2. 2
Module
M3 Getting started with a digital business
Competence
unit
U3.1 Generating and evaluating
a digital business idea
Learning
outcome
List possible digital
business ideas for me
Type of
resource
Video Lecture
(VL)
Type of
learning
Self-directed Learning
Resource title
Essential Steps And Creative
Tools For A Digital Business
Idea Generation
Learning
hours
1,5h
Contents
- The importance of a digital business
- The essential steps to idea generation
- Creative tools for generating a digital business idea
4. 4
How many of you
have recently
carried out an
electronic
transaction?
The majority, I
guess. But let’s
see some
interesting
numbers
Source: https://pixabay.com/
5. 55%
of people will search online for reviews and
recommendations before making a purchase
23%
will talk with friends and family about their online
transactions
Source: KPMG, The truth about online consumers
47%
will check the company website
5
6. ▪ Lowest prices;
▪ Convenience of shopping;
▪ Less time to make a
purchase;
▪ Certainty of legal rights
and guarantees;
▪ Web reliability;
▪ Easy use of websites.
There are plenty of reasons that the consumers
choose the web for their purchases:
▪ Purchasing power 24 hours
in 24 hours and seven days a
week;
▪ Possibility of cross-border
purchases;
▪ Greater variety of
products/services;
▪ Opportunity to read reviews
and feedback from other
consumers.
6
7. * 95%
of purchases will be through
eCommerce, by the year 2040
* Sales for eCommerce in 2018 came in at $2.8
billion, and it’s expected to top $3.4 in
2019.
Sources: Inviqa; vpnMentor
7
LET’S SEE
SOME MORE
STATISTICS!
8. HOW TO COME UP WITH A
DIGITAL BUSINESS IDEA
The essential steps to idea generation
9. To generate imaginative
ideas for a digital business
you have to stop accepting
the world as it is and start
viewing it through the lens
of how it should be. Start
noticing things that are
wrong, causing frustration
or inefficient.
STEP 1. Become an Idea Detective
Remember! Imperfections
possibly are opportunities
for novice, innovative
digital business ideas.
Identify inefficiencies that
you could solve in the
marketplace
9
10. Tips for Step 1
▪ Become an Observer of Pain Points
▪ Start watching your family, others you see in public, at
work or online
▪ What are they complaining about? What do they ask
for help with?
▪ Start Making Lists of Pain Points
▪ Just like a detective, write down everything
▪ Make lists of problems that you are observing
▪ Reflect and prioritize the problems to decide which are
worth researching and testing out
10
11. “
“The way to get startup ideas is
not to try to think of startup
ideas. It’s to look for problems
you have yourself. The next best
thing to an unmet need of your
own is an unmet need of
someone else. Try talking to
everyone you can about the gaps
they find in the world. What’s
missing? What would they like to
do that they can’t?”
Paul Graham, Founder, Y Combinator
Source: paulgraham.com
11
12. STEP 2: Get your creativity flowing
12
To inspire yourself, take in as
much information as you can
about digital businesses in
general and business trends
Source: pxhere.com
13. STEP 3: Think about digital businesses you
admire
13
Think about digital
businesses you admire, use
and rely on in your daily life!
Write down everything that comes
to mind about why you like some
particular digital businesses,
whether it’s their one-of-a-kind
products or the way they really
“get” what you want
Source: pxhere.com
14. STEP 4: Think about issues you are facing in
your own life
14
During a typical day, what are the
problems that commonly frustrate
you? What do you wish was easier to
do at work, at home, or during your
downtime? If enough people feel the
same way, it could be you have
discovered a business idea. An
added benefit of finding a personal
problem is that you can try out
potential solutions yourself quicklySource: gennarodriguez.weebly.com
15. Another common source
for digital business ideas is
taking existing ideas and
applying them to different
domains. You could also
take ideas that are working
in other locations and apply
it to your area.
