Venture Concept No. 2 (Assignment 29A)

1. Opportunity: The opportunity I discovered is the need for stores that supply recreational marijuana in states that have legalized its use. The need are people that are considered regular cannabis users, typically from 21-35. The force creating this opportunity is the country's legislation. More states are legalizing the use of recreational marijuana, creating a larger market every year. This market is defined geographically in states that have legalized recreational cannabis use. Most of these states happen to be on the western half of the country. Demographically speaking, the market is made up of younger people, typically from ages 21-35. Customers are currently satisfying this need by acquiring marijuana illegally from drug dealers on street corners and parking lots. These customers are buying cannabis in states that has not yet legalized its recreational use. I believe that once their states legalize the recreational use of cannabis, they will not be loyal to drug dealers and will purchase product from a store. This method is safer and legal, unlike purchasing from a drug dealer. This opportunity is a very big one. More and more states are legalizing the use of marijuana every year. Over half of the country has now legalized marijuana use is some form. In addition, the market has increased exponentially over the years. It is expected to more than double in size withing the next 10 years. I believe the true window of opportunity will be open for the next 10 years. I want to be one of the first stores in a state that has recently legalized recreational cannabis use. In order to do that, I have to move quickly, and since many states are legalizing its use now, the time to open a store is now.

Innovation: My innovation is to sell only high quality cannabis products in a "one stop shop" style of smoke shop. The only marijuana products I will sell in my store will be high quality, organic, and lab tested products. My mission is to serve the people exactly what they want, which is a fully natural and safe cannabis product. A lot of times, cannabis from drug dealers is laced with other substances, making it unsafe and dangerous to use. In addition to selling only high quality product, I also want my store to be a "one stop shop" for smoke related products. I believe that this will change the way smoke shops are looked at. Customers will not have to go to multiple places to buy all of the products they need. Since cannabis will be legalized in the state where my store will be located, I am going to sell the cannabis, and the products that go hand in hand with it. For example, my store will sell glassware, vaporizers, and other products that are related to cannabis use. This model will help the business to up sell other products to the customer, and can also provide "bulk deals" as well. I believe that this type of store will set mine apart from the others. I feel like people that have marijuana stores stick to only the plant. I would put less of an emphasis on herb and more of an overall selection of cannabis and accessories. 

Venture Concept: The reasons customers will switch to this store is because cannabis use will become legalized in the state that the shop will be located in. This store will make customers switch because they will no longer have to buy cannabis illegally through drug dealers. I do not believe it will be hard for them to switch because my store will be legal, and it will sell only high quality product. This will get rid of the risk of buying laced product that is not safe for consumption. The competitors to my business are other stores selling recreational cannabis. The possible weaknesses of these competitors is that they may not sell high quality or organic product. In addition, they may not model their stores to be one stop shops. Most stores nowadays are either strictly cannabis shops or the accessory shops. My plan is to blend the two, and make one place where the customers can purchase everything they need.  Packaging, distribution, and customer support do not play a large role in defining my business concept. On the other hand, price points, customer experience, and business location play a huge role in defining my business concept. I believe my price points need to be affordable in order to make my store a desirable location to purchase cannabis. Also, I believe the customers need to have enjoyable experiences while in the store in order to make them feel comfortable enough to come back. Lastly, business location is the most important aspect. My target audience is younger people, so I need to place my store in an area where there is a large concentration of young people, like a college town or large city. I would organize my business to support the ongoing production of my service by hiring a team of employees to work at the store. I think 3 employees is enough people to keep the store running smoothly. The roles will be to stock/ organize product in the back, and two employees to serve customers.

Questions: My most important resource will be my high quality product. I believe that this will help me to stand out from my competitors.

The next opportunity I want to tackle would be to grow my own product. This would lower my cost of supply tremendously, and would increase my margins greatly. Overall, I would want to vertically integrate my business, and take over different parts of my supply chain. This would help to lower my production cost greatly, leading to higher profits.

In the next five years in want to have multiple locations selling products across multiple states. I would like to do this with franchising or growing the business with my own capital. I think that franchising would allow me to expand my customer base rapidly, as others would be willing to use my name on their stores.  In the next decade, I want to have multiple businesses as an entrepreneur, and have multiple streams of income. This first venture would help teach me how to run a business, and would really help me fund other ventures if all goes well.

2. On the previous venture concept, all of the feedback was positive. All of the comments told me how my idea was very good, and that I did a good job of talking about my idea. They said that I thought about all aspects, and thought that I had done a great job making my original post well rounded. Also, one comment said I should focus on making my product stick more to make me seem different than my competitors. 

3. I changed my venture concept by adding what will make my idea different  from others. One comment said I should talk more about how I can make my business seem more appealing and different from my competitors. I talked about how I wanted my store to be a one stop shop for marijuana related products. I think that having more than just cannabis in my store will make it stick out. People will come to my store because they can get everything they need in order to use cannabis. 

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