Six months of development of the online store Funnybeanbag

History of creation and development of Funnybeanbag

If your only goal is

to become rich, you will never reach it.

John davison rockefeller



The idea of ​​creating frameless bag bags appeared just like any idea by chance in a series of thoughts, thoughts completely unrelated to furniture design, since I, being a site designer, have never done furniture and design, and even more so industrial design.







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So, there is a lot of information in my head, ridiculous sketches on pieces of paper, blog entries about possible options, characters, but in fact neither the means nor the basis for business and development. What to do? Of course, there were no problems with the development of an online store, because in a few years of work as a graphic designer, I made quite a few of them. But where to find at least $ 10,000 for production and advertising? Credit ... Well, yes, in case of emergency ... Although in our country you can take out a loan only on the condition that you immediately dump it into another and forget about it. Not an option. It remained to find a good order and spend everything on production: this option was not long in coming.



A person can live for a long time on the money he is waiting for.

William Faulkner



Naturally, for a couple of months I had to save money, or save money - I never understood this word. And when the necessary amount was on the account, I decided to go to the factory. After visiting the factory and several companies, I realized that I would have to save for a long time to run the business to the fullest ... Then I just gave the command to the programmer to start programming the site and whatever was coming!







In the course of understanding all of this, the question “Where can you see, touch, understand a quality thing or just sit?” Therefore, besides questions about production technologies, advertising, and sales via the Internet (and offline?), The most important was the availability of a showroom where exclusive fanny bin bags would be presented. There were also questions about registration of a patent for a trademark and registration of a foreign domain, but they were still too far away. And building long chains of ideas, creating a design for the future www.funnybeanbag.ru , developing a logo and drawing new models of bin begs, I still had to draw designs for customers for days and nights to earn initial capital for the implementation of all our plans, it was difficult Before that, I had always worked according to the “Not Straining” scheme, and I always had enough of what I had, without waving more.

Roller coaster

By the end of the third week of work in the schedule from 10 am to 5 am (although more likely at night) seven days a week, absolutely exhausted and just as happy I was already admiring the Fanny logo and the new site.



How to earn initial capital of $ 10,000? Less sleep, early to get up, though it did not threaten me, because for me to "get up at 7 am" worse than not to sleep at all. And a lot of work, work, generate new ideas in my head, look for incentives and compromises, read interesting books, and not only about marketing, but also well-known classics and fiction, believe me, there are plenty of emotions, ideas and interesting ideas in them. Only to leave a small gap for the soul, rest, feelings and loved ones, without becoming hostage to green pieces of paper and thick puzomerov.







Have you ever ride a roller coaster? Do you know what makes you so excited? Extreme, rapid, almost inexplicable emotions, formed by the release of adrenaline in the blood. I didn’t need an average store in the basement of a dwelling house, I never drew unprincipled sites, I always wanted to create something that went beyond and break into this difficult, fascinating, interesting process with my head. But as soon as I thought of something, Google gave me a hundred of such works. Of course, you can compete with already established companies, but ... I always wanted something extraordinary ... I wanted endless roller coasters that will never bother you and will always make people happy.







Since I do not like standards, as mentioned above, I have thought up interesting forms of cooperation:



- Funnybeanbag is, above all, fun! Therefore, the idea of ​​organizing actions for children, including groups of kindergartens and orphanages, was paramount. I decided to organize “Fanny Day” twice a month; This is the day when parents or tutors bring their children to the showroom, and we invite clowns, show cartoons and just play funny Fanny. Every new group (kindergarten, orphanage) in the evening after an exciting day will be given any bin bag that kids want to take as a gift. More information about the action can be found in the same section on the site.



- it is also planned to travel to the children and organize outdoor events with colorful gifts and smiles



- in Funnybeanbag, you can order not only ready-made bin bags, but also production to order in a short time



- Various contests and promotions are held monthly.



- introduced a system of promotions, bonuses and gifts for Funnybeanbag buyers such as: gifts when buying, gift certificates, which can be purchased separately and received as a gift when ordering bean bags



- a section of the designer’s consultation on the selection of the model, color and style of the bin bag for the interior was created; for this, a person sends a photo of the interior and wishes for the model, and then receives solutions to the post office.



On September 17, 2010, an online store was opened with such a quantity of goods, and the goods were rudely stolen from foreign sites. I just had to admire something for inspiration.

First exit to the world

On October 27, Funnybeanbag was invited as a sponsor to the exhibition-forum of FRNK nightclubs managers, it was proposed to “decorate” the art zone of the event with branded bag-chairs. As a reward - advertising in a magazine, website and an interview with a company representative.



But unfortunately I did not possess the stated number of bag bags, and it was not possible to develop them within two weeks, at least in terms of storage. In general, I doubted the adequacy of the transportation issues: how can I deliver 10-20 bags in size from one to one and a half cubic meters? Therefore, I decided to refuse.



But the most important was the invitation. We were chosen, we were noticed. And all this after a month and a half since the opening of the site!



The next day there was an equally pleasant event, finally people began to ask questions through an online consultant on the site. Soaked. Hooray. Let's go further!