STEP 5. Synthesizing other ideas
15
Source: www.lisbonlx.com
16. Even though you have
identified a problem you may
not hit on the right solution
immediately. Spend some
time brainstorming on
potential solutions. Think
through how you might
produce a solution, how much
it would cost, how you’d scale
production or where you’d get
supplies
STEP 6. Brainstorm solutions
Remember! Even if you
identify a problem, it’s not
useful if it’s not practical
or cost-effective
How would you sell it to
prospective users?
16
17. STEP 7: Narrow down your digital business ideas
17
At this point, you have to
validate your idea with others.
Find some impartial people in
the target market you are
considering and ask them to
give you advice and feedback.
Try to get to feel for how
much they’d pay to solve the
problem. Source: pxhere.com
18. When ideating on how to
come up with a digital
business idea, don’t rely
on chance inspiration!
Do those seven steps, and you have a much
better chance of coming up with that next
great digital business idea 18
20. Brainstorming
Is a popular tool that helps you generate
creative solutions to a problem. It asks
that people come up with ideas that can
at first seem a bit crazy. The idea here is
that some of these ideas can be crafted
into original, creative solutions to the
problem you’re trying to solve, while
others can spark still more ideas.
20
CREATIVE TOOLS TO GENERATE A DIGITAL
BUSINESS IDEA (1)
Source: https://pixabay.com/
21. 21
CREATIVE TOOLS TO GENERATE A DIGITAL
BUSINESS IDEA (2)
Brainwriting
Is a method very similar to
brainstorming, but it gives everyone
equal opportunity to participate, and it
enables all group members to think
without any blocking. The idea
generation process is anonymous. As
ideas are noted on papers and
exchanged, group members can build
on other people’s ideas in a
concentrated way
source: de.wikipedia.org
22. Random Input
Is a useful tool when you need fresh ideas
or new perspectives during problem
solving. It’s a technique for linking other
thinking patterns into the ones we are
using. It helps us move outside our normal
way of thinking, so that we can come up
with new solutions to our problem. The
associations of a word applied to our new
out-of-context situation generate new
connections in our mind, often producing a
“lightbulb moment”
22
CREATIVE TOOLS TO GENERATE A DIGITAL
BUSINESS IDEA (3)
Source: commons.wikimedia.org
23. SCAMPER
Is a tool that helps you generate new ideas
by encouraging you to think about how you
could improve existing products/services.
SCAMPER is based on question-asking
using the SCAMPER acronym to guide you.
Brainstorming a lot of questions is essential
for successfully using SCAMPER. You
should look at the answers that you came
up with carefully. Do any stand out as viable
solutions? Could you use any of them to
create a new product, or develop an
existing one? If the answer is affirmative,
then you can explore the idea further
23
CREATIVE TOOLS TO GENERATE A DIGITAL
BUSINESS IDEA (4)
The SCAMPER
acronym stands for:
• Substitute
• Combine
• Adapt
• Modify
• Put to another
use
• Eliminate
• Reverse
26. Following the brainstorming session, you have
to define your digital business idea.
26
What do you do now?
Take time out to define exactly what product/service you are
offering or who your target customers are
Decide where in the market you need to be: Who are to be your
main clients? What service are you providing to them? How is it
different from what is currently serving the need?
Add value to the market. How can you provide a better
service/product? Try to set yourself apart from the
competition by getting it right!
27. LET’S REVIEW SOME OF OUR KEY POINTS
A digital business
idea is really important
as the latest statistics
on online businesses
exemplify. It is expected
that by 2040, 95% of
purchases will be
through eCommerce.
Follow SCAMPER 7
stepsto generate a
digital business idea.
Remember that
innovative ideas do not
rely on chance
inspiration.
Use all 4 creative
tools to brainstorm and
generate a multitude of
new ideas.
Definingyour digital
business idea is a really
important step towards
achieving your goals.
27
28. This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication reflec ts the vi ews onl y of the aut hor , and the Commission cannot
be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Project Number: 2018-1-UK01-KA202-047909
