Office Supplies Get Niched!
Image by John and Keturah via Flickr
I need manila file folders. My box of 100, purchased in the caveman era, has run out at last. I may be sixty before another box of 100 runs out, but I have to get my bulk discount. So I hop on to www. bigol’officesuperstore .com, and it’s easy as pie—”File Folders” is one of the categories on the home page.
*click on “File Folders”*
Manila, or Colored?
Oooh, I hadn’t thought of that. Colored might be neat. I peek, see that the prices are quite a bit higher, which negates my all-important bulk-discount, so I back up to plain old Manila, where my choices are:
- Heavyweight
- Reinforced
- Papercut-reducing
- Anti-microbial
- Moisture-resistant
- Pink-ribbon breast-cancer-research styled
I look at the category again, then at the pictures of the products. Yes, we are talking about file folders. This should be a piece of cardstock, folded in half. I’m overwhelmed, and underwhelmed, at the same time.
And notice, there is no “regular” weight. For those of us whose file folders already last forever, and don’t need them to last any longer than that.
Now I love a good differentiator, a little something so your brand will be top-of-the-mind and the obvious, the only, the Ideal Solution when I have a problem with my office supplies. Really. I adore innovation.
Papercut-reducing? Anti-microbial? Moisture-resistant?
Pink-ribbon breast-cancer-research styled?
Seriously??
Folks, don’t try this at home. Innovation for its own sake is NOT GOOD.
Have you talked to your customers lately?
“I need manila file folders. But my real concern is, will I get a papercut? It holds me back from purchasing every other brand.”
“I’m longing to reach into my filing cabinets and know that the folders are no longer so darned… microbe-y. It’s a real pain point in our office.”
When you’re Pinpointing the unique features that will make you stand out from the crowd…
… make sure someone cares. A lot.
Niches are nice, and sometimes, yes, you can have one all to yourself and really clean up. Look for the pain your customers are feeling, and solve that pain. They’ll beat a path to your door, and yours alone.
Don’t design a Solution and try to shove a customer into wanting it.
When they market a file folder that can protect me from whale attacks, I’m there. Because that pain is top-of-the-mind when I’m digging in the file drawers.
What pain are your customers feeling? Do you solve that pain, or are you waiting for them to want what you’d rather sell them?
Grow and be well,
Kelly Erickson
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3 February 2009, 7:57 am
Like Freud said: sometimes a file folder is just a file folder.
Yeah, it’s funny to see stuff like that (unless you’re the one caught in the trap). Companies fighting in some geek-off to build a better mousetrap, not realizing that it’s about the purchaser, not the mouse.
Can you see the look on the 17-year old’s face? “Um, we don’t have ‘regler…’ but we have reinforced. Is that the same thing? It starts with an ‘r’ too.”
~Graham
Graham Strong’s last blog post…5 Steps To Better Brainstorming for the Intrepid Freelancer and Independent Business Owner
3 February 2009, 8:06 am
Graham,
No kidding. And the weirder ones: did they sit down in a brainstorming session and say, “hey, how about all those times when we’re out in the rain with our file folders? Let’s do moisture-resistant!”
Pink ribbon? It’s going in a deep, dark file cabinet. Where I will forget to refer to it ever again. What kind of a sucker can’t see that sending money to the Komen Foundation makes a lot more sense than these file folders? (Uh-oh, ranting again.)
I got the heavyweight.
Which, it may come as no surprise, is exactly the same weight as the last ones in my fifteen-year-old box, back when all they came in was “you want it or not?”
Regards,
Kelly
3 February 2009, 9:40 am
Kelly,
You made me laugh with this one, because I couldn’t agree more. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find something that’s well-made, and BASIC. Everything has to have bells and whistles…and it drives me nuts! Sometimes all I want is a plain manila envelope! Or a cell-phone that just takes and makes calls. Or I just want to order some simple postcards without being sold 50 other things (are you listening Vista Print?).
Anyway, thanks for pointing this out to the world!
3 February 2009, 10:02 am
Well, I see your point about the pink folders, and it isn’t something I’d personally use. But if you are using your folders for more than just storage, like transporting files, then it does make a statement.
From a fundraising point of view, more people want something in return for their donation these days, and pink folders, pink ribbons, pink rubber wristbands are sometimes the ticket. Plus, the folders are likely more acceptable in the corporate setting than a piece of plastic that keeps getting entangled with your diamond-encrusted Rolex…
But I agree whole-heartedly with your underlying argument. Give me choices in computers, cars, and coffee. When it comes to file folders though, just give me the damn box!
~Graham
Graham Strong’s last blog post…5 Steps To Better Brainstorming for the Intrepid Freelancer and Independent Business Owner
3 February 2009, 10:03 am
PS – I love the fact you put an image in for this post, and what a great choice too!
