Interested in starting up a new side project. All input welcome

Hello sythers.

I'm looking for all input, experience shares, or even roast my idea.

The side project I'm looking to startup is not anything completely new but is similar to a growing business model.

I'm looking to take the "City in a box method" and apply it to a larger area than just a individual city. This would still keep my niche market; but make a larger customer base.

I'm currently in the R&D stage, but am committed to making this a thing.

My first plan of action is to look at my startup costs, And profit margins (which I have read around 45%, But shipping in canada is terrible)



Just posting this somewhere to keep myself accountable. Let me know what you think.

 

#1 Con of running a subscription service- Customers are afraid to sign contracts.

This seems accurate and in my opinion will be your major obstacle.

I am, however, slightly confused. I assume that subscription service generally means you will deliver these monthly products, but they are referred to mostly as "boxes"?

Does this mean that you are uniquely delivering one type of product? Or are you offering a service that allows someone to choose the product they wish to be delivered to their doorstep once a month and following through with that delivery?

If you are investing in one type of product, you should consider such things as... Why would this person pay for delivery, when they could simply visit the store? Why would this person need delivery of this product for 3, 6, 12 month increments? etc.

I'm interested to hear more about it.

 

Oh I should edit OP better, Its not a subscription base I was just pointing out its a similar type of sale.

Its not so much as one type of product, but general products which are meant to represent an area.

Lets use Toronto as an example for this.

I would package my box with Toronto themed novelty themed items, food, sports apparel ect. My potential customer base would be this.

-People who want to gift this to friends who just moved to Toronto, or who have left the area and are feeling homesick
-Wives who have husbands in the military can send them a "care package" with stuff themed from Toronto
-Hotels from the area could include a welcome package in their rooms out of one of my boxes.
-Colleges in the area.

One of the important things to consider, is the area i'm looking at is ALL tourist traffic with very little population of people living there.

In an example of somebody who has already done this, She was able to get an apartment complex owner to give boxes to people who start a new lease with them.

This is a good question, But one of the things we have to look at, is why are people paying for subscriptions to dollar shave club, or loot crate?

Simply, the price point for the items (That I will be buying wholesale) and the convenience of getting everything all together.


Anyways, just a minor update for day 1.

Created social media accounts
Started brainstorming local ideas for Boxed items. Will require alot more

I'll also be looking into a kickstarter when I'm closer to having the finished product. That will help see my demand for it

 

The problem I see is "why buy your box"? Now I'm not familiar with this line of business, but I'm assuming there are many people already out there that offer this service? If you can put your own spin on it, I think it could be successful.

Comparing shipping costs to dollar shave club is kind of irrelevant. Dollar shave club offers product for less than the convienance stores, which is why people are okay with the I convienance of not having their products right away.

Now you were talking about buying wholesale items for your package. Which if you can land a good deal on something that is not common this could work. Speaking from personal experience, the biggest problem starting out in whole sale with the website that "offer" wholesale prices on items are not really giving you that great of a deal. A lot of the items they offer you can buy online (ebay, Amazon) for the same price your paying wholesale, if not cheaper!

If you can find those "special" products and some how out a unique spin on this, I think you could make it work.

With any business it ultimately depends on how much your willing to put into yourself. I wish you the best of luck!

 

From what I've seen, (still doing research) there is under 5 of these types of "city boxes" with all but one being done in America, Being from Canada and only have one competitor half the country away (and targeting a different audience) I would think I am safe.

Although a large company could come out of nowhere and invest lots of money and do it for every single city in the US, or Canada and crush us all.

Thanks for your support.

 

Purchased domain names. I don't know why I didn't start off with this. Have done some research on the area I am planning for the box.

Looking for input, especially from people who own websites as I'll have lots of questions regarding the matter.

 

Are you only using PayPal or are you going to be opening a merchant account for ease of accepting payments with less fees?

 

I frequently invest in start-ups, this is a dead-end. Torronto themed goods on a subscription service? Or am I interpreting it wrong?

Your market is incredibly small, you'll not meet the minimum's to keep a company afloat.

However, turn this into a world-wide themed company then you might actually get somewhere, if I could send someone a gift package of Laos themed items, I'd probably do it. However, being specific to one area is a really bad starting plan.

 

Not a subscription service. A gift box is more of what it is.


The area I am looking at is much much larger then Toronto. It's a whole island known for travel. There have been very promising results from people who have just opened a city wide service while I'm looking at a larger area = more potential customers

 

I re-read after posting, and I think I took it too literally as a business plan, and not a side-income.

As for a side-income, I guess it's not a bad idea at all. However, it's still a small market and will be difficult to grow in the future.

I personally think aiming for nearly every tourist hot-spot and ordering in assortments/goods to deliver from your destination would open your market up massively.

And sorry about the subscription thing, I guess I misinterpreted it.

 

Well the important thing to look at. Is if it goes well in X location I can open up more themed locations. Maybe even looking into franchisee it into a large business across the country


In Canada this is basically untapped.

In the us there have been about 5 locations with Baltimore doing the best numbers.

The Baltimore location was open for about 10 months and it did 75k in sales. Around 45% profit.

Also while the owner was working full time.

 

Yeah if you can reach them sort of numbers it's not a bad side-bet, with not a great deal of work involved after the marketing stages.

Go for it buddy, good luck.

 

Update: more researching done on specific items. I'm going to get a couple boxes setup before I go to places to ask for free items to add to the box/discounted items.

Also basic template on my logo has been done