The history of the online store, which has become a world monopolist for $ 5,000
After reading a lot of literature on the history of business and watching the growing popularity of online commerce, the author of these lines wanted to put their knowledge into practice. Looking for a suitable topic for the project. Prerequisites were:
1) The investment of no more than $ 10,000
2) Profit of at least $ 1,000 per month
3) Minimum routine
On the first two points, everything is clear. But on the third point I will explain. By that time I was already working in my own company (finance). It was 2009. The consequences of the crisis still strongly influenced the main business and work was no end. A lot of time to distract on the third-party business, the author could not.
The appropriate case turned up in October 2009.
Then I first saw the Mafia program on MUZ-TV on the basis of the same game. It was led by Alexander Pryanikov. After the first release, I liked the game so much that I decided to buy masks in the game and play on weekends with friends. In the transfer used a mask on a stick with a black ribbon in place of the holes for the eyes. Where to look for such a product to modern man? Of course on the Internet! Turned on the comp. I went to Yandex. Introduced "buy masks for the game mafia." The search engine showed me zero pages. Pereinachil request: "masks with closed eyes." Again gol. I was looking for just a "mask on the handles." There were a couple of suggestions. These were highly artistic Venetian papier-mĆ¢chĆ© masks. The price of one is 3 500 rubles. 12 masks would cost $ 1,500. For me it was expensive. I decided to postpone the purchase until I find it cheaper.
')
I was ready to buy on E-bay, but found nothing. Intrigued. He began to search on the English-language Internet with broader queries, but he did not find anything worthwhile anywhere. Surprised.
I looked at the statistics of requests for Yandex.Direct. The phrase āmasks for playing mafiaā turned out to be very popular and the growth dynamics repeated the trajectory of the shortened take-off of the SU-33 fighter.
As time went. The transfer of "Mafia" gained popularity, was among the leaders in ratings among young people.
We had a classic picture of the course of economic theory: there was demand, but there was no supply. And the task of the entrepreneur to meet this demand. This justifies its existence in the chain of world economic relations.
So, the decision was made: it is necessary to sell masks and accessories.
There were three tasks:
ā¢ get the goods
ā¢ create an online store
ā¢ arrange sales
First, I conducted a thorough analysis of the foreign Internet for the presence of such masks. Shone this whole weekend. The result was zero. Brought a folder. I recorded there all the collected materials, the results.
The next step I decided to write to toy manufacturers. It was assumed that traditional masks are made with closed eyes, and then holes are made in them.
To find such manufacturers, the gaze was directed to the Chinese market, where half of the world's production capacity was concentrated. I visited a dozen sites where customers and manufacturers of goods from China meet. I wrote dozens of letters to toy manufacturers and dealers asking them to send an offer for the delivery to Moscow of "plastic masks with closed eyes on the handle" in the amount of 5,000 pieces. Only one firm answered: she considered and said that the price without delivery would be $ 25-30. It was expensive. And there was no quality guarantee. Yes, and the intermediary firm seemed questionable.
Then it was decided to dive deeper into the topic and explore ways to produce plastic products. To do this, read a dozen articles and reviews. Great benefit, oddly enough, brought Youtube. Many manufacturers placed there materials about how plastic buckets, basins, car bumpers, etc. are made on their machines. It turned out that the production method we need is called vacuum forming. It looks like this .
After the production method and the name of the machine was clear, I found on the Internet a dozen ads from companies that provide services for the production of vacuum products. In the Moscow region there were a dozen of them. Their main business: services to advertising companies for the production of bulk glowing letters and logo. Held a small tender among them. People they are inhospitable, I must admit. If you do not understand the difference between polyester and polystyrene, then you are a sucker. I had to step over it. As a result, I found one uncle who had a workshop in the north of Moscow. There worked 3 people. They make covers for aquariums.
