AFTER-9 & MAX DELIVERY
Kozmo! Urbanfetch! Food.com! Ordering a pint of Ben & Jerry's and a video from your East Village studio in your underwear. Ah, those were the days! But as predicted (SECOND .COMING), beautiful flowers now grow on the graves of many a failed dotcom. In Istanbul, After 9 started delivering stuff to demanding Istanbulites in need of urban necessities like condoms, beverages, cigarettes, diapers and sandwiches. Orders are placed online or over the phone, and are delivered by motorbike or car in 45 minutes or less. Opening hours are 9pmÐ6am. For this urban luxury, customers pay a 25-30% premium compared to regular supermarket prices. The minimum order size is USD 7 (EUR 6/GBP 4), but the average order is closer to USD 20 (EUR 17/GBP 11.50).

Additional services since the September 2005 launch include Nite-Porter (a chauffeur service which takes customers wherever they like in their own car) and Pill-Porter, an all-night pharmacy delivery service. Geographical expansion plans include more outlets in Istanbul, including the Asian side, and adding the cities of Izmir and Ankara to the list. (Spotted by …zgŸr Alaz, Springspotter Network.)

And even in Manhattan, under-an-hour delivery is back. Since spring of last year, MaxDelivery ("order now, have it in minutes") bikers deliver USD 10 (EUR 8.50/GBP 5.75) minimum orders from a Tribeca warehouse to Lower Manhattan. Daring? Yes. Interesting? Definitely.





RANKING RANQUEEN
We don't mind spelling it out again: in an age of abundance, curators rule! Riding the CURATED CONSUMPTION trend in all its glory is Japanese Ranking Ranqueen, a Tokyo chain selling only the top 3, 5 or 10 items in a bewildering range of categories. Rankings are based on sales data from big Tokyo department stores and independent research.

Think best-selling lists for bath powder. Tooth picks. Pasta sauce. Cell phones. And so on. Rankings are updated every week, mercilessly replacing the out of favor with the Next Big Thing.
here are eight Ranking Ranqueen stores in total: five stores in Tokyo (Shibuya, Shinjuku, Otemachi, Jiyugaoka, Kitasenju), two stores in Yokohama (Azamino, Kamiooka), and one store in Fukuoka (Fukuokatenjin). The company is owned by Tokyu Corporation. (Spotted by Ray Collouch,Springspotter Network.)

Opportunities
Long tail. Broadening taste. End of mass. All true. But as long as consumers are time-starved, and as long as some of them still enjoy buying what many of their peers are buying, they will love initiatives like Ranking Ranqueen that take care of selection for them.

And whereas Ranking Ranqueen has been up and running successfully in Japan for a few years now, the rest of the world remains wide open for similar concepts. Time to immerse yourself in list-mania and start telling consumers what to buy!





MORMOR
Nostalgia. Design. GENERATION C. Storytelling. Knitting. Senior citizens and baby boomers. All these 'trends' beautifully come together in DanishMormor.nu, an online store that sells baby and children's wear from the time when grandma herself was a wee lass. ('Mormor.nu' is Danish for 'Grandma.now'). In fact, the company's employees stem from an era when everything was made by hand, the youngest employee being 68 years old.

All products are handmade, from pure wool, alpaca wool or cotton. Old knitting and crochet techniques and patterns have been revived, and colors and materials updated, making the products meet modern demands for fashionable children's clothing, as well as for old-fashioned quality and honest materials. Cool little touch: clothes come with a small nametag signed by the grandmother that made the item. (Spotted by Hans Jul Larsen, Springspotter Network.)

Opportunities
From the Bugaboo to Mormor, design for tykes rules. Not surprising, as mature, experienced consumers who value authenticity, style, artisan quality and uniqueness, are looking for exactly that when buying items for their offspring. How to profit from this? Start by taking a close look at every part of the 'baby-value-chain', and figure out what part could do with an upgrade; whether it means infusing products with modern design, or returning to the retro-chic of yesteryear.

