Welcome to YourMarketingPodcast. This is Series One – How to Start a Successful eCommerce Business in Less than 30 Days. In this step-by-step guide, you will learn how to quickly launch an eCommerce store and start seeing those sales roll in! And here’s your host…Ishani DePillo.

Hello everyone, Welcome to Episode 5. I hope you are feeling good about the progress you have made thus far with your eCommerce business. Today we are going to cover how to design and build your custom product. Now, if you’re going to be reselling an existing product, feel free to skip ahead to the next episode, since this episode will not apply to you.

But if you’re designing a custom product to sell, you’ll want to listen close.

But before we get started…if you missed last week’s episode, I urge you to take a listen before tuning into this one. The last episode covers how to develop your brand and tell your story. This is super important to keep in mind as you build your product.

Okay, let’s dive in. 

I’m going to start with a warning: Product development is hard. You will get frustrated at some point during this process.

You will want to pull your hair out; I remember my business partner, Alisha almost going bald over developing products for Roam Often. But stick with it – and it will be rewarding, I promise you. So get in that mindset now – plan for challenges, be patient, and you can overcome it. And we’re here to help.

Skip to 1:44 Step 1 in product development is drafting up a cohesive idea of the product. This is the phase where you come up with your great ideas as solutions to your customer’s problems. Basically, what problems will your product solve? 

Create a bulleted list of all the problems your target audience is facing and how your product will address each of the problems. Jot down the solution next to each bullet. 

• For instance, let’s say you are designing a new chalk for kids, because you’re tired of your kid getting chalk all over their hands and clothes, then they go about the house touching everything and getting chalk all over the furniture, beds, etc. Can you tell I’ve had this happen to me?! The goal of step one is to figure out what problem your product needs to solve for your customers before you make it. But what else?

How about figuring out what your customers think about this goal? Ask other parents! Look to your target audience to learn their pain points and feedback on what’s currently on the market. 

• Parents may say that the colors are dull and boring and they wish it was brighter. Mark those problems down and prioritize which ones you really want your product to address and fix. 

The easiest is to find friends and family members that fit your target audience and create a focus group. More than likely they will be happy to give you feedback and it’s all FREE market research! You could also put a listing out there, on Craig’s List or a post on Facebook. You will be surprised by the number of people who will provide good feedback.

Step 2 – Let’s narrow down to product features. What features does your product need in order to help solve the problems you’ve listed? 

• For instance, for the chalk, you might want to add a plastic case around it to make it less messy and offer brighter chalk color selection. 

Make a list of all the bells and whistles that you want your product to have to entice customers to buy and solve their pain points. This list will come in handy when the product is being manufactured and for when you are marketing your product.

Step 3 – Keeping your bells and whistles list in mind, look at your competitors. Go back to the competitor list you created and hone into those who are making a similar product to yours. Review their products –  make note of the positives and negatives of each product. You’re going to use this information to shape your product design. You may even want to order the competitors products to touch and feel the quality and test it out to see if it holds up. 

It’s crucial that you successfully complete the first three steps of the pre-development process so you can seamlessly head into development. After you do this, you will have a better idea of the features, the pain points your product will be solving, and an idea of what’s already on the market.

Skip to 5:13 Step 4 – Prototype Development. Now, it’s time to draft up a product design mock-up. The simplest way is to use a pencil and paper to sketch a rough design, or if you’re skilled with Photoshop, or any other design software, you can try those instead. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just needs to make sense to the person who is going to be doing the prototype. Include important measurements and material suggestions, as much as you can. Be as thorough as possible, it can only help.

Sometimes the prototyping process can be more unconventional. We spoke with someone who has a more unique approach to her process, I’ll let her introduce herself.

•  “”

Once you feel comfortable with your design mock-up and you have the measurements added, connect with a prototype designer or engineer to help create a clean and polished prototype. This is intended to verify your design. You can find one on Upwork or any other freelance website. For Roam Often jewelry case, we were lucky enough to have one in the family and utilized him to create a 3D drawing in CAD. 

