Bianca won't win for two reasons. It may be a reasonable idea but as a stand alone business it is not financially viable. It was only being pushed as they needed to have someone for the final apart from Mark. Secondly Bianca is mediocre and Sugar knows it.
All the major hosiery manufacturers produce lines for women of colour - many use black women as their major models. Just look at Wolford, Aristoc, Gerbe etc. I really don't know what Claude etc are talking about when they advised Lord S they agreed with Bianca this was a gap in the market.
Good for Bianca if she has identified a gap in the market. She's clearly given thought to her idea, conducted research, produced a good Business Plan and sought out manufacturers. Claude doesn't suffer fools gladly and wouldn't have advised LS that the product has potential, if it hadn't.
Bianca won't win for two reasons. It may be a reasonable idea but as a stand alone business it is not financially viable. It was only being pushed as they needed to have someone for the final apart from Mark. Secondly Bianca is mediocre and Sugar knows it.
If you compare Bianca and Mark's business proposals I'd say that Bianca's plan is the furthest from mediocre. Whilst Mark's plan, whilst having the potential to make easy money, is very mediocre indeed in several ways.
Bianca won't win for two reasons. It may be a reasonable idea but as a stand alone business it is not financially viable. It was only being pushed as they needed to have someone for the final apart from Mark. Secondly Bianca is mediocre and Sugar knows it.
But Mark is a pretty terrible example of how to behave in business, and is offering a project thats pointless, and one that shows no entrepreneurial skill .
Bianca has already won international recognition for entrepreneurial skill, and she has the best show perfomance this series - while Mark has the worst,. He can't reasonably claim Mark is better,
At some point the BBC are also going to notice that he's not championing good business practice, or finding real entrepreneurs, or helping small worthwhile businesses find capital, or creating a show that does more than give him a safe option to make a lot of money. He's also creating a show where the outcome has nothing to do with the story, and most candidates need not turn up - as their plans don't meet his narrow criteria - which ultimately isn't acceptable
I agree. Marks is ultimately a pointless product which just changes the order of search returns to what money can buy - rather than what was wanted by the searcher. Its ultimately a silly pursuit - as you would end up with people chasing each other around the search results - by employing a Mark to out do the results of some other Mark's work.
Mark is offering him money for nothing though. Mark just needs an office, a car and a laptop, phone, internet connection, and some advertising. He then goes off and does what he's doing now. Lord Sugar takes half his profits and does very little. . Mark might employ another few Marks at some stage. Bianca needs design, manufacturing stock, storage, distribution. She's the one doing something new, and there's a bit more risk,and more at risk, with her. Her advantage is that she's far better winner in either show performance, or entrepreneurial terms,. It will be interesting who offers him most return. .
Past experience suggests his Lordship seems to like safe investments with big returns, and little risks ,from an existing product, business or qualification, so it could work for Mark . LS doesn't necessarily seem to have any shame, or want to do anything socially useful, or to back the best talent on show in the tasks, or even send out positive messages about what entrepreneurs can do, or what behaviour is desirable.But no contender can remind him that he will look like that if he doesn't pick them. Bianca has to match Marks figures, at acceptable risk, and deal with his lower costs as an issue - as Luisa failed to do last year .
I agree. Marks is ultimately a pointless product which just changes the order of search returns to what money can buy - rather than what was wanted by the searcher. Its ultimately a silly pursuit - as you would end up with people chasing each other around the search results - by employing a Mark to out do the results of some other Mark's work.
Mark is offering him money for nothing though. Mark just needs an office, a car and a laptop, phone, internet connection, and some advertising. He then goes off and does what he's doing now. Lord Sugar takes half his profits and does very little. . Mark might employ another few Marks at some stage. Bianca needs design, manufacturing stock, storage, distribution. She's the one doing something new, and there's a bit more risk,and more at risk, with her. Her advantage is that she's far better winner in either show performance, or entrepreneurial terms,. It will be interesting who offers him most return. .
Past experience suggests his Lordship seems to like safe investments with big returns, and little risks ,from an existing product, business or qualification, so it could work for Mark . LS doesn't necessarily seem to have any shame, or want to do anything socially useful, or to back the best talent on show in the tasks, or even send out positive messages about what entrepreneurs can do, or what behaviour is desirable.But no contender can remind him that he will look like that if he doesn't pick them. Bianca has to match Marks figures, at acceptable risk, and deal with his lower costs as an issue - as Luisa failed to do last year .
