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Another week, another fresh helping of interesting new business ideas from around the world: a pop-up nightclub in Australia, boutique camping in the UK, a US referral service for domestic labour, and Dutch baby food workshops for young parents. Our next edition is due on 16 May 2007. In the meantime, check out our daily postings on www.springwise.com, send us your tips, and please don't forget to tell your friends and colleagues about us. Thank you! |
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Last month, we featured an online bidding system for domestic outsourcing, allowing busy families to find and bid for domestic help. A related service has been spotted in San Francisco: LaborFair is an online referral community of reliable, quality workers for on-demand household labour. Workers post profiles, photos and a minimum of two references on LaborFair.com, and indicate when they're available. Potential employers search the website to find someone who is available when they need them, and contact them directly to discuss the job. LaborFair's workers specialize in household maintenance and family care, providing services like housecleaning, gardening, small repairs, yard or garbage cleanup, moving, interior/exterior painting, childcare and eldercare. Since good workers can land more jobs by building their online reputation, LaborFair encourages customers to post fair and honest reviews, including answers to questions like: did the worker show up on time, did he or she have the necessary equipment, were you able to communicate with the worker, and would you hire him or her again. (For more on review-based transparency, check out trendwatching.com's transparency tyranny.) Cutting out agencies, who often take a large chunk of a domestic worker's wage, means workers are more fairly rewarded for their labour. On the buyer's side, consumers get real-time access to hundreds of reputable local workers. LaborFair, which describes itself as a socially-oriented business, charges workers USD 14.99 per month to list their profile. The fledgling venture is busy connecting with worker centres, collectives, worker coops, microfinance institutions and faith-based organizations to create a network that will provide workers with additional training and support, as well as helping them find better paying and more consistent employment opportunities. LaborFair is currently only active in California's Bay Area. One to start up locally? Website: www.laborfair.com Spotted by: Kare Anderson
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Pop-up retail may be a bit passé, but pop-up-everything-else is still going strong. Earlier this week, we featured an update on pop-up hotels. Next up? A pop-up nightclub in Australia. The SoCo Cargo Experiment, created for Southern Comfort, consists of four shipping containers that can be stacked side by side or on top of each other, like giant building blocks. SoCo Cargo can be assembled within a day, with an entirely adaptable interior. The venue usually contains a bar, stage and lounge area, but the main focus varies per location. One time it will be a nightclub, next time a live music venue or art gallery, popping up by the side of the road, near a festival, carnival or other outdoor event. The temporary club premiered on Sydney's Cockatoo Island in October. During Melbourne's St Kilda festival in February, SoCo Cargo hosted a number of up-and-coming live acts. Then it was on to Adelaide's Garden of Earthly Delights (another festival), where the containers held a slick dance lounge featuring hot DJs and late night grooves. For an old liquor brand trying to reach a new group of consumers, specifically young adults, the pop-up approach seems to be working. Surprise creates buzz, and buzz is good, cost-efficient marketing ;-) For more examples of how to delight consumers by taking them by surprise, check out this section of trendwatching.com's transumer briefing. Website: www.southerncomfort.com Spotted by: Charles Norbert-Munns, images courtesy of 101 Productions
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Dutch SellSigns helps consumers sell used cars by combining customized for sale signs and online profiles. How it works? The seller creates a profile containing the car's details, plus his/her own contact information. The website then produces two small banners that sellers can place on their own websites or blogs, as well as a PDF. The PDF can be printed and taped on a car window, and shows the car's price, mileage and year. This offline ad directs potential buyers to sellsign.nl to find more detailed information and contact the seller, using the car's license plate to locate it on the website. Springwise thinks it would make more sense to include a short URL that goes directly to the car's page, as well as an SMS option that would let potential buyers text message a car's ID to a phone number, receiving full details by return message. That said, it's a useful combination of offline and online DIY advertising, and an alternative to sellers posting their phone numbers on hand-made for sale signs. One to learn from and improve on if you're in the business of facilitating sales or rentals. Website: www.sellsigns.nl Related: See-snap-buy - Infolust Spotted by: Eduard de Wilde
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The United States has approximately 58,000 nail salons, most of which are "mom and pop" stores owned by Vietnamese and Korean immigrants. Claiming to be the first branded nail chain in the United States, Dashing Diva hopes to become the Starbucks of nail salons, creating a strong brand and offering customers an experience that's different from other nail salons. While most nail places sport a hygienic but basic look, Dashing Diva has invested heavily in design, making it a marketable venue for bridal showers and Sweet Sixteen and birthday parties. Customers are treated to girls' night every Thursday and Friday evening, sipping free cocktails in the "Pink Pedicure Lounge" while having their toes done, and weekend morning treatments come with complimentary bagels and coffee. Men and young girls are catered to with Racer and Little Diva manicures. The chain also has an advantage on the supply-side: Dashing Diva is an affiliate company of KMC-Exim, the world's largest manufacturer of artificial nails. Business opportunities? Be Peet's or Costa to Dashing Diva's Starbucks, and set up your own nail salon brand. Or join Dashing Diva as a franchisee. The company has aggressive expansion goals: in the US, Dashing Diva plans to open 15-20 more stores over the next 18 months, both through conversions and new store openings. Internationally, the Australian master franchisee, who opened a Dashing Diva location in Melbourne in January 2007, plans to open 30 more locations in Australia over the next three years. The Japanese master franchisee also has plans to open multiple Dashing Diva units in the next few years, as does the Middle Eastern franchisee, whose first salon is located in Kuwait. Salons have also been opened in the Philippines and Singapore, and upcoming markets include China (a Shanghai store is slated to open by the end of 2007) and the United Kingdom. Franchise fee is USD 25,000, good for 5 years, plus 4% royalty on gross sales. Website: www.dashingdiva.com Related: Nail taxi