And don't underestimate the story-telling aspect of Mormor. Last but not least, turning senior citizens into MINIPRENEURS could prove a hit for more than just baby apparel. Oh, and do donate a chunk of your new found riches to those organizations helping out millions of kids who don't have it this good!




AQUACELL MEDIA
Springwise has so far ignored headvertising, furvertising, wipevertising and other desperate 'sadvertising' attempts at throwing money at something that won't win any sympathy from jaded consumers no matter what you try. However, new advertising ploys that actually manage to bring consumers real benefits at no cost, while satisfying the advertiser, are still a possibility. Hence our recent features on carvertising and bikevertising. Next? Coolertising!

Check out AquaCell Media, who will plaster your brand on any of their participating free water coolers in 1,400 retail and service locations in the US, including major retail chains CVS and Kmart. Advertisers have included Unilever -- who reported a 34 percent increase in sales of Dove Cool Moisture as a result of coolertising, and CBS Television -- who used coolertising in the fall of 2005 to promote its comedy "Out of Practice", and is currently running a similar campaign to get some buzz going about "Courting Alex" (another CBS sitcom).

Opportunities
Traditional advertising may be dying, but consumers still appreciate schemes that net them something tangible in exchange for their eyeballs and time. What other well-liked consumer services and goods can you turn into sponsored free love?




START MOBILE
OK, so we're suckers for anything that claims to be a 'world's first'. Like San Francisco's START MOBILE, a gallery selling art for cell phones. Part of the START SOMA gallery, the venture sells thousands of original works of new art from hundreds of established and underground artists, to be downloaded onto mobile phones. Wallpapers are billed at USD 1.99 (EUR 1.66/GBP 1.15), with the artist receiving a small cut. (Spotted by Keith R. Crosley, Springspotter Network.)


Opportunities
START MOBILE for now is a distinctively US-based venture. Which leaves open another, oh, 100 or so markets? Hey, if it would generate only 1/100th of the excitement and money generated by ringtones, you'd still be loaded if you'd execute this one decently!

I AM VERITY
The idea isn't spanking new, but it is worth a closer look, as the conditions for something like this have vastly improved now that we're ALL online (1 billion and counting!): producing something only after you've received enough commitment from prospective buyers to cover your initial costs. VeryMINIPRENEURish, of course!

Fun example: I am Verity. Verity is a South African singer who wants to record her own album, but doesn't have the cash (about USD 45,000/EUR 37,600/GBP 25,800) needed to do so. She also realised that if she would cut a record deal, it would take her a long time to see a single dime in return. Which is why she set out to pre-sell 5,000 CDs at USD 23 (EUR 19/GBP 13) a pop. Verity will donate 10% of any profits to charity, and participants will get, besides the CD, their name listed on her website, as well as an invite to vote on which songs she will actually record, what artwork and photography is used, and so on. (Spotted by Colin Jowell, Springspotter Network.)

Opportunities
We're all entrepreneurs these days. But the smaller our businesses are getting, the higher the financial risks of undertaking something really big. Harnessing the power of NOUVEAU NICHE, TWINSUMERS and what have you, it's now possible to not only test a new start-up idea with prospective customers, but have them commit financially in advance as well! Active use of word of mouth marketing techniques recommended of course.

Publisher: springwise
Springwise is a new business intelligence firm, publishing reports and newsletters dedicated to new business ideas and business opportunities on a global scale.
Springwise also collaborates with sister-publication trendwatching.com, a leading trend spotting firm.
Web: www.springwise.com
Published: february 2006
Market: mens womens childrens
Region: usa
Industry: apparel accessories

DISCLAIMER
Information in this report relies on sources including Trade Shows, Associations, News Releases, Government Reports and other public sources. Infomat can accept no responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such information or for loss or damage caused by any use thereof.