Pinkberry finally opened in Marina mall, to be honest i hate being proud of consuming (you should see my Communist side:P) so much but i really like Pinkberry. When even visiting the US and the UK and i have tried many there, nothing compares to Pinkberry, its this tangy feeling in the yogurt that i like, i even go for the plain one. Anyways it opened in Marina, i hate the Avenues but Marina Mall is quite less congested than Avenues so that’s a plus. No more these long lines atleast:)

It seems there is a war between Red Mango and Pinkberry check out the youtube post below.

I have posted earlier about a Juice company and said will discuss the market potential. So i don’t know if you guys have seen the Fresh Juice Company plastic bottles that get sold in the Coop’s mostly in front of the main entrance or next to the cashier, so i made some research and get this; its a huge market out there!

This small company that has about 4 small trucks to deliver the drinks all over Coops in Kuwait and Sultan center sell about 2500 bottles a day with 10 employees, will get to the numbers in a minute. Their operation is very primitive but efficient and do sell a lot of fruit. They have no large machinery to chop the fruits but more manual labor. With true honesty i thought that it would be dirty and i would blow into oblivion in this post but the what i found out is the opposite. Clean employees and a sanitary work place, all the employees have their heads covered and wearing thick gloves. Fruits are all well packed and cleaned well and then all stored in large fridges (can be seen in the pic).

The company has great potential to grow, from a branding perspective to new products. With such reach the company has, they can educate the customer base they sell to about anti-oxidant drinks and immune booster, and many more examples (the one i would like to see is dates drink). The plastic used and the sticker that introduces the product need change. New markets can be approached like the government school cafeteria instead of these kids drinking soda all day. They claim that the best selling outlets are the ones outside Kuwait city, like Qurain and Subahiya Coops and all Sultan Center outlets.

Selling 2500 bottles a day is fantastic and surprising, they sell their products at about 350 fils. Lets do some rough calculations.

350fils * 2500 = 875KD a day lets say half is their cost at 437.5KD with a net profit a day of 437.5KD and * by 26 business days = 11,375KD for a months work, thats nice.

There is a market out there and huge potential for many business idea’s other than cupcakes and khalageen:p think about how the market is untapped and is filled with juices that are not fresh and have to be delivered all the way to Kuwait and priced much higher (snapple, tropicana).

Going to Rehab complex to see whats new in the gaming market, i was surprised to see that more stores are opening there. Down in the basement where their use to be a large computer store now got segmented into small shops for rent. Rent is quite on the high side but if desperate to open a store in Rehab and you have a customer base, then by all means do open a store their. I personally do not recommend because when stores are back to back you start getting customers who will buy from your neighbor because of a 250 fils reduction in price. In summary, it becomes highly competitive and margins shrink.

The stores there are small, and rent is about 400 to 600KD. Call the number 94095820 Abu yousef to get more info.

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.