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THE DOPAMINE RUSH

BUSINESS AND BRAND STRATEGY

BACKGROUND:

The dopamine rush store is my first formal entrepreneurial venture which was built as an experimental part-time project to learn how businesses work before pursuing my masters (Very possibly my motivation to pursue masters).

The store creates and sells quirky merchandises online.

The business was strategized to be a zero investment initiative as I was working a low paying job and couldn't afford much capital.

The brand is positioned as - "the friendly neighbourhood superstore" and the friend you would love to talk to after a rough time.

Currently, the business is on a break due to a few logistics and time issues. Hoping to pick it back up soon.

RESOURCES:

TARGET AUDIENCE:

AGE: 18 - 28

Millennial | Gen Y & Z

Keywords:

Geeky | Nerdy | lame jokes | Fandom | puns

KEY INSIGHTS:

  1. Millennial love to be the funniest person in their peer group.

  2. Pop culture and puns play a major part in their conversations.

  3. Unapologetically you - Individualism is the new style statement.

  4. Being expressive make them feel validated

  5. Geeky and nerdy - which were once an outcast group, are being embraced now.

GUIDING PRINCIPLE:

  1. Be quirky, unique and fun

  2. Be the customer’s friend, someone they can talk to about anything

  3. Find cheaper / easier alternatives

  4. Be affordable

BUSINESS STRATEGY

Minimal investment:

  • Buying cheap royalty-free stocks bundles

  • Manufacture on demand

  • Selecting products that can be made in low quantity​

  • Social media messaging as a sales platform - cutting down website costs

Process:

dopamine rush flow.png

PRODUCT RANGE:

Guiding principle: Single-piece customizable | low minimum quantity​.(We couldn’t add products like t-shirts due to their quantity-price relationship)

dopamine rush products.png

BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS:

canvas.png

BRAND STRATEGY

OUTCOME

Business:

  • The strategy helped us to develop the business as a minimal investment / low investment cycle.

  • The shipping cost was reduced thanks to the drop shipping arrangement we had with our vendors.

Brand:

  • We made Choco, a friend's dog as our brand ambassador.

  • As a part of the branding process, we sent handwritten notes along with the orders which were an instant hit and helped gain some social media traction.

  • The branding helped us convert the audience into recurring customers who helped spread the word among their peers.

  • There was almost 50% recurrence in customers.

  • As we were considered to be the audiences' cool friend, we got some graphic design assignments too which financially helped us.

  • Sometimes we got messages from people who just wanted to talk to someone in a safe space. It was a beautiful journey.

 

The business is currently on hold as I joined Srishti for my masters and had a tough time concentrating on the business. Hoping to pick it up and resume it real soon. Wish me luck and give some gyan!

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