Want some opinions about a business idea

[ksam]

I'm currently running an e-commerce website selling teddy bears. I would like to get some opinions about my approach. Basically, I'm trying to target people who like to surprise the gift recipients. My website sells good quality teddy bears but the main selling points of my business is that it allows people to ship the gift straight to the recipient as a surprise. People who ordered teddy bear from my website will get a free greeting card with their personal message (they leave the message before check-out). The teddy bear will also be packaged into a premium gift box. People who ordered the teddy bear can have their gift packaged nicely and shipped straight to the girl to surprise her.

Do you think it is an attractive selling point? I would like to get more opinions before launching a heavy marketing campaign.

[DigitalPalette]

Good idea but have seen multiple sites doing this in the past. Namely flower delivery places offer stuffed animals as well. I would say then you need to build a brand around the uniqueness of your teddy bears which would mean you can't just order them randomly from a wholesaler which can eat at profits.

One idea would be get bears that can record messages in them and record the message they leave for you into the bear before sending it.

[ksam]

Wow thanks for your quick reply and that's a suggestion I would look into. I have tried to implement a "sexy teddy bear" brand but I'm kind of lost in whether there is a better approach (check out my website gift15.ca if you're interested). Never know selling a freaking teddy bear can be this frustrating ...

[vansshoe]

have you ensure your market is in your Budget？better figure out your target customer and then go on your business.
vansshoes australia online

[ksam]

Yup I did some research on google insights and google adwords. There are enough people who search for "surprise gift" I believe but I will need to figure out whether my offer is close enough to what they truly want.

Would you personally buy it when you want to surprise your girl?

[DigitalPalette]

Personally, I would not as I could just go to the store. But it creates a target market for you of people away from home (think military, job requirements, long distance relationship) that you can be more efficent at targeting.

[jrockfl]

I think it is a great idea. What kind of marketing campaign are you going to do? How are sales now that we are approaching the holidays?

[HLC]

Is there any innovation involved?

[Gary Barzel]

I think offering a surprise gift can be a nice idea, but I think that only offering teddy bears is cutting off your market. Don't get me wrong teddy bears is nice, but I think people would want to have more of a selection when choosing a surprise gift. People like to have something that keeps the memories near, that is why digital picture frames is so big.

[hugh009]

Yes I love them even for myself! Do you offer an assortment of them?

I have seen this marketing campaign somewhere before. What could you offer besides the surprise aspect for yours to have the USP?

What if you offered a Teddy Bear Membership Program? Different cool teddy each month? Have NOT seen that before!

Hugh
Hugh Simpson | With My God NOTHING Is Impossible!

I'm currently running an e-commerce website selling teddy bears. I would like to get some opinions about my approach. Basically, I'm trying to target people who like to surprise the gift recipients. My website sells good quality teddy bears but the main selling points of my business is that it allows people to ship the gift straight to the recipient as a surprise. People who ordered teddy bear from my website will get a free greeting card with their personal message (they leave the message before check-out). The teddy bear will also be packaged into a premium gift box. People who ordered the teddy bear can have their gift packaged nicely and shipped straight to the girl to surprise her.

Do you think it is an attractive selling point? I would like to get more opinions before launching a heavy marketing campaign.

n

[hugh009]

I also have seen similar surprise marketing campaigns like others mentioned.

What if you offered a membership program for a different teddy per month? Or what if you offered a person an opportunity to send a teddy to a child who will not have possibly anything from Santa? You could get IMMEDIATE PR for this!

Hugh
Hugh Simpson | With My God NOTHING Is Impossible!

[MyMela]

I feel like this would also be a good thing to market as something to surprise your kids with - kids love both surprises and teddy bears.

[Inceptive Solutions]

Based on the pictures on your website I'm guessing that you're mostly marketing to men?

Who is your target specifically?

[ksam]

Thanks for all the feedback and suggestions guys!

Gary: Totally agree that there should be more varieties for people to choose from. It's not a bad idea to use the teddy bear as a bait to test the market tho

Hugh: Sending the gift to charity is a nice suggestion too. I have been thinking about finding ways to get more PR and that's definitely something I will look into. Sending gifts to poor kids is never a bad thing either.

IS: I'm targeting mainly guys (under 30?) to surprise their girlfriends. Will definitely explore whether there is market in other groups too!

Sam

[ksam]

jrockfl: Not much sales yet actually. Will post an update here if it goes well.

MyMela: Yup but the idea is to surprise the person at the door. Not sure it'll have too good of an impact of kids tho.