We did learn very quickly on how to best work with a product engineer and we’d like to share those tips with you. 

1. Be thorough, like we said before. Make sure you get your vision across to the prototype designer so the product is created successfully the first time around. Note, all your likes and dislikes, must-haves, etc.
2. Ask for help. Your prototype designer should be well versed in product development and understanding the mechanics of it all. Ask them for guidance anytime you’re not sure.
3. Be accurate on your measurements. If you’re not 100% sure on the measurements, have the prototype designer guide you.
4. This is optional, but probably a good idea to hire someone with a specialty or background related to your product’s industry. For instance, a designer in fashion and retail is a good fit, if your product is a luxury travel bag, etc.

We asked our product designer for Roam Often, Jason Rechberg to give some advice for this phase of the process. He outlined for us, some items you’ll need to provide the product designer upfront, as well as explained some of his biggest challenges in working with people like us, who have all the vision in the world but no idea how to bring it to life. 

• “”

What you want from the prototype designer is the actual prototype of your product or a rendering of your product with product specifications and exact measurements, so you can hand that directly to the manufacturer who can then create a prototype.

Okay, your drawing is ready to go – you’ve checked it, you’re happy with it, and you’re ready to see it come to life. 

Step 5 – Product development. Now it’s time to send your prototype or rendering of your to the manufacturer to get a sample made. Wait, what manufacturer?

Skip to 11:11 This is where the struggle can start. We had quite a difficult time here in finding the right manufacturer. 

There are a couple of ways to locate a manufacturer:

1. Use a directory. There are a ton of free directories out there to help you find a manufacturer. Some of the popular domestic manufacturers are: ThomasNet, Maker’s Row, MFG, Kompass for domestic; Oberlo, Alibaba, AliExpress, IndiaMart, and Sourcify for overseas vendors. 
2. Ask for a referral. Nothing is better than getting referred to a manufacturer. This way you know you can trust them right away.

For us, we ended up using Alibaba to get started. We sent messages to about 10 manufacturers asking if they are open to making custom orders. We were surprised by the number of manufacturers willing to create a custom product as long as you have the specifications.

I should note that originally we wanted to work with a local manufacturer. We found one in downtown Los Angeles to produce the Roam Often Jewelry Case, However found out the materials alone would cost $60/per bag. That doesn’t include the cost of labor, shipping costs, etc. We had already done the market research, and we knew we wanted to sell our case for around $50. To go locally, meant that we had to either price our item way higher than we initially anticipated or barely make any profits. That was not going to work.

That’s not to say that Local manufacturers do not work. They absolutely can. You just have to do your due diligence to ensure that it’s cost effective.

The benefits of using someone local is that you can visit the factory, verify quality, it’s easy to communicate with them, and much faster shipping. Plus, the benefit of saying you are “Made in [insert your country here],” can be a very compelling marketing message.

The disadvantages of going with a local manufacturer are typically higher costs and less options to choose from. Whereas when you go overseas for production, you typically experience lower manufacturer costs and a wider selection of manufacturers. 

But the negatives to using someone outside your local area is that you may not have as much control over the quality of the product, there can be long shipping times and language barriers that lead to miscommunication. Plus, you’ll need to account for additional custom fees and tariffs. 

Ethical businesses are huge right now as well, and something you may want to think about in your manufacturing process. Things like, how are the workers, who are producing your product are being treated and what is the impact on the environment from the production of your product. This is no easy task, and typically comes at a high cost. But it is definitely something we encourage you to look into! It does for Emily from Minga, whose business is centered around producing ethical products. Here’s more of her story:

• “”

The process of working with a manufacturer was a HUGE learning curve for us. There were a lot of ins and outs that we had to learn quickly, that we want to share with you, so you can begin at a better starting point than we did.

