Who and what am I?
I am Xavier Monpoix and I am a student at the EMC Campus where I learn about luxury hospitality management. I have a background in French and international business law and in human resources.
After a few years of experience as a hotel manager, I plan to open the first experiential luxury hotel on the French Riviera: a place where the customer can experience everything about perfume.
What financial support do I have to launch the business?
The idea is to save a maximum of money during the next ten years or so in order to be taken seriously by banks and other investors. Moreover, I already begun to develop some relation with the local mayor and its team as my project is directly linked to their city.
What problems are you trying to solve?
Considering its number of habitant, Grasse is the fourth city of the department. In the perfume industry, Grasse is responsible of 10% of the world turnover and 50% of the national turnover. There are more than 2 million of visitors a year.
For all these people and business, there is no luxury hotel in Grasse. There is only one four star restaurant that proposes seven rooms to its customers but it is clearly not enough for this city. My project could be a solution.
Furthermore, Grasse is considered to be the world capital of perfume and, except for a few museums, there is no real experience around perfume proposed to tourists or businessmen.
Describe the business, core products and services.
The main product will be the luxury hotel, high above the city with a great view on the French Riviera and the hills around. Isolated, it will propose a calm atmosphere very close to the nature.
The hotel will propose a real experience around the perfume. Through a close collaboration with the museums and some perfumers, the customer will be able to learn everything about perfume history and even create his own product.
A health center around aromatherapy will be also available to guests as well as a restaurant with products from the region.
Who are my key customers and users at launch?
Depending of the date I plan to open the hotel, my key customers at launch could either be businessmen that come and go at Grasse for its perfume industry or tourists of the French Riviera. Either way, as there is currently no luxury hotels in Grasse, there will be customers.
Did I have customers validate my idea before investors?
Through a very discreet survey I was able to question customers of existing hotels at Grasse, mostly three stars guests, about a luxury hotel. The answers were quite enthusiastic, especially concerning the perfume experience and the location of the hotel.
SWOT analysis – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
Strengths:
• First experimental luxury hotel on the French Riviera.
• No other four stars hotel in Grasse.
• No spa in Grasse.
• Strong activity in the perfume industry, lots of visitors and tourists.
Weaknesses:
• I currently don’t have the experience for opening a hotel.
• I currently don’t have the money to do so either.
• Proximity of Cannes, Nice, Mandelieu and Antibes.
Opportunities:
• Huge market potential.
• No precedent concerning the perfume experience.
• Chanel is closely related to Grasse – Possible relation with my project.
Threats:
• To much time for me to be ready.
• Other luxury hotels on the French Riviera.
mercredi 17 mars 2010
jeudi 25 février 2010
Tripwolf & Boo
Basically Tripwolf and Boo are social travel guides (community business model) and trip planners. They help travelers to share their expectations, experiences and recommendations.
If you plan a travel and don’t know what you will find or what to do during tour trip, these websites will help you find people who went there and contact them. Once you have returned, you can post your experiences so other travelers can benefit from them.
For the customers, the advantage is to have useful tips about their future travels. They can also contribute by advising other future travelers and share their memories. Through these websites, they can also plan in advance their trip, book their flight and find cars to rent or hotels. They can also learn the language! To resume, the traveler can plan entirely his future trip with this website.
The partner can make his business known in a large traveler community. If its product has a link to traveling, he will be called upon by a future traveler. The advantage is the clarity of these websites. When a traveler prepare his trip outside of Tripwolf or Boo, he will not think of everything. But if he passes through on of these websites, he will see what he needs (even if he doesn’t really need it!) and will click on the link. This is where the partner makes his revenue.
The owners, by using the community business model, makes himself known through the traveler community. With this, businesses will be interested to be referenced on their website and a partnership can be contracted. This a good source of revenue for Tripwolf or Boo.
The interest of either of these websites is, for the traveler, the rapidity and efficiency of the links to the partners websites. Such a service can be practised offline but it won’t be as efficient. Plus, the travelers won’t have the community at their disposal.
To resume, this kinf of service is only viable online.
