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Ideas to trade
Here are a eight products that I have noticed in my travels which I believe may be suitable for international trade.
- The Insight is a new device from a San Francisco-based bio informatics company called Emotiv Life Sciences. Believe it or not, it measures your cognitive performance according to a variety of metrics such as focus, attention, excitement, affinity, stress, relaxation, interest and engagement, and then lets you access the data on your smartphone or computer. If you have already heard of the company, it may be because it launched on Kickstarter last year and reached its target within minutes. Indeed, it raised a total of $1.6 million in a matter of days. The product will cost about $199 and the idea behind it is to help people understand when is the best time to perform different functions. For example, if your brain works better between 7 and 9 in the morning then that's when you should be doing difficult, intellectual activities, whereas if between 3 and 6 in the afternoon you are usually rather sluggish then that's when you should be doing more monotonous tasks. Well, that's the idea, anyway. And once it is up and running I feel it offers huge potential for international trade.
- The BRCK is a battery-powered device that ensures Internet access. It was designed by someone called Juliana Rotich and its purpose is to ensure that you get the Internet whatever is happening. Priced at just £130, the box goes online like your mobile phone does and can jump between the Ethernet, wireless, 3G or 4G mobile networks depending on what is available. Interestingly, it can support up to 20 devices and has eight hours of backup battery life. It also has USB ports and general input output pins for hackers to add their own hardware. You could also power it using solar-charging panels. It is a brilliant device which I am sure is going to sell well, especially in developing countries. It is perhaps worth getting in touch with the inventors, Ushahidi, to see whether there were any international trade potential. I think that they have set up a special website at www.brck.com.
- Project Frog is a San Francisco-based company that builds energy-efficient prefab buildings. Basically, this means that the company can create buildings in about half the time and at 20% of the cost of traditional construction. Project Frog has raised a great deal of money but appears only to be working in the US. I am sure there must be potential to sell its services and products overseas.
- Pure Fix Cycles has created a £300 fixed gear bike with a frame of high tensile steel that is completely coated in weatherproof, phosphorescent paint activated by sunlight. Ride it or park it for one hour in direct sun for an hour of glow time after dark. It is a fantastic concept and one which will, I am sure, take off.
- LSTN's Cherry Wood Troubadours are £100 headphones that feature cherry wood casing reclaimed from flooring and furniture companies and a gold plated plug. The sound is amazing for the money and, again, I don't believe LSTN is necessarily trading internationally yet.
- The iPourIt system allows bars to offer a self-service 'beer on tap' facility. Customers wear an RFID wristband that keeps track of every drop they pour. As a result bar owners will save an average of 20% of beer. This is how much is normally lost to bar tenders tipping beer out of heavy glasses. IPourIt believes that a typical bar or pub should save some £60,000 to £70,000 a year in revenue by monetising the entire barrel of beer rather than the 73% they normally make money on. I don't know if iPourIt has started to sell its software overseas but if it hasn't this could be a fantastic opportunity.
- For $99 genetic testing company 23andMe can tell you how to live smarter, better and longer. It can also tell you what could kill you. So far, surprisingly few people have bought the $99 test tube kits that allow them to discover what their DNA is likely to mean for their long-term health. In the price I am surprised that only 400,000 customers have used the service since it was launched in 2006. Anyway, I have no idea if the company would consider appointing international agents, but if it did I'd certainly be interested in acting for it.
- Personal care products. This is more of a general point. I notice that Euro Monitor International forecasts sales in China of personal care products to rise by 8% next year to $37 billion. If you are in the personal care market then you may like to consider focusing on the opportunities in China.
Jim Storm - November 2013
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