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This week's issue brings another wide selection of interesting new business ideas from around the world: vending machines dedicated to organic food, shopping carts reimagined, tools for female drivers, and more. Our next edition is due on 26 September 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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When it comes to building or renovating homes or office spaces, consumers in the UK can now opt to forgo the handyman and call in a team of handywomen instead. A Woman's Touch offers property maintenance and building services such as decorating, plastering, tiling, plumbing, electrical work and carpentry executed by a team of highly qualified, highly reliable and highly courteous tradespeople, who happen to be of the fairer sex—a detail the company hopes will keep “the cowboys quivering in their boots!” Many female customers feel more comfortable having women work in their home, and clients praise their efficiency, punctuality and cleanliness. A Woman's Touch can provide a full range of services to see almost any construction or decorating project through from inception to completion, so there's no need for customers to juggle multiple contractors for a single space. When other professionals do need to be sourced for a job, A Woman's Touch can handle project management to coordinate contractors and materials and monitor quality on a customer's behalf. And customers who want the satisfaction of their own hands-on project will soon have the option of learning the tricks of the trade through A Woman's Touch DIY Training Courses. The company was founded by Kerrie Keeling, a former investment banker who decided she’d had enough of corporate banking. A Woman’s Touch now has a turnover of GBP 1.2 million, and Keeling is preparing her company for franchising. An all-female team taking on the competition in a predominantly male profession definitely shakes things up. Considering women make the bulk of consumer spending decisions, sisterhood could be kind to them—and inspiring to fellow female entrepreneurs with bright ideas for taking on the cowboys in other ventures. For much more on catering to female consumers, check out our sister site trendwatching.com’s female fever briefing. Website: www.awomanstouch.org.uk
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Combining three unremitting consumer trends—convenience, organics and health—YoZone by YoNaturals is a vending machine dedicated to organic products. Based in San Diego, YoNaturals offers an alternative to vending machines that are typically stocked with junk food. YoNaturals offers a wide range of items, from fresh fruit to products by well-known brands like Tazo (tea), Clif Bar (energy bars), Vitamin (beverages) and Horizon Organic (dairy). Operators and location managers can choose from more than 150 natural and organic foods and beverages, order through an online ordering system, and have the products delivered in less than three days. YoNaturals is actively seeking locations such as schools, shopping centres, offices, hospitals and fitness centres for placement of YoZone machines, seeking to cater to consumers on the go who are interested in healthier food options. According to the USDA, sales of organic foods in the U.S. have been increasing 20 to 25 percent annually since 1990. Mark Trotter of YoNaturals explains: "We've studied the business models of Whole Foods, Wild Oats and many other healthy retailers, which have demonstrated that consumers are willing to pay two or three times for brands that they want, and believes that a similar healthy foods program can be developed for the automated vending space.” Sounds like a promising business opportunity for anyone with a verve for vending! Next up: a vending machine brand focusing on vegetarian or halal foods? Website: www.yonaturals.com Spotted by: Anne Rogan
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However creative their content may be, most magazines still essentially amount to a pretty standard booklet of paper. Not so The Thing, which delivers an objet d'art instead. Its founders call it a magazine because incorporated into each object is some text. For example: The inaugural issue, shipped in August, was a plain brown window shade with one of two sentences silk-screened on it in black handwriting: "If this shade is down, I'm not who you think I am" or "If this shade is down, I'm begging your forgiveness on bended knee with tears streaming down my face." That project was conceived by performance artist, writer and filmmaker Miranda July, who won a special jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival for her film “Me and You and Everyone We Know” (2005). The next three issues of The Thing’s first subscription year will be by visual artists Anne Walsh, Kota Ezawa and Trisha Donnelly. Beyond that? There’s no telling yet which artists, writers, musicians or filmmakers editors Jonn Herschend and Will Rogan will invite. Subscriptions cost USD 120 plus USD 10 shipping for each issue domestically or USD 30 per issue to ship internationally. Budding artists are lining up at The Thing’s door, and anyone else looking to create buzz could learn from its expectations-altering example. By breaking with convention, you gain the power to surprise and delight! Website: www.thethingquarterly.com Spotted by: Ethan Bodnar
