To be a little more familiar with my
concept check out my latest elevator pitch, http://cxgoss.blogspot.com/2016/03/elevator-pitch-no-3.html,
or my venture concept, http://cxgoss.blogspot.com/2016/03/venture-concept-no-1.html.
For this assignment I interviewed three customers originally from small or
suburban towns, where one was my dad who is the Planning Director of Ormond
Beach. I thought that he could give me some insight if I decided to open Mugged
in a suburban town like Ormond Beach since he’s familiar with businesses that
have failed and succeed in the area.
Existing Market:
My current market is college-aged people
in college towns. From the people I interviewed it seems that I need to
continue to come up with ways to foster not only the experience that I’m trying
to provide but also find ways to expand the experience to people not necessarily
in my original market. I loved the suggestion that the first girl I interviewed
gave, about bringing in your own mug, because I really do think that it could
help to bring people closer together and support the small town feel that I’m
going for. My dad suggested to really focus on my menu more, as I move forward,
which makes since because the menu will be one of the things that brings people
through the doors in the first place.
Everybody thought that adding a to-go
option could be beneficial to the café; however, my dad thought that the people
who visit my café wouldn’t care as much about quick service as they would about
having a comfortable place to sit and relax. Since the people I interviewed
were a little torn on the issue overall, I think that adding a to-go option
would be something that I would explore once my café is open so that I could get
actual costumer opinions.
New Market:
For the new market I was interested in
seeing if people from suburban areas thought that a place like Mugged could
survive there versus only being able to survive in towns with a high student
population. The two girls in my first interview are from a suburban town in
Wisconsin while my dad lives in Ormond Beach, FL, also a suburban location.
Overall they had different opinions on
whether they thought Mugged would be successful in their town, which I think
stemmed from being in different age groups. I learned that it isn’t enough to
think that your business could survive in a suburban area; you really need to
look at the demographic of the area. Therefore, I wouldn’t say that my new market
is less attractive, it just would require more research into finding the right
suburban area to established the café in, which means that it would take more
time in the beginning of the venture development. I was surprised to find out
that Mugged could be successful in a suburban area, according to the first two
girls, and happy because if I was to carry out the concept and actually
establish the café, I don’t think I would want to do it in a city with a high
population.
Hey Caitlin, great job on your post. You got some great feedback from the customers you interviewed. You have some pretty creative ideas, which I’m sure customers will enjoy. I love your ideas of to go service, implementing a small library, etc. Location and targeting the right people is crucial and can ultimately define the success of your venture. I like how you are targeting college age and plan on targeting suburban areas next. There are definitely many things to consider when targeting two different markets. College students might really enjoy your idea of to go service, where as in a suburban area you might have to work more on creating a great environment and enhancing customers experience. Overall, great job. Here is the link to my “What’s Next?” post: http://susanamorales0129.blogspot.com/2016/04/whats-next.html
ReplyDeleteHey there Caitlin,
ReplyDeleteI must say I am very impressed with the level of research and forethought that went into this venture. Despite this, you were able to glean much from the conversations you ha for this particular post. I can tell that you put a lot of hard word into it and that you are genuine in your desire to improve upon Mugged. Best of luck with the progression of this endeavor, and I look forward to seeing how your idea further evolves in the final weeks of this course!
This post was very well done. I think I would agree with your dad on the whole to- go option, simply because I come from a small town and we have cafe's and they're mostly for people who want to come in and sit down. This is a place were you relax and have a coffee. Overall I believe this is a very good concept.
ReplyDeleteHey Caitlin,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your assignment. Mugged sounds like a wonderful venture. The idea of keeping a personalize mug at the location sounds like it could get complicated. This idea does sound like it could survive outside of your college market. The study idea does not sound like it would help in the new market, but it does sound great for your current market. Alcohol sounded like a great idea! You can never go wrong there... just kidding. The alcohol sounds better for the suburban area. The togo option sounds great! Thank you for allowing me to peer review your assignment. Here is my link if you would like to check it out.
http://hawaiiansnoasis.blogspot.com/2016/04/whats-next.html