~Graham
Graham Strong’s last blog post…5 Steps To Better Brainstorming for the Intrepid Freelancer and Independent Business Owner
3 February 2009, 10:26 am
How about this one?
Gee, there isn’t enough variety in Oreo Cookies. And drinking milk is so AWFUL!
So let’s make Oreo straws. With special “unibeads” that impart flavour to the milk as the kids drink them.
http://mybrands.com/Product.aspx?pid=8644
(Our society has was WAY too much time on our hands!)
Friar’s last blog post…Another Canadian Moment
3 February 2009, 11:08 am
http://www.galison.com/Happy-Butterfly-Day-File-Folders–P2359C531.aspx
FIle folders LEAST likely to be found in Friar’s office.
Janice Cartier’s last blog post…Right Down To The Wire
3 February 2009, 3:05 pm
Mark, Graham,
Yes, of course, basic was what I wanted. It isn’t always, but for this, yes.
But my point is more, ARE we checking that someone wants this as we roll out a new product or service? What is the pain that anti-microbial file folders solve?
As Steve Jobs likes to say, people don’t always know what they want. If he waited until someone asked him to create the iPod it would have been too late.
So it’s not about waiting until someone says, my file folders are too… moist. (??)
It’s about finding out how the product is being used, and what problems are folks encountering that we will be uniquely able to solve?
After the heavy duty and reinforced options, only anti-papercut seemed remotely like somebody might have checked with a customer before designing it.
I’ve never gotten a papercut off a file folder, but I can imagine that if I did it would hurt like a sonofagun. Hopefully their research turned up masses of injured organizers, just waiting for that solution.
Friar,
Yeah. Like that. What horrid brainstorm do such things emerge from?
Janice,
See, now those are cute. I’d get a pack for The Kid. They aren’t being sold in 100-packs, so they clearly understand these have an entirely different purpose—they are meant for show, and I agree with Graham, there may be times when a file folder could be for show. (Not my choice, but I can see it.)
I’m guessing that some customer research did go into those. If you’ve got people saying “I’d buy that,” you’re halfway to a successful product launch.
Regards,
Kelly
3 February 2009, 3:28 pm
@Janice
Replace the butterflies with speckled trout, and I’d buy a case!
Friar’s last blog post…Another Canadian Moment
3 February 2009, 3:43 pm
Ahh, consumer feedback…see how it works?
LOL
Janice Cartier’s last blog post…Right Down To The Wire
3 February 2009, 7:49 pm
@Kelly – Oh, I hear what you’re saying. It’s like these companies hired marketing agencies to help boost their sales, and the answer was “more choice” (you know, like it always is).
I guess everyone is trying to find the edge — and sometimes people go past it.
The really cool thing though about the anti-microbial folders is that you’re less likely to get an infection when you cut yourself. (Damn, I knew I should have went with the paper-cut-resistant folders…!)
~Graham
Graham Strong’s last blog post…5 Steps To Better Brainstorming for the Intrepid Freelancer and Independent Business Owner
3 February 2009, 9:48 pm
Friar,
Believe it or not, a world of file folders is available for choosy organizers, like this:
http://www.charmingcards.com/item/Crap-Folders/1339/p2c64
Trout—as far as I can tell, not available.
Graham,
LOL. Who gets a papercut on the folder? I get them on the stuff I put into the folders.
Sell me papercut-resistant paper, and we’ll talk…
Later,
Kelly
4 February 2009, 12:36 am
Really, though. Talk about stupid freaking useless low-priority concepts. Our society has WAY too much free time on their hands.
In some parts of the word, people are too busy trying not to get shot and/or trying not to starve to death.
Yet WE need special anti-bacterial manila folders, lest we get a paper cut.
Imagine going over to a third-world country, and trying to explain THAT to the people living there.
Friar’s last blog post…4 Minutes and 22 Seconds of Down-Time.
5 February 2009, 6:51 am
My readers tell me they need concrete tips on breaking through procrastination habits and clutter habits, and many of them also mention being unsure of where they want to go if they did stop procrastinating.
So, while the blog talks at a philosophical level, the newsletter gives slightly more concrete tips and the upcoming paid service will give highly concrete tips. With few choices. Everyone will be free to choose their personal project, but they won’t get the mentoring version of the envelopes. They’re going to get sturdy (environmentally-friendly) plain envelopes that they can customize if they feel like it.
In a service business where clarity is my key deliverable, options just make a mess and dilute the service. No?
Alex Fayle | Someday Syndrome’s last blog post…How do you say goodbye?
5 February 2009, 7:11 am
Friar,
Agree, completely.
Alex,
Sí. I’ve seen studies where the more choices a buyer was given over 3, the more likely he or she was to walk out without making a purchase, even of something they needed. (Ever stare at the mustard section of a large North American grocery store?)
A couple of levels of engagement, you have. Customizable, of course. After that… either you want Alex’s super-awesome brand of get-it-in-gear advice, or you don’t!
Until later,
Kelly