Free Business Idea

[biophase]

I've had a few ideas that keep popping back into my head. Unfortunately, as I mentioned in the rental's post, they probably aren't the best use of my time. So here is one of them.

I have 2 big dogs that destroy toys in about an hour. Yet, they are my dogs and I constantly buy them toys every where. Their toys range from $2.99 to $7.99. If I ever see toys on sale I usually load up on them. Last week I got tired of paying $3-$5 a toy so I went online and found a wholesale dog toy store and bought a crap load of toys in bulk that will hopefully last my dogs a full year. Prices were $1-$3 per toy and free shipping.

This led my to research a dog toy monthly subscription site. My numbers were $20 a month, 4 toys. Profit around $10/mo per subscriber. 100 subscribers equals $1000/mo profit. Not much money in it.

300 subscribers, $3000/mo is decent income. You will ship 10 orders a day. So it's probably a 1 hour a day job and you make $36k/yr. Not bad.

I did some research and found a 3 other sites doing this. They probably aren't making that much money because they only send 1 toy a month and are around $15/mo. I think most owners would want more than 1 toy per month.

So maybe someone here would like to run with this. Maybe make it a $30-$40/mo subscription by upselling or adding treats. Then you could get to the $50k/yr range with 100-200 customers.

 

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[hedgehog757]

That doesn't sound Fastlane to start but being a Dog Trainer myself and working with lots of vets, and groomers and stores it is an interesting idea. But doing something like that may cause me to compete with some of my referral sources. Dog Training is not my fastlane plan but it does bring money in for now. it may be worth looking into though

 

[phenom4hire]

Not necessarily interested in this particular idea, but some of the parameters involved with your idea interest me. Biophase, if you wouldn't mind sharing a bit of your knowledge/technique, how would you approach the idea of getting those first hundred subscribers? Would you do more of an offline marketing approach? Hit up dog parks, flyers? Just curious as to how you would approach the situation and grow the business appropriately. Thanks in advance.

 

[danoodle]

Always appreciate free ideas, even though most people won't act on them. I noticed the keyword searches for "dog toy club" "monthly dog toy" "dog toy subscription" etc to all be too low to even have any monthly search results. Just wondered if that was a big deal or what you would do to reach your target market for this niche.

 

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[Birdem]

bio by any chance would you have the links to those 3 other sites that are running sort of the same business.

 

[Newbie]

Wow. I love the idea. It really opened my eyes.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

 

[biophase]

Not necessarily interested in this particular idea, but some of the parameters involved with your idea interest me. Biophase, if you wouldn't mind sharing a bit of your knowledge/technique, how would you approach the idea of getting those first hundred subscribers? Would you do more of an offline marketing approach? Hit up dog parks, flyers? Just curious as to how you would approach the situation and grow the business appropriately. Thanks in advance.

I actually don't have a clue. Hadn't thought about it that far. I calculated it's potential income and it was too low for the amount of work so I dropped it.

 

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[biophase]

bio by any chance would you have the links to those 3 other sites that are running sort of the same business.

I just googled it and found them on the first page.

Like I said in the above post, I didn't pursue it much after the income calculation. I did a quick google search and looked at their pages a few minutes. Then instead of just dropping it entirely, I thought I'd post it because it I come up with ideas everyday and most get dropped into oblivion. This was actually 1 of 3 that popped into my head today.

Please keep in mind that, other people are already doing it so my idea was not NEW. I bet most people with an idea don't even go as far as doing a quick calculation or checking Google. You have to do stuff or you will never get anywhere.

If you wanted to pursue this business, you could get a website up in a few days, use paypal subscriptions and be ready and running by Monday morning!

 

[Birdem]

Im not too familar with dogs. I just wanted to see this business potential like you said worth getting into and a way to see that was look how the other guys are doing in the business itself. I see you said it makes 36k a year for doing one hour of physical work if that's not worth your time I want to know what else are you doing lol, but im pretty sure you mean the marketing side of this business.

 

[awesom-o]

Thanks for the share biophase,
Something similar here (maybe this was one you looked at?)
https://barkbox.com/
$17 per month free shipping plus 10% to a charity. As mentioned previously its going to around a $10 margin on each box max.
These subscription businesses are all over the place at the moment, dollar shave club, Foodzie, Birchbox etc
Marketing + getting the word out is the real challenge with these subscription services - Dollar shave club did that excellent viral video - but once the word is out and if the service offers real value the revenue model can be lucrative. Its just getting enough people signed up to begin with then retaining the subscriber levels. Eventually if you could get into the 1000's you can use fulfillment services and only have to be involved a few hours a week although there's a lot of work required to get there!!!

