io81

I was always interested in e-business ideas like taw9eel.com but when asked about investing or creating such a business i would decline. When starting a business you have to give what is called an added value, if you don’t your customer will start thinking what am i getting for such a business. Well when we sit and discuss idea me and my friends we always talk about taw9eel.com and many say how an excellent idea it is and etc etc, but you have to answer specific questions to make sure the business is profitable in the long run, meaning time has to pass on the business and with time competitors enter the market and only here that we start to relate the benefits as customers. First what does taw9eel.com add in value to you? and secondly whats its competitive advantage? and third whats CEO boxer brand called? j/k that’s a joke…Third, what are the barriers to entry like?

I would push forward a strategy to make taw9eel.com price competitive maybe or service competitive, but when i researched its price and made a comparison i have found out that they are 30% higher than the market. Market here is defined as the normal Co-op, so the other questions is, is he buying directly from the co-op or is he buying from the suppliers and making even a higher profit margin, which is his 30% and plus the margin of the supplier. Below is the table of prices that shows the difference,  some may argue that he delivers for free but lets say you bought from taw9eel.com  goods worth for 130KD if you had went to the coop you would have saved 30KD. Now is the 30KD wasted is it worth going to the co-op, now you can see the added value question being answered.

Nothing against taw9eel.com and i think they do have a good business model, but needs a competative advantage which i cant see, meaning any one can come and copy their business and open it elsewhere.

When thinking about opening a business there are many option to choose from. Some like to build a business from start and others want to become reseller of a business or a product. This post is about being a reseller.

Why, because some products sell them selves.  I have seen many products but some like the one am going to talk about surely are winner, from my opinion of course. 

I’ve always noticed products that are used in bathroom (its not that i like being in bathrooms;p) i just notice stuff.  Why, because some products are used in most bathrooms which means they are successful and add more value to the user. But usually in Kuwait we dont use air blower or dryer, we usually go with tissue and alot and lots of tissue is wasted. Of Course your thinking that the air blowers are slow in drying your hands thats why we dont use them often but this is why I’m posting about this product. To really appreciate it you got to try it out. I’ll explain how it works, and its kinda weird looking too. You slip you hands into a socket and the blower starts, and you just slowly take your hands out of the socket, do it twice and your done. Remember when you wash your car, then the car gets dried by this huge machine that blows the air away, something. Check the product out the dysonairblade.  I think but not sure that they have no suppliers here in Kuwait.

I apologize for not writing for a while but i have been between jobs and could not find the time (ya3ne depressed:P) anyways i have noticed something and its either smart or stupid from the companys part that is doing so and i thought i may share it and see what you folks think about it. Some products when trying to enter a new market or trying to create his own market use a method where they make you think you need the product, yes what i’m saying sounds naive or nothing new but think about what i’m saying closely. As an example why do we need to use mouth wash when we already brush our teeth, is it the extra care? a certain brand of mouth wash in the states used a scare tactic, by introducing disease name like gingivitis. “If you do not wash your mouth before you sleep with such n such brand you would get gingivitis” we have always lived without mouth wash and most would not get gingivitis and would be happy just washing your teeth but what happens in our brains and subconscious minds is that we start thinking what am i losing here nothing, buy the mouth wash and hope to prevent gingivitis. I’m recently getting the same feeling and approach from Abraj Bottled water, i heard that other kinds of Kuwaiti brands cause kidney stones (from friends), and that Abraj doesnt. Now many people only carry this kind of brand because of such rumors. First if this is true that this rumor has been started by the company then this is a smart way to sell their product. Secondly if yes, why is Abraj not creating kidney stones like the others and the rumors should be tested by taking the water to a lab and confirm the rumor. This may be not be a rumor and it has been said somewhere which i didn’t get directly but its out their and for sure its increasing Abraj uniqueness between consumers. A smart and scary way to sell, hooray! or unethical is a question to be answered by the consumer himself.

