Well it’s safe to say a lot has happened since the last blog update! Suspense launched (!) and we had a baby girl, Sienna, born Christmas Eve! Luckily it was in that order or I’m not sure I would have found the time or headspace to have launched in the first few months of adapting to life as a mum (and with the lack of sleep that a newborn brings…).
What have I learnt so far:
Expos: attended 3 to date (all with Sienna from 5 weeks old)
- So far, a channel worth continuing with; especially in the early days to drive brand awareness & get the products into the hands of the early adopters.
- No correlations (yet) to link sales success to events (e.g. more participants = more sales, as so far that hasn’t proved the case), hence the above point - expos are worth attending as you never know how sales will be unless you go.
- Great for brand awareness (I opted for the fully branded tent / display and the majority of people that have walked passed without purchasing have at least turned their heads to the expo to look at the brand & what we have to offer.)
- A good way to get direct feedback from the target audience; what price they would pay for the laces (I have been teasing the launch of them at the expos) or what socks are missing from the collection (winter colours / non-white based socks / shorter length socks)
- Range extension opportunities: I have also picked up on products it would be worth adding to the range and have subsequently ordered 100x Suspense branded race belts; currently in production and will be delivered next month
- Whilst I haven’t launched the main product just yet, I therefore haven’t invested into paid media or other channels; so daily sales have been low (as expected!). Expos have been a great channel to boost sales in these first few months. It’s been a true family affair; as whilst I am breastfeeding, Sienna (my now 11 week old daughter) has to come with me, so Mikal (my husband) or Sam (a good friend) have come in support (no way I could have done it without them!). Babies also make for great bait to lure potential customers in ;)
International shipping (thoughts below…)
- Hard to get right / make enough of a profit from an international sale to justify selling to them (as the cost of shipping overseas is so high, I therefore don’t want to pass the full cost on as the overall cost would result in the potential customer not converting their interest through to a sale).
- Going forwards I have yet to decide how I will operate with international markets (any tips please reach out!) or whether I just focus on the UK market for now… I think the latter might be the way forwards..
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Can’t control shipping timelines so it’s difficult to provide an accurate delivery window with an international customer
Elastic laces update
- The laces have been ordered and are due to be delivered early April which gives us 3 weeks to prep for the big launch!
- 5 colours have been ordered of the new style of elastic laces and 2 colours have been ordered of the original style of laces. Based on sales of these colours, or demand for other colours, we will build on the range from there.
- The preferred packaging (test tube format) is wider than 2.5cm which means shipping would be an extra £2 vs a flat zip lock pouch. As I am working with two manufacturers for the two different styles of elastic laces, I have ordered tube format packaging from one manufacturer; which will be sold at expos and via Amazon (once I have set this up), and zip-lock style packaging from the other manufacturer; which will be used for any purchases via paid/organic/earned media to minimise the cost to the customer.
Accounting
- The part of starting a business that I have been avoiding in all honesty! I have a business account with Monzo and keep a cashflow tracker in excel which I update monthly so I have been keeping track of my expenditure/income but nothing ‘official’
- I now have an accountant (shout out to Maxi / Level Books Ltd) to help me with my year end tax returns. It’s been great to work with Maxi as a fellow new mum which has taken the pressure off meeting start times & lengths due to our babies needs / wake windows.. A whole new world to have to navigate (not working when I feel productive but when Sienna is asleep; and we are yet to set a sleep schedule so your guess is as good as mine on what times I can get some work done each day…)
- I am now set up on Xero and spending time reconciling 214 receipts to date (now down to 170… yay!). This is the platform Maxi can use to sort my year end tax return with ease - happy days ticking this one of the list!
A sample of my to do list this next 6 weeks:
- Photoshoot of elastic laces and caps
- Book meetings with media to understand PR/promotional opportunities
- Confirm summer expo attendance & review expo setup once all products on sale as we will no longer be able to fit all products on one fold out table (exciting times!)
- Set up as a business on Amazon
- Build out the website in the background to be ready to launch with the laces
- Lock in pricing/promotional strategy for caps & elastic laces
- Speak with local physical retailers to understand requested margins to list Suspense laces (and understand physical POS requirements if listing successful)