Designing, sourcing and selling 500+ physical products with e-commerce
E-COMMERCE / FREELANCE
The challenge
Whilst freelancing, my partner and I wanted to see if we could design, launch and sell physical products through an eCommerce store as well as Amazon. We were helping others sell and we wanted to scratch our own itch. We looked for product opportunities based on existing sales volumes from Amazon competitors alongside researching customer needs on Amazon reviews and Facebook groups. Our research led us to test two opportunities. One was helping dog owners get fit with their pups. The second was helping gym-goers carry all items with a compact bag.
Here are a few opportunities noted from dog owners;
I want to go running with my dog but the handsfree leads are often flimsy and overpriced
When I go running with my dog, it’s hard to carry dog treats and my phone
My dog pulls hard so I need to make sure my lead is extra strong
Here are a few opportunities noted from gym-goers;
It’s frustrating trying to carry my yoga mat with my gym bag
I want to keep my wet clothing separate from my dry bits
My trainer’s smell, I want to keep these separate from the rest of my clean clothes
Results
✅ £5,000+ sales in 8 months
✅ Amazon generated 80% sales
✅ Shopify generated 20% of sales
✅ Built a 1,300+ targeted email list for dog owners
✅ £500+ sales on Facebook marketplace
The approach
Research - We used a data scraping tool that allowed us to get an idea of sales volumes from Amazon sellers against the competition in the segment. We analysed positive and negative Amazon reviews of the competition to find customer pains, needs and wants. We researched Facebook Group discussion topics to further our understanding of customer pains, needs and wants
Sourcing manufacturers - We sourced Chinese manufacturers on Alibaba and mapped out the costing
Product design - I collaborated on designs with manufacturers and tested samples with dog owners and gym-goers
Building a targeted email list - We leveraged a Facebook competition to build a targeted email list before the product was live to buy
Branding and Shopify design - I developed the brand assets, managed a photographer and created a Shopify e-commerce store.
Key learnings
Speak to people experiencing the problems - Spend more time with potential customers upfront to better understand their needs. For example, contextual interviewing would have helped focus on the target customer
More differentiation in the product - When designing the product, we could have thought more about the unfair advantage the product might have over the competition. In the end, we didn’t have much differentiation to the competition
Test the value proposition early - Test the concept earlier to gauge customer intent before investing too much time and money. We could have tested landing pages to see if people signed-up to pre-order. This would have helped us critically analyse if we thought the opportunity was worth pursuing.
