What's Next?

Existing Market

- Step 1: Pending company success, I think that we will have a movement towards catering towards people with a more diverse sense of style and possibly starting up a few brick and mortar stores. I think it would be a cool and #vibey sort of thing to have a t-shirt store coffee shop cross over. Here, we would specialize in selling t-shirts but also serve coffee as well. I think that current customers would like this and I think it would attract new markets because who doesn't love a good coffee shop.

- Step 2: 

• Interview 1:  I first interviewed my cousin who previously told me that she would be a customer. She said that she liked the company and would think it would be cool if there could be a part of the website where the customers could submit their own designs or ideas for types of shirts that the company should create next. She said that she has ideas of things that she would think would make cool and trendy t-shirts. I told her about the coffee shop idea and she said that she liked it. She said that she would visit this sort of store because she could pursue quality clothes that she likes which waiting for coffee.

• Interview 2:   The second person I interviewed was a friend of mine who really likes the 90s skater subculture. He said before that he liked the company and so I asked him if there was something different that we could do that would make him like us even more. He said that he thinks it would be cool  if there was maybe some sort of category on the website that specialized in recreating iconic band tees. He said he would love to purchase actual vintage band tees, but that a lot of the time they were too much money. He said he would really like it if he could buy some knock offs. I told him about the coffee shop idea and he said he thought it was cool and would definitely be a customer. However, he suggested that we open up shop with a skate park. Perhaps we could get a merchandising deal with one of the local skate parks to sell shirts there. He suggested this because he likes to skate and thinks that many of his friends who like to skate would be interested in this sort of clothing line.

• Interview 3:   Finally, I interviewed another friend of mine who is interested in the company. I asked her what she thinks we could do differently. She replied that she thinks we could sell things other than just t-shirts. She likes the specialization and knowing that the company will deliver quality products, but she wants that promise to be extended to other items of clothing as well. When I told her about the coffee shop idea, she said that she liked it and would be a regular patron.

- Step 3:  For the time being, I think sticking to online retailing and building up a solid customer base is what's most important for the company. As for future plans, I did like my friend's idea of getting the clothes into already popular skater shops. I know stores such as Pacsun carry other clothing lines like Brandy Melville or Kylie and Kendall Jenner's line. I think that the step right after online retailing would probably be trying to introduce the brand to already functioning storefronts that have that skater/surfer vibe going. At this point, the online store would have already built up a solid customer base who might like the availability of getting the shirts in person. Furthermore, this would build up brand recognition for people who maybe haven't heard of the clothing line before.

   After some time passes, I think it would then be appropriate to venture into my idea of having a t-shirt/coffee shop. The customers who I spoke with seemed to like the idea and I think that it would bring in more customers as well. People who maybe aren't usually into the sort of style that I'm targeting might walk into the shop simply because they wanted a nice cup of coffee only to discover that there is actually quite a few shirts that fit their personal style. I think that this shop would help to generate revenue on a second front now as well, as we're not just selling shirts, we're also selling coffee.

New Market

- Step 1:   I think that a radically different market would probably be a change in the age of the demographic. Maybe instead of targeting young people, we would start to produce shirts targeting  those who actually grownup, people in their 30's and older.

- Step 2:   I think that the coffee shop t-shirt crossover idea would still work with this new demographic because even actual adults drink coffee. I think we would have to change up some of the designs though. Maybe this new line of shirts would have less of a skater punk rock vibe and more of a Lucky Brand vibe. I think it would be cool to produce shirts that are kind of hippie in aesthetic. This way, the clothes are more mature, but still cater to those who have a slightly different style than the general public. We would still keep our promise of high quality shirts for low prices, which I think even this demographic would enjoy.

- Step 3:

• Interview 1:   The first person I interviewed is my adult cousin. She is in her mid thirties and is currently employed as a geriatric nurse. I told her about the company and she said that she liked it. Her favorite thing about the product is the fact that it would be made of quality material. She said that she often buys clothes that fall apart very quickly and so having shirts that stand the test of time would be great and would save her a lot of money. She said that she really liked the coffee shop idea. She thought it would be cute to grab a coffee while she shopped. To correctly target the market, she thinks that the best thing to do would be to just make sure that the shirts are designed the way adults would want them.

• Interview 2:   Next, I interviewed my mom's neighbor who is a stay a home mom and is super stylish. I told her about the business and she said that she really liked the idea. For her, she said that she would like it if the store offered more than just stylish t-shirts. She regularly shops at Lucky and frequently will buy entire outfits there. She thinks it would be a goof idea to expand the store, or at least the adult section, for more than just t-shirts.

- Step 4: After looking into this new demographic, I still think there is some potential there. However, I don't think it's something that I would want to expand the company into. I think that our niche market would be t-shirt lovers in their teens and early 20s. This isn't to say that older people wouldn't want to buy a shirt to reminisce on the 90s skater culture that they might have been apart of, but I think that, for the most part, the store would have better success with younger people.

   Eventually, I think that if we were to expand the store from being just an online retailer to selling shirts at a brick and mortar coffee shop crossover, then the demographic might expand to contain older people. Everyone likes coffee and I think that having a coffee shop in the t-shirt store would expand the market and make the store more inviting for people of all walks of life.