Ass 5

Assignment 2: Generating Products to Meet the Unmet Needs

Submitted on

30th of October, 2022

by:

Jeanne de Virieu, Luo Wenwen, Wint War War Phoo (Wayne)

742727,743553,739348

Submitted to:

Dr. U. N. Umesh

New Products & Entrepreneurial Marketing

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Table of contents

I- Unmet customers’ needs and our solution ......................................................................... 2

A- Disabled people and social isolation .......................................................................... 2

B- Lack of information about accessible features........................................................... 2

C- Reliability of the information provided ..................................................................... 3

D- Time-consuming research .......................................................................................... 3

E- Poor service quality........................................................................................................ 4

I- Ideas that could solve those unmet needs .......................................................................... 4

II- Refine the concept.............................................................................................................. 6

A- No criticisms, no negatives ........................................................................................ 6

B- Resist becoming committed to one idea .................................................................... 6

C- Identify the most promising ideas .............................................................................. 6

D- Refine and prioritize .................................................................................................. 7

III- The final service and the market ........................................................................................ 7

A- The final product ........................................................................................................ 7

B- The market ................................................................................................................. 8

C- Rivalry........................................................................................................................ 8

IV- References ........................................................................................................................ 10

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I- Unmet customers’ needs and our solution

A- Disabled people and social isolation

Due to their limited ability to go outside and enjoy life as a person without a condition can,

people with disabilities often experience emotional stress and social isolation. This is a result

of California's general lack of accessibility in countless locations. Melina Karp, Vice President

of Consumer Centered Quality at Commonwealth Care Alliance says: “When a person’s

disability includes a mobility impairment, one issue that can arise is increased physical and

social isolation. As opportunities for social engagement get smaller and smaller based on an

individual’s ability to navigate their physical surroundings, depression and anxiety can also

develop” (Seervai, S., Shah, A., & Shah, T. ,2019). In order for people with disabilities to

lessen the stress associated with their physical state and improve their emotional well-being,

there is a real need to make changes.

This is a highly important unmet need that needs to be solved and this is why with our new

concept, we give the opportunity to disabled people to share experiences with people that face

the same daily challenges. We want to create a community through this website by reuniting

them together to do not feel lonely anymore. For example, on our platform, customers will

have the possibility to go on group tours even if they are travelling alone. In this situation, they

will only be with people they do not know and might create strong relationships thanks to that.

B- Lack of information about accessible features

In the tourism industry, there is in general an important lack of information about accessibility

in different places that includes hotel facilities, transportation, tours, parks or restaurants.

This is a highly important unmet need that needs to be solved and this is why we want to give

access to people, with impairment problems, to clear information regarding the infrastructures

imposed by the destinations.

At the same time, on our platform, the different information provided on the website is updated

frequently by businesses regarding the degree of accessible features they have. It is useful given

the fact that sometimes the business might be doing some construction work and therefore it

might not be accessible for a certain period of time. It will be accordingly updated on our

website.

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C- Reliability of the information provided

There are still too many situations where disabled people have to double-check the place’s

accessibility by sending a mail or by making a phone call to make sure they can be welcome

there. This is mainly due to the poor reliability of the information provided on businesses’

websites. Information communication errors happen as we have seen in a law case opposing a

disabled customer to a big chain hotel. To sum up, a disabled person booked a room mentioned

as “accessible” on the hotel’s website. The customer called the hotel to confirm that the room

is indeed accessible but also that the room is available for her stay dates. The hotel clearly

confirmed all those information but once the customer reached the hotel, the property was not

able to offer them an available room (EIN News, 2019). Unfortunately, we do not have data

regarding the portions of hotels that actually have accessible rooms given the fact it is supposed

to be mandatory for every hotel in California. The problem is mostly about saying that a room

is accessible when it is not really (example: no shower but a bathtub).

This is a moderately important unmet need that needs to be solved. From our side, we require

the different businesses to provide us with the needed paperwork regarding their accessibility

information as proof. To check, we want to develop a software able to recognize the reliability

of those papers to avoid any falsification and the accuracy of the data. By doing that, we are

sure about the reliability of the information provided and avoid any problems welcoming

disabled persons.

D- Time-consuming research

Moreover, when planning a trip, it is complicated for a disabled person to have to go through

different websites, each useful for a part of the trip. It, in fact, takes time for them to go through

all those websites looking for accessible places. Imagine that it takes at least twice more time

than any other regular customer. It has low importance but if we can solve this problem it could

be advantageous for them.

By this fact, we want to develop a platform that combines in one website places that are fully

accessible. Customers only have to choose where they want to go, and what they want to visit

among the different places proposed. They only need to tap their phone once to obtain the

available information right away. They would find it convenient because they would not have

to look for suitable places (or not) through different websites.

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E- Poor service quality

Most of the time, disabled people receive poor service from employees because they are not

trained enough and therefore do not have the required knowledge to take care of a customer

with a disability.

This is moderaretly important but to solve it we have a website that directly links disabled

customers with businesses which will then be able to answer any customers’ concerns.

