On Thursday the 13th ( thank God it was not Friday the 13th, otherwise it would have made things a lot creepier) Lorena and I went to visit the Undertakers shop in Wateringen.
We just missed out on the Undertaker himself, but we were able to meet with Barry, a 25 year old who prepares almost everything for the Undertaker.
I guess we could say that this was a lucky accident, since we could now ask him questions and get feedback from a young persons perspective, who was working in the industry we were trying to get access to.
As we were driving to the shop, the first thing that caught our attention from the outside was a apple green coffin. When we entered the shop, we saw a coffin, fully painted with sunflowers. When asked why this was done, Barry told us that clients nowadays were seeking customization and with these options stalled they were trying to make the clients aware that customization was available at their shop, though very limited. When asked what kind of customization was provided, he said that their options till date are limited. They are able to provide colored coffins, which are spray painted. Apart from that they provide stickers and crayons for people who want to customize the coffin themselves. According to Barry, there is an increase in demands for the crayons as he notices that grandchildren and children want to sign, or write a message for their (grand)parents on the coffins.
More customization and creativity can be seen in coffins meant for children. This is an existing market we are not looking to focus on, but it is good to know that the techniques out there exist. Mainly for children there were eco coffins with etchings engraved in them.
Lorena and I carefully inspected the form of the coffins, because we are going to meet with someone to make some miniature prototypes. We soon agreed to a basic coffin which we thought would be handy for paneling and printing (see David's blog). After verification with Barry we were happy to know that most clients chose for that type of coffin. When we had a look in the garage afterwards, we could see that the stock consisted of mainly this type of coffin.
For us it was interesting to see how the process of selling these coffins is taking place. Apparently the producer of a coffin, places one in an undertakers showroom. He then provides the undertaker with a booklet or folder and some materials. The undertaker takes this with him when selling to a pre-planner or the family of the deceased.
Standing there in the showroom made us realize that there is much to be done in this industry, because its still very traditional and boring. Initial thoughts that come to our mind is
We just missed out on the Undertaker himself, but we were able to meet with Barry, a 25 year old who prepares almost everything for the Undertaker.
I guess we could say that this was a lucky accident, since we could now ask him questions and get feedback from a young persons perspective, who was working in the industry we were trying to get access to.
As we were driving to the shop, the first thing that caught our attention from the outside was a apple green coffin. When we entered the shop, we saw a coffin, fully painted with sunflowers. When asked why this was done, Barry told us that clients nowadays were seeking customization and with these options stalled they were trying to make the clients aware that customization was available at their shop, though very limited. When asked what kind of customization was provided, he said that their options till date are limited. They are able to provide colored coffins, which are spray painted. Apart from that they provide stickers and crayons for people who want to customize the coffin themselves. According to Barry, there is an increase in demands for the crayons as he notices that grandchildren and children want to sign, or write a message for their (grand)parents on the coffins.
More customization and creativity can be seen in coffins meant for children. This is an existing market we are not looking to focus on, but it is good to know that the techniques out there exist. Mainly for children there were eco coffins with etchings engraved in them.
Lorena and I carefully inspected the form of the coffins, because we are going to meet with someone to make some miniature prototypes. We soon agreed to a basic coffin which we thought would be handy for paneling and printing (see David's blog). After verification with Barry we were happy to know that most clients chose for that type of coffin. When we had a look in the garage afterwards, we could see that the stock consisted of mainly this type of coffin.
For us it was interesting to see how the process of selling these coffins is taking place. Apparently the producer of a coffin, places one in an undertakers showroom. He then provides the undertaker with a booklet or folder and some materials. The undertaker takes this with him when selling to a pre-planner or the family of the deceased.
Standing there in the showroom made us realize that there is much to be done in this industry, because its still very traditional and boring. Initial thoughts that come to our mind is
- create incentives for the Undertaker to do some push selling on your coffins : underlying business model must be refined
- Equip your representatives (undertakers) with I-pads so they can immediately show a 3-d model to their clients, what the coffin would look like
I see that you are still searching! Testing assumptions is always a good thing. How these new discoveries may change your business model?
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