01.24.2017 - By Kevin Mako of Mako Design + Invent
Ruth Stone founded BoxHead Craft, the world’s only manufacturer of blank box heads for kids to design and decorate. Kids happily abandon the console to craft and enjoy imaginative play.
In this episode, we learn about
Where Ruth got the inspiration for her first product
Ruth's first production run of 100 units to test the market
Why Ruth was comfortable creating a product in "someone elses' sandbox"
Manufacturing a custom box from scratch
The path to market: Selling Amazon, eBay, and Etsy and using Twitter and Instagram for publicity
Driving traffic using Instagram, Youtube, Twitter and PR in magazines and competition prizes
Scaling from 100 to 30,000 units and the focus forward
The core benefit of the Boxheads to parents - reducing screen time
Making minor changes during development and differentiating from any competitors
Ruth's reservations going to market with such a simple product
What she would change: Pricing to make room for wholesale orders
Why we need to dive into the process headfirst to learn
The threat of easy entry by competitors
Customer service and growing the number of transactions vs customer retention
How Ruth got started in her other businesses at a young age
Fulfilling orders herself and why Amazon wasn't worth it
Ruth's parting tip
Links and resources mentioned in this episode
Website: boxheadcraft.co.uk
Social Media
Twitter: @boxhead_craft
Facebook: facebook.com/boxheadcraft
Instagram: instagram.com/boxheadcraft
Youtube: youtube.com
Mentioned
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