 

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[PatrickP]

WOW

Bio how very nice of you to take the time and effort to post this thread.

Good karma for you!

Not sure about the business as I have no input about dogs but best of luck to anyone who decides to give it a go.

 

[Likwid24]

That doesn't sound Fastlane to start but being a Dog Trainer myself and working with lots of vets, and groomers and stores it is an interesting idea. But doing something like that may cause me to compete with some of my referral sources. Dog Training is not my fastlane plan but it does bring money in for now. it may be worth looking into though

I think this has some excellent fastlane potential. Bio was using some low numbers as an example. There are over 70 million dog owners in the U.S. alone. 1/2 % = 350,000. Just a half percent! Now how do the numbers look? And why stop at dogs? Why not add cats into the mix and maybe food and treats.


There was a similar idea on Shark Tank, but it was for kids toys. I think they're doing pretty well.

Toygaroo online toy rentals delivered to your door!

 

[awesom-o]

I think this has some excellent fastlane potential. Bio was using some low numbers as an example. There are over 70 million dog owners in the U.S. alone. 1/2 % = 350,000. Just a half percent! Now how do the numbers look? And why stop at dogs? Why not add cats into the mix and maybe food and treats.


There was a similar idea on Shark Tank, but it was for kids toys. I think they're doing pretty well.

Toygaroo online toy rentals delivered to your door!

Exactly it's all about the numbers if you can get thousands of subscribers its fastlane for sure. I read somewhere that Birchbox (subscription beauty samples) had over 15,000 sign ups just after first couple of months of trading who knows what that number is now but its a million dollar per year business and has just raised over $10 mill series funding.

Hadn't heard about Toygaroo - another way of utilising the subscription business model

 

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[PatrickP]

I think this has some excellent fastlane potential. Bio was using some low numbers as an example. There are over 70 million dog owners in the U.S. alone. 1/2 % = 350,000. Just a half percent! Now how do the numbers look? And why stop at dogs? Why not add cats into the mix and maybe food and treats.


There was a similar idea on Shark Tank, but it was for kids toys. I think they're doing pretty well.

Toygaroo online toy rentals delivered to your door!

That was completely different. Apples to oranges.

That company SAVES you money. The one in this thread costs you the same amount and solves a problem that many don't even see as a problem.

That was a toy exchange. Where you save money because once your kids have become tired of a game you turn it in and get a different one.

This thread it just saves you from going to the store to buy a toy. I MIGHT save a few dollars but not like the toy exchange.

 

[PatrickP]

Exactly it's all about the numbers if you can get thousands of subscribers its fastlane for sure. I read somewhere that Birchbox (subscription beauty samples) had over 15,000 sign ups just after first couple of months of trading who knows what that number is now but its a million dollar per year business and has just raised over $10 mill series funding.

Hadn't heard about Tooygaroo - another way of utilising the subscription business model

Again apples to oranges.

Birchbox works because it saves you the time of going ALL over town to different stores to get the samples. In many cases people who live in smaller towns do not even have stores big enough to give out samples.

The idea in this thread is getting the same thing you can get at any walmart.

BTW not sure why the OP goes through so many toys. We had a great dane and a rotty but we go the gorilla toys which guarantee they last or your money back so no need to buy 4 toys a month.

 

[biophase]

Im not too familar with dogs. I just wanted to see this business potential like you said worth getting into and a way to see that was look how the other guys are doing in the business itself. I see you said it makes 36k a year for doing one hour of physical work if that's not worth your time I want to know what else are you doing lol, but im pretty sure you mean the marketing side of this business.

Once running if you had 300 subscribers it would take you 1 hour a day to pack and ship 10 boxes. It would probably take you a few hours a week to order inventory and do paperwork. The whole business could be done in 8 hours a week. You can choose to put more time into it to grow it even faster.

 

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[biophase]

Thanks for the share biophase,
Something similar here (maybe this was one you looked at?)
https://barkbox.com/
$17 per month free shipping plus 10% to a charity. As mentioned previously its going to around a $10 margin on each box max.
These subscription businesses are all over the place at the moment, dollar shave club, Foodzie, Birchbox etc
Marketing + getting the word out is the real challenge with these subscription services - Dollar shave club did that excellent viral video - but once the word is out and if the service offers real value the revenue model can be lucrative. Its just getting enough people signed up to begin with then retaining the subscriber levels. Eventually if you could get into the 1000's you can use fulfillment services and only have to be involved a few hours a week although there's a lot of work required to get there!!!

