Post 9: Testing The Hypothesis Pt. 2

Testing The Hypothesis Pt. 2 

*Disclaimer: I've decided to cycle back to the original idea that my blog has been based upon, the dorm decoration company. After doing further market research, there are many companies all striving for the perfect "smart" fire alarm with far more resources than me, leaving me to the realization that it might be too large of a project to compete with. Also I don't know the first thing about the technological aspect of actually building or creating a prototype of some type. I'll provide lots of background info about my revitalized idea in this post but the full idea can be found in one of my earlier posts. 

Now that the disclaimer about my quick little switch is out of the way I can get right into the article! In this article, I'll identify the line in which my customer base seizes.  The responses below are some of the boundaries I was able to identify after conducting and analyzing the results of my interview. 

Who: Are there certain people or certain businesses that, although they share a lot in common with the others in your opportunity, but still fall outside the boundary? Why?

I believe that my target consumer is a teenager or someone in their low twenties who is either still at University or is moving to their first apartment. The idea behind Dorms by Design is to provide a simple and quick tool to customize, design, and order all the essential decorations without the hassle of moving store to store, trying to match different items blindly, and trying to repackage everything to fit nicely into the car on move in day! I think that a couple competitors for my business that are just slightly outside my target audience. For example, places like Wayfair.com or Houzz.com while they sell home decorations that could be implemented in a dorm room, don't have the young target that I do. Many of the home good retailers are targeting their products for a home or apartment decorating situation but my idea is based on the principle of a user building out a full spread dorm design and then allowing us to mail it to them in as few boxes as possible, thus making the entire shopping and installing process as streamlined and easy as possible! 

What: At what point does the need you identified differ from another need? (Is thirst the same as hunger? Or is the desire to appear fashionable the same as the desire to be loved by others?)

My service is designed to eliminate the middle man essentially by allowing users to buy an entire bundle of "essentials" with full customization without having to hunt and pick across stores. All other dorm decoration retailers either provide the decorations as stand alone products or as a set bundle. 

Why: Is the underlying cause of the outsiders' need different than people who are inside the boundary?

After analyzing the results of my interviews, it became clear that people still wanted to ability to pick items as if they were stand alone but still be able to bundle them up. While some companies offer something mildly similar, such as maybe the choice between two bedding sets in a bundle, my service will utilize the digital platform and use an AI software to allow people to receive a preview of what their customized dorm is going to look like. The point of the service, while it will allow users to buy individual pieces, is to allow for a fully customized bundle to be built and allow students more time with family, friends or maybe even more time to study! 

Inside the boundary	Outside the boundary
Who: Teenagers and Students	Who is Not: Adults, General Home Decor
What the Need Is: One stop solution for customized decoration packages	What the Need Is Not: General decoration marketplace like TJ Max or Wayfair.com
Why the Need Exists People spend too much time finding stylish sets that meet customized needs	Alternative Explanations Home Goods Warehouse or other general dorm supply company.