Are there enough customers for you to target ?

Before you start planning your new business or even if you have a business already you can learn a lot from a little bit of common sense research that any one can undertake.

There are some strange things occurring in the village where I live.

We already have two Indian restaurants and one takeaway. A fourth Indian restaurant went bust about a year ago. But for the last 6 months the same restaurant is re-inventing itself - into another Indian restaurant.

Everyone I speak to doesn't understand why they are going to try again. Why would we need this when we don't have, say, a pizza restaurant, a Thai restaurant or something else ?

Now if we can see this (as potential customers) why can't they ?

They clearly have not undertaken their research properly and seen that the market is already saturated. If they want to be successful they need a unique selling proposition (USP). But, with a saturated market there really isn't too much different they can undertake.

Lessons to learn

Clearly when developing your business you need to understand the competition in your target market. That is both the people who may buy your product or service and the geographic area you are targeting.

If there was just one restaurant they may have a chance - different atmosphere - more up-market/ quality food or better value for money.

When researching your competitors, list what they do very well, and why they are successful. What can you do to beat them in these areas to attract those customers ?

Stay very focused in your efforts. You should not try and be all things to everyone - find your niche and develop your products around that.

Last words

It looks like the restaurant will be opening very soon so I'll give an update in the coming months.

All the best for a successful business,

Peter Hale

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