An important part of the vacuum manufacturing process is the creation of a molding model. For its manufacture needed a 3D model. I found two dozen 3D designers on Free-lance.ru, but all of them were sharpened on modeling houses and parts, but it turned out to be very difficult to mold a personās face. Everyone refused. I refused to give recommendations. One of them suggested a designer who now collaborates with Walt Disney. He knew the basics of sculpture and sculpture. As a result, in 2 weeks we made a model of the girlās face. She looked like the heroine from The Matrix and I called her Trinity. Creating a 3D model cost $ 500.
By the time the 3D model was created, I had already created an online store in parallel. I approached the creation of an online store thoroughly. It was decided that we would not write from scratch, but take a ready-made CMS. Chose between the available Russian-language solutions. Those found about 15. The choice fell on HostCMS . He was very comfortable and allowed to solve all my problems. Well suited for search engine optimization. Without unnecessary work, he long ranked first in Google and Yandex for the phrase āmasks for playing mafia.ā However, I was not an expert in the design and customization of online stores. This helped me the owner of an online store from St. Petersburg. I liked his site on HostCMS. He graciously set out to help me. Took a free HostCMS configuration. All setup and other work cost me $ 250.
This person took care of all the technical issues. We are still working with this guy. Created 7 sites together, but never personally met. I think this is the best case to tell Alexander Ketov a big THANK YOU.
I thought that this project would be short-term (6-10 months), so I did not buy a special domain name for the store. Took from those that were in stock. The most neutral was smolensky.ru The store logo cost $ 5 and 30 minutes.
So, the 3D model was created, the online store is ready. However, doubts remained. You need to invest $ 1,000 in the creation of a molding model (blanks), $ 3,000 for the purchase of material and payment for services in molding. It was a hard time. The height of the crisis, autumn 2009. In the financial industry where I worked there were big problems. Every ruble was in the account. I risked two monthly salaries.
As a result of thinking, I decided to experiment. Posted on the site picture of the 3D model
(pic. 1)
and wrote: āPre-order. Delivery in 30 days. I bought on Yandex.Direct advertising for $ 20. The cost per click was $ 0.1
The price for the mask, I took on the basis of the price of substitute products. Such goods were those Venetian masks of 3,500 rubles apiece. I decided that 1 000 p. to begin with will be appropriate. If there is no demand - throw off.
And rushed ...
Advertising on Yandex.Direct was published by me at 04:00 AM 04.11.2009. Only mail was specified as a contact. Already at 19.00 received the first order. The girl ordered 10 masks for 1,000 rubles each. At 23.00, another person ordered 12 masks for 12,000 rubles. By the middle of the next day I had several letters from customers on the box, who demanded to give the phone and explain in more detail when the goods would be available.
As a result, orders for more than 150,000 rubles were collected this week. This amount exceeded my future mask manufacturing costs. Every day orders came for 15-20 thousand. CTR exceeded 15%.
I paid everything and started production.
The first orders I delivered myself. At that moment I was working as a commercial director of a leasing company and there was not so much free time. I guess I was the strangest courier in Moscow, who was seen by these people. I took orders after work (or between business meetings). Imagine a courier who arrives (sorry for pathos) on a black tinted Audi A4 of the latest model, in a good suit and tie, who has a direct golden number of MTS, etc. There were so many oddities. The reaction of the people was unusual. I was invited to go sit. It was not comfortable for me, but very interesting and fun. 70% of recipients were girls 25-35 years old. An unusual feeling when you find yourself on the other side of the counter and you are given the first tip (150 rubles). Then I learned at a glance to distinguish those who give or donāt tip.
All calculations at first went in cash. I had a legal entity, but there was no cash register, so I had to issue receipts. I understood that this was not correct, but there was no choice. When orders became a lot, I found a courier company that worked with novice online stores and provided cash services. I brought the goods to their warehouse, they delivered it themselves, and I was transferred money by bank transfer once a month. For non-resident shipments, I entered into an agreement with EMS Post of Russia . Sending parcels took the guys from the same Moscow courier company . They also allow shipment of goods for 50 rubles. Delivery in Moscow - 250 rubles.
