Conference call took place tonight. Very infomative overall. After speaking with him, a lot of light was shed on the what it takes to bring a food/beverage item into chain grocery stores. The big take away was “Even if you build a great mouse trap, you can’t guarantee the people will come”. The big challenge will be manufacturing, distribution, and marketing. It may be a more invovled venture than we originally though. A more thorough marketing study may be needed to verify the feasibility/profitability of this product. Below shows our original list of questions, and below them is the answers from Mike in blue font.
-Chris
Question/Topic List
- What is your experience in the food and drink production/processing industry?
- What are some barriers to entry?
- Access to quality/cheap water source (raw materials in general)
- Retailers exist to lease space to vendors (Grocery stores are more of a RE business)
- kickbacks, forced marketing programs, product placement on shelves
- Beverage Industry is a very croweded one
- May have to goto smaller stores
- Delivery method to stores can be a challenge
- Cannot assume a good product will be seen by public
- Established companies will make sure they dominate shelf space
- This has forced smaller companies to market through the internet, small retailers, etc.
- Dealing with kickbacks, pecking order (ankle level first)
- In creating a new product, is it wise to consult the help of a professional lab?
- Find a co-manufacturer to work with, and would be a good idea to private label
- get manuf, marketing and distribution system in place
- Competition is prevalent in the drink mixer category, we are going to try to differentiate through the use of Sugar Free (only done successfully by one other compeitor – Baja Bob’s) and through strategic marketing? Is this enough in your estimation?
- Are their any resources to do a peer group study of new product ideas?
- What is your opinion of private labeling an existing product and focusing more on the branding and marketing instead of worring about manufacuturing and quality control issues?
- Mike has done it with a beer and gave it an Indian name
- margins were good, tested for 2 years, bottling company when out of buisness
- Schlafly wants guarantees, etc before working with them
- Supplying company has to be able to support the volume generated
- Guy in KC has a virtual company,
- 3 marketing people, no offices, etc
- undercuts private labeling competition at SafeWay, Aldi’s, Shop ‘N Save, etc
- negotiates contracts, made to spec, guarantees pick up times
- no upfront money tied up in equipment, salaries, RE, etc.
- uses manufacturers to produce product
- Would be a good way to start to see what possibilities are
- Don’t fully expose full nature of idea, just gather info
- Try to get 2-3 manufacturers to bid on the job
- Mike has done it with a beer and gave it an Indian name
Follow up: Conference call with John in near future? He is attempting to become “the hot dog man of St. Louis”
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Mike Meinzen’s Profile
Relation: Dominique’s Father
Experience: ER Doctor, Owns India’s Rasoi Restaurants, Owns 5 gas stations, Others…
Contact Info: 636.458.4380 (home) 636.346.4851 (mobile)
Smartphone Sales Stats
Posted in GiPS, News & Commentary, People, Technology on September 15, 2008| Leave a Comment »
According to Gartner, smartphone sales grew by nearly 16% in Q2 2008. And although in their article they state that the growth rate in this marketplace has slowed somewhat, it is still growing at a quick pace. This is promising to mobile content providers. Nokia continues to lead the way with BlackBerry making a big jump into second place. Look for the iPhone to gain some ground in the coming quarters.
Worldwide smartphone sales totalled 32.2 million units in the second quarter of 2008, a 15.7 per cent increase from the second quarter of 2007, according to Gartner, Inc. In addition, of all mobile device sales, smartphones’ share remained stable at 11 per cent.
On a regional level, the North American market remained among the fastest-growing markets in the second quarter of 2008 with an increase of 78.7 per cent year over year. The region also accounted for almost 25 per cent of the global smartphone sales to end users. Europe, the Middle East and Africa exhibited 21 per cent growth year over year; Western Europe drove much of the growth in the region with a 29.3 per cent increase. Finally, the markets of Asia/Pacific and Japan declined 4.8 per cent and 24 per cent, respectively.
Smartphone sales to users by Vendor:
Company
2Q08
Sales
2Q08 Market Share (%)
2Q07
Sales
2Q07 Market Share (%)
2Q08- 2Q07 Growth (%)
15,297,900
47.5
14,151,689
50.8
8.1
5,594,159
17.4
2,471,200
8.9
126.4
1,330,825
4.1
605,900
2.2
119.6
1,328,090
4.1
2,275,401
8.2
-41.6
1,071,490
3.3
877,955
3.2
22.0
7,598,711
23.6
7,472,441
26.8
1.7
32,221,175
100.0
27,854,586
100.0
15.7
Mobile Operating Systems market share by Vendor:
Company
2Q08
Sales
2Q08 Market Share (%)
2Q07
Sales
2Q07 Market Share (%)
2Q08- 2Q07 Growth (%)
Symbian
18,405,057
57.1
18,273,255
65.6
0.7
Research In Motion
5,594,159
17.4
2,471,200
8.9
126.4
Microsoft Windows Mobile
3,873,622
12.0
3,212,222
11.5
20.6
Linux
2,359,245
7.3
2,816,490
10.1
-16.2
Mac OS X
892,503
2.8
270,000
1.0
230.6
Palm OS
743,910
2.3
461,918
1.7
61.0
Others
352,679
1.1
349,501
1.3
0.9
Total
32,221,175
100.0
27,854,586
100.0
15.7
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Sources:
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=754112
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