Moreover, businesses that are on the platform are aware of disabled people’s differences and

employees are trained accordingly.

I- Ideas that could solve those unmet needs

A- Use digitalization and unique marketing strategies to make the website accessible to

disabled persons

Undoubtedly, the 21st century is the age of digitalization and social media that can help make

our planned website accessible to all disabled persons. In this regard, all the social media

platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and WhatsApp, should be used to advertise

the online website business that aims to ease the management of daily activities of disabled

people with lesser dependency and more comfortably (Dwivedi et al., 2021). These platforms

can help promote the goal of the website, which serves to facilitate disabled persons, especially

in California. For this purpose, the role of artificial intelligence cannot be ignored. A

partnership with artificial intelligence companies should be ensured to enhance the accessibility

of the users. This partnership will facilitate the customers to reach the website easily whenever

they search for any product available on this website. For instance, if a disabled person is

looking for good food in California and he opens his Instagram, the good food options offered

by this website will attract him. Similarly, disabled influencers can also play a vital role in

boosting the accessibility of disabled consumers. They can work for the publicity of the website

and can convince bled persons to use this platform for their movement anywhere in the world.

It is suggested that these influencers can start live sessions to raise awareness regarding the use

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of this website. At the same time, partnerships with disabled organizations can help access

disabled persons.

Local NGOs can also provide assistance to spread the business as they have all the data on

disabled persons. This data will be useful for tracing the location of the people. In this context,

door-to-door publicity can assist in making the platform accessible to all. Therefore, unique

marketing strategies and social networks can play a significant role in promoting these online

businesses.

B- Provision of attractive offers and innovative services to enhance the reach of disabled

consumers

There is no denying that attractive offers can enhance the reach of disabled customers. In this

regard, introducing amazing discounts is a beneficial strategy to enhance the consumer base.

For instance, the offers like a 50% discount for the first twenty customers and 30% for the next

thirty customers will attract the consumers to use this platform for their shopping, residence,

and travel. In addition, free transportation and pick and drop from door to door is another

technique to attract more customers. Owing to the lack of appropriately aided transportation

facilities, disabled people feel reluctant to move. This offer will be a powerful tool to facilitate

their movement with ease. Similarly, the diversification of products can also play an important

role in the enhancement of business and accessibility of disabled persons.

All the services, including food, grocery, crockery, traveling, transport, and garments, should

be provided by the website so that they can access information by clicking just one button. It

is an attractive offer that will remove all the concerns of disabled consumers. It is proposed

that the website should not only be confined to travel and tourism but also diversify its services

provided to consumers. Moreover, the company should also consider the quality of services it

offers. It should maintain the status of the standard of the services. Everything must be up to

the mark, from food to transport to service providers. The quality of services should not be

compromised at any cost (Wirtz et al., 2017). The maintenance of quality will build a positive

image of the company, leading to the website's success. No doubt the region is more important

than the product itself. This viewpoint will prove to be a landmark for the business's promotion

and the consumers' satisfaction. Hence, providing attractive offers is a unique idea to facilitate

disabled persons and make their daily activities comfortable.

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II- Refine the concept

A- No criticisms, no negatives

Every proposal should be considered, regardless of how absurd it may seem. Then we

determine which choice could be applied to our work. Throughout this process, we promote

various forms of imaginative thinking without passing judgment on what any one person has

expressed.

As we are getting more exposure, we want to gain a better insight towards this community. We

reach a point where we want to come up with a solution for the obstacles and concerns they are

facing as it touches physical needs.

Due to the nature of our project, we would like to appease the critics by introducing fresh

offerings to a segment that has received little attention. The main goal is to improve the entire

visitor experience for clients with disabilities. The idea behind our business concept would be

to create a more convincing environment while having an optimistic result.

B- Resist becoming committed to one idea

Every idea should go through a process in order to get the desired result; in this case, our first

step is to provide an internet platform. We believe that our adherence to our basic values will

define who we are in this industry. We are dedicated to paying close attention to disabled

customers and to combining and balancing the needs of our clients regardless of their physical

limitations. To turn our concepts into a reality, we are consistently aligning for incremental

innovation. We would constantly develop new products and services linked to mobility as long

as customers benefit from the platform we built.

C- Identify the most promising ideas

Before choosing a prospective business, background market research is crucial. For the

accessibility market, we decided to launch in California due to the significant market gap area.

The community's unmet demands for particular services and the dissemination of knowledge

have greatly distorted supply and demand. We have seen that there is not yet a particular

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platform with transparency regarding the infrastructure and the level of customer impairment

they can support.

The unmet demands and the statistics have shown that the accessibility platform may be a

promising sector for investment. Due to the first-runner advantage, we might be able to capture

a sizable portion of the market.

D- Refine and prioritize

As we focused down from the brainstorming, we would be concentrating on the platform to

partner with new businesses, catering venues, hotels, and locations that could be able to offer

services for people with impairments.

This will be our first action once the social platform is introduced. To establish a standard for

the accuracy of the data, we shall develop our own system of verification.

