In 1922, a young boy from Kansas City came to California with a head full of ideas and an extraordinary passion for creating animation. In his hometown, he left behind several life setbacks — being fired from the editorial board of the local Missouri Newspaper for “too little creativity” or the bankruptcy of his own small film lab. Therefore, in addition to a briefcase of amateur sketches, he could not boast of any experience, so film studios in Los Angeles did not want to hire him.
Determined and undeterred by this situation, he and his brother raised money to open another business. In California, in his garage, his uncle set up his own animation studio. With his big dreams, he quickly attracted very talented artists to him, thanks to which in a few years the business grew not only on a national scale, but even on a global scale.
When the young Walt Disney arrived in Los Angeles, no one expected that his ideas would be awarded 32 Oscars... Sometimes it is worth going beyond the scheme, hitting some market niche or simply creating a product with a unique distinctive feature. In an increasingly crowded world of sales, this is the basis. It was from this assumption that the founders of three online stores with unusual products came out.
Air in a jar
There's a jar. Completely transparent, empty — a jar like any other. Price — 80 euros... One would like to say “why such money? For the air in the jar?” Exactly so! But not just any air, just clean, rural, specially selected, from the farthest corners of England. Where the grass is the greenest and the cows are tormenting cheerfully, this is where the young entrepreneur Leo De Watts decided to get some fresh air, pack it in more than half-liter jars and sell it online where the streets are smoky and smog runs down the throats, that is, to Chinese metropolises in particular. Sensitive about their health, the Chinese were very happy to place orders in the online store Aethaer, founded by a Briton - the business turned out to be a great success.
De Watts himself, however, noted that his product is an exclusive commodity. A bit like the so-called paradox of water and diamonds - diamonds that you can somehow do without are very expensive and the water necessary for life is relatively cheap - unless in regions where it is lacking, such as clean air in China. There is only one question — after opening the jar, to draw in the contents quickly in one gulp or to savor slowly like a delicacy?
Spicy honey - about two such that they mixed
We are more and more eager to find new flavors on our own that will surprise us and move our bored taste buds, which is why a lot of non-obvious mixes appear on the market, such as hot chocolate with blue cheese or ice cream flavored with caramel with salt. And what do you think of spicy honey? This idea came up with two friends who combined chili peppers and honey. They stirred it up, bottled it, called it Bees Knees Spicy Honey and sold it as a unique sauce for dishes. There were many who wanted to broaden their taste horizons, but the appetite usually increases as you eat, so marketing was necessary to reach everyone interested. To begin with, the cheapest, that is, whispered - from acquaintances, through acquaintances, acquaintances, to strangers, and so during the year of activity, the account of ingenious “alchemists” was transferred to the account of the ingenious “alchemists”. During this time, the founders expanded the range of their store, Bushwick Kitchen, to include more mixes. As you can see, it is not always necessary to simplify, sometimes it is worth mixing.
Sleeping on cardboard - a step further than IKEA
We bought something new in an online store, eagerly unpack it from a cardboard box, take our new miracle in our hands, after which we throw the box away or pack some asparagus into it and throw it into the garage or into the attic. Meanwhile, an Australian company with the eloquent name Cardboard, was the first in the world to cast the aforementioned cardboard in the lead role, creating furniture from it. Usually an underappreciated hero of everyday life, thanks to an ingenious online store, he took the form of extremely designer furniture - from shelves, through desks, cabinets and wardrobes, to beds.
Karton predicted that customers might not be entirely convinced of the durability of such furniture, so he organized a series of tests in which the willing could, for example, jump on a cardboard bed with a pack of friends. Later, he posted videos of such actions in the “Watch and fold” section of his website, along with videos showing how to fold their furniture and how to match it to his style. Karton also launched a Q&A section on its website, in which it tried to dispel any doubts of potential customers.
There are no too crazy business ideas, there are only those that have not yet reached their audience, or their marketing has not knocked down with effectiveness. When we know our customers, we can give them something that they may have even dreamed of, but did not expect that someone would ever do it for them.