The first time I took orders for my phone. It was problematic in the middle of the work day, at meetings and business meetings, to take orders. As a result, I bought a separate mobile number and handed it to a courier company. They have the service "Personal Manager Online Store." It cost 7,000 rubles per month. Since then, my task was only to send them received orders from the store. Later it was automated. My task was to take orders, send money through the Internet bank, order materials for production, etc. It took no more than 30 minutes a day. At the same time, the average income was $ 5-6 thousand. Periodically there were separate orders for $ 5-7 thousand at once.
We tried to expand distribution channels, cooperate with other online stores, but the result was weak. Collaboration with an offline store is generally a dark idea. Appeals to the "Republic" did not give results, although the negotiations went on for a long time. In the "Red Cube" is generally impossible to call or get an answer to e-mail. It was probably possible to achieve a result if I spent more time on it. Competitors somehow then made their way there?
There were contacts with Artemy Lebedevās store, but he replied that āthe masks were useless thingsā and would not trade them.
The most effective was the cooperation with the store āLe Futureā. Partially they sold through their online store. Even now in their stores you can find somewhere stocks. The truth is written there for some reason that the goods are produced in the Netherlands :-)
We were also pleased with the cooperation with mosigra.ru. People understood the rules of the game. Something we managed to sell through avito.ru.
Smolensky.ru for 1.5 years was the world monopolist in the production of plastic masks for the game Mafia. We expanded the range. They began to produce masks white, black and gold. We issued our own cards. For the range they took added two types of cards "Mafia" (purchased from manufacturers). Then they ordered another model of the mask - ā Tutankhamen ā. It was 10% larger than the first. She was more ordered by people from Siberia. There the faces are wider (customer recognition). The last order was a pink mask āfor blondesā. Demand they have not found.
The geography of orders was very different. The first large orders were sent to celebrate the new year and the birthday of one oligarch in Courchevel in January 2010. Serious guys came by jeep "pick up the goods." Among the customers were many well-known people in Russia and companies. If I liked their work, then I gave them a personal discount and said: discount to you and your friends. Friends of the stars were not long in coming. There were orders for a famous restaurant in Paris, for the Arab Emirates and several regional TV channels.
Once our masks were used to show a famous fashion designer on Fashion TV. At some point, the MUZ-TV channel itself replaced the self-made masks with tape with our own. Later we had contacts with the team of the author of the program about cooperation. One order was delivered to the guy from the next door, and another company from the next office. It was a real hit. Everyone asked: what else do you have?
On our maps we wrote the address of our site. It worked well.
The main buyers were restaurants and clubs. They accounted for half of the sales. A third of sales were cashless. Half of sales in the regions, 40% in Moscow. Overseas sales 10%. 20% of goods purchased for gifts. In this regard, we have created gift boxes. It cost $ 2,000
We thought it was a short project. Expected competitors appear in six months. But the most advanced stores did not produce themselves, but came to us and bargained about discounts. They received them in the amount of 20-30%. Some have told us that they choose between us and the Chinese. It caused a smile. One quite serious player in the market of board games, as early as the beginning of our shop, claimed that he had a carriage with masks stuck on the border and he urgently needed to be safe. His car "did not reach" long enough. In the course did not reach.
Masks for sleeping from fabric for 250-300 rubles became a competitive product for us. Many online stores began to sell them as a substitute of ours. We could have organized their own production, but the margin was less than 100% on these volumes did not interest us. Therefore, we placed emphasis in the positioning of the goods on hygiene, durability and aesthetics. That this product is for people with taste and who does not save on quality.
The funniest thing was at the beginning of work. We received a letter from a lady who claimed that we were violating her copyright to the mask with our eyes closed.
