Digital Learning 10/Marketing & Entrepreneurship 9: Winter Market Reflection

  1. During this project, I partnered up with two other people, Aaron and Andy, and created a product to sell during the winter market. After many painstaking hours of brainstorming, we decided to sell silicone phone wallets. After, because our products seemed as they wouldn’t arrive in time, we added an additional product, customizable cutting boards. For the silicone phone wallets, we chose it because we thought that the demand would be high. Later we also created a survey, and 79 people out of 100 people said that they would purchase one. For the customizable cutting boards, we chose to make it because our group decided that we wanted to make a higher-end gift for students or teachers to give to their loved ones this holiday season. Something else that happened that might be important was that the demand for both our products was actually quite low, and we found that people want to buy decorative things more than practical things.
  2. A few academic concepts became apparent during this experience. One of the concepts was supply and demand. For our phone sleeves, our supply was too high and therefore lowered the demand for them. Another concept that became apparent was the importance of sales and building connections with customers. We utilized this skill and we found that many of our sales came from people we knew and only a small percentage of our sales were to strangers. To build connections, first, we went out and talked to people. Then, we told them about our sales and our product. Before the sale began, we thought that the demand for our product would be really high. However, as we found out throughout the week, the demand for our product was actually quite low. So, on the last day of the sale, our group decided to lower the price to $0.25 per phone sleeve. This brought us many sales and helped our group to break even. Initially, we aimed to sell the cutting boards to students as gifts for their parents. However, as the week went on, we found that students couldn’t afford $10, cutting boards. In the end, we shifted our focus to selling to teachers, and we sold 6 out of the 9 boards. This experience definitely differed from my initial expectations. Initially, I thought that our products would have a higher demand as they were very useful products for a price that would be considered cheap. However, we found out that people want to buy decorative things (pretty things) from the sale, rather than practical things (useful things). I think that this was the case because our group could have done better in explaining how useful our products were. 
  3. In this project, I learned how to think creatively. I learned this through the many times when our group had a problem, and we had to figure out a solution. One example of this is at the very start of the project, thinking of a product. I spent many hours thinking of a product that we could sell. Later, when our product seemed as if it weren’t going to come in time for the sale, my group and I went through the process of finding a second product. This was a challenge for me because I thought that everything in the sale was going to go smoothly. In the end, the products arrived a couple of days before the sale, during the sale we sold both our products. This core competency is vital to any business, and even to other things in life. This is because things will not always go your way, and you will encounter problems. Then, it is up to you to creatively think to find a solution. In the future, I should apply creative thinking to all aspects of my life, and not just in business. That way, I can work more efficiently.
This is a picture of our booth at the market.
This is one of our products, the Smart Sleeve
This is our other product, the Earth Board

 

Favorite Picture

This is the picture I chose because I really appreciate natural beauty in the world. I took this photo because it shows how awesome nature truly is. Some days, life can be hard. However, pieces of nature like this remind me that there is more to life than hardships, and that there will be sun after the storm.

Favorite Video

I chose this video because Geocaching is a hobby of mine. Geocaching is a worldwide game in which you follow a GPS to find physical boxes that are hidden in various places. These boxes vary in size, color, and design. To play you simply download the app and start searching for one.

Favorite Quote

“Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” – Robert Breault

I chose this quote because it is really influential to me. We have the entire earth to roam and explore. Life is for living. One day, every one is going to look back on life and think “what did I accomplish in life?” On that day, I hope that every one would be able to think “I did what I wanted to.” Right now, you may be stressed, tired, busy, or all three. However, take time to live life to the fullest, so that someday when you look back on life, you will be able to say “I accomplished what I wanted to!”