Today's achievements

Today I conducted research into my initial idea – Wellington’s and which Wellington’s are available at present on the market. I was looking for a Wellington with a creative gadget or addition that would make it useful and appealing to it’s target market. Below I have listed my achievements:

Achievements:

• I discovered three very ‘cool’ ideas that are on the market. One was a rainfall measuring Wellington boot which measures the scale of rain fall along the side – allowing the wearer to measure how deep the water is.
• I found other sites for further research: www.NewLook.co.uk/Wellies.
• I also discovered www.tent-shopibexcamping.co.uk and www.my1stwish.co.uk .
• A further creative invention which I came across was a self-heating Wellington boot. Named the Self-Heating Gum Boot it works by a small electrical circuit heating the base of the boot, using the same principle as an electric blanket.
• Another invention was the Torch Gum Boot – in which a small torch in the toe aids the wearer to their destination – i.e. their camping tent.
• There is also a self-flushing gum boot which uses a high pressure water jet and fountains of warm air.
• I needed to see whether my product had a space in industry. I therefore referred to Mintel Oxygen to look at different marketing reports.
• There were no specific reports for Wellington boots; however I looked initially down the path of garden supplies – what wellies were initially worn for.
• I discovered that garden supplies were on the decrease because of climate change and the somewhat appalling weather conditions. I therefore knew that this was not the correct area to target my product.
• However, I believed that festivals would be ideal. The teenage socioeconomic range E has a high amount of disposable income, because of the concept that they tend not to have as many bills to pay etc. Therefore I know people could potentially buy my product.
• Also, festivals are popular no matter what the weather is. In fact, the muddier and wetter - the better.
• Market research also taught my that high end brands suffered when other lower brands such as Newlook started promoting their shoe ranges because of the price difference.
• Impulse buying is still very high – and can be tapped into with clever promotion.
• Fashion footwear is treated as an accessory to an overall look – I could work with this when promoting my Wellingtons.
  
  Reflection:

I believe that I covered a lot of research today. I must ensure that I follow up these lines of enquiry and, after a meeting with my peers today, I have decided that it is a necessity to include something environmentally friendly as this is key and will help to sell my product. I will update this entry tomorrow evening.