Here is the text of her letter:
ā Dear Sirs,
Found on your site an offer for the sale of masks for the game in Mafia.
You may be interested to know that you are violating the patents, copies of which we will send you.
I ask you to pay particular attention to point 1 of the description.
I hope you do not need to explain the responsibility for patent infringement.
And we offer you cooperation legally.
Respectfully,
Administration Club SPROOT . "
Here is a link to the patents themselves .
We were a little tense, they were told that masks with eyes closed are known from the time of Napoleon and Pushkin (death masks). After rummaging through the net, they found that such masks were known before our era. Just in case, talked to lawyers. It turned out that these patents are not valid due to the fact that the authors did not pay the next installment (something around 10,000 rubles). After 7 letters they fell behind and didnāt remember about them anymore.
Initially, we set the price of 1,000 rubles. Then they reduced it to 600, 500, 400 p. Having experimented, we came to the conclusion that at a price below 500 rubles the number of orders did not grow. The price elasticity of demand was leveled at this point. The cost of production was about 150 rubles. Margin 330%. It suited us.
After 1.5 years in the online stores appeared masks very similar to ours, but differed in some strokes, the material was thinner by 1.5-2 times, the quality was different. The retail price was equal to our cost price. At that moment we realized that the topic was closed for us and the production had to be curtailed. Now leftovers are being sold.
Summing up, I should note that the project has been very successful for us.
We earned about $ 100,000 on it. At the same time, the initial investment was slightly more than $ 5,000.
The factor of chance here took place. However, we were ready for this occasion. We had knowledge of economics. Knowledge gained from reading books on business came in handy. I had theoretical knowledge of how online commerce works, how to promote goods, pricing, marketing, consumer behavior, etc. The success of this project is due to this theoretical preparation. āSuccess is favored by prepared minds,ā wrote one of the great ones.
My advice to those who were inspired by the case I described above: read books and look around (note trends and issues in periodicals and TV)!
The most surprising thing about this story is that for 1.5 years, as a world monopolist, I have never once played a game in Mafia. There is not enough time. Ahead of new projects.
1) The investment of no more than $ 10,000
2) Profit of at least $ 1,000 per month
3) Minimum routine
On the first two points, everything is clear. But on the third point I will explain. By that time I was already working in my own company (finance). It was 2009. The consequences of the crisis still strongly influenced the main business and work was no end. A lot of time to distract on the third-party business, the author could not.
The appropriate case turned up in October 2009.
Then I first saw the Mafia program on MUZ-TV on the basis of the same game. It was led by Alexander Pryanikov. After the first release, I liked the game so much that I decided to buy masks in the game and play on weekends with friends. In the transfer used a mask on a stick with a black ribbon in place of the holes for the eyes. Where to look for such a product to modern man? Of course on the Internet! Turned on the comp. I went to Yandex. Introduced "buy masks for the game mafia." The search engine showed me zero pages. Pereinachil request: "masks with closed eyes." Again gol. I was looking for just a "mask on the handles." There were a couple of suggestions. These were highly artistic Venetian papier-mĆ¢chĆ© masks. The price of one is 3 500 rubles. 12 masks would cost $ 1,500. For me it was expensive. I decided to postpone the purchase until I find it cheaper.
')
I was ready to buy on E-bay, but found nothing. Intrigued. He began to search on the English-language Internet with broader queries, but he did not find anything worthwhile anywhere. Surprised.
I looked at the statistics of requests for Yandex.Direct. The phrase āmasks for playing mafiaā turned out to be very popular and the growth dynamics repeated the trajectory of the shortened take-off of the SU-33 fighter.
As time went. The transfer of "Mafia" gained popularity, was among the leaders in ratings among young people.
We had a classic picture of the course of economic theory: there was demand, but there was no supply. And the task of the entrepreneur to meet this demand. This justifies its existence in the chain of world economic relations.
So, the decision was made: it is necessary to sell masks and accessories.