Through out the eid holiday, i have visited Villa Fayrouz with 2 more friends. I honestly dislike Villa Fayrouz customer service but they surly have great tasting food. Before even deciding to go, a friend explained how he ordered take away the day before from the Villa Express and what he got was burned food. When he complained to the chef he explained that this is the way they cook there food. But when the problem reached the manager, the order was resent. Back to the day we visited Villa Fayrouz: we entered the restaurant at 8pm, and it was packed as always. The different thing was that they were serving a buffet rather than ordering from the menu, we did not mind but one friend only had a shesha and me and the other ordered from the buffet. After enjoying the traditional Kuwaiti stare and glare ambience through the shesha smoke, we ordered the cheque and to my surprise carrying a 3 orders of buffet. ”Flash back to Lebanon solidare when the cheque changes depending on the season”. I called in the waiter and explained that we only had two buffets and the third only ordered a shesha, after nearly breaking the waiters head for defending the restaurants claim that when you sit in the chair you get charged a buffet, the manager arrived and took they bill changed it and came back with the edited one. Let me explain what Villa Fayrouz lost that day, three loyal paying customers. Each of us three visit Villa Fayrouz 9 times on average per year, paying an average of 25kd per visit. That totals to 225kd per year per customer, times three resulting into 675kd per year. Now imagine that me and my friends will never go to Villa Faurouz again, and lets say we may live for 30 more years: so 30 multiplyed by 675kd reaching a total loss for Villa Fayrouz to 20,250kd!!. Does the 10kd buffet now look that complicated to handle?

This is really thinking out of the box, who could ever think of redefing the shopping cart. When really looking at how ugly and heavy steel shopping carts are, you may wonder for different alternatives. Now think of the advertising space used on the traditional shopping carts, and how stupid they look, but now with these new carts, the ads are more clearer and gives the feeling of choosing a certain cart because its covered with Virgin air or Pepsi ads. I have explained before that when new technologies come to the market and become a medium, other industries start come into place. The RFID tag technology is being accepted in most major airports and food retailers, Hong Kong airport and Wal Mart have started using such a technology. I’ll just give you a simple idea about it and not go in detail how it will change the way we shop. Here goes: you walk in Sultan center one day, pick your groceries place them in the cart, shop for more, when done you just walk out! 20 seconds later the exact amount of items you purchased has been deducted from your account, No waiting lines. These are plastic chips that are placed on items that can be tagged and priced, even know there location, Hong Kong airports now never loose baggage any more due to these tags. So this new cart embraces this technology for a better shopping experience, and came into play by another technology(RFID). Now imagine how many more will take this technology into account, maybe new sheep herding techniques, monitoring your sheep’s location within the eid market:P or original document monitoring in business companies. Check out the website you can even build your own cart. One more thing “Happy Eid all”

I have posted earlier about the new commercial building in Hawali, a friend of mine had just took a store there, the prices are as follows: the main shops on the ground level facing the street have a kholow or down payment of 10,000kd and the rent is about 500kd paid quarterly. The next floors only require rent from 400 to 300kd and no down payment. Now the sort of business’s that have taken place are: GNC, Patchi, Bon el Badawi, Refaiei rostary, Sugar, Empress and many more Kuwaiti based sweet and confecti shops. So now you have an idea what the customers there are going for and from such information you may have a better understanding if your business may grow fast or can live with the visitors of the other shops. You have to study your concept and see if  you work out between the above mentioned. If your thinking of food and sweet business this would be a great place to start, many of Patchi’s customer will surly notice your business. But if your thinking of opening a laundry….hmmm wala madri… i say go with food if thats what you originally had in mind and now with a better will power due to the stores i have mentioned. Always scan the area for new shops and opportunities, thats the only way to find a good location for a store, but still put in mind that passing customers wont buy your products they must be coming to hawali specifically to see your product or saw your store by mistake when they where intending to go to Patchi.

 

In hawaly alone on a single intersection 4 new commercial building are on there way. I could not even remember anytime in Kuwait when you can find free empty stores for rent available like that. I know that hawali maybe not that ideal place to start but atleast its in Kuwait famous silicon valley(bin Khaldoun St:p) the increase of these building around that intersection created much lower rent due to the increase in shops. Competition is always better for use as consumer or a person searching for a store. The location is exactly on the intersection of the Disabeled olympic statduim. Four buildings have sprung up looking to let their stores. You can open up anything there, from a small takeaway restaurant to mobile phone and computer accessories, GNC and Patchi are making a head start and from these store you know that this building will not allow any kind of store there, it has to be a certain criteria so think hard when wanting to apply for a store. Its been a while for the builing owners to advertise and look so hardly for shop ownenrs. It was allways the other way round and the rent was crazy, now its a great time to look for a store in these building in hawali if your interested. Think of it this way: when one day we build an ahmadi airport then a jahra one too, see how many new budget airlines we will have and how cheap the tickets will become! due to lower airport tarrif on idle planes.

