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.