There were three tasks:
ā¢ get the goods
ā¢ create an online store
ā¢ arrange sales
Get the goods
First, I conducted a thorough analysis of the foreign Internet for the presence of such masks. Shone this whole weekend. The result was zero. Brought a folder. I recorded there all the collected materials, the results.
The next step I decided to write to toy manufacturers. It was assumed that traditional masks are made with closed eyes, and then holes are made in them.
To find such manufacturers, the gaze was directed to the Chinese market, where half of the world's production capacity was concentrated. I visited a dozen sites where customers and manufacturers of goods from China meet. I wrote dozens of letters to toy manufacturers and dealers asking them to send an offer for the delivery to Moscow of "plastic masks with closed eyes on the handle" in the amount of 5,000 pieces. Only one firm answered: she considered and said that the price without delivery would be $ 25-30. It was expensive. And there was no quality guarantee. Yes, and the intermediary firm seemed questionable.
Then it was decided to dive deeper into the topic and explore ways to produce plastic products. To do this, read a dozen articles and reviews. Great benefit, oddly enough, brought Youtube. Many manufacturers placed there materials about how plastic buckets, basins, car bumpers, etc. are made on their machines. It turned out that the production method we need is called vacuum forming. It looks like this .
After the production method and the name of the machine was clear, I found on the Internet a dozen ads from companies that provide services for the production of vacuum products. In the Moscow region there were a dozen of them. Their main business: services to advertising companies for the production of bulk glowing letters and logo. Held a small tender among them. People they are inhospitable, I must admit. If you do not understand the difference between polyester and polystyrene, then you are a sucker. I had to step over it. As a result, I found one uncle who had a workshop in the north of Moscow. There worked 3 people. They make covers for aquariums.
An important part of the vacuum manufacturing process is the creation of a molding model. For its manufacture needed a 3D model. I found two dozen 3D designers on Free-lance.ru, but all of them were sharpened on modeling houses and parts, but it turned out to be very difficult to mold a personās face. Everyone refused. I refused to give recommendations. One of them suggested a designer who now collaborates with Walt Disney. He knew the basics of sculpture and sculpture. As a result, in 2 weeks we made a model of the girlās face. She looked like the heroine from The Matrix and I called her Trinity. Creating a 3D model cost $ 500.
Create online store
By the time the 3D model was created, I had already created an online store in parallel. I approached the creation of an online store thoroughly. It was decided that we would not write from scratch, but take a ready-made CMS. Chose between the available Russian-language solutions. Those found about 15. The choice fell on HostCMS . He was very comfortable and allowed to solve all my problems. Well suited for search engine optimization. Without unnecessary work, he long ranked first in Google and Yandex for the phrase āmasks for playing mafia.ā However, I was not an expert in the design and customization of online stores. This helped me the owner of an online store from St. Petersburg. I liked his site on HostCMS. He graciously set out to help me. Took a free HostCMS configuration. All setup and other work cost me $ 250.
This person took care of all the technical issues. We are still working with this guy. Created 7 sites together, but never personally met. I think this is the best case to tell Alexander Ketov a big THANK YOU.
I thought that this project would be short-term (6-10 months), so I did not buy a special domain name for the store. Took from those that were in stock. The most neutral was smolensky.ru The store logo cost $ 5 and 30 minutes.
So, the 3D model was created, the online store is ready. However, doubts remained. You need to invest $ 1,000 in the creation of a molding model (blanks), $ 3,000 for the purchase of material and payment for services in molding. It was a hard time. The height of the crisis, autumn 2009. In the financial industry where I worked there were big problems. Every ruble was in the account. I risked two monthly salaries.
As a result of thinking, I decided to experiment. Posted on the site picture of the 3D model
(pic. 1)
and wrote: āPre-order. Delivery in 30 days. I bought on Yandex.Direct advertising for $ 20. The cost per click was $ 0.1
The price for the mask, I took on the basis of the price of substitute products. Such goods were those Venetian masks of 3,500 rubles apiece. I decided that 1 000 p. to begin with will be appropriate. If there is no demand - throw off.
