Helping small/medium size business owners make smarter business decisions by providing relevant location-based market insights, such as demographics, geographics, competitors and potential customers.
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About NextBiz
NextBiz is a web-app business intelligence tool which helps small to medium size business owners identify opportunities for new business ventures or possible expansion into areas in Australia. Govhack has given us the opportunity to explore the pain points that Australian business owners face when deciding on their next location to open up a new retail store.
We understand that small and medium enterprises (SME’s), often have insufficient time and resources to carry out proper site selection analysis in order to make decisions with confidence . According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, SME’s make up 97% of all Australian businesses. Unfortunately, over 60% of SME’s cease operating within the first three years of starting. This failure rate is strongly correlated to poor strategic management. At NextBiz.space, we believe that strategic management starts with good and reliable market research. Large businesses, such as Ikea and McDonalds, already have these processes in place with high budgets to identify the best place to expand to. SME’s simply do not have the capital to do this which is why we have developed NextBiz.space - a low-risk, low-cost solution to help small/medium business owners make decisions with confidence by providing reliable location and market insights.
We understand that the government is proactively helping small/medium businesses by providing a vast amount of data to help lower their risks. Despite the abundance of open government data, there is no major platform that pools all the data together into one comprehensive and insightful package. Therefore, NextBiz will compile and analyse data from government, state and city councils to provide relevant insights and information on Australian locations for business owners. In other words…
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We take the tedious hours out of researching
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We focus on bringing the data to the users in an insightful and convenient way.
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We provide them with recommendations for their specific industry.
Mission: To help small/medium size business owners make decisions with confidence
Main Product Features:
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Ability to look up characteristics and services of a high performing location
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Provides other site recommendations based on a given location
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A simple and intuitive interface
Possible future product developments
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Use machine learning to predict the most desirable characteristics of a given industry.
User Validation and User Story
Indy, a gelato shop owner in Nundah (QLD), is looking to open up a second store. He said that that there are many risks involved and that the decision for the next location is crucial. If his second gelato shop is successful, his business will reap significant growth but if not, the second store could potentially jeopardise the existing business in Nundah.
Through this interview, we’ve uncovered that Indy’s pain point lies in trying to find the best information to help him make an informed decision. Indy’s story has helped us in compiling the most important facts and information to help minimise the risks in starting new business ventures.
What's Next
We will be looking out for opportunities to further develop this idea. We hope to work with the government to incorporate this feature onto their websites to bring more value to business owners.
