Barbara Corcoran, a shark on the show Shark Tank, said to the owner of DDP Yoga, "I don't like investing in companies that are based on trends." This would be some very useful information to hear if you are thinking of pursuing your innovative ideas. When there is a trend, everybody wants in on the new product, but most likely, the product will turn into a fad. A fad is an intense and widely shared enthusiasm for something, especially one that is short-lived and without basis in the object's qualities; a craze. There have been multiple products that have been popular for a short period of time, but the company will not have the potential to be a long term success in the market. As a potential investor, it is important to truly look at the pros and cons before risking your business status and reputation. If you are going to put money and faith into a company, you want it to be a long term success. The problem with trend products is that once people have it, they won't need it again. Once the trend is over, your business becomes obsolete.
The latest trend is being fit. There are multiple shows on the television such as The Biggest Loser or Extreme Weight Loss. People are starting to care more and more about what they look like, and want to have an athletic, toned body. Instagram and Twitter are filled with people posting what they eat and what they do to exercise. They are role models for other individuals to be like them and to work and achieve their physical desires. Additionally, YouTube provides instructional videos on certain exercises and demonstrations for meal prepping. People doing whatever it takes to be like them. "If they can do it, then I can do it," has been a common saying for this era. People are motivating one another to get up off the couch and start exercising. Fit-bits and other physical activity trackers have dominated the Fitness market, but will this die down?
I own a fit-bit and I absolutely love it. What is the inconvenience? You have to charge it. When I take it off to charge it, sometimes I forget that it is off my wrist completely and I do not really think about it. When I do realize that I have not utilized it for a weeks time, I do not feel like my life has ended. In fact, I feel as thought I could live without it, and perhaps, I could have just saved the money entirely. Soon, other people will start to see that this product is a luxury, and a product developing an even bigger fitness fad.
"New year new me." It is a cliche statement that you hear people say at the start of every new year, and often times the goals they set seem to be forgotten about weeks afterwards. Most of the time, one of those New Years Resolutions list is to lose weight or to get in shape by eating healthy and exercising on a regular basis. According to Dan Diamond, a writer for Forbes Magazine, he states, "University of Scranton research suggests that just 8% of people achieve their New Year's goals." That is a ridiculous number! If 8% of us continue to reach our goals, then who says that products geared toward helping attain those goals will survive? They will fade away just like those New Years resolutions. That product nor that goal will be a top priority for anyone. Because it is such a minute number of individuals who keep up with this fitness mentality, the companies that feed into this trend are performing at the interest of those with component lifestyles. This is considered the practice of choosing goods and services that meet one's diverse needs and interests rather than conforming to a single, traditional lifestyle. Although it is good that companies are starting to address individual issues in people's lives, it becomes especially hard to make money when that diminishes your target market. A target market is a group of people or organizations for which an organization designs, implements, and maintains a marketing mix intended to meet the need of that group, resulting in mutually satisfying exchanges. If your target market is small, your sales will be too.
I've seen so many advertisements on television with the next big fitness tip that is "simple, affordable, and it works!" Wow! Don't they all!? If DDP Yoga was to join earlier, then perhaps they would make decent money while this trend lasts, but eventually the sales will level off. Eventually, it won't be a huge product in the market anymore. DDP Yoga is a business based on a DVD or video sent to customers with a yoga routine that is "not your mama's yoga." It is more masculine that typical yoga and provides a rehabilitation service that helps athletes and even just normal average people fix their daily aches and pains. You may be wondering, what is their competitive advantage? Well, they have differentiated themselves from other treatment services by making this yoga "hardcore." But how much of an advantage really is Diversification?
Because this is in a variety of industries that has been around for a long time, it seems like there would be an easier way to view instructional exercise than on a DVD. Who is going to even have the time to sit down and do a yoga routine? How long is the program anyways? The founder of the company was good at explaining how effective his product can be, but did not describe the level of convenience for his target market. There are services from apps and websites that could potentially have the same effect in a shorter period of time. Think about those commercials saying "Just 14 minutes a day on Bow-flex, and I lost 35 pounds. This could be you." If that person can feel great and lose that amount of weight in a short period of time, then why the hell and I going to go through the hassle of using a DVD to perform a hardcore workout of yoga? Frankly, I believe that DDP Yoga may have a good product, but they are not keeping up with the generation of technology. Additionally, I believe that they introduced this product a little too late.
There are so many other fitness gadgets out there. People will feed into them when they first come out, but this trend did not start yesterday. People have already gotten roped into buying products that they thought would work, but not to their full extent. Obviously people buy a product to look like the fitness model, but when their results are not seen automatically, people often give up and forgot about their goal in the first place.
In order to be a successful company that will be everlasting, Barbara Corcoran wants entrepreneurs to do their research, preferably pure research. Pure research aims to confirm an existing theory or to learn more about a concept or phenomenon and then apply that to the product they want to create. Perhaps if companies like DDP Yoga would research the industries they are getting into, then they would see how long they could be in business based on how long people will want to have the product or have fitness and well-being as a top priority. Researching trends is important before deciding to start a business. This problem could even be evaluated by conducting a survey or questionnaire before you even start to create your product.
I think that Barbara Corcoran has a really good point, and it starts to relate to the Smart Project that we will be working on this semester. Do our own ideas affect issues seen as trends, or are they lasting issues that will be around for quite a long time? How do you think your sales will go 10+ years from now? These are so important to think about. I wish we would have watched this before we got started on the Bugs project. A lot of our ideas were intriguing, but do they all serve a long time purpose? None of us can be too sure about that. We have not put a lot of research into the pain-points yet, nor do we have a crystal ball on what the future holds with our projects. All we can do is hope for the best, but predict, plan and research for the worst possible outcomes in order to avoid obstacles. That should not be seen as pessimistic, for it is realistic- a quality that seems to lack in the mentality of a majority of business men and women.
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