In this entry, I will look at homeowner-personalized decor as addressed by my competitors and as well as by my own venture. decorateITonline uses a questionnaire, styleFinder, to get photos of the room and the customer's thoughts and ideas, then uses their style experts to create a custom decorating plan. RoomDesignOnline offers a more structured system, with 10 preset styles ranging from 'beach cottage' to 'tuscan villa' as well as the option for a custom style. Clicking any of the presets allows the customer to choose colors from a palette and therefore provide a method of customization without having to make every decision. RoomDesignOnline then proceeds to the questionnaire and photos aspect that decorateITonline also has, and concludes with a phone consultation. For my venture, I will include the questionnaire and photos as a given. As for color and palette options, my venture will feature the complete palette customization option and around 10 preset styles, PLUS an extra template varying on the individual expert (perhaps one of their past designs that is particularly favored). This way, buyers will be able to select extra styles that depend on a particular home decor expert, and experts may be able to charge a premium if they have a particular template that is desirable. I will limit the extra template to one so that not every expert will copy a successful expert's template to gain more customers. After the palette, questionnaire, and photo uploads, there will be an optional phone or video chat consultation. Some customers may need extra assurances about every detail, while others may just want their proposed plan drawn up as quickly as possible. I believe decorateITonline does not give enough freedom with only a small survey of the customers' inputs, while RoomDesignOnline's methods may be too in depth for those who have less time on their hands. By falling in the middle with an optional phone/video consultation, I believe my venture will provide more flexibility to accommodate a larger customer base.
Another aspect of the venture I would like to set up is that of providing physical consultations. The customer and home decor expert will both provide their addresses on their profiles and can choose to feature them publicly. If both are within the same region and have featured their areas, they may be eligible for a physical consultation. Customers will be able to filter agents by geographic region and perhaps gain more insights with a face-to-face meeting if they so desire.
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Wednesday, February 19, 2014
Idea Analysis Blog 3
After searching for competitors, I have ruled out freelance websites such as Elance and oDesk as competition due to their lack of emphasis on home decor. I have worked as a freelancer on both platforms and the majority of the job requests are coding, data entry, administrative and design related, all of which do not encompass home decor. TaskRabbit also is not focused on home decor, serving more as a facilitated way to accomplish everyday tasks (groceries, laundry).
Most substitutes for online decor help are rather informal, with many decoration forums where laypersons suggest and ask each other for advice. The flaws in these systems are that the advice is really not reputable, simply the experiences of the posters. There are also a lot of decor experts that have their own website and blogs, but these websites are either not personalized or expensive for a custom request.
The most formidable challengers in e-decorating I have found are decorateITonline and RoomDesignOnline. decorateITonline draws customers in with a free initial consultation, then delivers a 3D room plan based on a survey of the users' specific style once they purchase the plan. RoomDesignOnline offers a similar plan customized on the users' style and palette. They also have two options, one is a physical portfolio (purchasing the actual items for your home), or a virtual portfolio that is simply a decoration plan. Both sites also ask for a budget estimate before beginning the decoration process to ensure it is cost-effective. Both also estimate 2-3 weeks for completion of the plan, based on if the package requires physical delivery of items or not. decorateITonline charges $45 per room decoration question, and reduces it to $191 for five questions (15% savings). Their design plans start at $367 and go up based on furniture and accessories. RoomDesignOnline does not charge for questions, but you must purchase a plan first ($575-$975).
Jason's House provides an interesting bidding system for real estate brokers to gain customers, one that I may model my venture on. The buyer does not pay anything to the website, and instead revenue is generated from a service fee from the agent. I believe incorporating this system into my venture will be profitable, since any buyer will use my site free of charge, and agents will be happy to pay a fee to gain new customers. I believe the bidding system will result in lower prices for customers due to the competitive nature. Thus, this competitive advantage should draw customers to my site away from the two competitors listed above. Jason's House sets a time limit of 14 days on bids, and I believe that is a mechanism I will also use in my venture to get things moving for agents. Similar to Jason's House, I will require agents to be certified to ensure professionalism. There will also be individual rates on room decoration questions specific to each agent, so that a buyer may select an agent to answer their question based on their budget. This combats the pricey $45 charged by decorateITonline for simple questions. Another draw for my venture is the flexibility of agents to start helping buyers in any stage of the decoration process (similar to Jason's House), as opposed to RoomDesignOnline requiring an expensive purchase of an entire room plan.
