New Enterprise Development - Eco T Cup

J2010DCU

Hi Everyone,

My name is Jennifer. I am a final year Business Studies student at DCU. Myself and my group have to develop a new product or service and research it's feasibility.

We have designed a new product, The Eco T Cup. It is a coffee cup tissue dispenser. This product is deemed to be a convenient method of storing tissues/wet wipes/screen wipes/dash wipes in your MANY coffee cup holders in your car.

The beauty of this product is that it fits directly in the coffee cup holder so your tissues are easily more accessible. No more looking on the ground, glovebox, parcel shelf or boot for tissues... which is quite dangerous might I add.

The cup itself will resemble a normal paper coffee cup. All materials will be made of 100% biodegradable material and a percentage of the profits generated will be donated to "Crann".

Crann was formed in 1986 with the aim of "Releafing Ireland". Crann is Ireland's leading voluntary tree organisation dedicated to the promotion and protection of our trees, hedgerows and woodlands. It is a membership-based, non profit registered charity uniting people with a love of trees.

The product would be sold in garages, supermarkets, corner shops, halfords, car accessories shops and many more places.

SO.... We would appreciate if you could ask us any questions, discuss our idea, give us good/constructive feedback.


Thanking you in advance,

Jennifer

infamous

Hi Jennifer,

I cant see their been a massive market it for this, how much would this product be retailing at. Its hard to comment without a picture of your product, it may sell if had quirky design which may appeal to some users. One of the main points to think of when designing a product is does it solve a problem, and in your case it does however the problem isnt of major concern to people and will have limited appeal, I dont think its safety aspect would have anywhere near the appeal of say the hands free kit. Hope it sells well but I wouldn go producing massive ammounts of stock just at the minute.

Southsider1

J2010DCU wrote: »

Thanking you in advance,

Jennifer

I've just sent you a PM.

byrne0f56789

I think for an academic course you are graded on the process and not the actual viability of the product. If you find it not viable you should still get the same marks.

In reality you need social proof and traction. However, this is hard to achieve with no actual business.

Just some ideas from the top of my head. (brainstorm style)

1) Find out who will buy your company.
2) Read annual reports of listed companies in that area and find out what they are doing. You can use the financial ratios in there reports to get a handle on your financial projections.
3) Think Walmart to sell and China to make. (I don't know if this is possible if you are looking at just the Irish market)
4) Think seasonally Colds and Flu in Winter and Hay Fever in Summer.
5) What about professional drivers (truckers, taxi drives etc.)
6) What’s the P/E Ratio of your sector.
7) Focus Groups with buyers, Surveys with consumers, Online key word research etc.

BlackEdelweiss

In my wifes car the 2 coffee cup holders are underneath the handbrake and are unuseable when either starting or stopping the car so your product would be useless in her car. I am not sure what other cars are like for this but for peugeot owners it is a no go.