Before you roll your eyes, a ‘market gap analysis’ is just a fancy term for sniffing out opportunities for business birth or growth in areas where market demand is greater than supply. One of the rules to creating a successful business is identifying a market gap begging to be filled and finding ways to meet that need/want for a profit. Satisfying customers when their needs have been ignored means they’ll value what you have to offer, and be willing to pay for it.
Granted, finding needs that haven’t been completely exploited in 2015 would probably be like trying to find a needle in a haystack, but thankfully new technologies that help solve problems, tend to create a whole new bunch of challenges (I say opportunities) that the public never realized it would. Think of it as opening another market gap while attempting to close one.
Well, I am not just in the service delivery business; I am also a consumer. So, I sat down and considered just a few of what bothered me the most – particularly in those areas that I could do with a little more convenience – because the companies behind those products and services skipped some important steps that would really make their consumers (especially me) very happy. Chances are most of you will feel the same way.
OLX Exchange Points
I’d love to put my iPad and PS3 up for sale on OLX right now – I’d literally been praying to God for a service like this for years now – so why haven’t I? Well, because I know about 3 people that have been robbed on meeting for the exchange, after getting hits off their OLX ads. Don’t get me wrong, the idea behind the service is wonderful, but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. Granted, they’re not obligated to ensure our safety, but I think if they want to scale in Nigeria, they either consider integrating a vetting and delivery service, or providing meeting points where safe exchanges are guaranteed.
Konga Speed Delivery
I don’t know about you guys, but most times when I decide to buy something online, it’s because I kinda need it right away. I’m an avid online shopper, and a big fan of Konga, because till date they have never disappointed me when it comes to delivering on their promise. But, call me selfish because I want more. I honestly wouldn’t care if I had to cough up a couple of extra bucks to have my order delivered to me on the exact same day I ordered it, and I’m sure most of you wouldn’t either.
HelloFood's Work Hours
I cannot even put into words how excited I got the first time I heard about this service. It was a Sunday afternoon, and I was at a friend's place; we were all really starving. We had no car, and no one was even willing to go near the kitchen. Then my friend brought out her phone and started yelling a lot of amazing options from her HelloFood app. In about 45 minutes, we were chomping down on Debonairs' glorious Triple Decker Pizza. So you can imagine the pain I felt when I tried to order breakfast the next day and I saw that they were "closed at the moment." I don't know if their target is just for people who want to eat lunch at work, or binge on the weekends, but I think they are missing a really big market because they do not cater for people like me; who live for early lunches and really late dinners.
There are a number of other market gaps I'd love to see handled; online price checker for building materials, auction sites that are fun and safe, a site for freelancers to get jobs, and the list goes on. Hey! If you're going to launch any of those, I call dibs on equity. But seriously, I believe to solve a company's problems, or fulfill its growth ambitions, expanding into new market areas is the obvious step. But this process is unlikely to succeed if the new services are not within the company’s existing areas of competence. I’m of the opinion that all the companies stated above are more than capable of offering these services, and I really hope they adapt (for my selfish reasons.)
Photo Credit: Project Trust via Compfight cc