Tripwolf and Boo are two websites based on the community business model. Now, from Michael Rappa, the community business model suits the Internet and is today one of the most fertile areas of development. For this kind of model, revenue can be based on the sale of ancillary products and services or voluntary contributions. It can also be tied to advertising and subscriptions for premium services.
So the services proposed by Tripwolf and Boo are both sustainable and scaleable.
Tripwolf and Boo only go so far for the travelers. You can book your flight, you hotel, your car and even some of the tours. But neither of these website propose an all-planed trip, a kind of trip where the traveler don’t need to ask himself anything. Everything is planed.
With this in mind, you can imagine a planer on the websites where travelers program their trip: what kind of hotel, what kind of car, what kind of event, of food, of museums… Everything could be planed and once it is decided, the websites could charge it as a package trip.
With this method, the websites could think of a “special partnership deal” where the planer, a kind of software, could use directly the services of a partner (car rental or museum tours for exemple). This could represent another source of revenue: the normal partnership versus the priviledged one.
As for the community business model, there is many users for this model: facebook, meetic, linkedin…
www.linkedin.com
www.meetic.fr
If you plan a travel and don’t know what you will find or what to do during tour trip, these websites will help you find people who went there and contact them. Once you have returned, you can post your experiences so other travelers can benefit from them.
For the customers, the advantage is to have useful tips about their future travels. They can also contribute by advising other future travelers and share their memories. Through these websites, they can also plan in advance their trip, book their flight and find cars to rent or hotels. They can also learn the language! To resume, the traveler can plan entirely his future trip with this website.
The partner can make his business known in a large traveler community. If its product has a link to traveling, he will be called upon by a future traveler. The advantage is the clarity of these websites. When a traveler prepare his trip outside of Tripwolf or Boo, he will not think of everything. But if he passes through on of these websites, he will see what he needs (even if he doesn’t really need it!) and will click on the link. This is where the partner makes his revenue.
The owners, by using the community business model, makes himself known through the traveler community. With this, businesses will be interested to be referenced on their website and a partnership can be contracted. This a good source of revenue for Tripwolf or Boo.
The interest of either of these websites is, for the traveler, the rapidity and efficiency of the links to the partners websites. Such a service can be practised offline but it won’t be as efficient. Plus, the travelers won’t have the community at their disposal.
To resume, this kinf of service is only viable online.
Tripwolf and Boo are two websites based on the community business model. Now, from Michael Rappa, the community business model suits the Internet and is today one of the most fertile areas of development. For this kind of model, revenue can be based on the sale of ancillary products and services or voluntary contributions. It can also be tied to advertising and subscriptions for premium services.
So the services proposed by Tripwolf and Boo are both sustainable and scaleable.
Tripwolf and Boo only go so far for the travelers. You can book your flight, you hotel, your car and even some of the tours. But neither of these website propose an all-planed trip, a kind of trip where the traveler don’t need to ask himself anything. Everything is planed.
With this in mind, you can imagine a planer on the websites where travelers program their trip: what kind of hotel, what kind of car, what kind of event, of food, of museums… Everything could be planed and once it is decided, the websites could charge it as a package trip.
With this method, the websites could think of a “special partnership deal” where the planer, a kind of software, could use directly the services of a partner (car rental or museum tours for exemple). This could represent another source of revenue: the normal partnership versus the priviledged one.
As for the community business model, there is many users for this model: facebook, meetic, linkedin…
www.linkedin.com
www.meetic.fr
mercredi 17 février 2010
vendredi 12 février 2010
Augmented Reality
Where does the technology take us? Watch this video to see...
http://www.jeuxvideo.com/news/2009/00034743-e3-2009-projet-natal-nos-impressions-sur-la-camera-360.htm
http://www.jeuxvideo.com/news/2009/00034743-e3-2009-projet-natal-nos-impressions-sur-la-camera-360.htm
lundi 8 février 2010
vente-privee.com
Started in 2001 by Jacques-Antoine Granjon, vente-privee.com is a French company that offers famous brands at a discount price (from 30% to 70%).
