Yec

[srachit]

Hey guys
Okay so there is this competition coming up in my city called the young entreprenaurs competition. Its basically that you setup a stall in this mall and the stall that earns the most wins. Teams of 4 are allowed to register.
Now I was thinking of selling website dev packages. Now what this would include would be a .com/.net/.org website with hosting, wordpress installed and a theme installed.
Although this all sounds simple for anyone here, i'm sure it would not for a non-developer. I had all the finances planned out and after registeration fee, hosting fee, domain registeration cost, my calcluation gave me a profit of 100Dhs per person, if we managed to sell our package to 10people per day for all the 4 days of the competition.

Now I was speaking to my dad about this and he said that he does not think this would be a success as there wouldnt be much demand for a website by a person after the advent of social networking sites like facebook etc.

I wanted to know what is your opinion regarding this?
Details about the competition:
City: Dubai, UAE
Competition name: Young entreprenaurs competition
Mall: Dubai Mall
From: 28th to 1st April

Thanks
Rachit

[prototype]

i m not sure what you should sell but i think it would be good if you try to sell something that you dont get in dubai but in other countries and be sure that people like it.

[Spudinski]

Dev work won't sell at a mall, as it's not something you can wrap up and display.
I'd think of going another route, like selling cupcakes or something.

[Nickson]

Hmmm, interesting competition and a nice idea for sure. A few things you have to ask yourself though.

Location, will I have easy access to possible clients? Am I easy to reach? Since it's in a mall, probably more than enough.
Interest, are those possible clients actually interested in buying what I'm offering? No point of selling diggers there as the chances are rather low that someone is interested in buying a digger in a mall. Websites, well chances are much more likely that someone actually wants to buy one, depending on other factors of course, but still pretty low .. people don't come to a mall to get a website, then again, it's not possible to buy a website in a mall, so it might actually be a success.
Competition, Do you have competition? Ifso, what do they offer, what makes me unique from them? what is my weak point compared to them?
Pricing, what's my price? can and will your average possible client spend that much on your package? I doubt that a random person wants to pay $250 for a 'simple' wordpress installation and a personal domain. just so he has his personal site. A domain registration and a dns resolve to a blogspot or whatever costs, what.. $20? Make sure your package it's worth it.
Transparency, no matter what your price is, make sure your clients know what they are buying.
Organization, show them that you are serious, that you are organised, even if that means you should make a small banner to hang up, and have some business cards so they can contact you.
Proof of concept / demo, have something to show. A person that can actually see what they are buying makes them more likely to be attracted to the product than when they just have a few things on a paper that you can only tell.


Will all of this be enough? Can't tell..
Will you win the competition? Probably not as there are other ideas that require a lot less work that will earn you more simply by the amount of sales. eg: selling drinks
Will you get some work? Quite sure if you meet the above, or at least, you'll get noticed

[srachit]

Just a rule from their site for the ones suggesting cup cakes and drinks :
Projects selling food & beverages pets, video games, music instruments, inflammable products are not allowed to participate in the competition for health concern purposes or any other projects that will be rejected by the Establishment.

@Nikson: Thanks for the reply!
Location : Yes I will have access to thousands of people who come not only to visit the mall but also to specifically come to the competition area and visit the many kiosks there.
Interest: This is something I am unsure of, if I would have any interest from the people who visit the mall, according to my dad after the advent of social networking, no one wants their own personal website
Competition: I believe I will have zero to none compeititon
Pricing: The pricing will be very fair and I will be earning a profit of around 30-40Dhs which is around 3-4$
Transparency: Yes I plan to keep it very transparent let them know what we are doing exactly and also provide an ebook to them with all details on how to work with wordpress
Organization: Contact details will be provided incase they require help after the competition is over
Proof of concept/demo: I will be using my own site to do provide demo's


After quite some contemplating, I think what I will do is keep the web dev on the side just incase someone does want a website to be made I will make one and host on my own server. In the case that this proves to be popular I will make it the main attraction of the stall and buy a new server. The problem I face now is that you are allowed to enter in only one category of the competition, so if I enter in lets say Fashion, I wont be able to put up anything related to IT.

