What's Next?

Existing Market

After interviewing three customers from my existing market, I learned a few things.  First, I learned that because marijuana isn’t actually legal yet, no one is really worried about what’s next after opening legal dispensaries.  The main concern is when it’s going to be legalized.  After that, I tried to dig to see if my interviewees could come up with any potential next steps after opening up the business.  The answers I got were mainly based on differentiating myself from the competition.  I could take my business the luxury route and differentiate myself that way or I could further innovate on the customer service side of things.

If I were to innovate in terms of customer service, I could do a couple of things.  For example, I could create a more service-based method of shopping for the customer.  Instead of the customer browsing our shelves, I could have a worker take them through an “experience” of the shop, suggesting specific strains and giving interesting information on each one.  If I went the luxury route, I believe my market might change a bit.  However, luxury items done right usually have a very strong appeal to those who can afford it.  That may be a solid option.

New Market

The new market I chose was a higher-income market.  The people I interviewed were fans of the business idea, but they did not believe it would fit a new market that is just generally higher-income.  The new market would need to specifically be young, higher-income customers.  This is because the older generations, even though there are some members that would support my business, tend to frown upon the use of marijuana or just wouldn’t use it themselves.

I was most surprised by their interest in my base business.  It didn’t seem like they thought I should change much to fit their market.  I went into it believing that I would need to make drastic changes to an already strict business, but that may not be necessary.  I did have some correct assumptions, though.  I was expecting the idea to be more attractive to a younger generation, so tightening my focus on younger, higher-income customers would be important.  I don’t think this new market is more attractive than my existing market.  It may even be slightly less attractive because I’d be restricting my view when it's not actually necessary.