7A - Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

The venue I want to start was mentioned in a previous exercise, and this venue is movable, foldable furniture. This opportunity targets anyone who has ever had to move and will move again, so college students moving into dorms, people selling their homes, or anyone who moves around a lot due to business. Constantly having to move and dissassemble furniture is a pain, so my line of furniture aims to allow my customers to move their furniture without having to go through the hassle of dissembly and multiple trips. This line of furniture would be easily sellable and quite lucrative.

I'm sure that there are more people than mentioned above that would purchase this product. Honestly, anyone who has ever had to move, or is loathing the day they will have to move, will appreciate and potentially purchase this product. The clear boundary for my need would be the cost of assembly and designing the products themselves. While I'm sure that people would purchase a product like this, it would it take a significant amount of time and a hefty investment to get this project off the ground. I'm also certain that many people will not purchase the product, despite it being able to help them. Some would discount it thinking that it might not be as comfortable or reliable as their normal line of furniture. Others probably already have furniture that they wouldn't want to get rid of in exchange for these products. This present the major issue that I will face, which is revolving around the supply and demand of the product; I will need to produce enough to sell to the general public, but not too much where I begin to hurt my potential profits.

Interview 1: Shania (UF Student)
Upon asking her, who has the problem with moving furniture, she immediately pointed to herself, as she's moved over three times in the last year. She thinks the main problem with moving is having to carry everything from point A to point B; while her father owns a truck to move everything, it still gets completely packed to the point where she has to leave some things behind. She thinks this problem occurs because she wants to take all her items from one home to another, instead of getting rid of some things. This as well as either having to make the decision between several trips with the cars you own, or renting a large truck, like a uHaul to move everything.

Interview 2: Adrian (UF Student)
Upon asking him who has this problem, he responded with, anyone between the age of graduating high school and college. This is because this is when most people move out of their parent's homes. The main problem people have when moving out is that they want to take most of the furniture they had as children and keep it with them. This on top of other furnitures they will be purchasing add up. This problem is caused by most modern apartments and dorms not accommodating for people bringing in furniture.

Interview 3: Aaron (UF Student)
When I asked him who has this problem, he stated that he along with many others have this problem. Because of his parents' businesses, he moved around over forty times in his life, about fifteen of which were in the last two years. He said that the problem of moving comes with having to move all of his furniture to a new place. He's downsized on the amount of furniture he has, but it's still a hassle to move anywhere.

Interview 4: Adis (My mom)
My mother hasn't had to move very much nor very far in her lifetime, so she can't really relate to this problem; but despite this, she stated that she can still relate, because she'll be moving very soon. The problem is that, she has to move furniture that is old with sentimental value, but still useable furniture. While these pieces of furniture are irreplaceable, there are still many irrelevant piece, like television stands and dressers that can be disposed of for new furniture. Ideally, my prototypical line that would easily moved.

Interview 5: Amanda (Sister)
My sister has never had to move herself, but now that she'll be having to move soon, as well as helping her boyfriend move to a new home, she's realized how difficult it is. She thinks anyone who moves furniture, even just around the house, is a victim of this problem. The problem itself is that furniture can range from very small and light, to large and heavy, like a bed frame or couch. Because the weight and size are issues, the normal way to compensate is just to rent a large truck to carry everything. While this is an alright fix for large moves, there is still the issue of re-decorating and simply moving furniture around.

Summary: Upon going back, I never really considered the possibility of marketing to both, businesses like apartment complexes as well as the everyday consumer who likes to move their furniture from time to time. These two groups of people would be easy to target for advertisement as they would provide a steady flow of business. As for the what and why, there wasn't much I learned from the interviews.