Meeting With the Undertaker

To test our different hypothesis' and assumptions, we had to get in the field. Through one of our friends it was relatively easy to meet an undertaker, who was willing to help us out with our questions. The meeting was very friendly and informal.

First we were curious about the process an undertaker has to go through, once called by the family of the deceased. He explained that it was his responsibility to arrange for all the details of the funeral: the priest, a coffin,the invitation, the flowers and the cars. The Insurance companies did not take care of anything other than the pay out of the Insurance money. This explanation took away one of our main assumptions, where we assumed that the Insurance scheme's included some basic types of coffins, depending on the sum that would be paid out. It also gives us a choice of neglecting the Insurance companies completely or the possibility of proposing schemes with our designer coffins for them to sell. This is something we would have to discuss further in the future.

Another one of our assumptions was that undertakers must have a space problem, because in the Netherlands there is no space to store all the coffins. The information we got did not confirm that. Some undertakers have a shop in the outskirts of big cities. This is meant for people who shop for their own funeral. This group of people is willing to drive outside of the city to choose a coffin.
For the rest of the funerals, the undertaker has a number of coffin suppliers he can contact to deliver a coffin within 24 hours. As far as the custimization of coffins go, these can be painted and dried in a specific color by the supplier, within 24 hours as well. With this information we know that we should design a product in such a way that a customizable and designer coffin would be available within 24 hours. Our initial thoughts  towards sleeves and/or palleting can be a potentially good answer to thos.

When going to a family, the undertaker has a book with some sample materials available, so that a coffin can be chosen. He emphasized on the fact that the niche market that he was mainly hired by, Surinamese people, always chose for the basic coffin, because the emphasis was on the rituals instead of on the coffin. With this information available, we know that we don't have to put a lot of energy into marketing our product to this group.  David and Vandana allready had a discussion about the catalog that should be available for undertakers. There is even a possibility to provide the undertakers with an Ipad so they can show the customer a 3D model of what the coffin would look like.

When asked about the materials a coffin was build with, he said it's very simple chipboard, because this is easily decomposable. There is a small group of people who want a massive wooden coffin and are willing to pay for it. He also gave us the information that the margins of his coffins range from 50% to 100%, on the chipboard coffins only. He markets his services through different schemes and he even has one scheme where the coffin is 'free' and customers only pay for the services. This is interesting for his target group, because he focusses on a very select group of people who emphasize on the rituals and not at all on the coffin. For us it would be interesting to work with the chipboard coffins, because this would make our margins more interesting.

During our investigation we found that it is a very simple process to order a coffin online and have it delivered within 24 hours, without intervention of an undertaker. We were curious to know what percentage of people ordered the coffins without the intervention of an undertaker. It seems that almost everyone in the Netherlands orders their coffins through an undertaker, except for the gypsies. The reason that the gypsies don't order a coffin through an undertaker, is that they want to decorate the coffin themselves and they put a lot of time into it. There are no coffins available for this special niche. With this information we can carefully conclude that there is a market for designer coffins, even if it would be for a small niche group.
 
We wanted to know who we should market our designer coffins to. Should it be directly to people shopping for their own funeral, or should it be to undertakers who sell to the family of the deceased. According to the undertaker, the proportion of people shopping for their own funeral is 30% vs. the 70% of people who arrange the funerals of their family members. As a reaction to this question he offered to display our designer coffins in his shop, when they were available, for people shopping for their own funeral. He admitted that he was very excited about the product because as he said ...' there is nothing more frustrating and boring about the job of an undertaker, than offering the same boring coffins every time...I personally certainly believe that there is a market for this product'... This enthousiastic reaction is a big motivator for our group.  The undertaker also suggested that we would have a look in his shop and also at a coffin producer in Katwijk. These visits have yet to be planned in, but we are sure it will give us more insights about coffin materials and the production process.