Forming An Opportunity Belief

Samantha Twohig
ENT3003
1/28/20
Forming an Opportunity Belief

Beginning Point: Getting a manicure or pedicure is a common thing among women and young girls. However, after about a week, the nail polish begins to chip, causing many people to have to return to the salon and get them redone. I believe that there is an opportunity to create a nail polish or top coat that could prevent this from happening, leaving long lasting manicures and pedicures.

Describe Your Belief:

• Unmet need: To enjoy your nice nails for a long period of time and without them chipping.
• Who has the need: Anyone who has gotten their nails done and experienced this; mainly females.
• Where the need came from: This need has always existed no matter which nail place someone attends.
• What people are doing to meet this need: They are getting gel polish or powder dip which is more expensive and not as healthy as regular nail polish.
• I am 90% sure this is an opportunity that exists

Prototypical Customer: Females - all ages

Iteration #1: Female age 50
For her, keeping her nails from chipping is very hard. When she started working at West Elm doing manual labor, she realized this need and that this is the reason her nails chip even faster than usual. Normally when she gets her nails done, she gets just a clear coat on her nails as a way to prevent the paint from chipping and from her nails looking gross. If there was a product that could stop the chipping of the nail polish, she would be able to get a color on her nails rather than a clear coat.

Iteration #2: Female age 19
She experiences this need often. She uses her hands everyday and it causes her nails to chip. She began to notice this need back in middle school, however she did not start using gel or powder polish due to the great difference in price. She gets her nails done every week or every other depending on how bad they actually get. For her, a nail polish or top coat that will prevent this will greatly help her with this need.

Iteration #3: Female age 16 

She does not experience this need because she only gets the gel polish when she gets a manicure or pedicure. She does this as a way to avoid this need and a way to keep her nails looking good for a long period of time. However, this is very expensive, especially when she does it constantly. She is not that into my idea as she does not experience this need as often as others, however she is keeping an open mind to it because of how expensive the other solutions are.

Reflection: After interviewing three different people, all different ages, it was interesting to see how many people really do experience this need and how frustrated they get when the paint does chip. Although not all of them experience this on the same level, they all have experienced this at one point and believe that if there was a way to prevent this, it would make their lives so much easier, also helping them avoid going to the nail salon every week.

Summary: I believe that my opportunity is still there especially after talking to three different people about this. I think that almost everyone that has gotten their nails done at one point has experienced this. After talking to person #3, I may have to narrow my market down to people who only invest in regular nail polish but other than that I feel this opportunity is a good one.