Feb 22, 2018 21:00:00

Sales of miniature building materials and sales of 2 million yen per month Startup looks back "Know-how for success"

Based in Florida, USAMini MaterialsIs a startup that sells "miniatures" of building materials such as concrete blocks, bricks, wooden pallets. The reason why the business launched from just a little while has grown in just a few years is the site asking for the success know-how of startupStarter StoryIt is published in.

Mini Materials - Starter Story
https://www.starterstory.com/mini-materials

Mini Materials is a company that started from a miniature concrete block miniature enough to pinch with fingers. The business launched by Mr. Mat Hofma in March 2015 has grown for about three years, and the monthly quotient is about 17,000 dollars (about 1.8 million yen).

Miniature Cinder Blocks - Mini Materials
https://www.minimaterials.com/

Sold at Mini Materials is a miniature representative building material used when constructing buildings such as bricks, concrete barrier, 2 x 4 material, etc. besides concrete blocks. Considering the unit price of 10 dollars (about 1100 yen) to 50 dollars (about 5400 yen) at the set price, the monthly business 1.8 million yen seems quite large scale.

Such a concrete block loaded on a pallet and ...

Lineup of brick sets.

It's big enough to pinch easily with your fingers, but the finish that feels the brick-like atmosphere is good.

Just wrapping a transparent film on the pallet ups the feeling of a realistic feeling. That is supposed to be, the material of the block is said to be based on actual concrete.

Make a slope and play with miniature skateboard ... ...

You can also make a smartphone stand made of concrete block.

Mr. Hofma gave me the opportunity to launch this business was a post that I saw on the online bulletin board "reddit". Mr. Hofma, who worked as a graphic designer, he said he was interested in starting up his business from that time.

When I was deciding what to sell, I found it was reddit's post that one user uploaded what made a miniature block with my hobbies. Mr. Hofma told me that he wanted to purchase the product, but he said that he replied that he is not going to sell it because it is for his own use, so Mr. Hofma's business will start from there It was.

Mr. Hofma says that there is no experience of making things, firstly, free 3D CAD software "SketchUpIt started from designing the model using ". If you've used SketchUp, you'd better understand, but this software can model a considerable part with intuitive mouse operation only. Mr. Hofma handed out the 3D data created in this way to the merchant and requested output by the 3D printer. Then, I attached the model actually made with glue, and created a prototype to make silicon type for mass production.

This is the silicon type which is the basis of the product.

Mr. Hofma uses this type to start trial production of miniature blocks. Originally it was manufactured using only real concrete, but because it became too "brittle", Mr. Hofma seems to succeed in the development of a durable miniature by mixing a certain material discovered independently .

In parallel with product development, Hofma sets up his own company. Local FloridaSunbizThroughLLCMr. Hofma who registered a corporation of a limited liability company opened an SNS account for promotion at the same time. Even if the prototype of the product, including the prototype of the product, cost less than 1,000 dollars (about 100,000 yen), we have succeeded in starting a business with considerably reduced costs.

Even with reddit, Hofma who had been releasing the company in real time and launching the site after launching the site, the order arrived shortly, and shipping has been smoothly continued, but since the sale He said he faced a problem of about a month. It turned out that it was "durability shortage of the product" which I did not understand well at the trial production stage, and the shape gradually collapsed after 1 month from making it. Here Mr. Hofma decides to change the specification of the product, and he said that they have offered free replacement to users who have already purchased the product. Thanks to this, the miniature block made of new material is only 3.3 cm × 1.7 cm × 1.7 cm in size, but it will have an unbreakable ruggedness even when an adult of about 120 kg weight is on top It was.

◆ How did you gather customers?
No matter how much you make a product, business can not be made unless there are customers who will buy it. Fortunately, Mini MaterialsUncrateYaThe Awesomer,Laughing SquidWe got many customers because it was picked up in media such as Hofma, he said that he also focused on promotion through SNS. On that day when I started my businessInstagram AccountIt is said that he got 45,000 followers in two years by continuing renewal without missing every day. The contents of the promotion which Mr. Hofma is doing in Instagram seems to be as follows.

