4th May to 24th May 2019

Our group had a number of creative ideas which we wanted to try out.

When it comes to decorative items (i.e. our dried flower desk arrangements), any ideas that would make the decorative piece "Stand-out" (in the right way, of course!) is key. If we could create something that no one else has at the market (at this point) - Something really aesthetically pretty to look at, it will give us the advantage as we look to sell some of our finished products online later.

Thus, Our group has gone into a "R&D" phase in the past few weeks, To consider all potential designs we could use for our final decorative products.

However, there was one little (okay..actually quite a substantial) constraint we had to consider - Because we wanted to hit the market fast, with low entry costs, the supplies and materials that we use must be available in the market. We simply do not have the resources to develop raw materials from scratch.

To aid my creative juices (while ensure that the ideas I suggested were feasible), I turned to looking at various E-Commerce Sites and physical stores to see competing products, as well as looking at all kinds of art and decorative supplies online to see what we could import and try. From there, I thought of possible ways we could incorporate some of these ready-supplies into our final product.

As a techie kind of person, I was interested in bringing in potential lights we could install on our final products - Something that looks pretty, isn't too obtrusive in terms of installation, and most importantly, has an acceptable battery life (Because No matter how pretty the installation is, few would want to constantly have to change the battery every day or so just to look at pretty lights).

As I browsed online, I then realized our next constraint.

The Dreaded Minimum Order Quantity (MOQ).

As a business, being able to lower our cost of goods sold (COGS) is important. However, most suppliers that sell cheaper, tend to sell with a high MOQ.

How high, you'd ask?

There are a couple of things that could go wrong with the order

1) New Supplier - we need to ensure we can first of all, trust that company to deliver the goods ordered as promised

2) Untested Buying Platform and Shipping methods - If using a new E-Commerce Site, we may not be too sure of the return or dispute policies in the event that something does go wrong. As much as possible, since the supplies are being bought online, having a good "Middle-man" that we can trust to ensure that disputes are resolved fairly is valued, since we are unable to physically visit our sourcing partners to have a look at the product and "have a feel of the ground" first.

3) Perhaps the most important: Are we sure that there is a demand for our prototype product? What about Inventory and Holding Costs? - Seriously, It's not funny if we were to open the door to a delivery of 1000 glass bowls, only to realize much later that the market does not like that particular design. We would be essentially screwed if we had 1000 glass bowls that we cannot sell (Well. Actually we can pivot our business and sell it as a fish tank for fighting fish - But Let's not get into that 😂). If the glass bowl costs $4, that's $4000 worth of glass bowls sitting in our inventory. No way man - I don't want to see 1000 bowls at all over our office either...

To get around this, we did a quick estimate before even considering our potential suppliers - Can we actually hit the MOQ if we want to buy from this supplier (at least in these early stages)? Because there is no point wasting time bringing in samples from a supplier which we can't use due to his (at this point, ridiculously high) MOQ requirement. We simply cannot be so sure that the end-design we have created are actually in-demand by our customer market. Hence - We felt that overall, It's best to be a little conservative until we can be sure that there is an overall demand for our product.

As a result, we refrained from buying materials from a few suppliers, even though their prices were very competitive.

To ensure the sanity of the materials we would bring in for our next round of prototype meets (when the goods arrive), we also consulted each other before purchasing. This ensures our funds are being well spent on prototype materials we would actually use.

At long last, we placed our orders for materials needed to create a few different prototypes to sell in the market.

Now, As we wait for our orders to arrive - We take a little breather - and begin our preparations elsewhere. #StayTuned