1st Steps -- Shopify -- White Labelling (21)
...............
Sounds like a good plan and the first step has been taken - so well done.
Don't worry about the lack of knowledge.
You can get feedback here and by taking action, you'll get real world feedback from your customers (by them buying or not buying).
Both will help you make this a success.
Good luck and keep us posted!
....................
......
Getting feedback ahead of time from the target audience before coming up with the final product, and building a mailing list in anticipation of the launch - that's so smart!
Eager to see how this project progresses!
Thanks for starting this thread. 
Amy
..............
.........
Is there any way you can get a product on short notice that you can actually sell?
buyers > leads
Until money is exchanged, there's no customer / buyer. Just an expression of interest.
And like you say, you might be missing the buyers now.
I was in a sports store last Saturday, where they had a machine for embroidering. Would not be hard to get a semi-custom thing, where you get something stitched on a standard cap.
For my company, I bought some nice caps on Aliexpress. Very similar to this one, but with no logo or graphics: https://www.dhgate.com/product/2016-...sport-outdoor/
I then ordered stiched logos (our own design). 100 pieces for about €100.
Then asked a girl in our village who's into making dresses etc to sew them on the caps. Paid her 50 for 20 pieces.
Took about 2-3 weeks, but customers loved them. Did the same with woolen hats. Black was most popular and I bought those for €2 each from a local company.
Just to show you that there are ways to get things done while you are waiting / looking for perfect.
Hope this helps
.........
Great 4-month update, Jack!
Looks like you're almost there, Good Luck!
LeadCloak
If I were you, I would just get going now, and look for cheaper alternatives later. The initial Christmas rush has already started!
Keeping costs to 30% of sales price would be awesome! But at the end of the day, it's total profits that matters the most. So it would be wise to not let the 30% limit keep you from making any decisions that can potentially help you scale. AFAIK, many successful businesses don't have margins nearly that high.
I believe that by shifting your attention from keeping costs low to making more sales, you can truly grow your business.
Split-testing every step of your sales funnel to increase conversion rate, testing upsells and downsells to increase order size, monetizing your mailing list to increase customer LTV - are just some of the things that can grow your business.
Also: Once sales takes off, your costs per sales will go down. Fixed costs will average over more products sold, and some of the per-item costs may go down as well when you pay for goods and services in bulk.
Thanks for coming back to update us! Looking forward to seeing how you do over Christmas! It's always nice to learn from people's experience.
Amy
.............
Sounds good - can imagine it's great to see the hat ready for sale after the whole process of going from idea to product.
Not sure if you are willing to share, but I'd love to see it...
Originally Posted by love2train
Correct. My manufacturer said he wouldn't be able to copy - because he wouldn't be able to afford a base material I use. So there are other implications. But you never know. Better safe than sorry.
................
............
..............
Wow Jack - thanks for coming back to update! You're right - most people that start follow-alongs would disappear - whether they become successful and don't need the guidance anymore, or failed and quit. It's just human nature though so I said that without judgement. But that sure makes me all the more appreciative of people like you that DO take the time to come back and update!
Thank you!
I've somehow missed some of your previous updates as well - just got caught up on reading them now.
All those tips you gave are very valuable - thank you for those! A few are inline with my own experiences too. I've picked up some pointers from you as well.
I did a search for your product and think I've found it. That "secret material" you were referring to sure makes it a pricey hat to own!
That's the thing though: Not a lot of people can afford your hat. I'm not saying it isn't worth the money. It's just that your audience size would be pretty limited, which (as you've found out) makes it really hard to target buyers.
For niche products like this, I can certainly see how adwords and bing would be your best bet in finding buyers.
Have you considered influencer marketing? This seems to be the perfect product for that type of promotion.
I feel that you have a really great product and branding. A unique and high-end product like this will need a long time to take off.
In the meantime, why not promote other products? That way you don't put all your eggs in one basket. It's not like that specific market will saturate any time soon so you're under pressure to scale while you still can.
Amy
From experience, you can never be sure about your suppliers.
The best thing is when both your goals align.
And turn over / sales is not enough in that respect.
We have a supplier where we would buy 1,000,000 in materials this year. Worked with them for 6 year. Getting bonuses for exceeding sales targets every year.
Then about 6 weeks ago, I get a call. To see if I am in the office. What's it about? Needs to be discussed face-to-face.
And 30 minutes later, they tell me they no longer want to supply me. No real business reason, so I know it's an emotional reason.
Luckily, I had been building other relationships when I saw the first sign of these emotional issues 18 months ago.
Back and forth for a few weeks and the real reason came out. We were getting too big, soon too powerful and they didn't want to be out of control. So they rather sacrifice 5% of their business now than not be in full control in the future.
I am very stoic when it comes to business, so I have made the most out of the situation and was prepared, but still have to overpay for some items we can't get anywhere else. Which sucks as the total amount in a year's time would have been a nice, fancy car for me. Luckily, I have switched to riding an electric bicycle to work, so no need for a new car ;-)
Long story short, make sure you don't depend on just one supplier and never take things for granted...
Would you care to elaborate further on this please? Sounds interesting but I'm not understanding why they'd be out of control. Sounds like a big lesson to be learned there.
Is it because they're not wanting you to "call the shots" so to speak, because they're too set in their ways or too complacent to evolve with your needs? And afraid that if they don't do what you ask, you can potentially leave and cause too great a blow to their business?
Amy
Home > Paid Traffic Sources > eCommerce