I think you're right. From what we've seen of their business proposals so far Bianca's plan seems to illustrate all the traits that AS appears to promote that he likes to see in budding British entrepeneurs.
For a man like AS you'd think he'd be wealthy enough to feel able to promote what he purports to promote on the show, and encourage British business ideas which are imaginative and creative. If he just wants easy money, which is what some believe Mark's business plan is all about, then he may as well just go and play the stock market or something.
At least Bianca has formulated an idea of her own and wants to get her idea to flourish. She's trying to create something she believes to be fresh, new, and to some degree innovative. (with my lack of knowledge it seems that way anyway).
Mark has admitted that he's just doing what his former employer did. Like he's just picked the idea up off a shelf. Took the idea from his former boss and thought "I'll just do that then". It's not even his own idea. AS has castigated previous contestants for coming up with weak ideas that other people are already doing. I'm not saying that he can't make good money, I'm saying that as an idea it seems to be pretty weak.
I want Bianca to win because in comparison to Mark's idea it's about a person generating something fresh and new. Something from her own mind that she's put effort and research into in order to give birth to the idea. Not just casually picking up a pre-existing idea off a shelf. As I've said, AS usually uses that as an excuse to have a real go at contestants who have been equally unimaginative in the past.
As a guy I dont wear tights. Can someone explain why this is such a revolutionary idea. I thought you can buy every shade under the sun especially online.
I'm a woman albeit not a big tights wearer as I'm always in trousers, socks and boots, but I also thought this. A couple of the major online retailers claim to stock tights for black women. No good?
Bianca won't win for two reasons. It may be a reasonable idea but as a stand alone business it is not financially viable. It was only being pushed as they needed to have someone for the final apart from Mark. Secondly Bianca is mediocre and Sugar knows it.
Her plan is the only sound proposition there, and LS ought to think deeply about it, before dismissing it. Mark's only a chancer, and if LS went down his road, he would have ruined his lifetime's work.
I'm a woman albeit not a big tights wearer as I'm always in trousers, socks and boots, but I also thought this. A couple of the major online retailers claim to stock tights for black women. No good?
If this is true, which more and more seems like it may well be due to the people coming forward to this thread and saying so, then what on earth were Sugar's business advisors on the show going on about saying that Bianca's idea is original if it isn't?
I personally don't know, I'm not black and I'm not a woman, and I don't buy tights. But if Claude and co. aren't being honest it's a bit rich of them to call candidates out for being deceptive.
I think most of us feel that the show is held together by lashings of artifice, but you kind of what it to be anchored onto some kind of representation of honesty don't you?
I think Bianca's business idea it great - especially if she can get it into High St stores. Let's face it, when women snag their tights, they don't want to have to wait a couple of days for a replacement to be delivered to their home etc before they get another pair and that would be the current situation for people in her target audience who want skin-toned tights. Tights are often something you buy on impulse and in many convenience stores - it's sad that there isn't that convenience for everyone.
But Mark is a pretty terrible example of how to behave in business, and is offering a project thats pointless, and one that shows no entrepreneurial skill .
Bianca has already won international recognition for entrepreneurial skill, and she has the best show perfomance this series - while Mark has the worst,. He can't reasonably claim Mark is better,
At some point the BBC are also going to notice that he's not championing good business practice, or finding real entrepreneurs, or helping small worthwhile businesses find capital, or creating a show that does more than give him a safe option to make a lot of money. He's also creating a show where the outcome has nothing to do with the story, and most candidates need not turn up - as their plans don't meet his narrow criteria - which ultimately isn't acceptable
I think you've made some excellent points there. Mainly about being propped up by the BBC and what the show promotes or fails to promote under the umbrella of The BBC.
I confess that sometimes even I lose sight of that as by watching the series even I tend to get hooked into the entertainment aspects of it and forget about the values it's supposed to promote.
Not forgetting that Lord Sugar is actually a Lord. You expect a kind of, oh I don't know, a kind of integrity in that position?
Which reminds me of a few years ago when many people were getting a bit pissed off with the BBC apparently supporting Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber's business interests. The BBC seem to like to help out various Lords to feather their own nests.
If there is genuine value and a purpose behind what Lord Sugar is doing then it can be justified to some extent.
I think Bianca's business idea it great - especially if she can get it into High St stores. Let's face it, when women snag their tights, they don't want to have to wait a couple of days for a replacement to be delivered to their home etc before they get another pair and that would be the current situation for people in her target audience who want skin-toned tights. Tights are often something you buy on impulse and in many convenience stores - it's sad that there isn't that convenience for everyone.