And rushed ...
Advertising on Yandex.Direct was published by me at 04:00 AM 04.11.2009. Only mail was specified as a contact. Already at 19.00 received the first order. The girl ordered 10 masks for 1,000 rubles each. At 23.00, another person ordered 12 masks for 12,000 rubles. By the middle of the next day I had several letters from customers on the box, who demanded to give the phone and explain in more detail when the goods would be available.
As a result, orders for more than 150,000 rubles were collected this week. This amount exceeded my future mask manufacturing costs. Every day orders came for 15-20 thousand. CTR exceeded 15%.
I paid everything and started production.
Arrange sales
The first orders I delivered myself. At that moment I was working as a commercial director of a leasing company and there was not so much free time. I guess I was the strangest courier in Moscow, who was seen by these people. I took orders after work (or between business meetings). Imagine a courier who arrives (sorry for pathos) on a black tinted Audi A4 of the latest model, in a good suit and tie, who has a direct golden number of MTS, etc. There were so many oddities. The reaction of the people was unusual. I was invited to go sit. It was not comfortable for me, but very interesting and fun. 70% of recipients were girls 25-35 years old. An unusual feeling when you find yourself on the other side of the counter and you are given the first tip (150 rubles). Then I learned at a glance to distinguish those who give or donāt tip.
All calculations at first went in cash. I had a legal entity, but there was no cash register, so I had to issue receipts. I understood that this was not correct, but there was no choice. When orders became a lot, I found a courier company that worked with novice online stores and provided cash services. I brought the goods to their warehouse, they delivered it themselves, and I was transferred money by bank transfer once a month. For non-resident shipments, I entered into an agreement with EMS Post of Russia . Sending parcels took the guys from the same Moscow courier company . They also allow shipment of goods for 50 rubles. Delivery in Moscow - 250 rubles.
The first time I took orders for my phone. It was problematic in the middle of the work day, at meetings and business meetings, to take orders. As a result, I bought a separate mobile number and handed it to a courier company. They have the service "Personal Manager Online Store." It cost 7,000 rubles per month. Since then, my task was only to send them received orders from the store. Later it was automated. My task was to take orders, send money through the Internet bank, order materials for production, etc. It took no more than 30 minutes a day. At the same time, the average income was $ 5-6 thousand. Periodically there were separate orders for $ 5-7 thousand at once.
We tried to expand distribution channels, cooperate with other online stores, but the result was weak. Collaboration with an offline store is generally a dark idea. Appeals to the "Republic" did not give results, although the negotiations went on for a long time. In the "Red Cube" is generally impossible to call or get an answer to e-mail. It was probably possible to achieve a result if I spent more time on it. Competitors somehow then made their way there?
There were contacts with Artemy Lebedevās store, but he replied that āthe masks were useless thingsā and would not trade them.
The most effective was the cooperation with the store āLe Futureā. Partially they sold through their online store. Even now in their stores you can find somewhere stocks. The truth is written there for some reason that the goods are produced in the Netherlands :-)
We were also pleased with the cooperation with mosigra.ru. People understood the rules of the game. Something we managed to sell through avito.ru.
Market position
Smolensky.ru for 1.5 years was the world monopolist in the production of plastic masks for the game Mafia. We expanded the range. They began to produce masks white, black and gold. We issued our own cards. For the range they took added two types of cards "Mafia" (purchased from manufacturers). Then they ordered another model of the mask - ā Tutankhamen ā. It was 10% larger than the first. She was more ordered by people from Siberia. There the faces are wider (customer recognition). The last order was a pink mask āfor blondesā. Demand they have not found.