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Mobile phones promise to revolutionize event marketing and let sponsors reach visitors in uniquely personal ways that would be impossible with conventional media. Witness V Festival, held this August in Weston Park and Hylands Park. The festival gave its namesake sponsor, mobile network provider Virgin Mobile, a chance to show off some innovative phone uses and bond with thousands of attendees. Besides watching popular bands like the Foo Fighters and Primal Scream, attendees could download a ‘Mobile Festival Survival Kit’ onto their phones. Each kit contained a grab bag of concert-enhancing applications. Among them, according to Mobile Marketing Magazine: brightly coloured, flashing screensavers that let visitors find each other in crowds, flame-like graphics designed to take the place of the lighters concert goers wave during ballads, and lighted cell-phone displays that acted like flashlights. People were also able to sign up for text alerts warning them when a concert was about to begin. The survival kit was developed for Virgin by Mobster Media a UK marketing communications firm. Mobster’s V Festival survival kit is just one example of how event marketers can use mobile devices in unique ways. This August, for example, Springwise reported on a portable laundromat set up by denim brand Wrangler at the Lowlands music festival in the Netherlands. A text message informed patrons when their clothes were ready for to be picked up. Lots more possibilities exist. Merged with GPS, mobile devices could help event-goers find one another. Web cams could show where lines were shortest at concession stands and onstage performances could be supplemented by song lyrics to let audiences join in. Website: www.vfestival.com Spotted by: Bjarke Svendsen
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Experts bring their own biases when they review consumer products. So do the people who’ve purchased those products and later post their opinions online. But if you combine the two, online shoppers just might get an accurate picture of how good or bad the latest gadgets they crave really are. At least that’s the idea behind Wize, a consumer review site that combines Web 2.0 community features with expert commentary in a way that could herald a new method of comparison shopping. True, websites such as CNET and Amazon have long published expert comments along with user reviews. But Wize sets itself apart with its so-called WizeRank, A 1-100 scoring system that factors in both consumer and expert opinions. The consumer-expert combination can differ from the ratings experts on CNET and similar sites give products. For example Panasonic TH-50PHD8UK, a 50-inch LCD TV monitor, received a near-perfect 99 rating on Wize, while CNET’s 10-point scale rated it just 7.8 or “very good.” Notwithstanding, many consumers suffering from information overload just want a quick take on a product’s worth. Hence the value of WizeRank’s scoring system. Web publishers and bloggers who focus on consumer products can place a Wize Widget on their sites to supplement their own review, and potentially increase conversions. Plenty of opportunities still exist for entrepreneurs wanting to help online shoppers research products. Those sites could take a cue from stock market portals such as Yahoo! Finance. Enter a ticker symbol on Yahoo! and a plethora of information on the stock and parent company appears on your screen in a neatly organized fashion—everything from analyst opinions to historical price data to the company’s location and top executive salaries. Similarly, consumer review sites could create organized displays covering all facets of a product, from press releases to trade magazine articles and product manuals, all supplemented by user comments. That kind of highly granular information might appeal to people who get as much satisfaction searching for products as they do using them. And people browsing equals advertising revenues and referral fees for innovative publishers. Website: www.wize.com Spotted by: Lauren Kinzler
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In a new twist on the direct sales model made popular by Tupperware, My Secret Kitchen brings something to parties that any event already needs: great food. When a customer hosts a My Secret Kitchen Tasting, he or she only has to supply the guests and beverages, and the consultant does the rest, arriving about one hour early to set up and prepare foods for attendees to sample. Selections include Chili Chocolate Fondue, Ultimate Chocolate Brownie Mix, Beer Bread, Maple Caramel Sauce and Blossom Honey Chai, with seasonal products introduced twice a year. Each has its own unique story and at least five different uses. All products are made from high-quality, recognizable ingredients with no artificial colors or flavors. Hosts receive a thank-you gift, plus GBP 5 worth of products for every GBP 50 sold at the tasting. Anyone with an appreciation for trying new and exotic foods—or even just those who frequently get stuck in meal-planning ruts and could use some new ideas—is likely to warm up to this one. The website offers information for prospective consultants. And like-minded entrepreneurs may just be inspired to take advantage of the concept of tasting parties for other culinary delights, such as wines and spirits, cookies and candies, or prepared foods for special dietary needs. Website: www.mysecretkitchen.co.uk Spotted by: Phil Moran
