Venture Concept No. 2

Opportunity: The opportunity for my venture idea arose from students on the UF campus. My market is primarily students who cannot find the time or means of transportation to get to the grocery store and who want to avoid the unhealthy options of delivery. All customers are on or around the UF campus. The market consists of students who cannot go to the grocery store due to time constrains or transportation issues. Currently, customers are forced to find a way to get to the grocery store as well as the time to do so. I commonly came across students who had trouble getting to the store for one or both of these reasons. My venture is a way for students to not only get to the store, but also embrace the healthier options that the grocery store provides rather than delivery. I hope and think that this opportunity will be available for a long period of time as students will always have this problem with the limited parking on campus and the schedules that we manage.

Innovation: My venture is that of a grocery delivery truck. I would launch an app that would also allow students to place orders through it. To ensure that it is only University of Florida students, they will have to sign in with their GatorLink in order to place the order. Customers would call the partner grocery store (Publix) or open the free app and place their order at least 24 hours in advance and if they want fresh goods such as meat and fruit, they will need to place the order 48 hours in advance and these orders will be delivered first thing in the morning. Once this order is placed, the groceries are bagged and the next day, the truck has a designated route that essentially delivers these orders to the customers. The prices would be competitive to that in the grocery stores. There would be a $2 charge when placing the order to ensure groceries are picked up as well as cover the cost of the truck. The student would pay when the order is placed, and goods can be returned on site. If this business is popular, the prices would be able to remain low and manageable. Customers would pay when picking up their orders at the truck with cash or card and show proper student ID at the truck.

Venture Concept: I believe that my venture will eliminate the stress, chaos, and time management struggles that students are consistently faced with while also allowing them to be healthier if they wish as they can avoid the limitations of delivery. Students would easily switch to this product if prices were kept low enough and if the order fee did not increase. They would accept the small fee and have their groceries brought to their doorstep essentially, helping them to avoid the time of transportation and the opportunity cost of this trip. Competitors would be the grocery stores nearby that students can also access easily. For students that can find the transportation, they might want to stay with their familiar methods and avoid the small fee. My pricing is vital to my venture’s success. If this causes prices to spike too high, students (who are very fiscally cautious) would not be willing to pay extra. They would resort to finding rides to the store rather than paying extra. 

I believe my most important resource is my competitive drive and my ability to adapt. I may have many other things or instead, nothing at all, but my competitive drive will continue to push me and motivate me to make my business as successful as possible while my ability to adapt will help me to accept assistance from others to grow my business into the most successful venture it can be.

Next, I hope to expand to organic and non-GMO foods. With growing health concerns, this will allow my business to expand to those with these concerns in mind. I try to live a very healthy lifestyle, however it is hard to maintain this when transportation to the store (especially as an on campus student) is very difficult and time consuming.

Some of the feedback I received was mentioning which store I hope to partner with, figuring out a way to deliver fresh produce and goods, and a payment method that allows the customer to pay before hand. All of these I incorporated into my new concept. These are some of the ways I changed my concept as well.