[Spudinski]

Just a rule from their site for the ones suggesting cup cakes and drinks :
Projects selling food & beverages pets, video games, music instruments, inflammable products are not allowed to participate in the competition for health concern purposes or any other projects that will be rejected by the Establishment.

@Nikson: Thanks for the reply!
Location : Yes I will have access to thousands of people who come not only to visit the mall but also to specifically come to the competition area and visit the many kiosks there.
Interest: This is something I am unsure of, if I would have any interest from the people who visit the mall, according to my dad after the advent of social networking, no one wants their own personal website
Competition: I believe I will have zero to none compeititon
Pricing: The pricing will be very fair and I will be earning a profit of around 30-40Dhs which is around 3-4$
Transparency: Yes I plan to keep it very transparent let them know what we are doing exactly and also provide an ebook to them with all details on how to work with wordpress
Organization: Contact details will be provided incase they require help after the competition is over
Proof of concept/demo: I will be using my own site to do provide demo's


After quite some contemplating, I think what I will do is keep the web dev on the side just incase someone does want a website to be made I will make one and host on my own server. In the case that this proves to be popular I will make it the main attraction of the stall and buy a new server. The problem I face now is that you are allowed to enter in only one category of the competition, so if I enter in lets say Fashion, I wont be able to put up anything related to IT.

From a business perspective, if they say "entrepreneur" you should be allowed sell in multiple categories. I've never met an "entrepreneur" that only sells one thing.

If I can give you a strategy for pursuit, if you want to go with development work:
I suggest you advertise beforehand, since you are going to attempt to sell to a very specific market you will need to attract specific customers. There shouldn't be anything in the rules that disallows this, since one of the beginning step in business is getting to know your audience.

Another thing you could do, is peacocking. In a business environment, this would mean drawing potential clients' attention to something at your stand.
Let's say you want to take your laptop with you for presentation, rather take a desktop PC and set it up in an unusual manner that is relevant towards what you're selling. In your case, try to draw attention to the fact that you are selling websites.

A banner is a good idea, just don't overdo it. If you use a banner, use a slogan that tickles the tongues of people who say it. It has to get them interested enough to come and see what you are about. Or, you can use wording that is common in your area, like slang or politics(not childish humour though).

[chicka]

Although this sounds like a good idea, I think you have a better chance of winning by selling Girl scout cookies. why? because most people that are out shopping are going to want so see product. They are going to want to buy and take it home. Yes there are a few that are going to be interested in this idea how ever if you think about it, If you go to a mall to buy something, are you really going there to buy a website?? I know (as an avid mall shopper) i'm not at the mall for a website.
Just gives you something to think about..

[Nickson]

in reply to the two latest replies

@spud: "When you think of an entrepreneur you think of more than one product", well that might be, but this is a competition with rules and the rules say differently, end of discussion really. Otherwise, good additions.

@chicka. food/drinks, .. aren't allowed to enter, again the idea stops there.

[Danny696]

@spud; "When you think of an entrepreneur you think of more than one product" being an entrepreneur isnt about products, anyone can invent a product, its about innovating that product, taking it to market, and selling it. So really, he can focus on one product, as long as he is working it right.

[Spudinski]

@spud; "When you think of an entrepreneur you think of more than one product" being an entrepreneur isnt about products, anyone can invent a product, its about innovating that product, taking it to market, and selling it. So really, he can focus on one product, as long as he is working it right.

That's quite biased from you.

Don't get me wrong, I tend to love innovation as much as the next guy. But an entrepreneur does sell a product, whether it be themselves or service.
The product is either you, or the customer with web development. Since it's in the tertiary sector(services), innovation is a big step to take, but I agree, some form of uniqueness is required but, it's not very achievable in today's markets(recession).

It's to do with the audience of the product, as they prefer a proven product over a (new) unproven equal. I could dissect most aspects of it, but I don't think it's quite relevant here.