· Monday: Post an interesting thing you made with Mini Materials
· Tuesday: Post articles created by customers
· Wednesday: Post something creative content
· Thursday: "# Throwbackthursday" as a past movie work again
· Friday - Sunday: Post more creative content (mainly movies)

In particular, content that actually made something is said to have the best response, and Mr. Hofma has been working on posting such movies while also using Facebook. In addition, attract attention by implementing gifts planning, people who visit the site can turn roulette and get couponsSpin-a-SaleIt seems that they are doing efforts to lead sales by using.

In this way Mini Materials gradually expanding its scale seems to have become difficult to operate by Mr. Hofma alone. Especially, Mr. Hofma seems that management of numbers was not good even though he was good at making things, he said that he built a system that can devote himself to each work by welcoming one of close friends who are strong in that field.

In addition, Mr. Hofma has recently started to use Google advertisement to gather customers. Originally it seemed that he was going on a second step with "I wonder if he can get a return that matches his investment", but when I actually tried it I was able to raise my performance and achievement, "I wish I had done it early It is thought that.

What if I were to start from the beginning again?
If you look back on the trajectory so far and start the same business from scratch, Mr. Hofma seems to think that "strengthening e-mail correspondence and strengthening the issue of e-mail magazines". In addition to being a tool for placing orders, the mail reflects that we have neglected to respond to e-mails in order to become an important means connected with customers.

In addition, as stated above, we will also strengthen "to utilize advertisements". We advertised in Google during the biggest sale season "Black Friday" in the United States, and it seems that we got very good results.

◆ What did you learn that it is important to expand your business?
Looking back on his own experience, Mr. Hofma points out the following five points as important.

1. [Use mail]
For Mr. Hofma, Merumaga is now the most important tool to generate sales. Also, utilizing the aforementioned Spin-a-Sale is also expected to contribute to sales increase.

2. [Connect with customers]
For business like Mini Materials, it is very important to connect with customers who like products and buy them. Therefore, no matter how much he is tired, "I do not want to see anything anymore", do not neglect contacts from people who like their products, share the excitement with the same feelings It is important.

3. [Strengthen remarketing]
Approach again to customers who actually purchased the productRemarketingIt is also important to utilize.

Four. 【I am willing to pay cost】
Initially he was hesitant to spend money on advertisements, Mr. Hofma said, but when he actually used the advertisement, he was able to expand sales and get the original. By preparing appropriate targeting etc., it is possible to obtain profit corresponding to it.

Five. [Focus on content enhancement]
It is as important as making excellent products to convey the wonder of the contents using it. While telling that "This is the most difficult," Mr. Hofma takes "Bob's painting classroom" as an example, introduces a successful episode by selling the original brand paint by attracting a lot of people by painting on television It is.

Mini Cinder Block Planter - YouTube

What is the future perspective?
For future development, Mr. Hofma states short-term goals and long-term goals as follows.

· Short-term target
Pick up 20 ~ 50 products out of the handled items and improve inventory process. Also,Pad printing machineAs we introduced the Mini Materials products as promotional materials, we will strengthen the sales promotion. This is a field that has not yet been started, and it can be expected that large orders will enter.

Long term goal
Develop one or two new products comparable to the miniature of the current main product, the block miniature. This is not easy, it seems that a way of unprecedented approach will become necessary, but some are already in progress.

◆ Platforms and tools used in doing business
·Shopify: A platform that anyone can easily make online shops
·Shippo: API and dashboard that can carry out shipping work of products in cooperation with Shopify
·Etsy: A platform that can sell homemade products. Some of Mini Materials' products are handmade, so they are sold at Etsy, and it is attractive that the commission is lower than Shopify.
·Amazon: Products of Mini Materials are also on sale on Amazon fulfillment service. Especially during the sale period, if you are treated as Prime 1000 orders will be placed.
·MailChimp: Utilized for mail distribution
·Product Upsell: Shopify's plugin, when the user clicks "Add to Cart", display relevant products and try to increase sales
·Spin-a-Sale - Interactive Email Popup: Shopify plugin, issue coupons by turning roulette,You can get the user's email address.
·TaxJar: Shopify plugin to take over the tax processing accompanying sales.

◆ Advice to people starting business or just starting a business
Based on his own experience, Mr. Hofma is advice as follows.

"Everything will not be successful overnight, in Mini Materials it took three years to succeed, and it seems that everything finally started to work.If you are thinking of doing something, It is necessary to make efforts over the period.To commit to a firm idea for a long time results are born.Please try to maintain a good work / life balance.I do not care about my family and friends because my work does not go forward Do not be like that "