Your Venture's Unfair Advantage

Your Venture’s Unfair Advantage

What makes your business so special? What advantages do you have?

                Chomp N’ Run – an on campus drug store

1.       Location

a.       Valuable - Without being affiliated with the university, it would be virtually impossible to purchase their land.

b.      Rare – There aren’t many areas as great as the University of Florida for locations in Gainesville.

c.       Imitable – You cannot recreate the atmosphere and benefits of being located in UF.

d.      Non-substitutable – You simply can’t find a better location than behind Marston and the Hub.

2.       Convenience

a.       Valuable – People can easily walk or take the bus to get to the store.

b.      Rare – There is not currently a place to buy items such as toothbrushes or varieties of shampoo on campus.

c.       Imitable – UF would want to only open one of these places on campus to generate the most revenue.

d.      Non-substitutable – no one else can beat the convenience of being located on campus.

3.       Consistent foot traffic

a.       Valuable – People are always walking past the Hub or take the bus there; people will see it and go in.

b.      Rare – There is nothing comparable on campus. It would be the only place to grab quick personal items.

c.       Imitable – There are very few places that get more traffic than campus does in Gainesville. In fact, Turlington gets more daily foot traffic than the gates to magic kingdom!

d.      Non-substitutable – You could not simply create a similar place in Gainesville.

4.       Large base of customers

a.       Valuable – There are 50,000 students at UF circling around.

b.      Rare – Some may prefer to shop off campus, but there are at least 8100 students living on campus who would see this as an only or best shopping option.

c.       Imitable – There is no similar situation in Gainesville.

d.      Non-substitutable – No one can create that kind of customer base.

5.       Theme

a.       Valuable – People in Gainesville will flock to anything with a Gator themed name or logo.

b.      Rare – There will be no other Gator drug store.

c.       Imitable – People would have to pay licensing fees to try to create a similar thing off campus.

d.      Non-substitutable – A gator is the most loves symbol in Gainesville.

6.       Bus routes

a.       Valuable – The Hub location is the most frequently used bus stop on campus.

b.      Rare – People will be dropped off by it every day.

c.       Imitable – Other busses will take other people to other places, so it can be imitable.

d.      Non-substitutable – This will be one place that people will take the bus to regardless.

7.       Start-up funds (probably)

a.       Valuable – UF could find funds in an account they have or take advantage of the huge alumni/donor base they already have.

b.       Rare – Not many organizations have this much financial resources or connections.

c.       Imitable – This cannot be recreated.

d.      Non-substitutable – There would be few similar financial situations in Gainesville.

8.       New customers annually

a.       Valuable – A new 6,000+ students join the university each year. There is a constant influx of growth.

b.       Rare – Few cities or areas grow by this much.

c.       Imitable – Only other universities could pull off the same thing.

d.      Non-substitutable – Could be done elsewhere in Gainesville, but would not reach most freshman students.

9.       An easy target market

a.        Valuable – Students are all around and interested. They share a common interest – the gators.

b.      Rare – Everyone loves gators and would be around to check it out.

c.       Imitable – College towns are the only places that have such a specific target group – 18-25 year olds.

d.      Non-substitutable – Can only be seen in other college towns.

10.   Easy advertising

a.       Valuable – can easily partner with other UF entities and advertise in libraries and busses.

b.      Rare – There aren’t many other places with so many advertising opportunities where the exact target market will view them.

c.       Imitable – Cannot be easily done anywhere else.

d.      Non-substitutable – This place is unique for easy ads.

My top resource: I think the best resource I have available for my business idea is location. It encompasses a lot of the other advantages I have, and is the factor that is going to make Chomp N’ Run so successful.