Market Opportunities in entrepreneurship

One factor that needs to be analyzed by every entrepreneur or prospective entrepreneur is his ability to know the opportunities or market potential. If you as an entrepreneur less able in analyzing the market potential, then most likely the existing potential will be utilized by other competitors or entrepreneurs.

So that business activities that run will experience many obstacles or even less successful in runs its business functions.

1) Understanding Market Opportunities

Actually, the term market opportunity is more intended for companies or small businesses that have been established and engaged in certain business. But what about your start-up business? Opportunities are always in an environment therefore, you should always try to obtain them by:

1. Opportunities must continue to be sought, maintained, and expanded.
2. With the help of experts or business consultants, if necessary you spend a fee to obtain good information.

Market opportunities can be analyzed through demand and bid approaches

a) Demand Approach

The demand approach emphasizes the human needs that have not been fully or fully met possibilities are fulfilled but less satisfactory. For example, people in rural areas go to town for clothing. 

That is, the community needs clothing according to their tastes that can not be obtained in the village or may be available in the village, but the price is too expensive. So, in this village, there are business opportunities to provide clothing needs of the village community.

Through the demand approach you can know the number of requests for products/services that include:

• Target buyers/consumers
• The number of consumers
• The number of needs
• Total needs per year

b) The Bid Approach

The bid approach begins with the ability of the entrepreneur in making a product/goods, providing services or a combination of both. From here then start looking for whether the market or the people who need it. For example, an entrepreneur produces tile with competing for quality. 

With the quality of competitive tile, then whether it means the prospective customers, developers, builders of home construction and so about interested in buying because the price of entrepreneurial tile production is more expensive compared to the same quality tiles on the market today.

Whether the consumer has the purchasing power is interested in purchasing a more expensive tile of the same quality or buy tiles that cost the same as good quality. Through the approach of entrepreneurial offerings can also identify the number of competitors who make the same product/service.

2) Steps to Analyze Market Opportunities

To see the market opportunity, then the step you should do is observe the consumer know some things, that is

1. What products/services are most needed by consumers?
2. How many products/services are needed?
3. Which product/service quality is most appropriate?
4. How many products/services of each quality are there?

The steps you should take into account to determine whether or not a market opportunity exists is as follows.

1. Observe what needs are most needed by the surrounding community. For example, daily routine needs are most often needed (such as bath soap, shampoo, toothpaste, laundry soap or food). Seasonal necessities (like clothes for Eid, Christmas or other big days), Cow or Goat needs for Eid al-Adha. Needs umbrella, jacket or raincoat during the rainy season and other needs.
2. Whenever a consumer needs a product, whether at any time or often needed, sometimes needed or rarely needed.
3. Consider the characteristics of consumers by sex, age, occupation, and education. This characteristic is very important to determine what type of goods best suits the needs of the consumer. For example, if the customer is male, then the needs of men who must be provided. If most of the customers are farmers, then provide agricultural or fertilizer tools. If the consumer is mostly students or students, then provide stationery, photocopy or computer rental.
4. What is the consumer's purchasing power (capability), whether including high-income or low-income customers. For example, for low-income consumers / consumers, the products provided should with quality and price affordable by the consumer level. Meanwhile, for high-income consumers can be provided with quality products and prices in accordance with the level of income.
5. Notice whether there is a competitor in the market or not. If there are competitors, what market opportunities have not been worked out by competitors. For new and small businesses better work on niche market.

3) Assessing Market Opportunities

One thing that can help you in assessing market opportunities is information. Complete and accurate information can help you in making decisions, are:

1. Find a profitable market.
2. Choose products or services that can be sold.
3. Determine changes in consumer behavior.
4. Improve marketing techniques.
5. Plan realistic goals.
6. Foreseeing for the foreseeable future.

Entrepreneurs sometimes make mistakes in their business because they often make decisions based on their own feelings and opinions. As an entrepreneur, you must be able to make informed decisions based on the best information collected. Market information will help to find new markets that can be accessed and find new customers in the current market and know new products that have the potential to be developed in the future.

Through market information, you should be able to find out the reasons for the success or failure of the current business. Therefore, gathering market information to find answers to the following questions will help an entrepreneur become more successful.

• What products/services are the current and potential needs of your customers/prospects?
• What additional markets can new entrepreneurs enter?
• What specific characteristics can you observe from customers? For example gender, age, occupation, income, social status, a location of residence etc.
• Does your product/service have uniqueness/distinction compared to similar products/services made by others/competitors?

With this in mind, entrepreneurs can learn a lot about customers about how they dress? How old is he? What is the status of their marriage? How many have children? What is their hobby? What is the level of their social status? And what is their culture? These questions can increase the entrepreneurial sensitivity of their customers. 

Keep the notes for a week and from these simple keys, learn what you can know about your customers! Market information is also an art because it deals with the attitude of the ever-changing person. By collecting marketing data on a regular and objective basis, you will be able to know more and better about your markets.

No matter how big or small your business is, there remains a need to determine the attitudes, income, and trust of your customers. In addition, market information also provides the necessary data in time to:

• Reduce business risks.
• Reduce potential problems and problems in your current business.
• Recognize new market opportunities.
• Obtain information and facts about the business to be utilized in making decisions and action plans which is more realistic.

Summary

1) Market opportunities can be analyzed through demand and supply approaches. 

The demand approach emphasizes the human needs that have not yet been fully met or may have been fulfilled but are less than satisfactory. Meanwhile, the bid approach begins with the ability of the entrepreneur in making a product/goods, providing services or a combination of both. From here then start looking, is there a market or people who need it.

2) Measures to determine whether or not a market opportunity exists

1. Observe what needs are most needed by the surrounding community.
2. Whenever a consumer needs a product, whether at any time or often needed, sometimes needed or rarely needed.
3. Consider the characteristics of consumers by sex, age, occupation, and education. This characteristic is very important to determine what type of goods best suits the needs of the consumer.
4. What is the consumer's purchasing power (capability), whether including high-income or low-income customers?
5. Notice whether there is a competitor in the market or not. If there are competitors, what market opportunities have not been worked out by competitors. For new and small businesses better work in a niche market.

3) One thing that can help in assessing market opportunities is information. Complete and accurate information can assist in decision making as follows:

1. Find a profitable market.
2. Selecting products or services that can be sold.
3. Determine changes in consumer behavior.
4. Improve marketing techniques.
5. Plan realistic goals.
6. Foreseeing for the foreseeable future.

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