The story started a little thoughtfully and still spontaneously. For eight years now, I have been engaged mainly in the consulting and construction business, and quite successfully; But then suddenly the pandemic “hit us” and everything was confused, although the word “confusion” does not correspond to the situation that was created, to be more precise, everything became silent. The fact is that my construction business was tied to my consulting business, and considering that my foreign clients could not even come to Georgia due to the restrictions related to the pandemic, the business activities of my companies turned out to be significantly reduced. I can’t say that we came to the brink of bankruptcy or that I personally faced any financial problems, but the business was clearly declining and, accordingly, the income; But on the other hand, it turned out that I had enough time to take the long-shelved idea off the shelf and dust it off.
During the “hysterical” pandemic and lockdown, time was really plentiful, so I started thinking about a new company. In particular, several interesting products that I saw during my visit to Europe and enjoyed a good reputation on the international markets have been in my head for a long time. I also firmly decided to start a small production in Georgia. It took me a long time to start something in international trade, but everything was well weighed and analyzed, because I had several important problems:
- I saw the first problem unconditionally in sales, one objective reason was that any business starts with sales, and the second was that I had no idea about either retail or marketing (and especially online marketing activated during the pandemic). Rather, I had an idea, but this idea was not really enough to start a new company in this field and, most importantly, to enter into competition with someone.
- The second problem was finances. As it turned out, in online retail as well as in regular retail, you need a lot of money to run a serious company, and although I personally did not experience financial hardship at the household level, I found it not only risky, but frankly impossible, to make any serious investments, and in an industry that is little known to me.
- Third and most important was the lack of vision. By vision, I mean that retail was generally the main component of our business, but on the other hand, a large part of retail has moved online, and I really didn’t want to open another online store.
Taking all of this into account, I considered that it was necessary to form a vision of what type of company we wanted and how it should be different from others. From my personal experience, I knew that if there was a vision and a certain philosophy, funds would be found for business operations and we would be able to acquire the appropriate know-how. After understanding this moment, he began to think long and hard about what the company’s philosophy and vision should be based on, so that on the one hand it would be profitable for both the company and the customer, and on the other hand, it would be healthy and have the ability to constantly expand and develop.
Accordingly, several important questions were asked:
- What should we sell?
- How not to become just an online retailer? which either sells everything (including completely unsuitable products) or, on the contrary, sells a certain group of products, for example, furniture, electronics. appliances, building materials, household items, etc. And therefore, over time, it turns into a specialized store.
- And if we don’t want to be a specialty store and especially not a comprehensive retailer, then where is our niche and who is our target audience?
These three questions, why should we hide from you, created a big puzzle for me, there were other relatively small questions that would take us too far to talk about, but these 3 questions still seemed fundamental to me, and therefore I correctly focused on these three.
After thinking for a long time, I practically came to a dead end, because the above-mentioned issues had somewhat strange connotations from the point of view of already established marketing approaches and could not fit into the basic theses of modern marketing and organizational management in general. You don’t know what to sell, you don’t know who your target audience is, and you don’t want to be either a specialized store or a wide multi-profile online hypermarket. In a word, a heavy uncertainty settled in me, and this paradoxical chaos did not rest for a long time.
The answer to the question was not visible until we approached the issue with the approach of regression analysis. The solution was born from the individual product. In particular, we started thinking about what product we wanted to offer to the customer. One such product already existed and it was a height adjustable table . Then the question arose as to why we wanted to offer this product to the customer. It turned out that this particular product was:
- Original and somewhat unique for the Georgian market, because it was practically not presented on the Georgian market, that is, it can really be considered a novelty.
- It was really useful for those who spent a lot of time in front of the computer because it actually helped the user to increase his productivity and comfort and to maintain his health.
- Compared to the European and American markets, we had the opportunity to bring a product of good quality and the same characteristics from China and make it much more affordable for the Georgian consumer.
Accordingly, the product was new and original, ergonomic and useful. We didn’t have to think for a long time and it was clear that we wanted to offer products with such characteristics to the customer. That is, the products that would actually make the user’s life easier, make him more productive and efficient, and at the same time ensure the user’s comfort. Therefore, the basic principles and criteria of what kind of product we should deliver to the customer were formed.
Coming from dreams to earth and based on market realities, we also realized that the above product typology and characteristic features on the other hand answered several important questions in terms of pure marketing and comparative advantage. What is meant here is that entering and establishing a niche in our already small market would actually be possible by introducing a new niche product and actually creating a new niche or market segment, as our company would not be able to compete with existing products and the larger companies behind them, from their resources and Based on experience. Accordingly, the so-called Rather than fighting in the Red Ocean, we’d rather discover a new Little Blue Sea and sail there, and in that regard, the height-adjustable table was truly a Little Blue Sea.
Based on all of the above, we came to the conclusion that in order to ensure competitive advantage and long-term development of the company, all products of our company should be unconditionally – unique and bring innovation and progress to the customer. This also meant that the product was not presented at all, or very weakly, on the Georgian market, and it did not have mass awareness.
Apart from uniqueness, there was another important component, and that component was the product’s usefulness/efficiency. When I talk about benefits, I’m not talking about financial gains for the company, but benefits for the customer. In particular, I personally and, accordingly, neither our company, had any desire to take any, to put it bluntly – “increase” money for the customer and then keep the balances. I considered it a necessary condition for the company to sell not only the product that was in demand on the market, but also the product that we believed would actually be useful to the user, would make his life easier, increase the user’s productivity, or even aesthetically beautify his environment. Therefore, I want to promise you that Ergonomics will never sell, for example, a spinner or any other idiotic toy that brings nothing but wasting time. Accordingly, another principle of the company became that the product that we would offer to the customer should be really useful, efficient and comfortable, that is, in one word – ergonomic, and this is where the name of the company later came from, Ergonomics, is a name that in one word reflects the nature of the company and its modus operandi as well as the philosophy of its products.
Accordingly, the approach, vision and principles were formed, which I perceived as a unity and I did not distinguish separately:
- We search worldwide (or manufacture locally in Georgia) for unique products that aim to bring new positive experiences to customers, increase their efficiency, general productivity and comfort.
- Our company is unique and competitive as much as its products and services are unique.
- We will offer the customer not only the product that he wants based on the trendiness and/or popularity of this product, but first of all the product that we, based on our knowledge and experience, believe will be useful, useful and will make his life easier.
- The price we offer should be fair and most importantly affordable.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned goal, we must be the world’s most modern design of products and the so-called We are at the forefront of product design and development and constantly offer our customers innovative products at an affordable price. Without innovation, our company simply cannot exist, we can say this thesis in relation to any business in general, but in the case of ergonomics, it finds special importance depending on its production and specific consumer niche or even niches. So if you ever tell us that we’ve slacked off and stopped innovating or started selling spinners, please don’t scold us and remind us “whose hill we’re from”. And before we need to remind you, remember that our company “makes money” by helping you succeed. Achieve more, more comfortably.