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A few weeks ago, we featured pop-up hotels in Spain. The theme is continued in the UK, where Boutique Camping offers decidedly upscale camping at summer music festivals. Luxury-seeking festival-goers can choose from a variety of places to rest their weary bones, ranging from elegant tipis and bohemian bivouacs to pastel-coloured beach huts and wooden micro-cabins (a.k.a. podpads). All can be booked unfurnished, though guests are better off choosing the furnished option, adding beds, rugs, sheepskins, lanterns and iPod docking stations. Boutique Camping sites include round-the-clock staffed reception, clean toilets and proper showers, and a communal Bedouin tent for after-party lounging. Boutique Camping will provide pop-up accommodation at a number of popular music festivals in England and Ireland this summer, from the Big Chill to the Secret Garden Party. They're already fully booked for The Electric Picnic, which takes place in August. The mix of available accommodation varies per location, and everything can be booked online. Pricing depends on the festival's duration, but ranges from GBP 399 for a basic podpad to GBP 1,095 for a large furnished tipi. Offering festival-goers an alternative to cramped tents in muddy fields, this should be a fun and potentially lucrative business to set up in other countries. Make sure to target wedding planners and the corporate events industry, too, and pop up for mid-summer parties, art biennales, sports events, meteor showers and any other excuse for a congenial overnight gathering. (For more inspiration, also check out Camp Kerala, a roaming tented village described as “the most elegant and romantic place to stay outside India.”) Website: www.boutiquecamping.net Spotted by: Eva Keogan Related: Pop-up hotels - Beer cans that sleep two - Swish showers on location
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A month ago, Apple announced that it has sold over 100 million iPods worldwide. Unfortunately, they don't last forever, and tempting new models are always just around the corner. Which is where buymybrokenipod.com comes in. The young start-up offers consumers a very simple way to sell their broken or unused iPods: after indicating which model they'd like to sell and what condition it's in, the website gives an instant price-quote. Send it in, and payment is transferred via PayPal within 24 hours after the iPod has been received. There are alternatives: used or broken iPods could be sold on eBay, where hundreds of Apple's music players are listed for sale for parts or refurbishing. But many consumers can't be bothered with finding out how to list a product, and don't want to deal with potential customers. buymybrokenipod.com provides an effortless alternative. How they make money? The iPods are usually sold in bulk to small businesses who fix them for a living, replacing cracked screens, expired batteries and dead hard-drives, and reselling them to consumers. Generally, iPods received by buymybrokenipod.com are in good condition. The company takes pride in extending the lives of dead or used iPods, and keeping them out of landfills. According to Mother Jones, electronic waste accounts for 2 percent of America's trash in landfills but 70 percent of its toxic garbage. Springwise likes the niche aspect—focusing on one very popular article, and making it easy for consumers to get money for something they'd otherwise leave in a junk drawer or throw away. One to set up locally, or extend to other products? Might not make you rich, but it can definitely be a good business on the side. Especially since iPods sales don't seem to be slowing down ;-) Related: Podswap and iRepair. Website: www.buymybrokenipod.com
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Following our recent posts about frozen and prepared baby food and an upmarket food retailer for children, comes a class in cooking for babies. Dutch Baby Cooking organizes classes for parents who'd like to learn to whip up nutritious, tasty and varied meals for their infants and toddlers. Classes are taught by a food stylist and editor of cookbooks and food magazines, who is also a mother of two. The baby cooking workshop starts with 90 minutes of information about infant nutrition, the benefits of home cooking baby food and the food phases a baby goes through between the ages of 4—18 months. Then it's on to the kitchen, for an hour and a half of hands-on instruction. While the two concepts we covered earlier provide options for parents who don't (always) have time to prepare food for their children, there's definitely something to be said for the DIY approach. Which means there's a business opportunity for gastronomically-inclined entrepreneurs who can teach parents to cook for their offspring. And how about combining baby food classes with baby food preparation at meal assembly stores, which have proven to be a huge hit? Website: www.babycooking.nl Spotted by: Catrien Funke
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Last year, we wrote about luxury loos on location—portable toilets with a glamorous touch, which were a fun example of how everything can be upgraded. We just came across a similar venture, also from the UK. Catering to outdoor happenings, from music festivals to equestrian events, Posh Wash Showers offers four and six berth shower units, all of which come equipped with power showers, wash basins and changing areas. The showers use a special pump that guarantees a powerful stream of water throughout the day and night. Pricing for a Friday-Monday weekend is from GBP 500 for a four shower unit. Attendants, towels and soap are charged separately. The company is taking off, and its bright and cheerful showers were warmly welcomed at music festivals like Glastonbury Festival, The Electric Picnic and Lost Vagueness last year. One to set up locally, preferably in combination with the swanky water closets. Website: www.poshwashshowers.co.uk
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No worries. We've got you covered. All of last week's articles are listed below. And don't forget—you can access everything we've published in our idea database, which is conveniently organized by industry. Enjoy!
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