Home Smart 100 2011 Beanhunter.com (SMART 100)

Beanhunter.com (SMART 100)

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The following SMART 100 profile and the information it contains is a duplication of content submitted by the applicant during the entry process. As a function of entry, applicants were required to declare that all details are factually correct, do not infringe on another’s intellectual property and are not unlawful, threatening, defamatory, invasive of privacy, obscene, or otherwise objectionable. Some profiles have been edited for reasons of space and clarity. More about the SMART 100.

Beanhunter.com

This innovation initially came to life when…

As a Melbourne-based fashion buyer I travel the world several times a year. Whilst in my hotel room at night I would search Google for “The best coffee in…” the city where I was staying. I found this process exhausting and it usually came up with mediocre results. So a couple of years ago upon arriving back in Melbourne I had a chat with coffee-loving friends James Crawford (Web Developer) and Adam Lowe (Psychologist) and the concept of Beanhunter was born.

WHAT & HOW

The purpose of this innovation is to…

Beanhunter was developed so users can quickly and easily find the best places to get great coffee no matter where they are in the world.

It does this by…

Beanhunter allows users from all over the world to sign up and submit cafes, write reviews and add photos of their favourite places to get a cup of coffee. This information is then freely available online or through our iPhone app for all.

PURPOSE & BENEFITS

This innovation improves on what came before because…

Now users have one place to find, add and review the best places to get coffee. With the Beanhunter iPhone app and other mobile platforms coming this year it’s even easier to find and add great coffee spots on the move.

Its various benefits to the customer/end-user include…

Beanhunter allows users to search out the best coffee by location, cafe name and just recently by equipment and coffee brand. For example, if you want a Syphon coffee in Melbourne just type ‘Syphon, Melbourne’ in the search bar.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

In the past, this problem was solved by…

Prior to Beanhunter users had to rely on search engines, sifting through endless blogs on each specific city, or using very general review sites that do not specialise in coffee. This information usually pointed towards large chain coffee outlets and not independent cafes. Beanhunter is the first coffee-specific user-generated review site in the world.

Its predecessors/competitors include…

The main competitors are general review sites like Yelp, Qype & Foursquare. These sites review everything from Dentists to Car Servicing and do not have a niche user base like Beanhunter.

TARGET MARKET

It is made for…

Beanhunter is made for anyone who appreciates good coffee and wants to know where to find it no matter where they are in the world.

DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY

It is available for sale through…

Beanhunter is available online at Beanhunter.com and also as a free iPhone app through the Apple Store.

Our marketing strategy is to…

We use social media sites Facebook and Twitter to promote content and new features and also keep in contact with our Beanhunter users. As we have very unique content, we find a lot of our cafes come up as first-search listings on Google which is great. Also, simple word of mouth via users and cafe owners has been amazing!

SUPPORTING IMAGES

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