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One of the problems with traditional carpool matching sites has been the anxiety most people feel when faced with the prospect of sharing a car with someone they don’t know. By tapping into the power of social networking, however, a few companies on both sides of the Atlantic are making that problem go away. In the US, Zimride and GoLoco have both gotten a fair bit of attention recently for harnessing social networking platform Facebook to arrange shared rides. By combining the ride-matching function with the reassurance of perusable user profiles, such sites eliminate much of the fear that can come up when people try to find rides anonymously. In the UK, meanwhile, isanyonegoingto.com launched in April incorporating its own social networking component. Users register their name and town or postcode, then add a photograph of themselves and/or their vehicles and a short description of themselves. They also pick one of three categories that suits their travel needs best—leisure, business or student—and enter their travel requirements. Other members can then search the site and communicate through Skype or e-mail to arrange travel and divide the costs before meeting. Over ten thousand members have already registered with the free site. Founder Sonia Slater explains: “Our fundamental objectives are to realize how we all can be environmentally sound and still have fun, improve the environment by reducing the number of cars on the roads, use the Internet to introduce travelers and change the way we travel.” The advertising-supported site hopes to go global in 2008, and is seeking partners with a strong sense of corporate social responsibility to help. Meanwhile, it provides a nice example of how social networks can overcome the barriers that keep real-world consumers apart. One to bring to other parts of the world? (Related: Facilitating cab shares to the airport.) Websites: www.isanyonegoingto.com — www.zimride.com — www.goloco.org
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An update on ordering food by text message: GoMobo, which launched in New York City last year (see our previous post) just announced that they're expanding to other major cities in the US. According to GoMobo's founder, Noah Glass, several thousand customers have used GoMobo in New York City and have saved over 3,000 hours of time by using GoMobo to place their orders. GoMobo's growth is largely organic and fuelled by word of mouth: "We’ve been excited to see new pockets of users signing on each time we launch a new restaurant. The early adopters get a discount on their first orders as a reward for being brave. That’s how we market the service. Nothing sells a customer on GoMobo better than watching another customer use it to skip the line and get their food faster." Members can print out a one-page sheet to give to restaurants where they'd like to be able to use the service. If the restaurant signs up, GoMobo rewards the member with USD 25 in free food. Glass states that feedback from restaurants is very positive. Average order sizes from GoMobo are 24% higher than in-store orders, and orders can be handled more quickly because payment is made when the customer places his/her order. (Payments are collected to GoMobo and deposited in the restaurant's account.) On the customer-side: GoMobo members feel like they're getting a VIP treatment by being able to skip the line, and obviously save time. For the national roll-out, GoMobo is recruiting sales reps across the country and giving them all the tools they need to launch restaurants locally. Reps receive a USD 125 commission for each signed restaurant, and over 500 have signed up so far. Website: www.gomobo.com
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Parents in the Houston area who are reluctant to deal with the pesky and all too common problem of head lice removal now have the option of outsourcing the tedious task. Contrary to popular belief, head lice do not discriminate based on personal hygiene or socio-economic status, though many families still find cases a bit embarrassing. The Texas Lice Squad offers professional and confidential in-home lice treatments for the whole family—with guaranteed results. Founded by an experienced registered nurse and mother of two, The Texas Lice Squad provides a full range of services to help eliminate lice and prevent recurrences, beginning with individual and family inspection to determine the extent of infestation, priced at USD 65 for a family of four (USD 5 for each additional household member). In-home treatment and removal costs USD 60 per hour, with a two-hour minimum, which could be money well spent for families who feel that they've exhausted their own resources attempting to eradicate the critters themselves. After using a non-toxic product and professional combing to thoroughly remove all nits and lice, The Texas Lice Squad confirms in writing that a child is nit-free so that he or she can be readmitted to school or daycare. With back-to-school season in full swing—playgrounds and classrooms being prime spots for sharing not just toys, but lice and germs, too—business is bound to pick up. And the Texas Lice Squad is ready for it, investing in their first storefront location. Could franchises and duplicates be around the corner? And for the bigger picture, entrepreneurs might want to ask themselves what other domestic tasks are ready to be outsourced. Website: www.texaslicesquad.com Spotted by: Pamela Brewer
