The Opportunity Clinic - 28 Tactics for Managing Your Business in a Recession Part 4 of 28 “Left Behind “Opportunities

 

 

Every human concept or invention has 4 effects on society, according to Marshall McLuhan. As we switch from plastic bags to bring-your-own cloth bags in grocery stores, we see one of these unintended effects or consequences. It’s what I would classify as a “left behind” combined with a  "process" opportunity window, in the Opportunity Clinic ™ ©  jargon. I'm less of a "trends" fan, althought this does present another "opportunity window" because trends such as a shift from plastic to bring-it-yourself (biy) bags are ovbious to most people and the opportunity space gets quickly crowded out.

My good friend Susan Abbott writes about this unintended consequence of the switch in bags on her blog

What happened when everyone started bringing their own bag: the law of unintended consequences

"I just got a call from a good buddy leaving Loblaws, which recently introduced a save-the-planet charge of 5 cents a bag for those no-goodniks that don't bring their own.

"I'm just leaving the Superstore now," says buddy."Everyone is bringing their own bags.

"And you would not believe how this has slowed down the checkout process. At least 30% slower."

I witnessed this myself at a Wal-Mart. The bags are not all the same size. Some are floppy and need to be held open. One guy was handing the bags over one at a time.

Last week when I commented about the cost of human-delivered services, I wasn't even thinking about this.

Researchers like me know how much customers hate waiting in line. They hate watching inefficiency in line. It used to be just the brown rice brotherhood that took their own bag. Soon everyone will be doing it.  Yikes! "

These are touch-points for the opportunity savvy entrepreneur that can 1) recognize this change event or shift and notice the unintended consequences ..they are usually in your face if you only take the time to look and ask a few strategic questions and 2) find and fill an opportunity space or opportunity window here with your unique solution.

Here's a freebee for someone..... design a cloth bag holder for your store-bought cloth bags, so that the checkout clerk can scan and pack groceries right away into your cloth bag, (but not for bags from the competion's store).

Related posts in this series:

The Opportunity Clinic - 28 Tactics for Managing Your Business in a Recession Part 3 of 28 Design Opportunities- Hope or Nostalgia

The Opportunity Clinic - 28 Tactics for Managing Your Business in a Recession Part 2 of 28 Innovation or Efficiency?

The Opportunity Clinic - 28 Tactics for Managing Your Business (& surviving and thriving) in a Recession Part 1of 28

Related Posts over that past year:

·         Opportunity Recognition in Difficult Times

·         Recession - Proofing your Business - Spotting & Designing Opportunities in a Downturn

·         Recession - Proofing your Business - Spotting & Designing Opportunities in a Downturn – June 25, 2008, Ontario College of Art Design, Toronto, ON

·         Recession-Proofing your Business-Strategies and Tactics for smoother sailing in turbulent seas

·         Master Class in Opportunity Recognition for entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs> May 30th 2008> University of Toronto

·         Turning Misery into Opportunity

·         Vacuum leaves pullout opportunities;

·         How will baby boomers handle the recession? Zoomers, Doomers, Gloomers, Opportuneurs

·         Recession, Depression and Shortages as Opportunities

·         Restructuring of American Business-A New Business Model?

·         Using New Yorker Cartoons for Opportunity Recognition /Sense-making & Pattern Recognition

·         Text Mining for S&T Scouting, Foresight and Opportunity Recognition

·         The Opportunity Clinic-swapping opportunity scenarios 08-002

Walter Derzko

 

Every human concept or invention has 4 effects on society, according to Marshall McLuhan. As we switch from plastic bags to bring-your-own cloth bags in grocery stores, we see one of these unintended effects or consequences. It’s what I would classify as a “left behind” combined with a  "process" opportunity window, in the Opportunity Clinic ™ ©  jargon. I'm less of a "trends" fan, althought this does present another "opportunity window" because trends such as a shift from plastic to bring-it-yourself (biy) bags are ovbious to most people and the opportunity space gets quickly crowded out.

My good friend Susan Abbott writes about this unintended consequence of the switch in bags on her blog

What happened when everyone started bringing their own bag: the law of unintended consequences

"I just got a call from a good buddy leaving Loblaws, which recently introduced a save-the-planet charge of 5 cents a bag for those no-goodniks that don't bring their own.

"I'm just leaving the Superstore now," says buddy."Everyone is bringing their own bags.

"And you would not believe how this has slowed down the checkout process. At least 30% slower."

I witnessed this myself at a Wal-Mart. The bags are not all the same size. Some are floppy and need to be held open. One guy was handing the bags over one at a time.

Last week when I commented about the cost of human-delivered services, I wasn't even thinking about this.

Researchers like me know how much customers hate waiting in line. They hate watching inefficiency in line. It used to be just the brown rice brotherhood that took their own bag. Soon everyone will be doing it.  Yikes! "

These are touch-points for the opportunity savvy entrepreneur that can 1) recognize this change event or shift and notice the unintended consequences ..they are usually in your face if you only take the time to look and ask a few strategic questions and 2) find and fill an opportunity space or opportunity window here with your unique solution.

Here's a freebee for someone..... design a cloth bag holder for your store-bought cloth bags, so that the checkout clerk can scan and pack groceries right away into your cloth bag, (but not for bags from the competion's store).

Related posts in this series:

The Opportunity Clinic - 28 Tactics for Managing Your Business in a Recession Part 3 of 28 Design Opportunities- Hope or Nostalgia

The Opportunity Clinic - 28 Tactics for Managing Your Business in a Recession Part 2 of 28 Innovation or Efficiency?

The Opportunity Clinic - 28 Tactics for Managing Your Business (& surviving and thriving) in a Recession Part 1of 28

Related Posts over that past year:

·         Opportunity Recognition in Difficult Times

·         Recession - Proofing your Business - Spotting & Designing Opportunities in a Downturn

·         Recession - Proofing your Business - Spotting & Designing Opportunities in a Downturn – June 25, 2008, Ontario College of Art Design, Toronto, ON

·         Recession-Proofing your Business-Strategies and Tactics for smoother sailing in turbulent seas

·         Master Class in Opportunity Recognition for entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs> May 30th 2008> University of Toronto

·         Turning Misery into Opportunity

·         Vacuum leaves pullout opportunities;

·         How will baby boomers handle the recession? Zoomers, Doomers, Gloomers, Opportuneurs

·         Recession, Depression and Shortages as Opportunities

·         Restructuring of American Business-A New Business Model?

·         Using New Yorker Cartoons for Opportunity Recognition /Sense-making & Pattern Recognition

·         Text Mining for S&T Scouting, Foresight and Opportunity Recognition

·         The Opportunity Clinic-swapping opportunity scenarios 08-002

Walter Derzko

Comments

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