It is easy to think there is no room in the market for new ideas. Hasn’t everything been thought of, created and on the shelves? But, if you look deep enough, there are always opportunities to tweak, improve and update existing ideas.
I discovered a new take on portable drawing canvases that no one else was filling.
Four years ago, after my architecture role was made redundant, I watched my daughter draw and colour in – it is her favourite thing to do. It gives me space to do other things. As she powered through oodles of colouring books and paper, I couldn’t keep up with her creativity. It got me thinking about a product children could draw on over and over again, but was also environmentally friendly.
Whenever we would go out, we could take reams of paper and colouring pencils for our daughter…and woe is me if we ran out of things for her to draw on. When I looked around, I found a few portable drawing canvases, but none ticked all the boxes for a product I wanted to buy.
I was looking for a sustainable product, easy to bring on-the-go, and engaging. I dug deeper and realised there was nothing on the Australian market that ticked all those boxes. The person who came up with a product like that would be popular and sell itself.
It became my mission to design mats that would not only engage children, but also educate them through play. I wanted to create opportunities for exploration to grow their creative confidence, but also building on the fundamentals of learning.
What started as a “what if?” idea in September 2019 became a fully-fledged business by November 2019. In our first year, we sold 4500 units, and in our fourth year, we are on track to sell over 55,000 units and hit the seven-figure mark in turnover.
Even though there were plenty of drawing mats on the market, I found a point of difference that filled a gap. Finding market gaps is part science and part art. By looking at markets close to home, instead of trying to come up with something completely new, I saw the gaps my competitors hadn’t filled.
Now I just keep innovating, building on other gaps I see. I will continue to build on my mission to keep children entertained and spark their imaginations. Over the past 12 months, we’ve launched two new innovative products to the market.
Working out how my idea could fill a gap in the market, I did these five things:
- Do the research and understand what’s already in the market. Then go deep to see how you can add value to an existing product that the market currently doesn’t.
- Ask questions. If you come up with an idea, do market research and talk to the market you want to pitch your products to.
- Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. I had a few hiccups in the early days, but I persisted until I found the right manufacturer to work with.
- Get clear on the product’s unique selling point. Drill down on that. If your product is an iteration of a product already in the market, make sure your messaging and content clearly highlight the difference, so the customer can see why your offering is the best choice.
- Don’t take no for an answer. If you have clearly established a market, keep knocking on wholesalers’ doors. It takes time to get traction in the marketplace, and if you know your product solves a problem, you just have to get good at communicating that.