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Baby-oriented websites provide a unique marketing opportunity, since they’re aimed at a highly motivated readership—new parents—who have a strong desire to learn and share their experiences. For advertisers, the value stems from bonding with new customers at a moment when they’re experiencing a major and (mostly) positive life transition. When a new baby arrives, families must make new purchase decisions on everything from diapers to cleaning products and foods. British website Babyfy is hoping to tap into that marketing potential by publishing expert reviews on baby products, giving the complete lowdown on every brand of stroller/pram/pushchair and dozens of other product categories. Babyfy’s real user value could lay with its reviews of hospitals and the services they provide expectant mothers. Besides offering statistics on aspects such as the ratio of Caesarean vs. natural births, the chart-like reviews focus on occasionally overlooked areas such as parking and visiting hours. Visitors can also rate various aspects of their experience at a hospital and provide their own written comments. The site is currently still in beta: some product categories have yet to be reviewed, and advertising isn’t yet up to the site’s potential. Entrepreneurs bent on setting up a new website for parents-to-by in other countries might also want to review services like childbirth classes, paediatric clinics and day care centers. The key thing is to get users to review hospitals and other services, much like travellers review hotels on TripAdvisor. Consumers are feeding more and more of their purchasing decisions with online reviews posted by their peers. (See trendwatching.com's infolust briefing for more.) Time to bring the power of transparency to every last product and service category! Website: www.babyfy.com Spotted by: Daniella Finn
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Australian Markitcart has developed an award-winning alternative to the traditional steel shopping cart, aimed at improving the concept not just for consumers but also for retailers and advertisers. Made of UV-stable and fully recyclable plastic, Markitcarts are available in 12 colours that can be matched to a retailer’s brand palette. The carts weigh less yet hold more than traditional carts. They also feature larger, easier-to-control wheels, and their lower center of gravity makes them less likely to topple when children climb aboard. For advertisers, Markitcarts feature large, easily interchangeable side panels that function as mobile billboards with exposure right at the point of sale. Advantages for retailers? Besides the carts’ improved durability, safety and aesthetic appeal, Markitcarts are also RFID-compatible, so that when RFID technology is rolled out in retail—allowing an entire cart’s worth of shopping to be scanned at once—the carts will be ready. Markitcart also offers maintenance service with fortnightly cleanings and safety checks, sourcing and changing of adverts, and a recycling program. Pricing is “much the same” as that for conventional carts, Markitcart chairman and CEO Mark Fraser says. Markitcart was founded in 2001, but is just now in the midst of its global launch. The carts are already available in Australia, and the next batches are due to begin shipping to Germany, Iceland and the US later this month. The cleaning and ad-changing service operates as a franchise, and Markitcart is in the process of organizing licensees and distributors worldwide, who typically serve as country licensees or territory development agents and need to be experienced in either selling advertising or providing a support service, Fraser says. While they’re not the first plastic shopping carts to be launched, Multicart’s highly integrated approach sounds promising. Website: www.markitcart.com Spotted by: Susanna Haynie
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Crowdfunding has been building momentum, as witnessed by a number of ventures we featured over the last year. One of the most successful examples of crowdfunding we’ve covered is Sellaband which, in short, lets fan buy shares in a band to sponsor the band’s first studio recording. The company recently gained a British competitor that more or less covers the same ground: Slicethepie. While any artist can upload tracks to Sellaband, artists on Slicethepie are put through a scouting process, in which music fans write anonymous reviews and earn money for their efforts. The highest-rated artists go forward to a Showcase (usually genre-based), with fans voting and pledging to give their favourite artist at least GBP 15 . After two weeks in the Showcase, bands with enough support—at least GBP 15,000—go on to record albums. Recordings are sold and distributed through Tunecore, a digital music distribution service. Slicethepie receives a GBP 2 royalty on each album sold, artists keep all copyright and publishing rights, and fans get a return based on sales over a 2-year period. What’s more, fans and musically inclined investors can trade contracts for the proceeds from album sales on the trading section of the site. Slicethepie was just nominated for Best Innovation in the BT Digital Music Awards. We’ve seen crowdfunding applied to music, movies, soccer, a remote island community and a cultural hub. What will the model be applied to next? We’ll keep you updated. Website: www.slicethepie.com Spotted by: Julian Clayton
