Duncan Develops Luggage

On Jul 26, 2009, at 3:20 AM, Duncan wrote:

John,

Hope you're doing good. I'm finding the Hammacher Schlemmer catalog is a really great source of inspiration. Does a successful importing company lie behind every product? Would any one of these products be good enough to launch an importing business? Many of the products I can certainly imagine leading to the response 'good idea, doesn't exist'.

***Yes, I think Hammacher Schlemmer (HS) is merely one very well organized companys of which there are countless that sell products that compete on design. They are retailers, and behind those products are both importers and manufacturers. I would say whoever vends those products to HS did start as an innovator. If biz start without innovation, usually they die. Some start without innovation, but get the message quick enough to change and survive. Normally innovation is not something you learn to do later, you do it first.***

For example, the pop-up pavillion http://www.hammacher.com/Product/76540?promo=OutdoorFurniture
"I want a pavillion that collapses and stores easily in a bag" Doesn't exist, utilitarian.

Some of the products though I think I'd have a hard time getting to 'good idea, doesn't exist' without showing a picture first. What about this one: http://www.hammacher.com/Product/75808?promo=Sports-Leisure-Travel
Not much different from existing bags. Other bags open from the side, nothing unique. Nice leather, but so do a lot of other bags. I mention this because I'm focusing on bags. If I went in and described this they would say 'we don't have exactly what you want but this bag opens from the side and is made of a high quality leather'. If I insisted I want "American bison leather" and brought in a picture of this bag in my mind they might say 'nice, but we don't have it'. Is that the strategy you would use here?

***Yes, but lock in to the business side of the brain that the buyers you approach will place tiny, insignificant orders... " "hmmm, I am looking for new, and I supposed I could try three bags with no risk to me..." thinks the buyer. I does not take much to innovate, the buyer takes no risk, so not to worry to much about pictures, samples etc so early in the process...***

This one, too, http://www.hammacher.com/Product/75095?promo=xsells
"I want a bag that fits under the airplane seat and has easily accessible pockets" This would already be solved by existing bags on the market.

I would never design this bag http://www.hammacher.com/Product/76838?promo=Sports-Leisure-Travel because there are a zillion similar bags out there. I could never say it doesn't exist, which is an essential criteria.

***Right, never start by proposing to solve a problem that is already solved.***

This is a good candidate for solving a problem... http://www.hammacher.com/Product/77464?promo=Pool
"I want a swim mask with a bulit in camera so I don't have to carry one" (assuming it didn't already exist) , getting to milestone 2 would be easy

***Yes, in China this spring I saw a telephoto attachment for cell phone cameras... a wide angle attachment too... what a trip... ***

What would you ask for here
http://www.hammacher.com/Product/74035?promo=Apparel-Robes
"I want a bath robe that is heavier than anything you have in store?"

***the term for the heaviest cotton terry bathrobe a human can endure is a "turkish bath robe" I suspect it is already out there...***

the yahoo group group:
Of course, the govt distortions are still in place, but the run-up in real
estate is over. The
fantastic profits will be found by investing the excess profits of the business
you love in a different
asset class over the coming years, Exactly what will that be? Get a biz going,
get into those trade
shows, get into the conversations that normally occur, and at that time you will
find out as
everyone else does.
Wouldn't the greatest return be had from reinvesting and growing the biz? If not, why not start out in investing rather than entrepreneurship?

***Straight business is what you love... business is constrained by competition which limits the possible return on investment. the business you love is in a free market, and no one can gain outsized returns in a free market. Natural law constrains excesses. While you live your calling as a butcher, baker, candle stick maker, governments are busy distorting markets and generating misallocations and malinvestments. One may invest savings on the way up in these disasters, or on the way down (or both). to ones advantage. I certainly have, crying crocodile tears the whole time. In the case of the accidental millions those importers made off of warehouse real estate in the 50s 60s, those very warehouses now are again heading to zero value (meaning no buyers at any price.)***


When you ask the manufacturer to pay you a royalty when they sell your product, someone else is buying your design. What this person is doing is what you advise against though.... in this case is it the volume importers appropriating your product?


*** anyone buying my products is going to sell it to customers I cannot reach. If they start a biz with my product, they will likely fail, since they lack the faculty to compete on design. Understand this is mostly the answer to the fear people have that "someone might steal my idea..."***

Similarly, say I wanted to import speciality pasta. Couldn't I take off the shelf spaghetti from Italy and sell it? Isn't the whole idea that it's authentic and the way it's consumed in Italy? I don't see any different pasta here than from when I was living in Italy, there's just quite a lot more varieties there. I'm guessing this is an example of a 'design' that works everywhere, so no more work to be done here customizing for the market?

***Everyone sells authentic pasta from italy... what problem would you be solving?***

The other thing is not to worry too much about how well it sells... a key reason
for
getting any item out there is to get in line to here more and newer ideas, that
you,
being small and "hungry" will work on as well, ever building your compnay.
So get any item out there is crucial?? Couldn't I just put out a dish cloth in tartan, say, even though it probably already exists, then get in line for the new ideas? Or would the problem be that I wouldn't be seen as first rate?

***Right, and you have to earn a place at the table, with your first offering... you have to prime the pump by putting a little of your own in first...***

John

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