Business Opportunities Lie in "Weaknesses"

column vol.959

New business opportunities (seeds of success) are something every company in every industry is desperate for, but where exactly do those seeds lie…?

Marketing expert Philip Kotler answers this by saying, “Discovering needs that customers themselves are not yet aware of.”

On the other hand, it is difficult to find “needs that customers themselves are not aware of”…

In that case… why not take the plunge and turn your eyes toward the “weaknesses” of the industry or company you are in—in other words, the areas perceived as shortcomings and focus on them?

That is a blue ocean that no one has touched yet.

If it goes well, it should become a major business opportunity.

I am sure many of you are thinking this, so I will proceed by incorporating some examples right away!

Is it really impossible to play games while sleeping??

First, let’s look at games.

What is a disadvantage (weakness) of games?

One of them is surely the fact that “you cannot play while you are asleep.”

…Is that really true?

Actually, have you noticed that recently, “games to enjoy while sleeping” have been gaining attention?

That would be the smartphone app “Pokémon Sleep.”

〈Nikkan SPA! / March 19, 2023〉

A worldwide release this summer was announced during the official program “Pokémon Presents 2023.2.27.”

This is a game where you collect monsters by sleeping.

To explain what that means, it is an app that can measure and record your sleep state, and depending on the “dozing,” “snoozing,” or “slumbering” three sleep types, the monsters you can collect differ.

The key point here is the challenges of the gaming industry.

Moreover, if you include Netflix and other forms of entertainment outside of gaming, the competition for our waking hours is fierce... (sweat)

That is why they turned their attention to "unplayable" until now, which is "sleep time".

This is the same strategy as "people don't play games while moving (especially while walking)", which shattered the conventional wisdom and turned it into time for playing "Pokémon GO".

This pioneering of the sleep market can also be seen in other "Yohitsuji no Mori" and "Yume Bouken" and other app games.

By introducing a case study from the gaming industry that turned the weakness of sleep time into a market, I hope the intention of this article has been conveyed 😊

Why "hard-to-shoplift" unmanned stores were born

Next is the topic of "unmanned stores".

What do you think is the disadvantage of unmanned stores?

One is an environment where it is easy to shoplift, isn't it?

However, a certain unmanned store that covers this weakness and, even if it happens, turns it into a benefit is attracting attention.

That is the meat specialty unmanned store "Ouchi de O-niku".

The store offers a wide range of products, including horse meat and beef yukhoe, domestic beef, as well as hamburg steaks, gyoza, Korean cuisine, and even ice cream, all kept fresh using flash-freezing technology and shipped directly from the source.

Since its founding, it has achieved rapid growth, reaching in less than half a year a total of 100 stores nationwide, and with plans to expand to 160 stores, it is truly a monster-class unmanned store.

This store is also famous for a secret strategy to prevent shoplifting.

〈Daily Shincho / March 19, 2023〉

Inside the store, 4 to 5 security cameras are installed to prevent blind spots, but they actually announce in the store that if you shoplift, they will “spread it on social media”… (shocking)

…In fact, footage of shoplifting has been uploaded to social media…and because of this, it gets retweeted (spread), and by being picked up on television news, it has the benefit of increasing the store's name recognition.

…Of course, I'm sure there are pros and cons… but I thought the new idea of using shoplifting for publicity was amazing.

By the way, it seems to be quite a deterrent, and the number of actual shoplifting incidents so far is said to be around 20 cases.

By the way, Ouchi de Niku is a franchise of unmanned stores, and they say they have a system that makes it easy for people with busy full-time jobs to have a side business.

While it can be started with an initial cost of 5 to 6 million yen,the goal is to be able to earn about 150,000 to 300,000 yen per month through "hands-off management," and I feel that this is one of the reasons why the number of stores is expanding so rapidly.

A stylish gesture for "giving up beer during pregnancy"

Since the second example was a bit of a provocative topic..., I would like to conclude with a heartwarming topic...!

fan marketing I will share a stylish service from the craft beer manufacturer "Yo-Ho Brewing," known for its.

The company offers a beer subscription called "Hirake! Yona Yona Tsuki no Seikatsu" (Open! Yona Yona Monthly Life), but it faced the inevitable fate of pregnant women canceling the service.

However, what is admirable is that they are turning the subscription cancellation—a negative—into an opportunity to increase fan loyalty.

〈Yorozuya News / March 13, 2023〉

Thinking this way, the company launched a service called "Sotsunyu" (weaning) to celebrate milestones "Hidden Milestone Celebration by Yona Yona Ale".

They also aim to "graduating from the terrible twos," "graduating from putting kids to sleep," and "graduating from making bento boxes" celebrate milestones related to parenting.

Customers who apply for this service receive a gift of "two bottles of Yona Yona Ale (beer)" and "a set of certificates (for weaning, etc.)".

The initial application deadline was March 12, 2023, and against the original plan of 5,100 sets in total, they reportedly received about 18,000 applications.

In addition to the large number of applications,

It is said that many voices of joy from customers have reached the company.

And as a follow-up to this,applications are open every month until January 2024.

Isn't this a great example ofcoming up with an idea from the negativeaspect of giving up beer due to pregnancy, andturning it into a positive?

So, even things that might seemimpossible at first glancecan becomeopportunities depending on flexible thinking.

Wasn't today's case study article one that gives us that kind of courage?

And today, there was some happy news for Japan.

The Japan national team won the WBC!!

I couldn't watch it in real-time, but I just saw the moving moment on the evening news 😊

I think that is something that also applies to today's case study.

I think I'll have sweet dreams tonight too~