Venture Concept No. 2

1. Opportunity

Dog owners everywhere have the need for a place to take their pet when the weather is poor. The forces in the environment that create this opportunity are poor weather conditions and dog owners’ desire for a place to take their dogs where they can run around and socialize with other dogs. The market for this opportunity would be much higher in an area where rain is more prevalent and where there is a large number of dog owners. In terms of defining this market demographically, there is not a particular limit to the demographic that this opportunity serves, considering dog owners vary by age, race, economical status, etc. When the weather is nice, customers utilize outdoor parks, but when the weather is poor, they do not have another option, so they are forced to stay home with their dogs. The loyalty of the customers differs across the board. Some customers are extremely loyal to outdoor dog parks and attend them frequently—some more than once a week—while other customers attend them only once or twice a month. This opportunity is very BIG. There are dog owners everywhere, who would love to have a place to take their dogs all the time. The “window of opportunity” will never close because there will always be dog owners and there will always be poor weather, so the mixture of the two creates my opportunity. Dog owners + poor weather = my opportunity.

Innovation

                The innovation I have come with is an indoor dog park. There will be a large open area covered with turf that is available for the dogs to run around. This open space will include small artificial ponds, agility obstacles and some fake mulch pits for the dogs to utilize. There will be staff walking around to monitor the dogs and to clean up any messes that occur. In addition, there will be places to sit for the owners to sit outside of the dog area and a café where the humans can purchase snacks and drinks. Customers can choose between a monthly membership fee to use the facility as often as they want or a one-time fee if they do not plan on coming often. The monthly membership fee would be $50 while the one-time fee would be $15. This means that if someone comes once a week, they would save $10 per month if they purchase the monthly membership over the one-time fee. There will also be a service that will pick your pet up from your house and bring them to the park for a desired time. The price will vary based on how far you live from the park and how long you will want your dog to spend at the park. 

Venture Concept

                My innovation of an indoor dog park would address my opportunity by giving dog owners a place to bring their dogs to play when there are poor weather conditions. The transition from outdoor dog parks to indoor dog parks would be smooth enough for dog owners, so persuading them to switch would not be too difficult. I have tried to make my venture more appealing than an outdoor dog park is to better convince dog owners to choose my facility over outdoor dog parks. Business location is very important because if I am located in a place with a lot of dog owners and poor weather then I will be successful, but if I am located in a place with few dog owners and consistently nice weather then I will have a harder time succeeding. I would create this venture as a franchise opportunity so I could manage the company as a whole, but I would have help running the individual facilities.

Minor Elements

                My most important resources will be my passion for my venture and my dedication to high quality customer service. It will be hard for my competitors to copy my success because I will have so much passion and be dedicated to give my customers the best experience possible. I would like to add the opportunity of doggy daycare and dog boarding to my venture to allow me more opportunities to make money and serve my community. 10 years after I launch my venture, I would hope to have multiple franchises open around the country. 

2.  I did receive mostly positive feedback on my venture concept but Emily brought up a great point about how I would market to dog owners who don't normally take their dogs to a dog park. That specific group is not my main target audience but it would make for an added market for my venture. 

3.  I decided to add a service that will actually pick up your pet(s) from your house and bring them to the park for either a couple of hours or the whole day. This would entice those that are a bit lazier to utilize my product and because this would be very convenient for the dog owners, I will be able to charge a higher price.