A business plan for iXa walker

A market study was performed to determine the feasibility of the iXa Walker. The walker industry is about to enter a large growth due to the entry of millions of baby boomers into the durable medical equipment market. Using data from the United States Census, the industry databases Hoovers and Frost and Sullivan, and market interviews we determined the market potential for the iXa Walker and drafted recommendations for bringing the product to market. We recommend a limited initial launch of the product to a test market consisting of Boston area nursing home patients in order to gather feedback on the product's capability as a geriatric walker. This should be followed by a launch in local retail stores and a low cost marketing campaign aimed at generating buzz for the product and educating potential users of its capabilities. After two years the iXa walker should be marketed more aggressively to a national audience. At a price of $240 we predict a profit margin of 38% and a gross margin of 52% by the fifth year of sales. In the fifth year we expect revenues of $193 thousand and that the product will become marketable by the third year of sales.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Authors dc:creator

• Morton, Stephen A
• Tan, Geng

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Maria C. Yang.

• Mechanical Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/59950

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/59950