29A- Venture Concept No.2

1.                                                                
                                                                   Scanno

Opportunity: The opportunity I am attempting to exploit with my product relates to the unmet need among consumers of major retailers. In this day and age consumers want to make their life as easy as simple and easy as possible. Customers want to have the best experience possible when they go to the store and this is the main reason why big retailers are willing to spend loads of money on the customer experience. There will be a high demand among retailers for this product because not only will it increase the number of customers that come to their store, it will also have a positive effect on their brand. By having the latest self-scanner available on the market they will be viewed as a company that values innovation. 

Innovation: My idea is to sell a highly-functional self-scanner so that every register can be occupied with one of these products instead of a cashier. This will decrease wait times and will eliminate the job of the cashier. Often the wait at the store is due to companies not scheduling enough workers so that there are only two long congested lines. This idea will help companies, in the long run, to increase profits by cutting expenses used for the cashier position. It will bring more customer satisfaction and should, therefore, bring more consumer turnover. Take into consideration the benefits that this idea could bring to a society that is becoming more impatient each day. It seems like every successful product that comes out is to make something work faster or to make someone's life easier and my idea falls into this concept.

Venture Concept: The specific innovation I've come up with for this opportunity is to add a robotic arm feature to the self-scanner. This is a revolutionary idea that I think would be favorable for both the retailers and their customers. One of the drawbacks of cutting the cashier position is that many people would be against bagging their items. With the cashier position being eliminated there would be a mix of people who love the efficiency it brings and people who like to have things done for them. This robotic arm would leave the consumers at a happy middle ground. The robotic arm will improve efficiency and will do the work for the consumer. It's important that the robotic arm is highly functional and doesn't increase the wait time. To make sure this is the case I plan on hiring a driven team of engineers with experience in robotics. Something to consider is how expensive this could be and how it will increase the price of the product. The increase in price could throw some retailers off but those aren't the type of companies I'm targeting. I'm selling my product to companies that are innovative at their core and are looking to add something new to make them stand out from their competitors. These companies will realize that the benefits of buying this product outweigh the price. They will take a hit in the short run but there will come a point where customers will favor the buying experience at this store as a result of my product. Once this happens they will reach their break-even price sooner than expected due to a loyal consumer base and an increase in sales. Based on all this, and the fact that there isn't any product like this on the market, I believe many retailers would be willing to switch to my product.

2. I only got feedback from one person on my previous venture assignment. The student said that my passion and interest in my product was evident. Also, she said that she could tell I put a lot of thought into it and that my product seems practical as innovation and technology continue to play a larger role in the industry. I didn't get any critical feedback but in previous assignments, I was told that my product needed something different from existing scanners in the market so I thought of adding the robotic arm feature.

3. Since I didn't get any constructive feedback, there weren't many changes I could make to my venture concept. But one major change I made to my concept was to step away from the idea of selling a cheaper self-scanner so that retailers could place them at every register. Instead, I focused on the dynamic robotic arm feature and how it could change the industry for the better.