Tuesday, February 11, 2014
Idea Analysis Blog 2
To refine my venture idea to that of a narrower value proposition, I have decided to focus on the community help of home decor experts aspect from my first blog. In order to be profitable, the venture will function as a way to connect those who need help to those with expertise through a bidding system. The customer will put up their price and those interested in helping will contribute and receive a cut of the price. The company will also receive a percentage from the transaction. This is a name-your-own-price system as seen on sites such as Priceline (travel), WhatsYourPrice Dating, and Progressive (car insurance).
This venture fulfills a need in that there are presently no similar services that fall within the niche of home decor. Currently home decor experts or 'consultants' are employed through freelance or direct sales opportunities. Income for freelance consultants comes from working with furniture showrooms, charging between the wholesale and retail prices for items purchased, as well as hourly consultation fees. Direct sales consultants work with home decor companies and are paid either a commission or the difference between cost and retail. Both of these revenue streams depend on a customer base, and thus direct sales and home decor consultants must work hard to gain and retain customers. This is often achieved through constant networking, referrals from clients, and hosting of parties. My venture provides an attractive option to these consultants as their customers will be right at their fingertips, and they will not have to spend as much time sourcing customers as they would through direct sales or freelance methods. The consultants would simply have to submit a 'threshold' of what they would be willing to accept for their services, and receive customers if the bids submitted were above the threshold. Of course, consultants could continue employment with home furniture showrooms or vendors, but this venture would supplement their income and perhaps even lead to professional relationships that could incorporate their existing company connections.
This venture fulfills a need in that there are presently no similar services that fall within the niche of home decor. Currently home decor experts or 'consultants' are employed through freelance or direct sales opportunities. Income for freelance consultants comes from working with furniture showrooms, charging between the wholesale and retail prices for items purchased, as well as hourly consultation fees. Direct sales consultants work with home decor companies and are paid either a commission or the difference between cost and retail. Both of these revenue streams depend on a customer base, and thus direct sales and home decor consultants must work hard to gain and retain customers. This is often achieved through constant networking, referrals from clients, and hosting of parties. My venture provides an attractive option to these consultants as their customers will be right at their fingertips, and they will not have to spend as much time sourcing customers as they would through direct sales or freelance methods. The consultants would simply have to submit a 'threshold' of what they would be willing to accept for their services, and receive customers if the bids submitted were above the threshold. Of course, consultants could continue employment with home furniture showrooms or vendors, but this venture would supplement their income and perhaps even lead to professional relationships that could incorporate their existing company connections.
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Idea Analysis Blog 1
My proposed venture is a social home decoration website and mobile application. There are currently many home decor blogs and Pinterest boards on the web, but no social platform for enthusiasts to help the more design-challenged. This venture seeks to have users submit photos or design plans for their current or future home and receive tips or even serve as inspiration to other users.
The value proposition of this venture is that there is no current interactive home decoration lookbook that people can flock to, and thus the appeal will stem from the simplicity of searching for related looks on the website as well as the free advice from other users. For example, a housewife that may otherwise spend hours looking through different home decor sites and blogs will now be able to articulate her ideal vision of her home and receive advice from other users. She will also be able to search tags and categories that link to other users' finished home decor lookbooks for inspiration.
The target customers for this venture will be anyone looking to spice up their room's look (perhaps more females) or new homeowners that need to start from scratch. A DIY section will be included to appeal to males that may have interest in woodworking or building furniture, as well as anyone searching for advice on repairs. The specific nature of the website still holds an appeal far and wide due to the fact that many people own a home and will eventually have to spruce it up.
This venture will receive revenue from advertising done on products that are related to home decor. Brands can choose to create their own user accounts and offer advice using their products to market them. Celebrities can also create their own accounts and share their decor and endorse brands. There will be opportunities for decor gurus from television shows to webcast series on the site and promotional contests to win a visit from a decor team.
The value proposition of this venture is that there is no current interactive home decoration lookbook that people can flock to, and thus the appeal will stem from the simplicity of searching for related looks on the website as well as the free advice from other users. For example, a housewife that may otherwise spend hours looking through different home decor sites and blogs will now be able to articulate her ideal vision of her home and receive advice from other users. She will also be able to search tags and categories that link to other users' finished home decor lookbooks for inspiration.
The target customers for this venture will be anyone looking to spice up their room's look (perhaps more females) or new homeowners that need to start from scratch. A DIY section will be included to appeal to males that may have interest in woodworking or building furniture, as well as anyone searching for advice on repairs. The specific nature of the website still holds an appeal far and wide due to the fact that many people own a home and will eventually have to spruce it up.
This venture will receive revenue from advertising done on products that are related to home decor. Brands can choose to create their own user accounts and offer advice using their products to market them. Celebrities can also create their own accounts and share their decor and endorse brands. There will be opportunities for decor gurus from television shows to webcast series on the site and promotional contests to win a visit from a decor team.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)