6A – Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

Opportunity 1:

Oil prices rising

a. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/26/oil-markets-crude-output-coronavirus-lockdowns-easing-in-focus.html

b. Since oil prices are now rising from their low points, we should see gas prices increase throughout the country. This will frustrate a lot of people as many are facing economic hardships. I believe this opens up the opportunity for people to switch to electric vehicles as those are not dependent on gas prices and are better for the environment.

c. The prototypical customer would be one who is planning on purchasing a new car soon and are comparing the various types of vehicles in the market. They might also have thought about switching to electric but hadn’t found a good reason till now.

d. I feel as though this might be relatively easy to exploit and if many manufactures present sales on the electric vehicles, it might cause a shift in more eco-friendly vehicles.

I believe that others might have had similar ideas, but they might not have linked the correlation between oil prices to that of electric car sales. The approach I am taking also comes from an environmental perspective as it is generally a good idea to promote electric vehicles over gasoline, and now might be the best time for that transition.

 

Opportunity 2:

Cruise Line Future

a. https://cruiseradio.net/vegas-casinos-give-glimpse-cruise-future/

b. Since casinos are starting to open, people are able to see how the venues have adapted in ensuring that customers can be worry-free about catching the virus. This idea must be adapted to industries like cruises as they might be starting to open business. External companies can provide feedback after observing what casinos are doing and can suggest to the cruise companies, ways in which they can increase passenger capacity while keeping everyone safe.

c. The prototypical customer would be the cruise companies as they would get advice from the observers on how to open their business and ensure that the most number of customers are able to board each ship.

d. This might be a tough opportunity to exploit, just based on the fact that there might be other individuals who have the same plan. At that point it just becomes a race to see who can provide the service first.

The idea for this belief came from the fact that cruise stock prices are just recovering from their all-time/yearly lows. During these chaotic times, it might be tough for companies to make smart decisions as their focus might be on just opening business as soon as possible. Having to make these critical decisions might help the company recover from this loss much faster.

 

Opportunity 3:

Short-Term Rentals

a. https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/coronavirus/delaware-allowing-outdoor-gatherings-of-up-to-250-people-short-term-rentals-beginning-june-1/2407982/

b. The opportunity in this situation is that the state of Delaware is allowing outdoor gatherings and since they have allowed for rentals, businesses can sell rental products at a good profit margin. Delaware is surrounded by many other states, and since those states have gathering restrictions, there will be a lot more tourists in the state of Delaware, which increases potential customers.

c. The prototypical customer for this opportunity would be the tourists that are coming from other states as they might not be able to bring all their equipment in their personal vehicles and might end up renting items like tents, boats, etc.

d. I think this is an easy opportunity to exploit as it seems like a safe way to produce revenue. The one potential drawback comes from the fact that purchasing the equipment might require some initial capital but once those items are purchased it shouldn’t take long to recuperate their price.

As I live relatively close to the beach, I noticed that people are rushing to the beach right as it was allowed to re-open. This allowed me to think that products sold near the beach would be quite profitable due to the sheer volume of tourists. This idea could be used in the case of Delaware as many outsider might visit the state and hang out with friends and family. This seems like the prime time to sell products these tourists might purchase.

 

Opportunity 4:

Online instruction alternatives

a. https://abc7.com/csu-fall-classes-cal-state-university-system-canceled-in-person/6176291/

b. The opportunity that arises from this situation is that individuals can start teaching specialized online courses at a much cheaper price than the universities. Since the universities are planning on continuing online, students might feel as though they are paying too much money to have online classes. People would tend to choose the alternative option if they can produce content at a similar quality as the university but at a more affordable price.

c. The prototypical customer would be college students as they are the ones that have to pay a lot of money to take the online classes, especially if they are lab-based classes. They might see the alternative option as a way to learn the same material but at a cheaper price.

d. I think this opportunity is easy to exploit as it does not have a geographic boundary, due to the fact that the courses are online. The potential issue that comes up is that there are already a lot of free content available on the internet and it might be hard to convince the customer that your content is better than the free alternatives.

The idea for this opportunity came from my experience teaching and attending classes. There are times I feel as though a particular course should not be taught online as it was not designed to do so. In this situation, I would have preferred to take an alternative version of the class that was intended to be taught in an online setting. If the price of this class were cheaper than the university, I would have easily made this transition.