Manpower

Budget

Challenges

MISCOMMUNICATION (with industry partner)

As we had different views and limited knowledge, we were unable to agree on the confirmed designs. On top of that, there was a lack of communication efficiency due to slow text exchanges. This resulted in a delay of our marketing campaigns like the printing of the beneficiaries’ awareness foam board and social media posts which may have may have affected the turn-up rate of our trial run.

BAD LOCATION

For our trial run, we were located at Bedok Point. Compared to Bedok Mall, our location proved to be lacking as there were significantly lesser traffic which ultimately led to a low outreach, making it difficult to raise sales and awareness. This made it hard for us to conduct our awareness surveys as well.

MANPOWER

As the saying goes, "too many cooks spoil the broth". We initially planned for all four of us to be at the booth at all times but we came to realise that it was a waste of manpower and time as roadshow venues usually only cater space for two staff and having too many people would overcrowd the booth area as well, making it unappealing to passers-by. Hence, we improved our plan by taking shifts for the following days.

STEPPING OUT OF COMFORT ZONE

Another challenge was approaching strangers to promote our product and do a sales pitch. During these promotions, we were required to be proactive in approaching strangers enthusiastically and do sales pitches with confidence. We also had to get used to rejections and learn that it is normal to be turned down.

Challenges

UNPREDICTABLE SALES

Holding our first ever corporate event at SAP Asia proved to be a success as we managed to make $1,250 worth of sales by getting orders for 3 big plates and selling out our Christmas limited edition kits! (we even sold some of our ready-made samples because that was how high in demand our Christmas kits were!) However, this was an unforeseen challenge to us as we did not predict the amount of sales we would make. As it was our first corporate event, we were unsure of how much stock we should prepare, resulting in loss of potential sales.

One method to prepare ourselves for a situation like this in the future would be to open up pre-orders for the employees who are interested in purchasing after seeing the Electronic Direct Mail (EDM). This will allow us to gauge the amount of product we should prepare before the event.

Initially, our industry partner suggested for only two of us to attend the event as they felt that there would be too many people tending to and hogging the booth. Following our group’s decision to attend as a group, the four of us went and assisted at the booth. Following our group’s decision, this proved to be the right choice as the event was filled with many potential customers. We were overwhelmed by the response as customers flowed in continuously and we did not even have time to rest as the Christmas Luncheon was only three hours.

A MARKET THAT WE CAN EXPLORE

Overall, the event was a huge success as we made over $1000 in sales - a feat that is hard to achieve during normal roadshows. This allowed us to see the potential BitsGreat's products have at corporate events.

Through our meetings with SAP, we also found out that they were interested in having the kits for team building activities. We identified that it was something our industry partner, BitsGreat, could explore in the near future.

Challenges

MISMATCH OF MARKET SEGMENT

As the location of MOX Parade was at School Of The Arts (SOTA), we were initially expecting and planning to target the artistic crowd who may be interested in DIY products like ours. However, we had to compete with other booths that were selling their items at much more affordable prices and the passers-by were more interested in smaller and low-priced items.

Although the customer flow was high, they were not the right target customer group and dynamics. Therefore, we had difficulties in making sales.

TOO NEAR CHRISTMAS

During the roadshow, we found out that our plan to target the last-minute Christmas shoppers was not very viable as we sold Christmas-themed products. We received feedback from potential customers saying that the products will not be meaningful anymore after the Christmas season and if they were to purchase it, they would only have use for it for the remaining 2-3 days leading up to Christmas.

Thus, we concluded that it would be better to hold our roadshows way before the occasion.