Many have been asking me on how to find a good location in Kuwait or a store in one of the new malls around. The answer is a very tiring procedure and sometimes may take up to one year of searching but this all depends on your budget, if your budget was an open one then you can always find a store in a couple of days and whatever location you choose, but when constrained with a certain budget patience is the answer. Always keep your eyes open for new buildings coming out in places you would like to own a store in. For me it would be the salmiya area, and even watch news about new malls popping out. A ideal strategy is to visit the known real estate companies in Kuwait that are concentrated in building malls: Tamdeen RE, Commercail RE  such companies are building now the Kuwait 360 and the dome in Abu Hulaifa respectively. When approaching such new malls that are still in the drawing board stage you get better chances of finding a store, why because such companies like to see committed business people that provide all the details about the store before even finding a place, and when i mean all the detail i mean: store layout, concept, design, logo, projected sales etc the more information you provide the better the chance you got. I still did not introduce the variable ” wasta” because this alone plays a major role in the store acquisition and may delete other basic requirements. What people do not see here is when you start small and create a successful retail shop in one mall in Kuwait, it becomes much easier to acquire another one in a newer mall by providing that you got one successfully running now. But this may even turn out as a two edged sword!? because managment of the new malls only want new concepts and nothing repetitive, so when presenting a concept again and again you may get declined just because you have such a store somewhere else. Who ever said starting a business is easy! if it was then people all around would have been millionaires of some sort:P this approach of finding a store require an act of balance and some insider information from such real estate companies. (Pic via tamdeenrealestate.com)

  

I have always liked the coin laundry mat,  (a coin laundry mat is the washing machine that you operate by inserting your clothes and a small fee) the ones you get in the states, but dont ask me why:P So one day i figured would a coin operated laundry mat work in Kuwait? Before i start researching any business i would always ask people around me about the idea and i start my search from there. Everybody said”imagine a Kuwaiti going to a coin laundry dropping his boxers there” (note: dont tell them that you have done it in the states:P) so they may have a point, but what about the unskilled workers in Kuwait, they are about 1 million. Dont they wash theirclothes? some idiots even said NO they dont!, because he is calculating the normal laundry expenses and relating it to a guy with a 80 KD salary. So i had to know if the idea works or not but one major problem was the language barrier which i had to face. So i made a simple questionnaire which included questions like, do you wash your clothes in a laundry? if you do how often? how much do you spend monthly on the laundry? then after i went and translated the questionnaire into 5 languages. Indian: tamil malayalam, hindu, urdu then comes Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Singalese. I even had a hard time getting the questionnaire done, i had to label each to know what language it was. So i took of to Kuwait city and some places in salmiya. The strange thing that came out was, every body used a laundry, and they paid an average of 5kd per month for the service which included 4 to 5 pieces of clothing only per week, they had delivery service too but was very slow, slow i mean it takes a week! most had monthly subscription fees, and an employee passes by on a bike to pick the clothes of the workers each day. So as you can see there is a hidden system there, so my next question is do you think a coin operated laundry mat would work? paying 500fils to wash more than 10 pieces of clothing, but then you have to dry and iron them too, would such an idea be accepted?

Wondering around in sultan center salmiyah, i was looking for gym gloves. So i asked around till i found the shelve that has them all, well one i say all it was only Nike but different kinds. I’m not a fan of Nike, due to there bad record of using small kids aged 13 to get these garments, shoes and other sport apparel made (called sweat shops). so i tend to find other brands than Nike. But when i was there, searching for another brand, i only found them really high up. Too high that i cant even reach them to try them out, most who know me personally know how tall i’m:p briefly quite short:). Anyways, due to the placing of the gloves, i stood there for about five minutes and the only gloves i saw where Nike’s. I even called an assistant just to get to the higher non Nike brand gloves. The point i’m making here, is that even in coops through out Kuwait, its always the well know brands are at the average eye sight of customers. You can test this your self, most unknown brands are at the bottom or top. After investigating such positioning of items, it seems that these brand owners pay for space rental at coops, and pay a little bit extra for putting such items in front. A friend of mine started a small plastic factory where he creates these plastic mats that are placed on the floor for food serving. His product was substantioly cheaper compared to same products in the coop, but when his product was placed in the shelves of coops it was always placed at the back. Think about it who cares what brand of plastic food mat you need, most probably the cheapest, right. But from my friends perspective, his product was not selling. After noticing that his product was always placed at the back of the shelves, he understood he had to pay a bribe, to get his product at the front for customers to see and buy. Some things never seem as there are unless you get your hands dirty.