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Another week, another stack of interesting new business ideas from around the world: an airport lounge for babies and a virtual lounge for young entrepreneurs, two tryvertising businesses, updates on concepts we've featured before, and more. Our next edition is due on 15 August 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. Much appreciated! |
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The Sample Lab, which opened 25 July 2007 in Tokyo's Iceberg Building in Harajuku, is a members-only space that invites consumers to sample and test new products. More than a hundred people lined up for the opening, paying a modest JPY 300 registration fee and JPY 1,000 annual membership fee. Members need to be over 15 years of age, and gain entrance to the lab by showing a QR code stored on their cellphone. In addition to store-like shelves stocked with merchandise, the space also features a powder room where women can sit down to try out beauty products. While the Japanese sampling salons we featured in the past focus solely on cosmetics, Sample Lab offers everything from BBQ sauce and exercise equipment to pantyhose and moisturiser. Besides trying everything out in the shop, members can take home up to 5 items per visit. To harvest their precious feedback, Sample Lab asks visitors to fill out surveys about the products they've tested. The concept was created by marketing agency Mel Posunetto, with the dual purpose of collecting user feedback and sparking word of mouth advertising. Many consumers are happy to pay to be the first to try out a new product, and to spread buzz that's invaluable to brands launching new products. Moreover, creating a dedicated space for trying out new products makes it easier to collect feedback, which creates a nice niche for firms like Mel Posunetto. Tryvertising is the new advertising, right? ;-) So this could be one for agencies to set up everywhere from Miami to Mumbai. Website: www.samplelab.jp Spotted by: Mio Yamada
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In a March 2004 briefing, our sister site trendwatching.com featured a trend it dubbed feeder businesses: new services that feed, and feed off of, web stars like eBay, Google, Match.com and Amazon. One of the examples given was drop-off shops for online auctions, which allow any consumer to drop off an item at an eBay seller's physical location, and have them sell it online in return for a commission. Services that help ordinary consumers sell have proliferated since 2004, feeding the eBay monster (eBay users posted a total of 559 million listings in Q2-07, generating a gross merchandise volume of USD 14.46 billion). A notable newcomer is Zippi, which is taking the field to another level by introducing sophisticated tools aimed at helping eBay sellers make more money. Over the coming months, Zippi will launch a marketing campaign to promote its consumer-facing hotline. Anyone with clutter to unload can call 1-877-GO-ZIPPI to submit an item for sale. Using a database of trillions of past eBay transactions, Zippi automatically appraises the item and gives the owner an indication of its estimated value. The owner sets a minimum amount his or she is willing to sell for. Zippi then contacts an affiliate in the owner's area. Affiliates are eBay sellers who have signed up with Zippi. The affiliate visits the owner, picks up the item, lists it on eBay and takes care of shipping. Once an item is sold, the consumer is paid, the affiliate receives his commission and Zippi take their cut. While basic enrolment starts at USD 49.95, for USD 1399.95 sellers can buy the Zippi Affiliate Pro Bundle, which includes a handheld device that enables sellers to go to a consumer's home, take a picture of the item they're offering for sale, scan barcodes, create a description through a template that's pre-populated by Zippi's call center, and create a listing on the fly. As described by Zippi, this "brings eBay to the doorstep of American households and businesses," while allowing affiliates to act as highly mobile franchisees. For added revenue, affiliates can become 'Zipsters', recruiting and training other sellers and receiving a percentage of every commission they earn. Which brings Zippi more affiliates and lets Zipsters build a scalable business. Last but not least, Zippi formalizes the process for selling on behalf of friends and family. Since Zippi automatically doles out both the owner's and the affiliate's shares of a sale, selling on behalf of one's social network becomes much easier: sellers don't have to negotiate a cut or write a cheque to the owner once an item has been sold. By making it simpler to sell a bicycle for a neighbour or a lamp for a cousin, sellers are stimulated to tap into a new pool of products. If it takes off, Zippi's integrated approach could create a large network of consignment shops on the go, generating leads for sellers and easy access to eBay for consumers who just want to offload stuff without figuring out how to use an online marketplace. Opportunities if you’re not an eBay seller? Zippi only operates in the US. Partner with them to bring the concept to other large eBay markets. Website: www.zippi.com Spotted by: Amy Leung