Considering we will provide an intangible product, we would always prioritize the needs of

our customers, therefore we put user experiences a high priority.

We would introduce a sub-product focused on accommodating people with disabilities as the

platform matures. We will contemplate expanding into another city once the client capacities

reach a certain point.

III- The final service and the market

A- The final product

There are currently no specific online platforms focusing on tourism but for disabled people

and this is how we came up with the idea of developing a website that connects customers to

locations with accessible features. We think the USA is the perfect place for us to launch this

business given the fact there are more than 6 million disabled persons living there. (Bts, 2022).

On this website, we will be able to connect disabled people to businesses such as hotels,

restaurants, tour guides or excursions accessible for people with physical impairments.

Customers can enter the dates of their desired stay, what kind of activity they would like to be

part of, and the platform will give a panel of different options to choose from. The time when

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disabled people had to go through deep research to find an accessible place is now over:

welcome to the new area where disabled people have their own platform with places that suit

them and their needs.

B- The market

We decided to start small by targeting firstly California, but the main goal is to become national

and even international one day. In fact, according to Who (2021), “More than 1 billion

individuals live with a disability worldwide”. The market potential is huge, making it 15% of

the world’s population. Concerning California, 6.7 million inhabitants or 1 of 4 adults are

disabled, equivalent to 23% of the population (Bts, 2022).

People with disabilities have actually decided to travel less, mostly due to the subpar services

they received but also because of the reliability of the information provided on businesses’

websites. In fact, disabled people always have to check to make sure the facilities are fully

accessible for them. It eventually becomes too much work for, often, unfavourable results.

According to a research by Bts (2022), seven out of ten participants with impairments indicated

their limitations prevent them from travelling daily.

In fact, the market's decline has slowed the supply of trustworthy information, causing

customers to exercise more vigilance to ensure that offerings are compatible with the facilities

they need. This factor influences how a visitor feels about their entire vacation. The simplest

way to ease customer concerns is to thoroughly explain the facilities and the number of

individuals they can accommodate. The need for more specialized assistance in this area puts

the destinations in a difficult situation. In this instance, we expressly step in to meet the client's

needs. People are disturbed by disability discrimination because it subjects disabled people to

unfair treatment as a consequence of our society's misunderstanding.

C- Rivalry

As our idea is to take what actual online travel agencies are doing but specialized in accessible

places, we believe that disabled people will not use those platforms anymore but will directly

use our website instead. In fact, they will gain time, energy but, most importantly, confidence

and self-esteem. According to FlyOfinder, the five most used online travel agencies in the USA

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are Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity, FlyOfinder and Skyscanner. Therefore, we believe we will

pull sales away from those five platforms mentioned. However, our impact is still small given

the fact we are starting with California to expand furthermore in the future.

Our product being unique, we do not have any direct competitors. Similar services can be

assigned to traditional travel agencies that will make the work and the research for the

customers. As explained previously, disabled people are not well taken care of and rapid

growth in this market is more than conceivable. Furthermore, we will make money by asking

for a monthly fee from the different businesses that want to be present on our website. We will

also take a commission of 15% on each transaction made through our platform. At the same

time, we do not have a lot of costs if it is to taking care of the website and promoting our

concept. The profitability of our business will therefore be consequent, our target market being

no less than 6.8 million people. It is at the same time interesting for the businesses that would

like to work with us given the fact that we will bring them more visibility towards disabled

people and consequently more revenue.

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IV- References

Bts. (2022). Travel Patterns of American Adults with Disabilities | Bureau of Transportation

Statistics. Retrieved 22 October 2022, from https://www.bts.gov/travel-patterns-with-

disabilities

Dwivedi, Y. K., Ismagilova, E., Hughes, D. L., Carlson, J., Filieri, R., Jacobson, J., Jain, V.,

Karjaluoto, H., Kefi, H., Krishen, A. S., Kumar, V., Rahman, M. M., Raman, R., Rauschnabel,

P. A., Rowley, J., Salo, J., Tran, G. A., & Wang, Y. (2021). Setting the future of digital and

social media marketing research: Perspectives and Research Propositions. International

Journal of Information Management, 59, 102168.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102168

EIN News. (2019). Retrieved 22 October 2022, from

https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/495508829/dannlaw-files-lawsuit-alleging-homewood-

suites-by-hilton-mahwah-and-hilton-worldwide-repeatedly-violated-the-ada

FlyOfinder. (2022). Top 5 online travel agencies (OTA) in USA: Flyofinder. Retrieved October

22, 2022, from https://www.flyofinder.com/blog/top-flight-deals/top-5-online-travel-

agencies-in-usa

Seervai, S., Shah, A., & Shah, T. (2019). The Challenges of Living with a Disability in

America, and How Serious Illness Can Add to Them. Retrieved 22 October 2022, from

https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2019/apr/challenges-living-

disability-america-and-how-serious-illness-can

Wirtz, J., & Zeithaml, V. (2017). Cost-effective service excellence. Journal of the Academy of

Marketing Science, 46(1), 59–80. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-017-0560-7