Venture Concept No. 1

Opportunity

Busy students, parents and employees with more than one job barely find the time to take care of household chores such as laundry. Sometimes laundry doesn’t dry well in one dry cycle, taking up more time and electricity which also leads to higher electricity bills. These potential customers need something that will save them time and the hassle of having to wait a whole other dry cycle in order to get on with their day. In addition, there are environmentally conscious people who try to save energy in numerous forms to help the earth (and save money). Global warming consciousness continues to grow in the U.S. as more and more people try to go green. This creates an opportunity for products that help save energy and the earth. Customers are currently spending more money on more technologically improved dryers that have quicker dry cycles, however not everyone can afford this type of technology. There is a need in the market for an inexpensive product that will dry clothes well while shortening dry cycles and decreasing energy use/electricity bills.

Innovation

PloyDry sheets are dryer sheets, but unlike the average dryer sheet used by everyday Americans, PloyDry sheets are made with superabsorbant polymers which are molecules that can absorb and retain liquids relative to their own mass. By inserting one or two PolyDry sheets, depending on the size of your load, the fabric from which the sheets are made absorb most of the water retained in your recently washed clothes. These dryer sheets will be sold in every supermarket in the U.S. and can be ordered online too. A pack of 160 dryer sheets will be sold at $8.29.

Venture Concept

A box of 160 Bounce dryer sheets sells at about $6.00, however, although PolyDry is two dollars more, customers would really end up saving more money on their electricity bill and time. They would be paying for quality and I think this would sell more because of that. After all, time is money. Busy customers would only need to insert one to two PolyDry sheets in order for their laundry to dry quicker so that they can get on with the rest of their day and enjoy some free time after. I think it would be easy to get customers to switch from ordinary dryer sheets to PolyDry sheets because there is nothing else like this and who doesn’t like saving money and time? The only possible weakness with this product is what I am working to fix on next which is to make the dryer sheets more environmentally friendly. I think price points define this business concept because you don’t want to create something too expensive when part of the whole point of the product is to help customers save money. My concept is that if you sell something good and unique at a price an average American can afford, then you will profit because you will have more people trying to buy your product. Location also plays a large role in defining this business concept. I saw that the environmentally friendly version of a dryer sheet brand was only sold in very select places, none of which were nearby a customer so she had to order them online every time. By making PolyDry available in all supermarkets, I have a better outreach to customers who need things instantly.  I would organize my business to support ongoing production by having a group of people managing a factory where the dryer sheets are made, the process of creating this would be done through machines, but people would be needed to watch over the production, packaging and shipping. I would have truck drivers shipping the loads of PolyDry to supermarkets and people working in an office who would reach out to supermarket chains to sell the product and also be available to answer any questions or concerns from customers.

Three Minor Elements

·      My venture’s unfair advantage would be that there really is nothing else like this, I’ve never heard of or seen a product that does the work of a dryer sheet while also drying your clothes quicker. What will make it hard for competitors to copy is the way the product is made, the process requires a specific chemistry to it that is hard to duplicate.

·      What’s next for my venture is to make it more environmentally friendly by making the dryer sheets recyclable and also safe for baby clothes because a lot of parents don’t like to use them on their children’s clothes because of the chemicals used in ordinary dryer sheets. This improvement to the product would attract even more environmentally conscious customers and parents of newborns and toddlers.

·      In five years with this venture I would like to have started a line of innovative household items that make chores easier and quicker to complete so that people can spend more time with their families and relaxing. PolyDry would be the kick off to this line of household products.