I’ve had a few conversations lately with different online skill toy retailers. What I’ve been hearing is something I’ve been experiencing as well. It’s becoming harder to make an online skill toy retail store work. There are a number of challenges, old and new that are faced by online retailers.
Inventory choices are the biggest challenge. It’s very difficult to decide what to stock. 1. Competition: Do I only stock major brands that have brand recognition? If I do, then I’m competing directly with every other online retailer to sell a product that doesn’t have limited availability. Or do I focus on smaller hard to find products? Then I’m in the position of doing the leg work to help a new or small brand get recognition that they can’t do themselves on the off chance their stuff will sell. It’s hard because I want to support start up brands, but have limited funds to tie up in products. 2. Unpredictability of sales: I have had products from one supplier sell out in a weekend, only to have their next release sit on the shelf for months. No idea why. 3. Shipping and volume: Generally the markup for retail is 40% in the yoyo world. Which is less than half of what you are seeing if you go buy a pair of shoes at a retail store. What doesn’t get taken into account with that number is overhead. -cost of freight to the online store -taxes, duties, paypal fees -cost of running the website -shipping costs (very few yoyo retailers actually charge what it costs to ship including labour and packaging) -promotional costs 4. Dead stock: When I order skill toys for the store, I have to do the mental math of “If I buy 10, at a 40% markup minus shipping and taxes I need to sell 6 or 7 to break even”. If I only sell 4 initially then I’m sitting on funds that could have gone elsewhere, and often are sitting on my credit card accruing interest. 5. Employees: Do I do it all myself or hire help? I don’t have any actual Employees, but I occasionally hire one of the kids from the local club to come in and help with small jobs. I have paid graphic designers for imagery and support for promotional strategies. The bonus packs that go into every box that ships out have a cost that varies. The concrete costs of the bags, stickers and candy are easy, but the time it takes me to package them together is harder. It’s tricky to work all of that into the cost of yoyos, but it is yet another chip away at the 40%. I think the biggest challenge going forward is that it is so much easier to sell products online than it was even 5 years ago. I recently switched the store over to Shopify because of how complex yet simple it is. All of the finances, inventory control and shipping are in the Same place. This means that manufacturers large and small are more likely to sell direct. Their fans are (quite reasonably) more likely to buy direct rather than through a retailer because they want to support the creative end. But it makes choosing what to stock a challenge. I happily stock MonkeyfingeR design begleri because their initial releases include retailers. Aroundsquare releases direct first then sells to online retailers, which makes it harder to move their products. Both brands have solid followings that will buy direct first before they look to Return Top Shop. This is pretty consistent across the board. So where to next? I’m finding myself in a position of having a few brands I know can sell, a few products that I am willing to spend time promoting and sticking to those. I know I can sell yoyos that retail for under $30. Over that, brand recognition is required, and a scarcity market (sells out quickly elsewhere) helps. Do I put money into bringing more brands in to draw customers? Or do I put that money into creating original products with Rain City Skills? Do I switch tracks and put more time and energy into building the local yoyo scene through school demos and public workshops? Or do I need to put some money and time into advertising? Either way, it’s a learning experience that I’m really enjoying! Feel free to let me know what you think in the comments. -Jeremy “Mr Yoyothrower” McKay
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So a thing that happens all too often in the yoyo world (In the world of small hobbies in general) is that success if often reviled. If you are a small operation, pouring your heart and soul into your products for little or no return, you are amazing, the community supports you. If you get some success, get some sales happening, enough that perhaps you are starting to get compensate for your labour, that’s OK too. There is a line though. It’s somewhere between making just enough to keep going, and making an actual income.
I’ve seen this discussed so many times. “Brand X used to be good, then they started making mass produced garbage” or “Brand Z makes good yoyos, but they are too big now so their yoyos don’t have soul”. What's funny is that this often translates to “the yoyos are too well made I liked it better in the beginning when “x” brand was still figuring out how to design a good yoyo and was dealing with machine shops that couldn't make consistent yoyos.” I think there is definitely a tie-in to rarity being a desire able trait. There is an odd need inherent in Western Culture to root for the underdog. I’m not sure where it comes from but you see it all over. There is nothing more exciting in sports than when a team no one expected makes it to the finals. It might be part of the democracy/capitalism mindset. The idea that anyone can be anything if they work hard enough. But at the same time, we seem to want to pull down those that do make the big break. There is nothing like catching a move star/rock star/politician/CEO in an embarrassing situation, letting the media and the gossips take them down a peg. So where is the line. Somewhere between a brand barely managing to sell 50 of a yoyo and being able to sell 5000 of a yoyo. Is it because at 5000 of each yoyo you have moved from a guy playing with yoyos to a business manager? Is it because at that number you are clearly earning too much money to be in it for the love of the sport? How does one avoid this, or is it even possible? Is it about maintaining direct community engagement, posting videos of you yoyoing, just to prove you still throw and aren't just in it for the money? I don't anticipate rain City Skills ever getting big enough to have that problem, but you never know! What do you think?
