Question

Consider the following scenario:

Matt and Ashley are two recent college graduates. They loved living in the small city where they attended school but were having difficulty finding jobs in the area. They began brainstorming about products they felt would be viable businesses to serve the needs of students and the broader community. Here is the list they came up with:

• Concierge Service: Provide laundry pick up and drop off, shopping services, bill paying services, travel planning, and a host of other services for busy students.
• Rent a Bike: A service with a number of bikes available at various locations on and off campus. People could rent the bikes by joining the service and swiping their membership card at a kiosk where the bikes are stored. The bike could be returned to any kiosk in town.
• Cereal Bar Restaurant: This restaurant would offer only cereal. People would enter the restaurant and pay one fee based on bowl size. They could then fill the bowl from cereal dispensers located on an island in the middle of the store. Juice, milk, and stir-ins, such as fruit and chocolate chips, would be available for an additional fee.

Answer the following questions:

1. What form of selling is best for each idea? For example, is retailing a good means of selling this product? If so, where should the shop be located?
2. Would franchising work for their ideas? How would they go about beginning a franchise or buying an existing franchise?
3. If they decide to do an e-business, what resources should they use?

Answer 1

The first business of concierge can be carried out with help of "serve them where they want" model. The personal selling type of method can be adoted by personally approaching the students to enrol in the service and place their orders through telephone or through a person who would visit them on every friday evening ( for an example) , where they can avail the service. The other way of doing this is through mobile application, whoich can be developed when the business reaches upto certain scale.

Second business can have a retail format with kiosks set up near the places where the students and toursits flock regularly. These can be near campuses, restaurants, cinema halls, parks or other places of interest for students. The kiosks can be started with some bikes and expanded afer seeing the response. A mobile application can be developed later, where a customer can see the availability online, and book just like Uber taxi. However, it will need a respectable scale of business to invest.

Cereal bar is a retail business. The business can be started with a centralised kitchen with efficient delivery and distribution system to centres near campuses, places of tourist attraction and busy office areas. Freshness, hygiene and cleanliness should be of first priority.

Franchising can work for the cycle business as well s for cereal business. Buying an existing franchise would have an advantage of a ready market. However, the franchise's past performance and brand value should be a deciding factor.

For all three options, the e commerce is viable where the orders can be placed online and the person collects and delivers the items ( in laundry business) or it can be added to create a hybrid model in cycle rental case where the bikes can be booked online and availed at centre. Cereal business can be promoted through electronic means but can be availed in person. It can be modified to a home delivery system where the persons unable to visit the place can place their orders online, through telephone or through mobile applications.