https://youtu.be/eWUhLE2DwQA

Platform for creators to launch their product line

We are building a platform to help Indian creators launch their own product lines in any niche (fashion, cosmetics, maternity, etc) to their community.

Launching a new product line from scratch involves designing a product, finding manufacturers, setting up an online store, and figuring out warehousing and order fulfillment, all of which are extremely fragmented and complicated processes.

Brandbox offers a creator-friendly one-stop-shop for setting up a product line step-by-step, where creators can,
1. Hire a designer to design products.
2. Find and work with vetted product manufacturers/suppliers.
3. Set up an online store under their domain name.
4. Warehouse and get orders fulfilled by us.
5. Utilize a dashboard to view and manage orders.

With all these services combined in one place, we offer creators a business-in-a-box solution for launching their product line.

Brandbox lets creators launch product lines from a wide range of niches, including Fashion, Cosmetics, Food, Fitness, Wellness, Maternity, etc.

1. We have partnered with 10 YouTubers and have launched brands for 7 of them. Have three more product launches in March.
2. Fulfilled 3500 customer orders, processed over INR 21 Lakhs in transaction volume, and paid out INR 14.6 Lakhs in revenue to creators.
3. Partnered with a handful of fashion niche manufacturers and launched a variety of fashion products, such as sunglasses, sweatshirts, and printed shirts.
4. Created a semi-automated order processing application and creator payouts system.

As of yet, we are still in the pre-product stage and it is challenging for us to scale to multiple creators manually (without building our platform). Creating a platform to scale creator brands and our operations while automating E-commerce solutions for creators is our next step.

We have partnered with 10 YouTubers each with 400K+ Subscribers and shipped out 3500 orders. Our most prominent customer is a fashion YouTuber who has brought us 1250 orders and earned us INR X lakhs in revenue.

Since our last application,
1. Completed nine product launches for six YouTubers.
2. Experimented by launching niched products as well as merchandise for partnered creators.
3. Processed a transaction volume of INR 14.2 Lakhs from all our brand launches.
4. We launched and managed sales for four different brands simultaneously for the first time (earlier we used to manage sales for one creator at a time).
5. We developed our internal system by October, so we could process all orders from multiple brands semi-automatically (earlier, we used to handle all orders manually). Also, optimized our creator dashboard.

During our senior year of college, one of our friends, who was a YouTuber with 600K subscribers (Channel name: Brottavum Saalnavum), decided to launch an apparel line with t-shirts for his community. He tried Print on Demand, but they only allowed him to print his design on a default t-shirt, whereas he wanted to customize it from the material to the fit. He approached us, as there weren’t any pre-existing solutions to launch his brand. Our team struggled a lot with setting up and managing the processes involved and launched his brand and sold 700 T-shirt combos making $7300 in revenue and profit $3200. We were approached by three more YouTubers who also wanted to launch their brands with us.

At that point, we realized,

1. Creators are always on the lookout for new opportunities (in terms of revenue and personal growth).

2. The hardest part of any business is bringing in customers. Creators have already built their customer base which is their communities and subscribers. All they need to do is figure out what their community wants and then sell it to them. This reduces their Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) to almost zero, making their brands profitable in a short period of time. Five out of seven creator brands launched with us became profitable within 24 hours.

3. Customers (the YouTuber's subscribers) were ecstatic to buy from their favorite creators' brand and literally bombarded all of our customer support channels and the creator's Instagram DM's with new product requests, product re-stock requests, and reviews of the products.

There are three things that other companies in our space don't get:

1) Companies like Teespring help creators in launching Merch products(mostly, a creator’s logo printed on t-shirts).

But there is no one in the market to help creators launch a product line in their own niche which resonates the most with their community. An example would be Kylie Jenner launching a cosmetics line. The reason why it's successful is because she has followers who literally look up to her for her makeup and skincare routine.

When the purchases are made more out of necessity versus to support the creator, creators that launch products within their niche are more likely to sell more and retain more customers than those who only sell merch.

We have experienced this first-hand within our partnered creators. We helped a fashion YouTuber launch his fashion brand and a vlogger launch his merchandise. While the vlogger's merchandise launch video garnered 1M views and sold 470 units, it couldn't compete with the fashion brand, which sold 700 units with only 67K views. All because, the Fashion YouTuber is primarily followed for his sense of fashion and authenticity on that subject, and he launched products that resonated with his community.

2) To run a successful eCommerce brand, we have to showcase our products in front of the right people and build their trust to make a purchase. To get there, conventional brands spend a large portion of their margin on paid marketing, resulting in high CACs. Whereas creators already have a passionate community who trust them - allowing them to sell their brand’s products at even zero marketing cost. We made a GMV of INR 21 Lakhs at zero marketing cost. Moreover, 75% of Indians avoid buying online due to lack of trust. Because we're allowing creators who are already trusted for their expert advice to launch their own brands, we have an advantage.

3) Any and every platform (Shopify, Indiamart, Shiprocket, payment gateways) that the Creator could use to launch their brand has been built on the assumption that the user knows, understands, and has everything figured out in their business process already. But in most cases, creators know best what to sell and what’s popular, but have no idea how to launch a business. A simple, step-by-step approach is what they need to guide them throughout the whole launch process.