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September 7, 2007 |
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Travellers have the potential to bring much-needed supplies to underfunded non-profit organisations around the world, but usually they don’t learn about those needs until it’s too late to pack for them. StuffYourRucksack hopes to solve that problem by showing travellers--before they leave on their trips—how they could help out in a particular region. The site was recently founded by BBC presenter Kate Humble, who recognized how often travellers end up thinking, ‘If only I had known!” She explains: “How many times have you been travelling and visited a school or community or local charity that you would love to help? The school needs books, or a map or pencils; an orphanage needs children's clothes or toys. All things that, if only you'd known, you could've stuffed in your rucksack. But once you get home you forget, or you've lost the address, or worry that whatever you send will be stolen before it even gets there.” The concept is simple: local organisations around the globe can visit the site to register what they need, as can travellers who have been there and discovered the need first-hand. Travellers planning a trip can then search to see what they can bring along to help. There are no fees to be paid on either side, and a feedback section of the site allows for the exchange of tips and advice. StuffYourRucksack is still in the process of getting off the ground, so there are no listings yet for many countries. One look at the listings that are there, though, shows how easy it could be to help. An Indian school for street children, for example, needs children’s clothing. An educational charity in Tanzania needs pencils and used mobile phones. Nice example of a grassroots initiative using the internet to help small-scale aid find its way around the world. Related: Family-to-family aid. Website: www.stuffyourrucksack.com Spotted by: Susanna Haynie
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After years of being ignored, female drivers are finally getting recognized by the auto industry as an important part of the market. What could make more sense, then, than an emerging market for women-specific automotive tools? The Pink Toolbox Co. packs its GBP 24.99 Pink Car Kit with essential emergency supplies such as jump leads, mobile charger and hammer—all in girly-girl pink. (Springwise isn't a big fan of pinkwashing, but we'll put our personal feelings aside.) California-based Safety Girl, meanwhile, offers the more whimsical USD 29.95 Safety Girl Roadside Emergency Kit, which includes breath freshener, lip balm and chocolate as well as utilitarian items such as an emergency blanket and instructions for changing a flat tire. British Love My Car, on the other hand, offers an interesting variation on the theme by zeroing in on young women driving their very first car. Four kit options are available with such useful “Make Me Safer” tools as a safety hammer with built-in torch, phone charger, UK map book and de-icer. Prices range from GBP 24.75 to GBP 55. We’ve already written about DIY home-repair kits for women, and the opportunities surely abound to bring female-friendly alternatives to other areas traditionally dominated by men. Female fever could be contagious ;-) Related: Going after female drivers. Websites: www.pinktoolbox.co.uk — www.love-my-car.co.uk — www.safetygirl.com Spotted by: Susanna Haynie
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DayJet announced yesterday that it has received authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration to use VLJs (very light jets) for its on-demand air carrier service. As we pointed out when we initially covered DayJet, their planes aren't they only thing that makes them stand out. The company has spent five years developing the world's first fully automated fleet operations system. Highly sophisticated planning software enables DayJet to sync members' bookings to create the most efficient use of crews and machines. Which allows them to offer on-demand flights at a modest premium to regular full-fare coach tickets, connecting smaller cities that currently have little or no scheduled service. Over the next few weeks, DayJet will begin activating member accounts via its online reservation system, allowing members to make reservations and board those microjets for destinations in the southeast United States. One to watch as they start taking flight! Website: www.dayjet.com
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