weekly shipments of most of their goods. They tend to order the same or a similar amount each week. Once they sell out of a certain good, they are unable to sell it until the next shipment. This conversation provided me with a better understanding on the supply to dollar stores and why they frequently lack a variety of products.
In my previous interviews, I wad able to find enough interviewees among my friends and family to complete the assignments. However, for this assignment I had to seek out people that had certain information, so I ended up interviewing complete strangers.
Friday, July 6, 2018
Idea Napkin 2 - Dollar Superstore
1) I have some entrepreneurial experience, in that I founded the UF
chapter of Global Business Brigades. As president and founder, I created
an organization and then grew it into a group of 20 students, 8 of
which went on our first service trip this May. This process gave me
experience with managing people, developing a new organization, and
leading people. I aspire to work internationally, possibly in investment
banking. Theoretically, if I began the Dollar Superstore business, I could see myself
overseeing its expansion throughout the United States and other
countries in the future. However, if I founded an organization it would be more likely to be associated with non-profit work.
2) A Dollar Superstore would provide customers with a wide variety of discount goods and groceries. The selection would be wide enough that an individual or a family could do all of their shopping in one Dollar Superstore. However, the prices would still be lower than traditional retailers. These items would range from everyday products, to groceries, to specialty items. The main selling point of the Dollar Superstore over a traditional dollar store is the greater variety.
3) The target audience of a Dollar Superstore would be people in the lower and middle classes. People who have a low income and need to save money might opt to shop at a Dollar Superstore instead of a large retailer, such as Walmart or Target. Also, Dollar Superstore would be targeted at middle class people who are very frugal and prefer to save money. Finally, a large market for the Dollar Superstore would be students who are living on a limited budget and need to save money. Another target audience would be college students who are operating on a limited budget.
4) Our target audiences will use the Dollar Superstore instead of alternatives for shopping, because the Dollar Superstore provides the variety of different products that a large retailer would offer, but at dollar store prices. This would allow the customer to save money and pick up all of the goods that they need.
5) Our core competency is that we would be the first in this market. With retailers declining and dollar stores growing in popularity, there is an opportunity for a large-scale dollar store to gain market share. By being the first to enter the market, we would be able to gain a sizeable share of the market. Also, I believe that my business and interpersonal skills could help benefit the business.
Summary:
I believe that this business could be successful. However, the business currently does not have any connections or infrastructure that would allow it to succeed. Therefore, I believe that proposing this plan to an existing Dollar Store would be the way to go. I could more effectively manage this business plan if I had access to the existing infrastructure, suppliers, and other connections that a dollar store already has.
Feedback Memo:
The feedback I received confirmed that the best move would be to propose this plan to an existing dollar store. Additionally, the feedback said that these components would work well for the business. I didn't receive any constructive criticism in my feedback.
2) A Dollar Superstore would provide customers with a wide variety of discount goods and groceries. The selection would be wide enough that an individual or a family could do all of their shopping in one Dollar Superstore. However, the prices would still be lower than traditional retailers. These items would range from everyday products, to groceries, to specialty items. The main selling point of the Dollar Superstore over a traditional dollar store is the greater variety.
3) The target audience of a Dollar Superstore would be people in the lower and middle classes. People who have a low income and need to save money might opt to shop at a Dollar Superstore instead of a large retailer, such as Walmart or Target. Also, Dollar Superstore would be targeted at middle class people who are very frugal and prefer to save money. Finally, a large market for the Dollar Superstore would be students who are living on a limited budget and need to save money. Another target audience would be college students who are operating on a limited budget.
4) Our target audiences will use the Dollar Superstore instead of alternatives for shopping, because the Dollar Superstore provides the variety of different products that a large retailer would offer, but at dollar store prices. This would allow the customer to save money and pick up all of the goods that they need.
5) Our core competency is that we would be the first in this market. With retailers declining and dollar stores growing in popularity, there is an opportunity for a large-scale dollar store to gain market share. By being the first to enter the market, we would be able to gain a sizeable share of the market. Also, I believe that my business and interpersonal skills could help benefit the business.
Summary:
I believe that this business could be successful. However, the business currently does not have any connections or infrastructure that would allow it to succeed. Therefore, I believe that proposing this plan to an existing Dollar Store would be the way to go. I could more effectively manage this business plan if I had access to the existing infrastructure, suppliers, and other connections that a dollar store already has.
Feedback Memo:
The feedback I received confirmed that the best move would be to propose this plan to an existing dollar store. Additionally, the feedback said that these components would work well for the business. I didn't receive any constructive criticism in my feedback.
Elevator Pitch 2 - Dollar Superstore
1) https://youtu.be/aXr5ADnFJ38
2) The feedback that I received from elevator pitch 1 had both positive comments and constructive criticism. I was told that I presented the idea well, and that I spoke slowly and clearly. However, I was also told that I should give more information on how the store would be stocked and that I had to add more energy to my pitch. I disagree that I need more details about how the store would be stocked, because I only had 90 seconds to present the idea. I do agree that my first elevator pitch did not have enough energy though. It is very important that you sound excited about the idea being presented.3) The primary change I made to my pitch, was that I tried to act more energetic and dynamic. I wanted to present myself as excited about the business idea.
Customer Avatar - Dollar Superstore
Customer Avatar: 35 Year-Old Mother of Three
My customer avatar is a 35 year-old mother of three. She is married and her family is economically lower-middle class. Her oldest two children are in elementary school and her youngest child is in preschool. She works as a substitute teacher at the local high school, while balancing the responsibilities of being a mom. Her hobbies include jogging, reading, and watching television. She drives a used 2009 Honda Odyssey and her husband drives a 2006 Honda Civic. Between working, cooking, cleaning, shopping, taking her kids to soccer and basketball practices, and her hobbies, she has very little free time. In order to save time, she likes to do all of her shopping in one place, so she frequently shops at Walmart. When she has a little more available time, she will go to Dollar Tree before Walmart in order to save money on as many items as possible. Every day, she has to make decisions based on various time and financial constraints.
I try to save money and I am usually very frugal. This is the main similarity that I have with my customer avatar. I don't think this is a coincidence. I believe that my frugality is a big part of why I had the idea for a dollar superstore.
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