The geography of orders was very different. The first large orders were sent to celebrate the new year and the birthday of one oligarch in Courchevel in January 2010. Serious guys came by jeep "pick up the goods." Among the customers were many well-known people in Russia and companies. If I liked their work, then I gave them a personal discount and said: discount to you and your friends. Friends of the stars were not long in coming. There were orders for a famous restaurant in Paris, for the Arab Emirates and several regional TV channels.
Once our masks were used to show a famous fashion designer on Fashion TV. At some point, the MUZ-TV channel itself replaced the self-made masks with tape with our own. Later we had contacts with the team of the author of the program about cooperation. One order was delivered to the guy from the next door, and another company from the next office. It was a real hit. Everyone asked: what else do you have?
On our maps we wrote the address of our site. It worked well.
The main buyers were restaurants and clubs. They accounted for half of the sales. A third of sales were cashless. Half of sales in the regions, 40% in Moscow. Overseas sales 10%. 20% of goods purchased for gifts. In this regard, we have created gift boxes. It cost $ 2,000
Competitors and prices
We thought it was a short project. Expected competitors appear in six months. But the most advanced stores did not produce themselves, but came to us and bargained about discounts. They received them in the amount of 20-30%. Some have told us that they choose between us and the Chinese. It caused a smile. One quite serious player in the market of board games, as early as the beginning of our shop, claimed that he had a carriage with masks stuck on the border and he urgently needed to be safe. His car "did not reach" long enough. In the course did not reach.
Masks for sleeping from fabric for 250-300 rubles became a competitive product for us. Many online stores began to sell them as a substitute of ours. We could have organized their own production, but the margin was less than 100% on these volumes did not interest us. Therefore, we placed emphasis in the positioning of the goods on hygiene, durability and aesthetics. That this product is for people with taste and who does not save on quality.
The funniest thing was at the beginning of work. We received a letter from a lady who claimed that we were violating her copyright to the mask with our eyes closed.
Here is the text of her letter:
ā Dear Sirs,
Found on your site an offer for the sale of masks for the game in Mafia.
You may be interested to know that you are violating the patents, copies of which we will send you.
I ask you to pay particular attention to point 1 of the description.
I hope you do not need to explain the responsibility for patent infringement.
And we offer you cooperation legally.
Respectfully,
Administration Club SPROOT . "
Here is a link to the patents themselves .
We were a little tense, they were told that masks with eyes closed are known from the time of Napoleon and Pushkin (death masks). After rummaging through the net, they found that such masks were known before our era. Just in case, talked to lawyers. It turned out that these patents are not valid due to the fact that the authors did not pay the next installment (something around 10,000 rubles). After 7 letters they fell behind and didnāt remember about them anymore.
Pricing
Initially, we set the price of 1,000 rubles. Then they reduced it to 600, 500, 400 p. Having experimented, we came to the conclusion that at a price below 500 rubles the number of orders did not grow. The price elasticity of demand was leveled at this point. The cost of production was about 150 rubles. Margin 330%. It suited us.
After 1.5 years in the online stores appeared masks very similar to ours, but differed in some strokes, the material was thinner by 1.5-2 times, the quality was different. The retail price was equal to our cost price. At that moment we realized that the topic was closed for us and the production had to be curtailed. Now leftovers are being sold.
Summing up, I should note that the project has been very successful for us.
We earned about $ 100,000 on it. At the same time, the initial investment was slightly more than $ 5,000.
The factor of chance here took place. However, we were ready for this occasion. We had knowledge of economics. Knowledge gained from reading books on business came in handy. I had theoretical knowledge of how online commerce works, how to promote goods, pricing, marketing, consumer behavior, etc. The success of this project is due to this theoretical preparation. āSuccess is favored by prepared minds,ā wrote one of the great ones.
My advice to those who were inspired by the case I described above: read books and look around (note trends and issues in periodicals and TV)!
The most surprising thing about this story is that for 1.5 years, as a world monopolist, I have never once played a game in Mafia. There is not enough time. Ahead of new projects.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/128450/
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