In this post at Carpe Diem, Mark Perry writes about the success of the free market with budget bus line Megabus.
It amazes me how a slight retooling of a value prop can make a big difference in business performance. Megabus is to Greyhound as Southwest is to American Airlines.
It has nicely painted buses, offers low and simple Southwest Airline style fares and point-to-point service service on heavily traveled routes. It also doesn’t build stations, opting instead for curbside pick up and drop off.
Similarly, I’ve noticed a resurgence in popularity of yogurt shops. The old model yogurt shop, like TCBY, typically had six flavors and the menu items were assembled behind the counter by workers. I thought that had died out, but recently the slight retooling of that concept to self-service with more flavor and topping variety has resurfaced with seemingly great client response.
Time will tell if this new configuration for the yogurt shop will last, but it’s interesting to see value proposition innovation in the areas that you least suspect.
Our Dinner Table 