Special Access to a Product or Service

Tweet

Some products and services are available only through specially designated agents. For example, certain brands of hair products, such as Aveda, Matrix, Nexxus, and Paul Mitchell, are sold only through hair salons; by contrast, anyone can sell brands such as Ivory, Finesse, Clairol, and Neutrogena. Another example: Some handmade products may be available only in their country of origin; if you had the right contacts in that country, you could become the exclusive importer of those products.

A more specific example of this kind of special access is provided by FragranceNet.com, which Jaclyn Easton includes in her book of Internet success stories, StrikingItRich.com. Jason Apfel, who founded FragranceNet, counts his commitment to customer service as a crucial ingredient in his recipe for success. However, his ability to deliver on this promise depends in part on his special arrangement with a distributor that carries one of the largest selections of fragrances in the world. The distributor "gives Apfel access to $40 million worth of fragrance. In fact, the distributor's warehouse could be considered FragranceNet's annex," says Easton.

This means, among other things, that Apfel can carry virtually every fragrance available, about 1,200 products when Easton interviewed Apfel. "Since FragranceNet's distributor/supplier has been in business so many years, chances are good that FragranceNet has scents that other stores, either online or off, cannot offer (including discontinued items)," says Apfel. When he receives a request for something unusual -- perhaps for an older fragrance from someone who wants to reunite a mother or grandmother with a fragrance she wore for many years in the past -- Apfel is able to oblige. Thus, Apfel's special access to products, combined with his unwavering commitment to customer service, has enabled him to build in the minds of his customers the impression that "if FragranceNet can't get it, perhaps nobody can."

Now think about your situation. Do you have special connections that you could leverage into a successful business? Do you or could you have access to any product(s) or service(s) that others may want to buy? If so, make a list of these items, and do some research on the Web to find out if anyone else is offering them. Study the Web sites of any potential competitors, and find out what makes them successful (or not). Also, be sure to find out about your potential offline competition. Then you need to identify your potential market and find out whether there is a demand for your product or service.

Copyright © 1995-2000 Pinnacle WebWorkz Inc. All rights reserved. Do notduplicate or redistribute in any form.

Read more:

Sign-up for our Technology Newsletter

Email Address: