I am intentionally posting this in the Speedway section, as it's private to forum members. Please leave it here.
Just as a contextual preface, I am not new to business or entrepreneurship, either in the real world or academically. I have owned a number of physical and online businesses with several full-time employees, along with solopreneur ventures, over the last 20 years. I'm mid-30s.
TLDR: I am launching a marketplace for dog subscription boxes. These boxes will be offered by vendor-partners. What are your general thoughts? You can visit it here: Puhpy. It is purely targeting the US market, for now.
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Full post:
From this thread some years ago, I know many people here, like @MJ DeMarco and @SteveO own dogs. So I'm sure I'm in good company with dog owners.
About two years ago, I decided to venture into the dog product/service niche (for a few reasons).
I love dogs, and most dog owners consider their dogs members of their family. They don't hesitate to pull out their wallets, if they see value.
However, it's not all about money. I think I can create value via a new centralized marketplace that doesn't currently exist at an ubiquitous level.
I didn't jump right on building it, as I was in the middle of building out a startup I co-founded with a friend in Canada (I'm American).
Also, I was still contemplating if a product-based or service-based approach would provide more value in the space. Service-based businesses are like Rover, Wag etc., which are marketplaces for dog-walkers, home-sitters and more. Any products they sell are secondary to their model.
A service-based platform would mean direct competition with these current players (which is fine with me). However, my research told me a recurring product-based marketplace might be better, to turn competition into collaboration. So I settled on my current model and started building:
A doggy subscription box marketplace.
So Puhpy is a marketplace, where vendor-partners who offer dog subscription boxes can sell their boxes. Those who generally sell regular products not packaged as "monthly sub boxes" can put together a box offering there. Puhpy is not a one-off dog product eCom store, like Chewy (which only offers a recurring buy option, as an added convenience). Puhpy is not a subscription box seller, in the same way BarkBox is. It simply facilitates the sale of such boxes.
In essence, Puhpy isn't going into competition with BarkBox, KongBox, Chewy etc. It is creating a marketplace, where these brands will eventually see value in offering their products, to maximize reach to a very targeted audience. A marketplace where the average Jane selling dog products on Etsy can repackage her offering, to compete with BarkBox. Hopefully, that provides enough context for the business model.
So why Subscription Boxes instead of standard product offerings?
1. Recurring revenue: I would rather acquire subscribers once, and build a long-term business relationship with them, than target one-off sales.
2. Content value: Sub boxes often offer a bundle discount or quantity discount. So savings for subscribers.
3. Excitability: The value of sub boxes go beyond the objective value of its contents. People derive psychological value in a similar way a nicely wrapped, bow-tied gift excites them more than one handed over with no wrapping. The box is something they can look forward to, with excitement. A good sub box offering will typically alternate certain themes and content each month, to retain excitement.
4. Centralization: The goal is to create a hub for a wide variety of dog subscription boxes, from different providers. When subscribers visit, they are looking for one thing - dog subscription boxes. They can peruse different providers, all in one place.
Financial Model:
Its financial model is a standard marketplace model. A percentage of each subscription goes to the marketplace.
Quiet Soft Launch
To get things started, I kicked off a quiet launch last week. Meaning no marketing or any real public announcements. I am using this soft launch phase to make sure the processes and flows work as intended, with real paying subscribers. Most subscribers are from private social/business circles (which is why I posted this in the Speedway section of TFF).
Since Puhpy itself does not offer boxes, all boxes sold are offered by partners. I have made efforts to get a handful of partners on board. They are independent businesses in the space. While there are more partners who have set up their stores and offerings on the platform, I have only published boxes from 5. These 5 are all in the dog treat category, to keep it narrow, for the soft launch phase.
So why am I posting this here, other than telling you guys what I'm working on? I would appreciate overall feedback on any aspect that comes to mind. Remember, this is a work in progress, with many iterations expected along the way. A platform like this is never "complete," but I have put out an MVP. I build all my projects myself.
For anyone who wants to take the feedback a step further, I have created a few discount codes specifically for this thread. If you have a dog and want to help with more real-world feedback, please use FASTLANE60 at checkout. It will apply 60% off your first month subscription. Obviously, this amounts to a financial loss on my end (since I still have to pay the partners full price), but it provides valuable insight worth more than the dollar amount.
The intent is to get your feedback after you go through the process and receive your box from the vendor-partner. You can keep your subscription, if you find it valuable, or cancel, if you don't.
Whew! I guess this post ran longer than intended, but thanks for reading this far. Let me know what you think.