Agreed great points, when I do wear tights I find it very hard to get skin coloured ones for my skin tone and you're right its much more convenient to go to the shops to take a look at them and buy them. I don't know about shopping for tights online when I have bought them online they're never right for my colour so not sure where everyone else is shopping but there's definitely a gap in the market imo
Hope she hasn't already offered exclusivity for the whole of England to a hosiery shop in Westminster?!:D
Love it! Bianca is clearly an also-ran in the whole competition. She's an example of someone who was carried along by the whole process, bit like Sanjay, and she would have been long gone were it not for Roisin's silly idea and the fact Sugar was obviously told by producers he couldnt have had a Daniel v Mark final.
Bianca doesn't know what Westminster is and comes across as a nasal sounding 6th form student.
Its a good idea on the surface but if its so great why haven't the big names already done it? Too many variations needed so not cost effective?
There's at least 15 base colours for all types. Off my head: Black, nearly black, chocolate, bamboo, chiffon, tan, Brazilian, beige, mink, flesh, natural and nude. I can't remember the rest, but those are the basics that exist since roughly the 1940s.
The problem with that UK list is that it offers women with dark and red-based skin tones (East Asian, South Asian, black and dark olive-skinned) usually just four traditional choices - black, nearly black, chocolate and beige. There are more varieties, but only very few match their skin tones.
Some turn to the ranges by speciality companies (usually based overseas) at independent shops, major department stores or online. A bit of a hassle for something that's essential yet so disposable.
Major UK manufacturers do tend to neglect that market. They're so conditioned in focusing on the traditional targets that they still neglect and/or under-develop that growing market. You can tell from the reports on their market-research data.
Bianca is clearly taking advantage of that oversight.
Good for her. You snooze you lose, major UK manufacturers. Not only I like her proposal, I like her professionalism, presentation, interpersonal and pitching skills so far. I believe she'll go far if she doesn't win this.
But surely you can't patent a colour of tights? Whatever she does, Primark or the supermarkets could produce and sell at a much cheaper price. Is she aiming to make a quick buck then exit the market?
If you Google for 'search engine optimisation' there are dozens of companies which try to offer such a service. It's a rapidly changing environment too. Whenever Google change their search algorithm the search order changes. Seems to me that's a job for very techy people, and not a job for a person whose strength is in sales.
Good idea, but I don't think it's viable. For one if it's such a massive market, why hasn't anyone else already done it?, secondly 250K will get eaten up straight away, manufacturing is going to take most of that, she's going to have to have all sizes in all colours, that's going to cost. She will then have to order everysize/colour in such large quantities to get a decent price. Thirdly marketing and POS is going to cost big bucks. And lastly warehousing and distribution is going to have to be fairly large.
It's alright the handbag women saying I started with £600 etc, but handbags don't have to come in various sizes/colours to be sold. And they are generally a more expensive item, so you need to sell less to make money, so you don't need massive warehousing, you can do it from a spare room, to start with.
And as the Dragons would say "if you make a go of it, a larger company will see it and just take the idea and squeeze you out".
But surely you can't patent a colour of tights? Whatever she does, Primark or the supermarkets could produce and sell at a much cheaper price. Is she aiming to make a quick buck then exit the market?
It's more about availability and brand. Let's consider Bianca's idea of having a range of shapers in skin tones. Can you think of any high street shop that sells one in any shade of brown? I think you'll find it's usually available in cream, white, black, pink, flesh or one of primary colours (green, red, etc.).
Good idea, but I don't think it's viable. For one if it's such a massive market, why hasn't anyone else already done it?, secondly 250K will get eaten up straight away, manufacturing is going to take most of that, she's going to have to have all sizes in all colours, that's going to cost. She will then have to order everysize/colour in such large quantities to get a decent price. Thirdly marketing and POS is going to cost big bucks. And lastly warehousing and distribution is going to have to be fairly large.
Bravissimo, Ultimo, Curvy Kate, Romartex, Sock Shop, Pretty Polly, Taylor, etc. manage fine all these years. No harm in trying to be a new kid on the block.
It's more about availability and brand. Let's consider Bianca's idea of having a range of shapers in skin tones. Can you think of any high street shop that sells one in any shade of brown? I think you'll find it's usually available in cream, white, black, pink, flesh or one of primary colours (green, red, etc.).
