Exercises: Information search and competitor analysis

Explain what information each source can give you and when to use it: survey, in-depth interview, direct observation, and internet search. Apply it to this project: a healthy breakfast stall at the school fair.

Distinguish between direct and indirect competition using this case: a fresh juice stall at the fair. Its direct competition would be another drink stall; its indirect competition would be the hallway vending machine or a water bottle brought from home. Add two examples of your own of indirect competition for a study notes app.

The figure is a positioning map of the drink stalls at the fair based on their price and how healthy their product offering is. Points A, B, and C are existing stalls; the question mark marks an empty area.

1. a) Describe where the gap in the market is according to the map (what combination of price and healthy offering no one is covering).
2. b) Propose a product for that gap and explain what you should check before launching (why is it empty?).

Design a five-question survey to validate a crepe stall at the school fair. Each question must measure something useful (how much they would pay, what flavors, what time they would buy, how many they would buy, who they currently buy from). Explain why one of the questions should not be "Would you buy crepes?" (yes/no).

Conduct a SWOT analysis for your class project (choose a real one or the breakfast stall): two weaknesses, two strengths, two opportunities, and two threats. Then cross-reference the information: write a strategy that uses a strength to take advantage of an opportunity, and another that defends a weakness against a threat.

It is said that an entrepreneurial mindset consists of seeing opportunities where others only see problems. Choose an everyday problem in your environment (lines, boredom during rainy recess, unused textbooks, grandparents who do not use cell phones) and turn it into an opportunity: what underlying need exists, who it affects, and what solution you would sell.

At the school market, there are two costume jewellery stalls: yours sells handmade bracelets for $\$60$, and the other sells bracelets for $\$40$ bought from an online shop and relabelled. Last year, the cheaper stall sold twice as much.

1. a) Analyse your competitor: what advantage do they have, what is yours, and which type of buyer does each appeal to?
2. b) Propose two differentiation strategies other than lowering the price, and explain why competing on price alone would be a bad idea for you.

A team surveyed their $30$ best friends about their study notes organisation app: $95\ \%$ said they would "definitely" use it. When launched, $12$ people downloaded it in the whole school.

1. a) Explain what biases the survey had (who they asked, how they asked) and why they inflated the result.
2. b) Redesign the research: who you would ask, how many people, with which three questions, and what you would do besides asking.

You are going to sell breakfasts at the fair and have noted down the competitors' prices: croissants at $\$30$ (stall A), juice and toast at $\$50$ (stall B), and mass-produced pastries at $\$20$ (stall C). Your breakfast (yoghurt with fruit and granola) costs $\$22$ to produce.

1. a) Reason what price range you should operate within and what happens if you set it at $\$20$ or $\$60$.
2. b) Decide on a price, justify it using the data, and explain what additional information you would like to have before confirming it.