I think everyone hits this point from time to time. When you pull out your yoyo it’s easier to slip into the comfortable groove of the combos you’ve worked hard to master and get smooth. If you have only got a few minutes to yoyo then you don’t want to get partway into learning a trick only to stop and have to go back and start again next time. A piece of it is screen time. My yoyoing practice time has always been when I’m out walking. When I started I spent a lot of time watching tutorials, but over the years my screen time has shifted more to sales and promotion, from King Yo Star to Return Top Shop to Rain City Skills. When I am out walking I don’t watch tutorials because it eats up data (yes I know I could download and load onto my phone, but then I would have to remember I want to do that when I’m at my computer :P). I also don’t walk to and from work anymore. My wife and I moved in with my father in law to take care of him, and that changed my commute from a 20 minute walk to a 1.5 hour transit. Less dedicated yoyo time. Have you hit this rut? Did you get out of it? If so, how? Please drop me a line in the comments! Don't forget to click the link below to sign up for my blog mailing list for updates! Competition is arguably the centerpoint of human existence, if not all life on earth. At a fundamental level we compete for access to basic survival needs of food and shelter and reproduction. Historically it was done through violence, today it’s done through more ‘civilized means (competition for the money required for our basic needs). We compete for fun with our friends, we compete when we play games. It is what brings us together as a team, the striving against ‘other’ even if it’s only for a 60 minute game, or 1 minute on stage at a yoyo contest. Yoyo contests are a small part of the yoyo world, and the players who compete an even smaller subset of those who attend. I was reflecting today on what I get out of competing while I was yoyoing at a bus stop. Since I’ve stopped competing my overall Yoyo skill has diminished (there are other factors, but that is one clear correlation). I’m not making up tricks as often and definitely not polishing long combos like I did when I was trying to perfect a 3 minute routine. So to a degree attending and competing at yoyo contests is something I need personally to drive me forward with my skill development. I don’t put the work in unless I have a goal. I never had any illusion of being a champion at any level, it was the goal of being on stage with a solid routine that kept me moving. I still compete casually in 4a. The other main thing I get out of competing is the love of performing. When I was in grade 12 our band teacher (yup, I’m that kind of geek as well) gave us the opportunity to perform solo or group songs as part of the year end concert. I had been playing guitar for a year and a half and decided to do a challenging instrumental song by The Tea Party called The Badger. I went on stage, played the song with minimal errors and came off the stage determined to do it again. The rush of having just performed art in front of 500 people was amazing. For me yoyo contests fill that need to a degree. It’s my opinion that every yoyoer who is able to should get up on stage at least once, if nothing else than to see if they like the feeling. It’s not for everyone. Many people just have too much anxiety or need to be perfect and it’s just stressful, but if you have never tried, there is no way of knowing if it’s right for you! As well, the time leading up to the contest will take your skill to a new height of polish and drive you to innovate and perhaps explore the sport in new ways! What moves you to compete? So life is full of changes and transitions. Over the last couple days, mine has hit a big one. I have spent the last 2 years happily as a member of MonkeyfingeR Design's Yo-yo team. It has been great and I have enjoyed every minut of it. But an offer came along I couldn't refuse. So now I'm the manager of King Yo Star Canada. Its a long story, but suffice to say that the people making the decision looked at what i've done to promote yoyoing and decided I'd be a good choice. This is a big step up, and a big responsibility. I'm looking forward to the challenge. More details to come, but it's going to be great! I'm not talking about the Will Smith sci-fi, I'm talking about the phrase "mint-in-box". To some degree, I get it. If you are dealing with a collectible that will increase its value, by all means, buy it, leave it on the shelf and never touch it. You have made an investment. I get baffled by this with yoyos. If you are a collector and are collecting a set of a particular yoyo you think is pretty, it makes some sense to never touch it. There is the occasional yoyo that you know will be a rare piece worth keeping on the shelf. Where I get confused is when I see people posting 'MIB' on something that is mass produced. They aren't going to retain value unless they are very, very rare, so why not play with them? Perhaps you won it. Perhaps you threw it once and didn't like it. That too I understand. It's the people that buy them, keep them in the box for a year or two, then sell them later. It seems silly to me to have had it and not used it. It's a toy. Play with it. I personally very rarely buy new yoyos. I'll get them used, or contact the manufacturer and try to get a b-grade. It's not about cost, it's that if its pretty and shiny and new, I don't want to damage it. I won't play with it, and in my mind that makes it a waste to have it. I do like to support companies and buy their products, but that first scratch or ding is brutal. Once it's there though, it goes on my belt, gets played, beat on banged into doorways, and put away well loved. I have probably over 100 yoyos in my collection and I use them all, right down to the Formerly 'MIB' Silver Bullet 2 my fiancée got me for my last birthday. It's a toy. Play with it. At the end of the day its like the guys driving the massive pickup trucks that have all wheel drive and an engine that could tow a semi-trailer. They then drive them to and from work and park them in front of the house looking all shiny. Never leaving the road. And goodness, no, of course you can't use it for moving, you might scratch the paint! Rant endeth. |
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