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A new start-up in Bangalore, India, hopes to arm consumers with products and services to empower them toward a simple solution for reducing landfill waste: composting. The Daily Dump offers an array of decorative composting containers that can be used in the home to manage organic household waste and convert it to useful high-quality compost. What's more, they offer a full range of service plans for customers wary of braving the ordeal on their own. Composting pots and vessels made of biodegradable terracotta in a variety of shapes and sizes can be purchased on the website, which features a guide to help customers choose which is right for their needs. Rakes, spoons, spatulas and other supplies are also available. The website offers extensive information and tips, such as what items can and can't compost. Consumers who lack the time or desire to care for their composting pot can select a weekly, fortnightly or monthly service plan, with a Daily Dump ‘servicewalla’ dropping by to take care of maintenance: cleaning pots, adding dry leaves and stirring the compost. Those who don’t mind doing their own maintenance can opt out of the service plan and call Daily Dump when they have an issue that needs to be addressed by a professional. The Daily Dump currently is limited to small residential composting, but the company has big plans for expanding its operations to include composting products for businesses and larger homes, solutions for dealing with inorganic waste and further ventures to address larger urban environmental issues. In the meantime, they hope to inspire others to invest in composting—and, as such, are not likely to mind much if copycat companies begin popping up in other parts of the globe, making it easy for them to be green. Website: www.dailydump.org Spotted by: Bjarke Svendsen
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Although Springwise only features ideas that have already been brought to market, we thought you would enjoy this contest from our friends at cross-media event PICNIC, asking you to come up with a product or service to help save the planet. The PICNIC Green Challenge calls on creative, innovative minds to come up with concrete solutions to fight climate change. Anyone with a good idea for a product or service that reduces greenhouse gas emissions in a consumer-friendly way and contributes to a sustainable lifestyle is welcome to take part. Each entry must be supported by a concrete plan to bring the idea to market within two years. To make their bright idea reality, the winner will receive EUR 500,000, coaching from business leaders and a list of potential customers. The PICNIC Green Challenge's jury will be chaired by super-entrepreneur Richard Branson of The Virgin Group. “This contest is going to help people to realise how much they are capable of,” he says. “Great things really do come out of simple ideas.” We couldn't agree more! So, don those green thinking caps and submit your entry before 30 August 2007. Full details on the Green Challenge can be found here: greenchallenge.info
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Prices at Amiestreet are determined by demand, increasing to a maximum of USD 0.98 per song depending on how many people download it. The more popular a song, the faster its price will increase to 98 cents. Besides giving early buyers a better deal, the market price system gives consumers the added pleasure of seeing they've discovered a song or artist before everyone else has.(See our earlier article on Amiestreet for more.) As explained by AmieStreet.com's co-founder and CEO Elliott Breece: "AmieStreet.com grew from the idea that we needed to make buying music social and fun. The Amie Street community took over from there, driving a shift toward a music marketplace where consumers decide what is popular and what music is worth. We're thrilled to have Amazon.com's support in empowering music consumers." Website: www.amiestreet.com
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While promoting goods and services through friendly get-togethers is nothing new, House Party has given the concept a radical makeover. A far cry from your mother's Tupperware gatherings, House Party combines in-person tryvertising with rich media sharing to link thousands of parties where consumers convene with friends, family, co-workers and neighbours to test products and share their experiences. Unlike traditional sales parties, hosts don't sponsor events to earn a cut of the profit, nor are company representatives or consultants present to pitch their wares. Instead, anyone can apply to host a party through the House Party website, where they can browse a list of upcoming events—which may include anything from watching a previously unseen television series, listening to an unreleased CD or tasting a new food or beverage. Hosts get freebies, samples and special offers, plus planning tools to help create invitations, manage RSVPs and more. There's an online community for hosts to interact with fellow party-throwers to share tips and suggestions as they plan their bashes. The other key factor is that for each event, House Party aims to book at least a thousand parties across the United States to take place on the same day. Which bundles the buzz and exponentially increases the effect of word-of-mouth advertising following an event. On Party Day, as many as 10,000+ individuals take part in parties across the nation, which are documented by hosts through photos and videos on houseparty.com. Anyone looking for an innovative way to get the word out about their service or product—and receive fast focus group feedback—may want to give the service a whirl. House Party, which got started in 2004, has worked with a number of big brands, from Nickelodeon to Pepperidge Farm. Time to get the party started in other parts of the globe! Website: www.houseparty.com Spotted by: Ozgur Alaz Related: The perks of product testing, Putting cash test dummies to work & Sampling salons for cosmetics
