Amazon Whisperer

I will start out by acknowledging that many readers have not been following my blog. That is why I must introduce my product, The Purrfect Litter Box. I have a drawing of it below, but you are invited to read/follow my blog if you desire to know more.

Amazon Whisperer:

The Purrfect Litter Box has two revenue drivers.The first is quite obvious, the accumulated sales of the product. The second revenue driver is a partnership. My product would partner with a cat litter company, such as The Clorox Company, in which own Scoop Away. I predict that a partnership would have the Purrfect Litter Box to include Scoop Away in our advertisements; this product placement would be paid by The Clorox Company.

The next product in store for my upcoming company would be an accessory to The Purrfect Litter Box; it would be a covered litter box insert to replace the ordinary litter box. I believe that this is what my customers want next; customers will buy improvements to already owned products in order to make their life more convenient. If I make the product, my customers will come.

This new product will foster customer loyalty greatly. If they love the addition of a covered litter box, then they will keep an eye out for what else my company has to offer. After the covered litter box, I could potentially make cat toys or even cat food; loyal cat-owning customers stick with a certain brand like how they stick with which type of milk they drink. Why have regular milk if you are lactose intolerant? Like soy milk, my company is here to offer a solution to the problems our customers have.

On Amazon.com, I found the IRIS CLH Hooded Litter Box with Scoop and Cleaning Grate. This product, as shown below, is a covered litter box with a cleaning grate. It has a detachable hood and a small door for the cat to go through.

It is typical to find only the cons of the product when going through the critical reviews on Amazon. I will start by saying a couple positive features of this product. Customers seem to like the see-through feature of the hood; according to a vet technician, many hooded litter boxes fail due to dark covers. Also, many customers like the grated part of the litter box because it reduced the amount of litter tracking the cat did. Those were the only two benefits I could find. The most common problem that people mentioned was the hood. There are not any latches attaching the hood to the base; it is set into place but can be easily bumped out of place. Cats would kick it off or sometimes would knock it off when trying to go through the small door. This brings me to the next problem, the size; this litter box is extremely small, even for kittens. The small door and small base cause problems with the cats and owners. Some cats refused to go inside it. Another issue is the bottom of the litter box; there are two bumps at the end of the box and the bottom is not flat. This makes cleaning it hard for owners. Many cats tend to use the ends of the box rather than the middle and the bumps make it almost impossible to clean the entire litter box. The last complaint was about the handle on top of the lid. It is there to lift off the lid and only the lid. The lack of latches make carrying this litter box a pain.

I would keep the cleaning grate and the see-through part of the lid the same. Also, I would keep the same concept with the hood:
- two flaps (as shown in the picture)
- handle on top
- flap for a door
I would start by changing the size; the door will be larger - approximate measurements are unavailable right now. Also, I would make litter box larger, but still within the size limits of the original litter box of The Purrfect Litter Box. I would attach latches that secure the hood to the base; there would be three latches for each flap. Due to the latches, the handle can now lift the entire box rather than just the hood. Instead of having the bumps on the side, the entire bottom would be flat.

I think that this product will be great for The Purrfect Litter Box because it an upgrade to the original. I do not expect for all of my customers to buy the upgrade, but a great portion will. It is also a stand-alone product; it is perfect for all cat owners whether or not they want it elevated or not. The new product would expand my target audience and increase the exposure of my company.

I know that a reflection is not required, but this assignment has really inspired me. Even as a side project, creating products by seeing the customer complaints of other products is very fun and exciting. It made me realize I could make a line of products under a company name, The Donnelly Clan Co.