Sometimes a product becomes so commonplace in its generic form that we stop thinking about it at all, and the humble tea bag falls into that category. In recent years, tea companies have really gone out on a limb (well not really!) by creating round, triangular and pyramid shaped bags, but now a Taiwan company really has done something different.

Charm Villa has created tea bags designed to look like a goldfish. When placed in hot water, the colours of the leaves in the tea bag show through and resemble the patterns of goldfish scales. It’s a novelty of course, but it does serve to differentiate the companies tea bags from everything else on the market.

If you’re in a market where nobody really thinks about the physical characteristics of the product, you could gain a big competitive advantage by creating something which is cosmetically fresh while serving essentially the same function.

There are always some restaurants where it’s difficult to get a table, and if a trend that’s growing in the United States takes hold here, it’s going to get even harder. Reservations are becoming a saleable commodity with a number of companies offering tables for sale in exchange for a fee.

Some of these companies are working in partnership with restaurants, but others are working independently, booking tables at top restaurants in fictitious names months in advance, and then selling the booking on for a profit. The morality of the practice has been called into question, but there’s no doubt there’s a demand. Going the ‘independent route’ anyone with the necessary ‘brass neck’ could do this and make money from home.

I don’t really like this practice personally, where it’s done without restaurant involvement, but I’m not here to judge. Here are a couple of the more reputable players in the market:

www.resy.com

www.Zurvu.com

Something to bring to the UK?

Brian and Julie Whiteman founded photo sharing and printing app GrooveBook in 2012. A year later they appeared on Shark Tank, the American version of Dragons Den and in November 2014, announced a deal to sell to Shutterfly for $14.5 Million after attracting over a million subscribers. I mention it for three reasons:

1. Anyone who tells you there’s no such thing as ‘Get-Rich-Quick’ hasn’t heard the story of GrooveBook.

2. It’s a demonstration of the power of something we’re always going on about here – monthly subscription marketing.

3. It’s a great concept and a great product, delivery of which isn’t available here in the UK yet.

So something to learn from, take inspiration from and maybe even copy perhaps?

www.Groovebook.com