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As featured last year, ING's Postbank is encouraging children to find their inner entrepreneurs and learn how earn, save and deal with money. This week, the bank opened a Bizznizz Lounge in Habbo Hotel, the online community that welcomes 7 million unique tween and teen visitors to its virtual rooms every month. The Bizznizz lounge will be open to Habbo users who want to chat with other kidpreneurs about money, exchanging tips on how to run a part-time lawn mowing business, or the best way to advertise a dog walking service. Postbank will also be organizing fun and educational activities in the Bizznizz Lounge over the next few months. The bank sees Habbo as a natural fit for its Bizznizz activities, since Habbo players already actively participate in their own barter economy, trading furniture and other items with other players. Fun example of creating a relevant presence in a virtual community, targeting a specific audience in its natural habitat. Website: http://bizznizz.postbank.nl and www.habbo.nl/entertainment/postbank Related: Lemonaire campaign by Umpqua and KLM's social networks for frequent flyers
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Quick update about MyFootballClub, which we wrote about when they launched in May. The venture, which hopes to harness the wisdom of crowds to manage a professional league soccer team (or football club, if you prefer), has just reached its target of 50,000 members. If all members follow through and pay their GBP 35 membership fee, MyFootballClub will soon have GBP 1,5 million in the bank and will be able to buy a team. Thanks to a novel concept that garnered plenty of media coverage, it took MyFootballClub less than three months to get 50,000 potential owner-managers to sign up. Negotiations with clubs will start soon; the top 4 clubs on members' lists are Leeds United, Nottingham Forest, Cambridge United and Accrington Stanley, but selection will depend on a club's availability as well as its popularity. Things will truly become interesting once 50,000 members start managing the team. We'll keep you posted! Noteworthy: EA, the video game publishers whose roster includes the FIFA series, is sponsoring MyFootballClub. Exact details of the 'significant investment' have yet to be disclosed, but 100% of the money will go towards buying the football club. Which entertainment brand will step in to sponsor the crowd managed band—Universal, Sony, Apple? Website: www.myfootballclub.co.uk Spotted by: Mark Bowness
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Yotel just announced that their third hotel will open at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, its first international location. British Yotel will be creating 56 rooms in terminal D, due to open for business in 2008. Late June, the first Yotel opened at London's Gatwick airport. With rooms that are a crossing between a pod on a first class flight and a 'room' in a Japanese capsule hotel, the chain will cater to both overnight and short-term guests needing a nap between flights. Small and inexpensive yet full equipped for modern travellers, the hotels present a new take on accommodation and a smart way to squeeze a hotel into limited space. More recent news from Schiphol: a co-branded baby lounge. Website: www.yotel.com
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Back in January, we featured PrimeTimeTable, a new New York restaurant booking service that specializes in procuring "impossible reservations" for its members. PrimeTimeTable was recently joined by a competitor, TableXchange. The newcomer operates in New York City and the Hamptons, and deals in restaurant reservations for Friday and Saturday evenings. What makes it different from PrimeTimeTable? As the name says, it's an exchange. While PrimeTimeTable offers tables for sale to members, TableXchange also lets users sell reservations they've made. Posting a reservation is free for registered users, and TableXchange charges sellers a 12% commission over sold reservations. Pricing is set by sellers, and currently ranges from USD 15 for a table for two at The Modern, to USD 35 for a table at Lupa. Buyers—who don't pay TableXchange a fee for the service—can search by restaurant, date and time, and are given the reservation’s full details once payment has been made. TableXchange confirms a seller's identity by authorizing their PayPal account and credit card information, and will terminate the account of any seller posting false reservations. The company also recommends that buyers call the restaurant after buying a reservation, to make sure it's legit. We doubt restaurateurs will be overjoyed to see people make reservations only to sell them on to others for a profit. Which is one of the reasons TableXchange suggests that users don't mention the service to restaurants. However, brokering between tight supply and strong demand is definitely entrepreneurial, and the service accommodates both consumers with a last-minute need for a good table, and those who can't make their reservation. Still haven't seen this one pop up in other markets, even though it's fairly easy to set up. Who'll give it a try in London or Shanghai? Website: www.tablexchange.com Spotted by: Jonathan Teller
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With same-sex marriage now legal in countries like Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands, Canada and South Africa, and many more countries accepting civil unions, domestic partnerships or registered partnerships, a whole new bridal industry is springing up to cater to the demands and wishes of gay and lesbian couples. Spotted in Barcelona: BY, Europe’s first wedding shop for gay men. The venture was conceived as "an image atelier for fashion conscious individuals in search of alternatives to the conventional groom and ceremony suits." Suits are tailor-made in Spanish workshops and priced from EUR 1,500–6,000. For an extra personal touch, they can be lined with fabric printed with a couple’s monogram, a photograph or a poem. Designers working for the boutique include Delgado Buil, Ion Fix, Juanjo Oliva, Locking Shocking and Helena Rohner. Besides clothes, BY also sells wedding rings and other accessories. Smart concept to start up in cities with large gay communities, wherever same-sex marriage is legal. And don’t forget lesbian nuptials! For more examples of companies working to reap ‘pink profits’ check out our sister site trendwatching.com’s latest briefing. Website: www.bybcn.es Spotted by: Anna Codina
