innovation

ENTR 8000-Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Customer Interviews

Shampoo Company

Part one: Ideal Customer

Based on our Customer Zoom Tool, our ideal customer would be someone who is committed to a sustainable lifestyle; who loves to recycle and chooses to use bicycle to work. He is also someone who prefer to use paper or metal straws and brings his tumbler to prevent the use of plastic bottles. In addition, our ideal person is also someone who purchase green products. This person is willing to spend more for sustainable products and prioritize organic and ecofriendly products. Lastly, our ideal person is the head of the household. He is the one who is in -charged to purchase the physical needs of its family members. The one who always brings eco bags at the grocery stores and make sure to give the best for his family members; by providing them with organic products.

As per the conversation and interview we conducted with our potential consumers, majority of them head of the household and want to avail the best quality of products for their family members. However, we have discovered that not all of them are willing to spend more for sustainability. Yes, they want something green, but affordable. Which is quite different from our initial target consumer.

In addition, we also discovered that most of them are not only living a sustainable lifestyle but also living an active lifestyle such as: hiking, traveling and camping. As they share their experiences with their trips some have mentioned that the admit that one of the hardest parts in travelling is bringing liquid toiletries such as: shampoo, lotion and soap. One correspondent even says that “One of the problems I experience in traveling is the fact that the limitations for the hand-carry is 100 ml per container, and with that rule I tend to lessen my liquids (Belleca, 2018) “. Another corresponded also added that “What I worry me is the fact that liquids may spill in my luggage (Gervacio, 2018) “. With this information, we thought of targeting families who travels as well.

To conclude, the group now brand Shampoo Company, as the family bar shampoo which is affordable and perfect for hassle free travels. That offers a variety of organic shampoo bar that is safe even for the youngest group of the family member. Thus, our new target market now would be from “Head of the household, who lives a sustainable lifestyle by prioritizing green products for himself and the rest of his family members” to, “The head of the household who enjoy sustainable living and hassle free travels with his family members” .

Part two: Customer Problems Initial customer problems

Low – unaware of plastic pollution

The team has reflected that often times the consumers has no choice because the material is common, the convenience it conveys in the lifestyle, and the cheap price it cost may be the reasons why people look the other way, and therefore has created a bad habit in their way of life.

Medium – availability of green products

The accessibility and distribution of the green products can be spread out through the different channels and as an outcome the consumers have had a difficulty in acquiring them.

High – high price of sustainability

The group hypothesized that the mindset of the customers of having a sustainable lifestyle, may come in price since most green products are more expensive than regular items. Additionally, the way of thinking of the customers can also be a reason because if it says it is an environment-friendly product, people may associate it to being costly. The willingness and commitment of the consumers is very significant regarding their purchasing behaviors.

The most important problem of the customers is the high price because the group speculated that the mindset of the individuals that sustainability comes with price.

Development of the problems after the interview

The customer problems’ that the group has predicted is the high price of the lifestyle, and from the gathered interview responses the real main problem of the consumers is the availability of these products in the market. The initial plan of the team is to distribute the bar shampoo in physical stores, grocery stores, and online wherein the consumers have an easy access to but the group recognized that the channels will be more efficient for the product, based on the responses, since most of them also loves to travel. Partnership with hotels will be also an effective medium to consider.

Part three: Minimal Viable Product or Service (MVP)

Minimal Viable Product

The Minimal Viable Product is a shampoo bar with a cornstarch packaging. These shampoo bars are all-natural shampoo in the form of a soap bar which has ingredients that is special, mainly because it is only formulated with all organic and natural components and does not have any harmful chemicals like artificial fragrance, artificial coloring, preservatives, etc. Which also helps in maintaining healthy shiny hair.

The product, also help with our environmental impact as this is done by getting rid of the plastic bottles. People buy millions of bottles per minute (Chagrin Valley Soap, 2019). Using all-natural ingredients will also help in decreasing groundwater contamination and everything that the company will dispose of is local waterways friendly (Chagrin Valley Soap, 2019).

Instead of using plastic bottles in packaging the company will be using fermented sugars that is cornstarch this is biodegradable which is important for the environment. If the disposal of packaging is properly done the cornstarch will decompose in several months. This packaging is now being preferred by a lot of companies because it is cheap and easy to produce.

Initial Minimal Viable product

The initial envisioned product is a shampoo bar with a regular plastic packaging. This vision changed because originally the group envisioned and focused only on the product itself, but the group realized that the packaging can be innovated, as well, to be a product that is organic as a whole – as this is in line with the group’s mission vision and objectives.

In addition, the original product focus more on how it can be eco-friendly as possible and did not focus much on the quality of product which helps controlling frizz, hair problems like dandruff and itchy scalp as this is what consumers consider in purchasing.

Part four: Unique Value Proposition Based on the interviews that we conducted, we have understood the needs of different consumer depending on their lifestyle. Most of our respondents stated that when making a purchase decision they want the product to have a reasonable price and also helps the environment to lessen greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere. Next that comes into the respondent’s mind is quality, every one of them wants to get their money’s worth when making a purchase.

One of our respondents who loves to travel, he wanted to have a product that is compact because he used to “travel light” (Calimlim, 2019). The shampoo is one of the necessity items in his bag, and his dilemma is that it is too heavy and it is a waste of luggage space. He was suggesting that it would be better if there is a shampoo that is good only for one use in this way he could put more items in his bag rather than just a shampoo bottle. The group had taken this into consideration and came up with a shampoo that is best when travelling. A powder-like shampoo enclosed into a capsule that is made out of cornstarch which also dissolves in water or when buried into the ground.

On the other hand, another respondent mentioned that she wants a shampoo that would also cater to her kids (Eder, 2019). She does not want her kids to use an ordinary shampoo for the reason that it may cause scalp problem to her kids since they are still young and may not able to withstand the chemicals in the shampoo.

Since Shampoo Company has only one product line, the group had decided to extend the product line so that we could also touch base to different segments in the market such as the gentle shampoo soap for kids with different fragrances. In this regard, consumers can have more preference in buying the right product of their choice.

Part five: Channels Two of the main channels of Shampoo Company is through online and retail/physical stores. As much as possible, we wanted to make the product accessible to stores wherein people will not have a hard time looking for it.

Since we were able to touch base with the online and retail stores, the group agreed to expand our branding by adding more channels into our list. Based on the findings of our interview with our different customers, we have decided to partner our Shampoo Company to different hotels. The hotels that we want to partner with are those who practice sustainability and socially responsible in preserving the environment. With our shampoo soap going to every room in the hotel helps promote our product by providing organic and chemical free shampoo and because the product has zero waste, it makes a great impact on our environment since we are decreasing the waste that comes from the hotels.

Bibliography Chagrin Valley Soap. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.chagrinvalleysoapandsalve.com/blog/posts/everything-about-shampoo-bars/

Group Members:

Appendices:

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