Where is Bianca hoping to sell her range of tights then? They have to end up somewhere. It's as nonsensical as Roisin's idea. Why would a major retailer invest in someone with no background in the hosiery industry? If it were Dragons Den, Peter Jones would be saying what's to stop your competitor making this product right now? All Bianca has is an idea. It may be a good one but she's not the one to implement it. Solomon was an ideas person but look how far that got him.
Bravissimo, Ultimo, Curvy Kate, Romartex, Sock Shop, Pretty Polly, Taylor, etc. manage fine all these years. No harm in trying to be a new kid on the block.
Urgh, you have no idea, these are multi million pound companies of course they can do it. As I said it's can be done, but will take several million. Your going to have to hit the market hard, and get your brand to be No1 virtually straight away. Or else these companies will see the idea and go we can do that, and she'll be dead in the water.
She's going to have no sway over manufacturers, they'll say one thing "yes we can make these by such and such date", but then along come one of their established customers and bang she'll find her products pushed to the back.
The major retailers may give her floor space, but as soon as a big player comes along and says we'll give you a million pairs "sale or return", but what we need is our POS right there, bang she's dead in the water.
Her only option would be independents but her manufacturing is still going to be a massive problem, she'll be squeezed out within months. And those same independents won't make the orders she'll require to be viable. Think about it you have say 10 sizes of tight from 6-16 (for arguments) in I'll guess 10 colours. Thats a 10 single orders needed per shop, just to stock 1 colour in one size. Now obviously they need more than 1 so the stock required will be massive.
And what if they what exclusive deals, not Bianca's strong point (joke)
Comments
Good for Bianca if she has identified a gap in the market. She's clearly given thought to her idea, conducted research, produced a good Business Plan and sought out manufacturers. Claude doesn't suffer fools gladly and wouldn't have advised LS that the product has potential, if it hadn't.
If you compare Bianca and Mark's business proposals I'd say that Bianca's plan is the furthest from mediocre. Whilst Mark's plan, whilst having the potential to make easy money, is very mediocre indeed in several ways.
But Mark is a pretty terrible example of how to behave in business, and is offering a project thats pointless, and one that shows no entrepreneurial skill .
Bianca has already won international recognition for entrepreneurial skill, and she has the best show perfomance this series - while Mark has the worst,. He can't reasonably claim Mark is better,
At some point the BBC are also going to notice that he's not championing good business practice, or finding real entrepreneurs, or helping small worthwhile businesses find capital, or creating a show that does more than give him a safe option to make a lot of money. He's also creating a show where the outcome has nothing to do with the story, and most candidates need not turn up - as their plans don't meet his narrow criteria - which ultimately isn't acceptable
Excellent assessment btw
I think you're right. From what we've seen of their business proposals so far Bianca's plan seems to illustrate all the traits that AS appears to promote that he likes to see in budding British entrepeneurs.
For a man like AS you'd think he'd be wealthy enough to feel able to promote what he purports to promote on the show, and encourage British business ideas which are imaginative and creative. If he just wants easy money, which is what some believe Mark's business plan is all about, then he may as well just go and play the stock market or something.
At least Bianca has formulated an idea of her own and wants to get her idea to flourish. She's trying to create something she believes to be fresh, new, and to some degree innovative. (with my lack of knowledge it seems that way anyway).
Mark has admitted that he's just doing what his former employer did. Like he's just picked the idea up off a shelf. Took the idea from his former boss and thought "I'll just do that then". It's not even his own idea. AS has castigated previous contestants for coming up with weak ideas that other people are already doing. I'm not saying that he can't make good money, I'm saying that as an idea it seems to be pretty weak.
I want Bianca to win because in comparison to Mark's idea it's about a person generating something fresh and new. Something from her own mind that she's put effort and research into in order to give birth to the idea. Not just casually picking up a pre-existing idea off a shelf. As I've said, AS usually uses that as an excuse to have a real go at contestants who have been equally unimaginative in the past.
I'm a woman albeit not a big tights wearer as I'm always in trousers, socks and boots, but I also thought this. A couple of the major online retailers claim to stock tights for black women. No good?
If this is true, which more and more seems like it may well be due to the people coming forward to this thread and saying so, then what on earth were Sugar's business advisors on the show going on about saying that Bianca's idea is original if it isn't?
I personally don't know, I'm not black and I'm not a woman, and I don't buy tights. But if Claude and co. aren't being honest it's a bit rich of them to call candidates out for being deceptive.
I think most of us feel that the show is held together by lashings of artifice, but you kind of what it to be anchored onto some kind of representation of honesty don't you?
