Based on the scope of our product, we believe the Total Addressable Market (TAM) can be estimated based on the percentage of the world population that uses social media. Since those users likely have access to a smartphone and are capable of using a mobile app and taking photos, they can be included in the TAM. This number is estimated to be 4.48 billion.
We narrowed down using age (18-34 years old) and geographic location (United States), our Serviceable Available Market (SAM) becomes 63.5 million. See calculations below.
If narrowed down even further, our Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM) was estimated to be 13.4 million. The target audience for our services is college students who have printed photos. See calculations below.
Calculations
TAM
18-34 years old worldwide, has a smartphone
4.48 billion people currently use social media worldwide https://backlinko.com/social-media-users
SAM
18-34 in the US, uses social media
18-34: 75.6 million (https://www.marketingcharts.com/featured-30401)
Some 84% of adults ages 18 to 29 say they ever use any social media sites
75.6mil * 84% = 63.5 mil
SOM
College student in the US, and possesses printed pictures
15.9 million college students in the US
(https://www.bestcolleges.com/research/college-enrollment-statistics)
89% of millennials aged 25-34 admitted to possessing printed photos. That number dropped slightly in the 18-24 age group, with only 83% (https://www.lifestorage.com/blog/storage/american-sentimentality-research-2018/)
15.9 million * 83% = 13.4 mil
Interview Highlights
I interviewed my younger brother, a middle school student who grew up in the “digital age,” and a university student who self-proclaims to be a hoarder (especially for pictures) and occasionally journals. Both interviewees were receptive to the general idea and offered some interesting takeaways. From my brother, I learned that younger teens and middle-school aged kids were already really perceptive about not remembering certain memories and wanting to more, and also expressed interest in starting journaling or tracking their life progress and accomplishments as they got older and started transitioning through transformative periods of their lives when many new experiences would occur and they would meet many new people and “grow up.” From my friend who I interviewed, I learned that there was an interest and enthusiasm for some sort of physical keepsake. The same sentiments carried over about having so many memories that she wants to remember, but it’s hard because there’s so much going on in life and she usually doesn’t have time to reflect on everything happening and feels like she forgets everything alot. She also enjoys sharing stories with friends and doing so through sharing pictures. She discussed the friction of journaling and scrapbooking manually, and also the problems of having too many digital pictures to scroll through all the time. Both interviewees expressed the desire to have more printed photos.
