Opportunity:

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According to the Wall Street Journal (Why We Misplace Our Keys, Phones, Wallets by Sumathi Reddy), the average person misplaces their keys up to nine items per day. We identified the trend of young women using hair ties to attach their key(s) to their wrist. After conducting ethnographic research regarding the hair tie/key combo, we found that even with the convenience of the hair tie key, there were still a lot of complaints about it. The key dangles and can be annoying when it hits things; the key can sometimes be painful if it sits too tightly against the wrist; sometimes you use the hair tie (with the key still on it) and it ends up misplaced.

 

Loop addresses this need for security and peace-of-mind with a product that makes storing keys simple, sleek, and fashionable. The Loop key bracelet adequately addresses situations where female college students would need a reliable and fashionable solution to secure their key (e.g. going out to bars). As opposed to attaching a key to a hair tie, Loop offers a discreet and comfortable accessory that holds a single key, minimizing the weight carried by the consumer while maintaining complete functionality.

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Target Market:

 

Our target market is centered around females around the ages of 17-24 who attend CU Boulder.We would also target landlords and sorority directors as a means to target our original market of college females. The size of our target market for year 1 would be approximately 10,000 people. That is 50% of the 30K females enrolled in CU Boulder, minus the approximately 5000 students who live in residence halls.

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Competition:

 

We believe our biggest competitor will be NeoSport, which is a sports band that includes a pocket for storing your keys. With an average rating of 4.5 stars out of 5, we felt this product had been a success in the market. Our second competitor was PocketBands, a silicone sports band with an opening for keys. It had very few reviews, and an underwhelming average review of 3.3 starts out of 5. Gokey is a third competitor. Their silicone wristband can be put in and taken out of the bracelet. It had very few reviews but an average review of 4.8 stars out of 5.

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Industry:

 

We plan to pursue the fashion and accessories industry. According to EuroMonitor2, the growth rate of this industry is 2%, with price increases of 4% in the U.S. The current size is equivalent to $63.3 billion, with none of our competitors currently owning more than 7% of the market share.

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Differentiators:

 

Loop’s main differentiator is its aesthetic appeal. Loop provides a sleek, more fashionable design and higher quality material. The solutions from our three other competitors are all made of plastic and large cut silicone, but their look is functional and not fashionable. Our three competitors’ main target market is people who participate in athletic activities such as running. None of our competitors are targeting our market.

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Concept Test Results:

 

According to our 121-respondent survey, we have an overall 32% Top 2 Box purchase intent. 53% of respondents said that the Loop Key Bracelet was completely unique, and 41% said that they had seen a couple similar products.  On average, respondents said they used their keys six times a day. 91% of respondents said they believed that our product would work as promised. Loop had a 42% Top 2 Box purchase intent at a price of $14.99, 16% purchase intent at $9.99, and a 25% purchase intent at $4.99. 60% of respondents said that a price of $5 or less would be a price so low that they would question the quality, and 50% of respondents said that a price of over $30 would be too expensive. 65% of the respondents identified as students, and 27% as employed. 79% of people identified as white and 87% were aged 18-24 years old.

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Branding:

 

We decided on Loop as the name of our product not only because it is easy to pronounce and spell, but because it also brings to mind the core concept of our product; sleek, simple, and circular in shape. Taking these factors into consideration, this product name is very strong and will be stand out to consumers when we take it to market.

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When we introduce this product to market we plan to have exclusive distribution by only selling Loop through our online forum at loop.com. Until we allocate the funds to expand our distribution channel, this is the most viable route to take when it comes to launching Loop. After a successful launch and a positive net income has been achieved we plan to expand to brick-and-mortar retailers.

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With regards to our product launch plan we have established that we must prioritize brand awareness as well as shopping and purchase if we want our product to be successful in the market. Due to the fact that we are starting off with exclusively online distribution it is crucial for us to build brand awareness within our target market. We plan to do this by advertising heavily on social media outlets such as Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter, which are all used by the vast majority of our target market. We also decided that shopping and purchase is an important consumer touch point for our product. This is more for when we expand to brick-and-mortar stores, in which we would place our product in a large display near a well-traveled area to draw attention and curiosity from potential consumers.