24A – Venture Concept No. 1

The opportunity here is comic fans in the North Orlando/Oviedo area who have no store to go to. The lack of something is not necessarily an opportunity. But in my experience, being a part of that group, large swaths of people in the area are raring for a store that isn't immensely far away.

The nature of the need is one that the people feel at least weekly, if not more often. This opportunity is created by a need for a comic store where there is none. The market is defined demographically and geographically by mostly middle aged permanent residents and younger aged transient college students. They are currently satisfying their needs by pirating comics, driving further distances, or purchasing digital. They are not loyal to these because most comic fans would rather pay for hard copies of comics at stores close to them. This opportunity is not huge, to say the least. This window of opportunity will be open until a store opens.

I will be selling comics and comic related merchandise from a brick and mortar store in an easy to access location. In the grand scheme, this is nothing new, but there isn't one close to the area where there are many willing/potential customers. I will sell comics for regular retail price, as well as figures, t shirts, posters, and more, for their usual retail price. For rarer collectibles, I will price higher, so as to make a profit.

Customers will switch to this because most customers like having a store that's close by with reasonable prices, compared to digital or piracy. It will be easy to get them to switch once they hear about the store, which will be easy to do in the day of social media. The competitors may be regular book stores, which sell certain comics, but not to the extent that an actual store does. There would only be a few regular employees needed. As the owner, I would also work in the store. The most important part of this is inventory and location. Having a wide selection of products as well as having an easy to access location in a friendly area are the driving forces for success.

My most important resource is my location and friendliness. I need to get people who will come back in the door just once to start building a repertoire with them.

Next for the venture would be physically doing it. The first part is the most expensive- getting a building and starting inventory.

In the future, I want to have a steady customer base that pays for the shop and then some. I know I won't get rich off this, but the area is relatively cheap to live, so I think I could make a living off of it.