mobile-apps, business-model, market-researchI understand that a gap in the market is an “unmet consumer need”, but every idea is pretty much implemented in today’s world, and it’s all about how to execute the idea.
Having said this, I am developing a mobile app which allows users to receive digital receipts directly to there phone (eliminates paper receipts). However, I am failing to come up with a clear idea of what gap this service will target.
From my research I have gathered that my app offers the following which other similar apps do not:
So what gap in the market does my application target? Just need clarity.
Your app idea is not unique - In the UK, I hear the oddly named concur dot com being advertised regularly on the radio.
Don’t let that put you off.
Your idea does not need to be unique - Look around you, not alone is there more than one car company, but each car company has a different model, and each model has a different specification. Okay, car companies have had a rough time with profits, but replace car company with truck, tv, stereo, cell phone, coffee or cola, mc donalds v burger king or wendys and you’ll get my point.
You have to determine what makes your product unique - it might be less expensive, it might offer some configuration options to allow easy import of the data in to quickbooks or something similar. It might work across more devices.
A market is not nescessary an unmet consumer need, it can offer the same features as the competition but is more user friendly with a better UX (user experience) design.
Beware of scope creep - adding too many whistles and bells into the first release of your product means the first release will be years away, you’ll get bored, distracted, disheartened or all of the above.
Create the simplest version of your product - get test users - talk to the end users and ask them what they like, and importantly, what they do not like. Sometimes unrelated features help bring users - for example, years ago, early versions of windows and few users were used to the mouse - it’s said that solitaire, a free game that got packaged with windows had alot to do with teaching folk how to become comfortable with the mouse. It was an unexpected result from a feature that I would call a side salad.
Nobody knows more than your end users. Many big corporations suffered in the past because they did not listen to the customers - I recall IBM going thru a big re-org in the early 1990s and it was blamed on this.
I hope that helps you forward - Best of luck!
Focus on true needs ( I call them this way ) and discover the needs that are not impacted by time and technological developments. For example: Movement from point A to point B is a true need. It used to be satisfied by bare foot, horses, ships, bikes, cars, airplanes, ….
Any idea you spend time on, as long as it satisfies a true need, it will create you sustainable revenue. Maslow has a cool hierarchy for human needs. Check it out.
Something, which may really help you identify a Gap in the Market, is an exercise called Perceptual Mapping.
Perceptual Mapping is an exercise, performed by Companies, to better understand how consumers perceive Brands/Products, in relation to their competitors. To create a simple Perceptual Map (also known as Positioning Map), perform the following:
If you search for ‘Perceptual Mapping’, on a search engine, you will find many examples. The one I have given, is simply a straight forward exercise, to get you going.
Best of luck with your venture.
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