Requirements for service design
(Things someone might call overblown... things to think about before jumping into a business model or a business itself)
case. Riding
a. For some, riding is simply a sport.
They make time, buy equipment, pick a spot, dress for it,
and focus on the ride. ( - They spend 2 to 3 hours fully dedicated to it.)
b. For others, riding is daily life.
They don't especially dress up or obsess over the gear.
: For ordinary marketers and businesspeople,
within the riding category, the lucrative, high-spending target is the "a" customer.
In the domestic market, businesses focus on and obsess over them.
case. Department store
Look at a department store's show window. The items on display aren't actually for sale, but they stir people's curiosity and desire to buy.
(This is called VP — Visual Presentation.)
Through this, people become curious about and interested in the product (→ the brand), and eventually that leads to sales.
The brand gains a concept, and takes up its own position in people's minds.
case. The North Face
Let's drop into a more detailed, everyday example...
The North Face is practically a national? (it's a foreign brand, but...) outdoor brand.
When did North Face really settle into people's minds?
Do you remember? The cute-designed North Face T-shirts, the somewhat cheap windbreaker jackets.
About 2 years? ago, I think. Those cheaper items imprinted "North" on the minds of ordinary people, and
the T-shirt became a must-have for middle and high school students, while the windbreaker became a school uniform of sorts.
Insight — trends
The markets right now are
1) targeting general, mass customers, or
2) going after a small number of people, like trendsetters, so it looks hard to lead the market.
As mentioned above, the initial "nothing" (無) is completely different from the "nothing" you arrive at after going through "something" (無 → 有 → 無).
1) You need the courage to fold a small-niche service into a mass-market service, and
2) the flexibility to absorb a piece of the mass into a service meant for a small audience.
The market has a more ironic and complicated disposition. Customers are fairly mass-driven and sensitive to other people's reactions, but when it actually comes to their personal tastes and tendencies, those split into very fine categories.
In the end, you have to catch both hares to win over a single customer.
The meta-trend going forward is "some kind of service that can be woven into daily life."
Within that meta-trend, each micro-trend will emerge, persist, and fade.
In short —
A service that is only a focused, micro (specialized, targeted, high-priced, small-audience, enthusiast) offering is hard to sustain and grow.
To stably maintain a micro service, you need the incubating work of meta-service elements (mass-market, everyday, accessible, easy price points).
So it is with services as well. (Or rather, those I just mentioned are themselves already services,)
If you position only for the core target, operational issues are inevitable — that is the point.
Do we need focus and concentration? Yes — but that is a matter of design, planning, and production of a single product.
To design a service, you have to build the environment that supports the product you have chosen and focused on.
Such an environment, in the end,
makes the thing grow on its own.
People often call this an ecosystem or a platform.
(Original draft — iPhone memo app)
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For some, riding is simply a sport
They make time, buy equipment, pick a spot, dress for it,
and focus on the ride, spending around an hour?
For others, riding is daily life
They don't really dress up or fuss over the gear
For marketers or businesspeople, inside the riding category,
the hot customer is the professional athlete
But the one designing a service and changing a lifestyle
is thinking about "something that can be woven into daily life"
It takes time, but in the end that forms the mass market
Because anyone, at any time, can take part
alongside them
From there on, that mass market starts to grow on its own
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