I ask because most of the posts I read here are from service providers. And while a decent amount of the info is relatable, I’d love to hear from people who sell physical products and have to deal with manufacturing, inventory, wholesale/retail/ecom sales, etc.
As for my business, I own and game company (board games, card games). My two current titles are aimed at kids 3 and up. My next title (going into production shortly) will be same demo, then the following two titles will be aimed at the whole family (ages 8+). While my business is mostly profitable, I’m basically investing every dollar back into the company (more inventory, more titles, more marketing/sales).
I’m just 2 years into my journey (mostly part time), learning an entirely new industry, and would love to hear stories from other people selling consumer goods.
Where are you in your journey? What struggles did you encounter/are you encountering? What was the hardest part in the early years? Hardest ongoing struggles? Did you have any aha moments that helped you turn a corner? Did you ever get to a place of any real profitability? If so, how long?
I don’t have much of a network of people doing anything similar, so thanks in advance…hopefully we get a good discussion.
Me and my wife run a fruitcake business. Handed down from her parents. But we were part of the production years before. Time is tough right now. Raw materials have increased by as much as 30% over the past 24months. Ours is a premium product among our competitors. But our main customers are corporations who mainly use it for gifts. Its very seasonal. But the economy is slowing and it shows. Best time was two years ago but we did reinvest into the company. People have less money to spend. So on a personal level we don’t see it. Ours is strictly cash business. We have never had the need to take a bank loan. Neither will we do in the future. We don’t have an outlet. Just a production kitchen. I do deliveries myself. We don’t want to use any e-commerce platform as its used as a price comparison with competitors plus transaction charges will bite into our profits. We are probably indifferent to technology. We want to make communicating with customers directly more intimate than anything else.
I love this! There is so much about this I find fascinating. I wish you success in the coming weeks. I’m sure you’re swamped, so thanks for taking the time to respond. Are your sales mainly local with repeat customers?