November 3, the events turned in a different direction. The representative of the agency Topevent chose us as a bright teddy partner for organizing a forum of leaders. I had to act quickly and boldly, as only exclusive models were available. Having phoned several companies, I chose one of the successful firms that already organized outbound events and gave out bin begs for rent. Having selected 10 bin bags, I arranged the delivery at 19.00 on November 10 to the beginning of the installation and organization of the forum.



Bin Beg was delivered on time on the huge "Gazelle". The next couple of hours I dragged them around the floor and set them up in the hall. From time to time, voices “Whose bags?”, “Damn, I got stuck” were heard from different parts of the world and DJs with equipment jumped over them and dropped their boxes.



November 11, I also came to the forum. It was interesting. Various companies offering light installations and various cool things, located across the floor, and created a club atmosphere. Because of them, most of the photos turned out zamylennye.

Taxes, events or the most valuable paragraph

I have been an individual entrepreneur since 2004, so I had only to re-register the necessary documents. I have some patents, but unfortunately so far the project has not gained enough momentum to put on sale the models I have invented.



Briefly about everything: in fact, all my “capital” of 300 thousand wooden shattered in a couple of weeks only for the purchase of fabrics. Although initially it seemed to me that this is a pretty decent amount. And then I just began to work to order, so the continuation of the accumulation of big money was just not necessary!



I never got a showroom and all sales were done only via the Internet. But literally in 3 weeks, fannies will appear in three shopping centers in Moscow, which everyone can finally touch.







And now more than six months have passed ...



During this period Funnybeanbag has become more fashionable, stylish and bright project. And no less important - recognizable! I’ve got official payment methods and I’m thinking about a franchise or something similar.



Collections have appeared in our catalog as an individualization of models, each of which has its own shape, texture, design and colors. As well as a convenient filter for fabrics, colors and characteristics of bean bags.



Considering the questions of site visitors and our clients, an article about the quality and features of products and many more interesting sections is posted. The catalog of fabrics has also multiplied, but there are so many pans and colors that it still does not have time to be updated in time.



The site held several unusual and funny contests and promotions. I actively acted VKontakte and Twitter to attract visitors. Vkontakte has a group of more than 5000 people. True, just yesterday there were 70,000 of them, but the bots were mercilessly banned, leaving only real users.



As for the external connection of Funnybeanbag with customers, there are also some innovations here: new methods of payment, delivery to the regions of Russia have appeared. And for prompt and convenient delivery of bean bags in Moscow and the region, we now have a cargo Gazelle.



In the home social network Lovastochka, we launched a contest, the winners of which are awarded with fashionable fannies. Information spreads through social networks within 2-3 days and gives a short-term effect of presence, but the residual effect in the form of the constant presence of a circle of readers, interested people or even occasional surfers guarantees a constant influx of new customers, which means potential buyers.



For two months, there was an offer for discounts on one of the sites with coupons. Here I will say rather briefly: 0. On such sites it is more profitable for owners to place goods up to 1000 rubles to get more sales. Nobody needs my ottomans there. The well-known biglion had to be refused at all, since the offer to sell 1000 pieces at a cost price is rather inadequate.



On May 14, 2011, on the Day of Freelancer, the most popular portal for free artists, Free-lance.ru, celebrated its 6th anniversary at the cult club “Air”! At the hot free-free party, Funnybeanbag acted as a partner , so everyone could relax and pofot our bin begs.



In early May, Funnybeanbag received an invitation to participate in the “ Country Response ” program on NTV. Together with the producer of the program and the design studio of Maria Boyarova, several models of bin begs were selected, including some made-to-order for participation in a television project.



Quality: I work only with high-quality European materials , mainly Spanish chenille, microfiber, Belgian matting, velor and eco-leather. All fabrics have properties that are compatible with constant loads and friction: they breathe, because in all there is some kind of cotton, they have excellent wear resistance and resistance to stains, they do not fade in the sun, do not form pellets and do not shed. Starting the project, I immediately told myself - do it better and more expensive! But do well!



In the world: I try to maintain a gallery on flickr, a VKontakte group, Facebook and of course Twitter and LJ.



Well, of course, I have many assistants, these are my friends, and those who helped me with the logo are Egor Gorev, illustrations are Alla Bobylev, programming is Vit Evdakov and many others: Kostya, Pasha, Ira, Vladislav, Nastya, Maria Yana and all!

From the author

“In any work, hobby, aspirations and desires, I always looked for not just a creative approach, but also a desire to do something that no one had invented before, created or a little thought of, ie make the impossible possible. " This phrase served as my motto for many years and flaunted on a personal site.



In order to assess the laboriousness and costs, I sewed the first pear-chair myself, so I acquired new knowledge and skills, a sewing machine, a cloth, huge scissors, a bunch of threads and billions of polystyrene foam balls that I unaware and spilled around for about two weeks in an apartment. A mountain of pleasure was attached to all this as a gift.



I don't want to do anything to get paid.

I want to be paid for doing something.



Funnybeanbag creator, graphic designer Olga Ilf

Wellcome!