Thinking outside the square is important when coming up with a marketing strategy that will set your business aside from the rest.

When the legendary thinker Edward de Bono looked at some of the world’s business high achievers, he underlined that they shared a central characteristic – they thought outside the square. Ruslan Kogan, 26, is out there and could wind up as a household name and could thank Prime Minister Kevin Rudd partly for his success.

And while the PM indirectly helped this budding entrepreneur in 2009, his role model was someone who was not only a lateral thinker, but was also committed to taking on the ‘big boys’ and determined to deliver lower prices to consumers.

“My inspiration was Richard Branson,” Kogan revealed. “I admired the way that he enters new markets relentlessly, every new business market he goes into is a ‘David and Goliath’ situation.”

According to the founder of Kogan Technologies, this start-up seeks to provide the best possible electronic products at the best possible price, by assembling the highest quality components from other manufacturers, facilitating the sale of products to the consumer through “minimalist online retailing”. This can cut out up to 50 per cent of the costs that go with the traditional retailing model.

In a nutshell, it is new age retailing without the store and the margins.
“I started Kogan Technologies after recognising a huge gap in the market for affordable LCD TVs – and later, general consumer electronics devices,” Kogan explained. “From research into the power of an online direct business model and visiting numerous consumer electronics manufacturers, I soon realised how much customers could save from buying direct from the factory floor, rather than through complicated and expansive supply chains.”

So, how hard is it to chop out the traditional players?
“We sold our fist container of LCD TVs – with zero start-up capital to begin with – in 2006,” he recalled. “After a successful shipment, and securing a reliable supply, we sold the first Kogan branded shipment a few months later that same year.”
Kogan Technologies sounds impressive but it started very micro with one person — Ruslan Kogan.
“In the beginning it was just me,” he said. “My first focus was to sell one container of LCD TVs to see if it could be done.
“I didn’t have any starting capital so I borrowed money from every possible source and pre-sold televisions with a 1 cent reserve on eBay to help raise the money.”

The business now turns over $4.5 million with 10 employees and the stretch goal for 2009 — a probable recession year — is $17.5 million.

And behind this growth story is an online one.
“As we have grown, we have learnt a lot about how to maximise the power of the internet to grow as well as communicating with our market and customer base,” he said. “We have developed a very strong website and online community through the Kogan blog and leveraged this both as a market research tool, customer feedback forum and a launch pad for new products.”

Kogan doesn’t recall facing setbacks, but instead can only see past opportunities, which he made the best out of. He thinks that by operating as a 100 per cent online based business, on a direct business model, he has been able to capitalise on opportunities faster than his competitors.

But this is not just a story of a Gen-Y geek, who happens to be retail savvy, this guy has the street smarts on marketing, leveraging off the pulling power of a Prime Minister and his economic stimulation package goals.

Recognising a great marketing opportunity, a press release emerged in March this year which said:

“The KEVIN 37 shot to fame in March 2009 after Kogan Technologies announced the television was being offered at a $900 price point to coincide with the Rudd Government’s stimulus package that will give $900 to each Australian taxpayer in March and April 2009.”

Customers were also further induced with a promise that they would receive a free KEVIN 37 t-shirt with each purchase.

For those wondering how do you encourage Aussies to buy big things such as wide screen television sets online, this has constituted real obstacles that Kogan Technologies had to overcome.

“One of the main challenges has been educating people that have not traditionally bought goods online about its benefits,” Kogan admitted. “We were quick to build credibility with existing and new online shoppers as we made sure we always delivered on promises and maintained a string line of communication with the online community.”

That said, it remains a challenge but this guy looks equal to the task.

And what about the future?
“We would like to expand overseas – it’s not only Aussies that love a bargain,” he said.

Why am I not surprised at this optimistic, back-myself answer? The Branson inspiration should never be underestimated.

By Peter Switzer.

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