1. A term that you’ll hear a lot in the beginning is MOQ. It stands for “Minimum Order Quantity.” Basically what quantity will you order. Oftentimes, manufacturers will not even work with you to create a sample or prototype until you agree to their MOQ. They may tell you that you have to order a couple hundred or even sometimes a couple thousand to move forward. Obviously, the more you order, the lower the price per item will be. For example, a scarf might be $5/each for 300 MOQ, which is $1500 total. But if you order 1000, the price could go down to $3/each, which equals $3000. For double the price, you get more than tripled the amount of scarfs. It might be worth purchasing higher volumes if you have the investment and know that there is the demand to move that inventory.

For Roam Often, we started with only 500 cases. We were funding this venture from our own pockets, and we wanted to test the market first with a small batch before extending out to larger quantities and color variations.

You might want to consider requesting the manufacturer to sign an exclusivity agreement, which states that they cannot sell the item you’ve created to another buyer. When you work with overseas manufacturers, it’s going to be hard to regulate this; but it’s worth having it in place to make them think twice before selling the item you created.

• Always get a sample made first before ordering in bulk. The sample is generally way more expensive than the actual product. This is because the manufacturer has to make some sort of mold or hand sew the item or some other labor intensive work for the sample to be made.  But this is an important step and it’s well worth the time and money. You can touch and feel the product and iron out the kinks before ordering hundreds or even thousands of the item. 
• Ask for the timeframe. It can take 15 to 60 days to make a bulk order. Make sure you understand the timeline and adjust accordingly like website launches, buying shipping boxes, etc.
• Build a good relationship with the manufacturer. If your manufacturer is not local, have video calls with them and/or visit the factory if possible. It’s super important to establish a personal relationship with a manufacturer because it builds trust and credibility. They are building your product and treating them with respect and kindness only helps with things like ensuring the quality of your product is excellent, making additional samples, and in some cases even moving you to the front of the line in case you need a rush order. 
• Make sure things don’t get lost in the translation. Send feedback in the form of a video or photo. Take the time to make a video or take photos and mark up the photo to show your manufacturer what you are talking about. It cut our back and forth time by half. Even then, expect things to go wrong. It’s just the nature of the business. Be patient!

This Research and Production phase is probably going to be the longest. There will be back and forth between you and the product engineer, you and the manufacturer, etc. This process can take weeks to months. Stick with it and stay on task. You’ll get there.

And realize, the first product is NEVER going to be perfect. Product development is ever-evolving based on feedback from customers, changes in the industry, etc. Your goal is to get a product created that adds value to your customers, that makes them want to buy it. Get your product out there and you can always tweak even more later on. 

We spoke with Kayleigh and Danielle, the owners of CLEARstem Skincare & San Diego Acne Clinic about their challenges and successes in working with manufacturers. We were inspired by them, and think you will be too!

• “”

And what’s even more exciting about this day and age, is pre-ordering has climbed up in popularity and acceptance. Many buyers are willing to pay first and receive a product later on, once it’s ready. This is a lifesaver for small brands who are just starting out. Because it can give you a clear idea of how much you need to order and help fuel your first shipments. 

But to launch a kick-ass pre-order campaign you need Amazing visuals! And that so happens to be our next topic on this Series. I’ll walk you through how to capture amazing product, lifestyle, and video visuals that will help your product soar…right into customer’s hands. 

Before I let you go…

If your product is one-of-a-kind and you want to exclude others from making, using, or selling your design, you can apply for a patent. A patent is an exclusive right granted to an inventor to ensure nobody else can make a product like yours. Patents can cost anywhere from a thousand dollars to upwards of $10K or more. The cost depends on the complexity of your idea, if you use a patent attorney, and the type of patent that is required. We recommend consulting a patent attorney to get more information.

Stay tuned for next week. And if you’re just starting out on your eCommerce journey, we urge you to sign up at yourmarketingpodcast.com/letsgo to receive email alerts with check-ins. It’s so easy to get distracted and derailed on this path. And we want to see you launch your eCommerce store and crush your goals! These email alerts will keep you on task and come with even more resources because we can’t cover everything on the podcast. Thank you for listening to yourmarketingpodcast. See you next week!