A Flashy Idea
If you know anything about me, it's that I'm constantly bargain shopping. Besides great prices, clean stores and helpful employees, sometimes you'll find some real gems.
Shopping today, I found this small package at Giant Tiger, in the mobile accessory bins. All mobile accessories there are $4, and while they are not name brands, they all work perfectly well (Note: if your mobile device warns you not to use accessories other than theirs, listen up. You don't need a fried device).
Mini Selfie Light by Rox (right) is a supreme find for me. I collect all sorts of mobile gadgets, and keep them in my, portable "End of the World" kit. This was a natural fit for my collection, because I figure that the end of the World is bound to be dark, but if you want to take a selfie for posterity, I'll have you covered. What added to my enthusiastic buy was the ideas that it started to generate.
There were 20 such boxes in said bin, and I was about to leave with four, but decided against it, after a quick price check. I wanted to do a test, on Kijiji, to see what the market would tolerate as a price point per flash. At four dollars a pop, surly I could sell them for $8 and make a bit of a profit. Turns out that similar devices sell online for up to $300. My blood started pumping. Next, because God help the fool who messes with a serious Kijiji shopper, I checked out the exact product, as sold by Rox. Turns out they feature them online for $6.45. That slowed my heartbeat, a lot. The volume I'd have to sell to turn any kind of notable profit would be (what's the corporate word) prohibitive. I left the store with my loan sample. But that didn't stop my ideas.
Part of any successful marketing campaign is knowing where your customers are, and then making sure your product is there with them. A well placed product can be worth more depending on a consumer's need/want of the product. To demonstrate, you can buy a rain poncho for $1 at the Dollarstore on any given day. But at Niagara Falls, on the Maid of the Mist ride, you betcha that same poncho is like $15 bucks all day long.
Similarly, our flashy product has more value depending on where it's sold. A budding entrepreneur who bought out the 20 boxes at Giant Tiger, could easily make a great return on their investment (ROI) if they were to sell them outside a concert, or night club. There, where people expect to pay exorbitant prices for their entertainment, you might be able to raise the price to $10. Who wants to go to a night club, dressed to the nines and take a sad selfie that could have looked so hot, if only they'd dropped that dime on a flash? Some people really do care about these things. And, as an entrepreneur, it's your job to care about the people who care about your product. After all, night club, concert, or end of the World, you'll only get one chance to make an impression; better make it flashy.