The idea is to create a virtual space where selling events for any kind of product occurs for 3 or 4 days for privileged customers. The only way to benefit to these events is through a sponsor system.
48 hours before an event, the members receive an email that informs them about the product sold through a trailer. Once the event is over, the company places a global order to the brand. After reception, vente-privee ships the products ordered by its members.
For the first three years, vente-privee.com invests and develops itself. The success really begins in 2004 with a selling event around a famous lingerie brand.
In 2007, Summit Partners buys 20% of the company in order to sponsor a development in other countries. Today, vente-privee.com is present in France, Spain, Germany, Italy and Great Britain. In 2009, the company tries music with an exclusivity selling of Kabaret, a Patricia Kaas album, for 6 Euros.
In July 2009, the company counts a thousand workers, 8 million members in Europe, 3,5 millions customers and more than one million of unique visitors each day.
How does vente-privee make any money?
As previously said, vente-privee places its order to the brand once the selling event is over. The company does not spend any money for it as it is pre-paid by its customers. Because of its success, the order placed by vente-privee is quite large and they pay it with a discount.
The products are auto financed with a benefice.
Problems solved for customers, suppliers and company owners.
Customers: The members of vente-privee are warned of a selling event by mail two days before it occurs. Every brand sold is a famous one and the prices are exceptionally low (from 30% to 70%).
The members don’t have to go to a brand store to buy the products. They only need a net connection and a postal adress to purchase and receive their products.
They can discover new brands a new products every week, always with a very attractive discount price.
The members can feel priviledged as they are part of a club and, with only one purchase, can attain VIP status.
Suppliers: The brands have a new way to reach new customers. They can get rid of unsold products and maintain and increase their revenue with the private online channel.
New brands can make themselves known through a partnership with vente-privee. They can fidelize new customers with their discount prices.
They lower the risk of leftover stocks.
Company owners: As their orders are pre-paid, vente-privee has a low operating cost and a lower risk when an economy crisis happens. Through affiliation, subsription and commissions, the company has large revenue sources.
Vente-privee.com: refashions closeouts.
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jan2008/gb20080111_222659.htm?chan=innovation_branding_brand%20profiles
For Jennifer L. Schenker, vente-privee.com is all about presentation. Instead of showing pictures of unsold product, the company puts toghether promotional shots and videos featuring fashion models and original music that add lustre to the product. The campaigns are approved by the brands and help boost the sales.
This process is of course an important element to the company success but it does not entirely explain it. Actually, the success is mainly due to the first-mover advantage. The idea of Jacques-Antoine Granjon was original and bold (a good example of Design Thinking by the way). But the most unusual aspect of vente-privee is maybe its merchandising program. The company hires models, make-up artists, hairdressers, and photographers to produce daily fashion shoots showing leftover merchandise. The headquarters even houses a recording studio where original music for advertising trailers is created. The songs are so popular that Vente-privee.com now sells a CD of the tracks on its website.
What about another industry?
Vente-privee.com is all about about fashionable products, essencially clothes, handbags… although some selling events are for furnitures. These products are expendable or can be worn out. There is another industry with the same tendencies: wine.
The main wine producers wouldn’t need this kind of business model, although their products couls be available. No, the purpose of a “vente-privee around wine” would be to offer the product of unknown producers. That kind of model would be an advantage for them, to be known and reviewed, and for the customers, to discover new wines.
There are many models that already exists around wine. The main ones are 1jour1vin.fr and caveprivee.com.
http://www.1jour1vin.com/fr/
http://www.caveprivee.com/
The idea is to create a virtual space where selling events for any kind of product occurs for 3 or 4 days for privileged customers. The only way to benefit to these events is through a sponsor system.
48 hours before an event, the members receive an email that informs them about the product sold through a trailer. Once the event is over, the company places a global order to the brand. After reception, vente-privee ships the products ordered by its members.
For the first three years, vente-privee.com invests and develops itself. The success really begins in 2004 with a selling event around a famous lingerie brand.
In 2007, Summit Partners buys 20% of the company in order to sponsor a development in other countries. Today, vente-privee.com is present in France, Spain, Germany, Italy and Great Britain. In 2009, the company tries music with an exclusivity selling of Kabaret, a Patricia Kaas album, for 6 Euros.
