	The threat of substitute products or services exists, but is not as strong a factor as others.  There are few substitutes available for bringing your own personal items along on a trip.  The most apparent substitute for bringing your items with you on an airplane or bus is to have them shipped by a service like UPS or FedEx.  The other option is to simply not bring personal items, or to bring less, requiring little or no luggage at all.  Thus, luggage manufacturers must ensure their products are meeting consumers’ product feature demands at a price low enough that customers deem buying luggage and bringing their items with them to be the most economical option.  Wrinkled luggage is not a new problem for travelers, and Richards’ product must have a competitive advantage so that customers opt to buy the O-Fold over substitutes.  Some travelers have their own inexpensive solutions to the problem that they can make at home, not one that can even be bought.  Other travelers used the Samsonite carry-on luggage with a built in garment bag to accommodate their wrinkle-free traveling needs or other similar products.  By achieving a competitive price point and higher quality, the likelihood of customers buying the O-Fold versus other products is high.  Competitive rivalry is also an issue as the cost of switching brands is low and there is relatively weak product differentiation.  Furthermore, it is important to market the product to all methods of travel in the event that other travel methods become more appealing.
	Buyers are very much in the driver’s seat with the luggage industry right now.  Buyers’ demand is very fluid and dynamic, but is in general moving towards smaller, lighter, more portable luggage items instead of the larger traditional varieties.  Beyond simplicity of transporting the luggage, buyers have a significant economic incentive towards smaller luggage due to changes in the transportation industry.  With most airlines now charging fees for even the first checked bag on a flight, there are an increasing number of consumers trying to cram all they can into carry-on bags.  As mentioned above, there are many potential products that meet or exceed buyer demand in this area, like the O-Fold, that have or have not yet been invented.  Larger established companies also have the advantage of buyer bargaining power.  Therefore buyers are a strong competitive force in that whichever manufacturers, entrepreneurs, or inventors are able to bring products to the market that meet their desires will likely see an instant demand for their product, potentially at the expense of established businesses or newer ones who were simply beaten to the market.  
	Profitability in the luggage industry is strong in general.  Prior to the 9/11 attacks of 2001 luggage makers gross margins grew to over 45%.  The travel slowdown post-9/11 hurt margins, but sales and profitability rebounded the latter half of the 2000’s.  Profitability is easier to attain for larger, established firms, thanks to their access to cheaper overseas labor markets, business connections, and economies of scale.  However, entrepreneurs and inventors can achieve significant profitability as well due to the price premiums customers are currently willing to pay for lightweight, more portable luggage.  Potential profitability will also depend on which avenue Richards decides to take in terms of proceeding with his product – selling the idea, licensing the idea, outsourcing production, or the “crawl-walk-run” approach.  