Just as a contextual preface, I am not new to business or entrepreneurship, either in the real world or academically. I have owned a number of physical and online businesses with several full-time employees, along with solopreneur ventures, over the last 20 years. I'm mid-30s.
TLDR: I am launching a marketplace for dog subscription boxes. These boxes will be offered by vendor-partners. What are your general thoughts? You can visit it here: Puhpy. It is purely targeting the US market, for now.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Full post:
From this thread some years ago, I know many people here, like @MJ DeMarco and @SteveO own dogs. So I'm sure I'm in good company with dog owners.
About two years ago, I decided to venture into the dog product/service niche (for a few reasons).
I love dogs, and most dog owners consider their dogs members of their family. They don't hesitate to pull out their wallets, if they see value.
However, it's not all about money. I think I can create value via a new centralized marketplace that doesn't currently exist at an ubiquitous level.
I didn't jump right on building it, as I was in the middle of building out a startup I co-founded with a friend in Canada (I'm American).
Also, I was still contemplating if a product-based or service-based approach would provide more value in the space. Service-based businesses are like Rover, Wag etc., which are marketplaces for dog-walkers, home-sitters and more. Any products they sell are secondary to their model.
A service-based platform would mean direct competition with these current players (which is fine with me). However, my research told me a recurring product-based marketplace might be better, to turn competition into collaboration. So I settled on my current model and started building:
A doggy subscription box marketplace.
So Puhpy is a marketplace, where vendor-partners who offer dog subscription boxes can sell their boxes. Those who generally sell regular products not packaged as "monthly sub boxes" can put together a box offering there. Puhpy is not a one-off dog product eCom store, like Chewy (which only offers a recurring buy option, as an added convenience). Puhpy is not a subscription box seller, in the same way BarkBox is. It simply facilitates the sale of such boxes.
In essence, Puhpy isn't going into competition with BarkBox, KongBox, Chewy etc. It is creating a marketplace, where these brands will eventually see value in offering their products, to maximize reach to a very targeted audience. A marketplace where the average Jane selling dog products on Etsy can repackage her offering, to compete with BarkBox. Hopefully, that provides enough context for the business model.
So why Subscription Boxes instead of standard product offerings?
1. Recurring revenue: I would rather acquire subscribers once, and build a long-term business relationship with them, than target one-off sales.
2. Content value: Sub boxes often offer a bundle discount or quantity discount. So savings for subscribers.
3. Excitability: The value of sub boxes go beyond the objective value of its contents. People derive psychological value in a similar way a nicely wrapped, bow-tied gift excites them more than one handed over with no wrapping. The box is something they can look forward to, with excitement. A good sub box offering will typically alternate certain themes and content each month, to retain excitement.
4. Centralization: The goal is to create a hub for a wide variety of dog subscription boxes, from different providers. When subscribers visit, they are looking for one thing - dog subscription boxes. They can peruse different providers, all in one place.
Financial Model:
Its financial model is a standard marketplace model. A percentage of each subscription goes to the marketplace.
Quiet Soft Launch
To get things started, I kicked off a quiet launch last week. Meaning no marketing or any real public announcements. I am using this soft launch phase to make sure the processes and flows work as intended, with real paying subscribers. Most subscribers are from private social/business circles (which is why I posted this in the Speedway section of TFF).
Since Puhpy itself does not offer boxes, all boxes sold are offered by partners. I have made efforts to get a handful of partners on board. They are independent businesses in the space. While there are more partners who have set up their stores and offerings on the platform, I have only published boxes from 5. These 5 are all in the dog treat category, to keep it narrow, for the soft launch phase.
So why am I posting this here, other than telling you guys what I'm working on? I would appreciate overall feedback on any aspect that comes to mind. Remember, this is a work in progress, with many iterations expected along the way. A platform like this is never "complete," but I have put out an MVP. I build all my projects myself.
For anyone who wants to take the feedback a step further, I have created a few discount codes specifically for this thread. If you have a dog and want to help with more real-world feedback, please use FASTLANE60 at checkout. It will apply 60% off your first month subscription. Obviously, this amounts to a financial loss on my end (since I still have to pay the partners full price), but it provides valuable insight worth more than the dollar amount.
The intent is to get your feedback after you go through the process and receive your box from the vendor-partner. You can keep your subscription, if you find it valuable, or cancel, if you don't.
Whew! I guess this post ran longer than intended, but thanks for reading this far. Let me know what you think.
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