In July 2009, the company counts a thousand workers, 8 million members in Europe, 3,5 millions customers and more than one million of unique visitors each day.
How does vente-privee make any money?
As previously said, vente-privee places its order to the brand once the selling event is over. The company does not spend any money for it as it is pre-paid by its customers. Because of its success, the order placed by vente-privee is quite large and they pay it with a discount.
The products are auto financed with a benefice.
Problems solved for customers, suppliers and company owners.
Customers: The members of vente-privee are warned of a selling event by mail two days before it occurs. Every brand sold is a famous one and the prices are exceptionally low (from 30% to 70%).
The members don’t have to go to a brand store to buy the products. They only need a net connection and a postal adress to purchase and receive their products.
They can discover new brands a new products every week, always with a very attractive discount price.
The members can feel priviledged as they are part of a club and, with only one purchase, can attain VIP status.
Suppliers: The brands have a new way to reach new customers. They can get rid of unsold products and maintain and increase their revenue with the private online channel.
New brands can make themselves known through a partnership with vente-privee. They can fidelize new customers with their discount prices.
They lower the risk of leftover stocks.
Company owners: As their orders are pre-paid, vente-privee has a low operating cost and a lower risk when an economy crisis happens. Through affiliation, subsription and commissions, the company has large revenue sources.
Vente-privee.com: refashions closeouts.
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jan2008/gb20080111_222659.htm?chan=innovation_branding_brand%20profiles
For Jennifer L. Schenker, vente-privee.com is all about presentation. Instead of showing pictures of unsold product, the company puts toghether promotional shots and videos featuring fashion models and original music that add lustre to the product. The campaigns are approved by the brands and help boost the sales.
This process is of course an important element to the company success but it does not entirely explain it. Actually, the success is mainly due to the first-mover advantage. The idea of Jacques-Antoine Granjon was original and bold (a good example of Design Thinking by the way). But the most unusual aspect of vente-privee is maybe its merchandising program. The company hires models, make-up artists, hairdressers, and photographers to produce daily fashion shoots showing leftover merchandise. The headquarters even houses a recording studio where original music for advertising trailers is created. The songs are so popular that Vente-privee.com now sells a CD of the tracks on its website.
What about another industry?
Vente-privee.com is all about about fashionable products, essencially clothes, handbags… although some selling events are for furnitures. These products are expendable or can be worn out. There is another industry with the same tendencies: wine.
The main wine producers wouldn’t need this kind of business model, although their products couls be available. No, the purpose of a “vente-privee around wine” would be to offer the product of unknown producers. That kind of model would be an advantage for them, to be known and reviewed, and for the customers, to discover new wines.
There are many models that already exists around wine. The main ones are 1jour1vin.fr and caveprivee.com.
http://www.1jour1vin.com/fr/
http://www.caveprivee.com/
samedi 6 février 2010
Subscription
With this business model, the user is charged a periodic fee to subscribe to a service.
This model reminds us of magazines and every major publishers choose it for their website. For example, the Financial Times website propose different kind of subscription:
- The standard online subscription offers an unlimited article allowance.
- The premium online subscription offers the same items of the standard plus the mobile news reader and the Lex column.
- The newspaper subscription is the classic one (Lex column and daily delivery) plus the free epaper access and the Financial Times Weekend delivery.
- The online + newspaper subscription offers all these items.
http://www.ft.com/cms/782b3c3e-e239-11dd-b1dd-0000779fd2ac.html?pspId=0001&segid=70152&
This model reminds us of magazines and every major publishers choose it for their website. For example, the Financial Times website propose different kind of subscription:
- The standard online subscription offers an unlimited article allowance.
- The premium online subscription offers the same items of the standard plus the mobile news reader and the Lex column.
- The newspaper subscription is the classic one (Lex column and daily delivery) plus the free epaper access and the Financial Times Weekend delivery.