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Why bother with a dozen roses when you can send your true love a dozen gooey, still-warm-from-the oven cookies? Customers in the Minneapolis area may be asking just that once they discover Tank Goodness—a micro-bakery run by a husband-and-wife team right out of their own kitchen. Having earned a reputation for almost always showing up with a plateful of cookies when visiting friends, family and neighbors, Anne and Dennis Tank decided to take a gamble on the cookie business—and they seem to be playing their hand quite well. While the concept is not entirely new, Tank Goodness earns marks for exceptional execution and branding. Their signature oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are made from the finest ingredients, including fresh organic eggs, Ghirardelli chocolate chips, premium all-natural flour and butter from a local creamery. For USD 20, customers can order a dozen scrumptious treats to be delivered via the Tank Goodness Mini Cooper to a home or business in Minneapolis—surely a welcome indulgence at meetings, parties, or to lift the spirits of someone having a bad day. Customers can place orders by phone or fax on weekdays between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m., and Tank Goodness will make every effort to deliver within one hour. Of course, this obviously limits the geographical area the business can serve—but leaves lots of room for fellow bakers to launch similar ventures in their own regions. The "city wide cookie empire" is sticking with its signature cookies for now, but may expand its offerings in the future. Since Tank Goodness already has the branding and recipes down, maybe they'll consider a franchise. And are micro-bakeries the new micro-breweries? We've been spotting a lot of them recently. Related: Campus cookie calls, Chichi cupcake delivery and Pop-up bakery. Website: www.tankgoodness.com Spotted by: Anne Rogan
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Acknowledging that travelling with infants can be a strain on both parents and children, Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport just opened Schiphol Babycare Lounge by Nutricia. Located in the airport’s main departure terminal, the lounge is (as the name indicates) a co-branding effort by Schiphol and Nutricia, a Dutch baby food brand. Designed by MV Architects, the lounge is serenely stylish and geared to ensuring a baby's well-being while en route. The 90 m2 area features seven circular 'cabins', each of which can be closed off with sheer curtains to create a personal zone. The booths have comfortable circular seating curving around a crib. Lights in the lounge are dimmed for sleeping babies, with individual reading lights for parents. For infants that need a bit of distraction, each booth has a gadget that projects coloured lights on the ceiling, just above the crib. Other facilities include a changing area, baby baths and a microwave for heating food. Although Nutricia hasn't stocked a pantry with samples of their own baby food, the brand does offer tips on baby nutrition and travelling with children. The space is open daily from 6 am to 10 pm, accessible free of charge to parents and children aged 0–3. All in all, a well-executed example of what our sister site trendwatching.com calls a brand space: a place where consumers can try things out, work or relax, without being expected to buy a product or service while they're there. In their baby lounge, Schiphol and Nutricia are accommodating consumers outside the home and offering them a temporary sanctuary when they need it most. When it comes to brand building, a little empathy goes a long way. For more on brand spaces, check out trendwatching.com's briefing. It was published a while ago, but most of the insights and examples are still very relevant. Website: www.schiphol.nl
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While it may not be at the forefront of even the most eco-driven minds, chewing gum is littering sidewalks, city centers, schools and other public places—and there are better uses for it than collecting on the bottoms of our favourite shoes, according to two new start-ups that are out to solve the gum littering problem. Canadian Envyrobubble and British Gummy Bins offer tidy collection bins for pedestrians to deposit their chewed out pieces of gum. Envyrobubble's colorful bins are designed for public spaces. Eye-catching designs in hot pink (err… bubblegum pink) stand out on busy sidewalks. Each holds up to 1,000 pieces of gum, which are collected by Envyrobubble and recycled into fertilizer. Gummy Bins come in two models—the Gummy Street, which can hold up to 500 pieces of gum, and the Gummy Club, which holds 250. Both models can be attached to street lanterns or walls and are available in a variety of gummy bear colors. The containers can be used indoors or out, though the smaller Gummy Club is more suitable for formal settings, can be branded with logos or promotional messages and is even available with an optional LCD screen. Gummy Bins has partnered with Hippo Waste, a leading UK recycling company that recycles gum into a rubber-like material that can be used in construction of drainage systems, running tracks and more. The concept might seem a bit far-fetched, and we should be wary of more clutter in public spaces, but scraping gum off pavements costs money that could be spent on loftier goals. The cleaning process also requires harsh chemicals and lots of water, which is far from beneficial for the environment. One to add to your mix if you’re in recycling or city government. And shouldn’t Wrigleys, Chiclets and Bubblicious be lining up to sponsor the bins? Both Envyrobubble and Gummy Club are open to international distribution deals. Websites: www.envyrobubble.com — www.gummybin.com Spotted by: Danielle Schwartz
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