Existing Solutions & Competitive Products 

Who/What are your major competitors?

There is already a market that sells reminder methods to indicate when to water indoor. If you search on Amazon for "smart plant water meters" or "smart plant water sensor" you find about 250+ results. Many companies have already made these reminding methods and thousands of consumers have already bought from them which means it will be a great challenge trying to stand out. Companies that have a bigger presence and ease of consumption such as stores like online shopping websites like Amazon and businesses like Sage and Sill, The Connected Shop. 

On what basis do you compete?

Companies already have products on the market which means we have access to their solutions to the same problem we are attempting to fix. With this, we are able to use the previous solutions as a starting point. We must be able to offer something different or better in order to have a chance of being successful, so using prior solutions will be a great starting point. 

How do you compare? 

Many of the current products on the market are very expensive, up to $50 per device. Given that people are likely to have more than one, I doubt that people will be buying one for all of their plants. We want to offer a cheaper alternative to the market so that more people have access to this product. It will have fewer features than the competition, but given the price, we might be able to compete. Our device will both remind the user to water their plants and let them know how much water the plant needs. 

Who are potential future competitors?

It is difficult to say who future competitors could be, but there is a possibility for gardening and horticulture companies to enter the market. These companies already have previous experience in irrigation and given that knowledge, it can help them create solutions to watering problems. Companies that already make smart irrigation systems could also develop solutions similar to ours because they have already tried to solve previous solutions, who is to say they don't try going in a different direction, one leading to a similar product to ours? 

What are the barriers to entry for new competitors? 

Because we are new competitors, we have a limited market presence, meaning that have no networking that could help us get our brand out there. Our financial status and resource accessibility also put us at a disadvantage when you compare us to established companies. Time is also a crucial part of this because many companies have had the opportunity to evolve and adapt for what could have been years, while we are barely at the beginning stages of our journey, limited by our other responsibilities as high school students.