Istanbul, Turkey
Remember, comment with your own idea and I’ll post it here every week. After combing through last week’s post, here’s what I’ve got:
1. Werner said: “What about a website that designs your apparel/accessories for you based on your tastes/likes that you feed into the program? Once designed, they will deliver the custom made items to your door?”
2. Colin and Kristin thought this series would be good in book form, something like “365 days of ideas.” Kristin even offered to “illustrate the bajeezus outta” it.
3. Jonny came up with the name, Sunday Sandbox. Thanks, man!
4. John added: “Maybe ‘Free Hugs’ is better than ‘Hugs are Free.’ You could play on those viral videos that circulated a few years ago. An apparel company is a big investment though. Maybe just start with a T-shirt and a website of positive messages. An alternate would be something obscene, which would probably catch on with a younger market.”
Thanks everyone for the comments!
Here’s idea number 2:
Inspiration: http://www.realbeer.com/news/articles/news-000175.php
Idea: A restaurant or cafe that engages in market pricing. Set up a computer system that gauges consumer demand, and alter your prices every, say, 30 minutes or so to reflect demand. I envision this working better in a restaurant model that’s based on fewer menu items, like a burger or ice cream place.
Comment away. Heading to the airport in a few hours for a month-long excursion throughout Central Asia. First stop, Kazakhstan! I’ll check in with everyone soon.
Randy L on October 18th, 2009
1
When I studied abroad in London UCL (University College London) had “Bar FTSE” once a week in their student union (FTSE is an index like the Dow or S&P). They had prices of all drinks fluctuating on big monitors based on demand at the bar and a few times a night would have a “market crash” where all prices went low and everyone would rush the bar. It remains to be seen if they were actually tracking the prices to supply/demand or just making the prices up… but it was always a good time.
The same idea might work in a single restaurant… though I think a high volume of traffic and orders would be necessary to make it work- there was always a queue at the bar and most patrons would order several drinks throughout the night.
I could see this working in a food court type environment with diverse food options that are constantly altering their prices (even if all vendors share a common owner).
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Kristin on October 18th, 2009
2
Hm. Curious about this idea. So, it’s a super hot day and the prices of ice cream drop? This idea might work seasonally, but I wonder how effective it would be off season, then.
Conversely, it could be really hot to set up a burger place and the more people who come in to buy burgers, the cheaper the burgers are. That could breed a lot of business!
Though the part of me that is against the increasing waist band of America might suggest something other than burgers
.-= Kristin´s last blog ..epic fail or epic win? =-.
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Colin Wright on October 18th, 2009
3
You could offer promotions to people so that if they become a member, they will always get the lowest price of the previous day or something like that. A lot of opportunities to give people a deal (perceived or real).
.-= Colin Wright´s last blog ..The Future Will Suck =-.
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Nate on October 19th, 2009
4
That’s a sweet idea. And I think Colin’s addition to it is great.
.-= Nate´s last blog ..the snowball effect =-.
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heidi on October 23rd, 2009
5
I like the picture from Istanbul.
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Chris Dunkley on April 23rd, 2010
6
Hi, I have just stumbled across this discussion and although a little late wanted to post our website for details of our software – as it is our system which runs THE EXCHANGE (previously BAR FTSE).
By the way it is linked to sales!
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