- The online + newspaper subscription offers all these items.
http://www.ft.com/cms/782b3c3e-e239-11dd-b1dd-0000779fd2ac.html?pspId=0001&segid=70152&
Weekly assignment for Sunday February 7, 2010
Peter Merholz has written “Why Design Thinking won’t save you” in October 9, 2009. He starts by complaining about all the articles about Design Thinking written these past months. For him, these articles are limited. They say that Design Thinking is a solution for businesses that need help concerning innovation. They say that it’s not the MBA-trained business men that could solve problems anymore or add value, but the ones who are “creatives”.
Now, Peter Merholz won’t even try to deny that. He will just say that that kind of dismissal is ludicrous. Design Thinking, although often a good solution, is not sufficient alone. It’s when it is mixed with business thinking that the value is added.
But then again, the author of the article does not limit himself with terms such as “Design Thinking” and “Business Thinking”. He graduated in anthropology and tells us that a big part of “Design Thinking” is “Social science Thinking”. He criticizes the design thinkers when they talk about being “human-centered” and “emphatic”. Actually, that’s exactly how Tim Brown talks about “Design Thinking” applied to governments (see my previous assignment). The design thinker has no agenda and that’s why his solution is often the more innovative and the more appropriate.
The truth is, says Peter Merholz, that it is not until very recently that the design schools teach about customer research.
He continues by talking about journalism and how, in his experience, information gathering and concise reports are keys to a company success. “Journalism Thinking” could definitely benefit to businesses.
He goes further again by evocating “Library Thinking”, “History Thinking” and “Arts Thinking”. After all, the core to “Design Thinking” is “think differently”. Librarian, historian and artists are always bringing up different perspectives. Could these disciplines not benefit businesses as well?
Peter Merholz concludes saying that the dichotomy between “Business Thinking” and “Design Thinking” is absurd. The important point, and I agree completely with him, is we must bring as many viewpoints and perspectives as possible in order to respond to whatever challenges we have in front of us.
Peter Merholz does not criticize “Design Thinking” per se, but the whole enthusiasm behind it. Although it is a nice way to create new opportunities, it is not the only one and certainly not an exclusive. “Design Thinking” is not the answer to our problem. We simply have to broad our perspectives and this “business model” is a part of the way. “Design Thinking” is not the solution but a part of it.
http://blogs.hbr.org/merholz/2009/10/why-design-thinking-wont-save.html
Now, Peter Merholz won’t even try to deny that. He will just say that that kind of dismissal is ludicrous. Design Thinking, although often a good solution, is not sufficient alone. It’s when it is mixed with business thinking that the value is added.
But then again, the author of the article does not limit himself with terms such as “Design Thinking” and “Business Thinking”. He graduated in anthropology and tells us that a big part of “Design Thinking” is “Social science Thinking”. He criticizes the design thinkers when they talk about being “human-centered” and “emphatic”. Actually, that’s exactly how Tim Brown talks about “Design Thinking” applied to governments (see my previous assignment). The design thinker has no agenda and that’s why his solution is often the more innovative and the more appropriate.
The truth is, says Peter Merholz, that it is not until very recently that the design schools teach about customer research.
He continues by talking about journalism and how, in his experience, information gathering and concise reports are keys to a company success. “Journalism Thinking” could definitely benefit to businesses.
He goes further again by evocating “Library Thinking”, “History Thinking” and “Arts Thinking”. After all, the core to “Design Thinking” is “think differently”. Librarian, historian and artists are always bringing up different perspectives. Could these disciplines not benefit businesses as well?
Peter Merholz concludes saying that the dichotomy between “Business Thinking” and “Design Thinking” is absurd. The important point, and I agree completely with him, is we must bring as many viewpoints and perspectives as possible in order to respond to whatever challenges we have in front of us.
Peter Merholz does not criticize “Design Thinking” per se, but the whole enthusiasm behind it. Although it is a nice way to create new opportunities, it is not the only one and certainly not an exclusive. “Design Thinking” is not the answer to our problem. We simply have to broad our perspectives and this “business model” is a part of the way. “Design Thinking” is not the solution but a part of it.
http://blogs.hbr.org/merholz/2009/10/why-design-thinking-wont-save.html
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