I think you've made some excellent points there. Mainly about being propped up by the BBC and what the show promotes or fails to promote under the umbrella of The BBC.
I confess that sometimes even I lose sight of that as by watching the series even I tend to get hooked into the entertainment aspects of it and forget about the values it's supposed to promote.
Not forgetting that Lord Sugar is actually a Lord. You expect a kind of, oh I don't know, a kind of integrity in that position?
Which reminds me of a few years ago when many people were getting a bit pissed off with the BBC apparently supporting Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber's business interests. The BBC seem to like to help out various Lords to feather their own nests.
If there is genuine value and a purpose behind what Lord Sugar is doing then it can be justified to some extent.
Agreed great points, when I do wear tights I find it very hard to get skin coloured ones for my skin tone and you're right its much more convenient to go to the shops to take a look at them and buy them. I don't know about shopping for tights online when I have bought them online they're never right for my colour so not sure where everyone else is shopping but there's definitely a gap in the market imo
Love it! Bianca is clearly an also-ran in the whole competition. She's an example of someone who was carried along by the whole process, bit like Sanjay, and she would have been long gone were it not for Roisin's silly idea and the fact Sugar was obviously told by producers he couldnt have had a Daniel v Mark final.
Bianca doesn't know what Westminster is and comes across as a nasal sounding 6th form student.
There's at least 15 base colours for all types. Off my head: Black, nearly black, chocolate, bamboo, chiffon, tan, Brazilian, beige, mink, flesh, natural and nude. I can't remember the rest, but those are the basics that exist since roughly the 1940s.
The problem with that UK list is that it offers women with dark and red-based skin tones (East Asian, South Asian, black and dark olive-skinned) usually just four traditional choices - black, nearly black, chocolate and beige. There are more varieties, but only very few match their skin tones.
Some turn to the ranges by speciality companies (usually based overseas) at independent shops, major department stores or online. A bit of a hassle for something that's essential yet so disposable.
Major UK manufacturers do tend to neglect that market. They're so conditioned in focusing on the traditional targets that they still neglect and/or under-develop that growing market. You can tell from the reports on their market-research data.
Bianca is clearly taking advantage of that oversight.
Good for her. You snooze you lose, major UK manufacturers.
Waiting to see if Mark bottles his presentation
It's alright the handbag women saying I started with £600 etc, but handbags don't have to come in various sizes/colours to be sold. And they are generally a more expensive item, so you need to sell less to make money, so you don't need massive warehousing, you can do it from a spare room, to start with.
And as the Dragons would say "if you make a go of it, a larger company will see it and just take the idea and squeeze you out".
It's more about availability and brand. Let's consider Bianca's idea of having a range of shapers in skin tones. Can you think of any high street shop that sells one in any shade of brown? I think you'll find it's usually available in cream, white, black, pink, flesh or one of primary colours (green, red, etc.).
Bravissimo, Ultimo, Curvy Kate, Romartex, Sock Shop, Pretty Polly, Taylor, etc. manage fine all these years. No harm in trying to be a new kid on the block.
Where is Bianca hoping to sell her range of tights then? They have to end up somewhere. It's as nonsensical as Roisin's idea. Why would a major retailer invest in someone with no background in the hosiery industry? If it were Dragons Den, Peter Jones would be saying what's to stop your competitor making this product right now? All Bianca has is an idea. It may be a good one but she's not the one to implement it. Solomon was an ideas person but look how far that got him.
Urgh, you have no idea, these are multi million pound companies of course they can do it. As I said it's can be done, but will take several million. Your going to have to hit the market hard, and get your brand to be No1 virtually straight away. Or else these companies will see the idea and go we can do that, and she'll be dead in the water.
She's going to have no sway over manufacturers, they'll say one thing "yes we can make these by such and such date", but then along come one of their established customers and bang she'll find her products pushed to the back.
The major retailers may give her floor space, but as soon as a big player comes along and says we'll give you a million pairs "sale or return", but what we need is our POS right there, bang she's dead in the water.
Her only option would be independents but her manufacturing is still going to be a massive problem, she'll be squeezed out within months. And those same independents won't make the orders she'll require to be viable. Think about it you have say 10 sizes of tight from 6-16 (for arguments) in I'll guess 10 colours. Thats a 10 single orders needed per shop, just to stock 1 colour in one size. Now obviously they need more than 1 so the stock required will be massive.
And what if they what exclusive deals, not Bianca's strong point (joke)
Actually, her exclusivity deals tend to be highly attractive.