I didn't find barkbox, what search term did you type for that? It's actually the best looking site so far. I do notice that they include more than toys in their monthly package. Getting subscribers is tough. I would bet that it would be a slow and steady effort. I think it would take a while to get to 100 subscribers initially.

 

[biophase]

This thread it just saves you from going to the store to buy a toy. I MIGHT save a few dollars but not like the toy exchange.

Actually, the toys would be cheaper than going to the store. You would get 4 toys that are normally $5-$8 for $20 or whatever the cost is. My problem wasn't that I didn't like going to the store, it was that the toys are so expensive at the store.

The toys would be different also. I'll post a photo of all the toys I got when they arrive.

Every dog is different, my dog loves to rip out the stuffing and get to the squeaker. Some dogs never chew up their toys at all.

 

[hedgehog757]

The idea is great. But i am having trouble trying to figure out what kinds of toys would be different and less expensive. How to make them/get them and distribute them to subscribers while still making a profit over my expenses. Not expecting you to tell me exactly how but just saying I am having a difficult time with it and wondering why people would subscribe rather than go to the store? When they are a million pet stores out there between the big chains and even the small stores you would be competing with.

 

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[Amail]

We've got a husky/something else mutt that devours Nylabones. She'll polish one off in a month easily. We also have "Biscuit Time" just before bed that both our dogs love. So, we're always getting biscuits. Of course, the cats can't be overlooked, so we give them some kitty treats too.

No need to limit the subscription options to just toys. This could be expanded to include treats, food, flea medicine. Heck, you could contract with local vets to include checkups with a subscription option, or visiting grooming service.

How much would it cost to put something like this together?

 

[CommonCents]

pets.com! take 'er public!

 

[Amail]

Some lucky SOB already has that domain.

I'm thinking dogandcattoysandtreatssubscriptionservice.com. Catchy, huh?

 

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[a k a]

Hey @biophase is it okay if I give this a try?

 

[Bananas]

Biophase I love your idea and it is wonderful of you to post it for free.

If you don't mind I've got a secondary possible extension for anyone who does this (also free): large parrots destroy multiple toys each month. I've owned large birds before and some toys are demolished in 1 to 3 days while costing $10 - 20. This is a smaller market than dogs obviously, but parrot toys also cost more money than dog toys. Someone is doing this already:

http://www.pollywannabirdbox.com/new-sign-up.html

$25/45/65 monthly levels

 

[JokerCrazyBeatz]

Wow I admire the people who make business seem like it's as easy as the snap of a finger (which I guess it is ) I've seen you and @IceCreamKid talk about business in threads like its second nature ,

 

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[MakeMoreMoves]

I've had a few ideas that keep popping back into my head. Unfortunately, as I mentioned in the rental's post, they probably aren't the best use of my time. So here is one of them.

I have 2 big dogs that destroy toys in about an hour. Yet, they are my dogs and I constantly buy them toys every where. Their toys range from $2.99 to $7.99. If I ever see toys on sale I usually load up on them. Last week I got tired of paying $3-$5 a toy so I went online and found a wholesale dog toy store and bought a crap load of toys in bulk that will hopefully last my dogs a full year. Prices were $1-$3 per toy and free shipping.

This led my to research a dog toy monthly subscription site. My numbers were $20 a month, 4 toys. Profit around $10/mo per subscriber. 100 subscribers equals $1000/mo profit. Not much money in it.

300 subscribers, $3000/mo is decent income. You will ship 10 orders a day. So it's probably a 1 hour a day job and you make $36k/yr. Not bad.

I did some research and found a 3 other sites doing this. They probably aren't making that much money because they only send 1 toy a month and are around $15/mo. I think most owners would want more than 1 toy per month.

So maybe someone here would like to run with this. Maybe make it a $30-$40/mo subscription by upselling or adding treats. Then you could get to the $50k/yr range with 100-200 customers.

I don't have a dog, but I'm sure you have heard of KONG dog toys. Aren't those the indestructible ones, thus defeating the main purpose of the box.

 

[DaRK9]

I don't have a dog, but I'm sure you have heard of KONG dog toys. Aren't those the indestructible ones, thus defeating the main purpose of the box.

Not true. Lots of dog owners enjoy buying new toys for their dogs. Most of the time its for the owner, not necessarily the dog.

I know I'm guilty of buying a new toy for my dog even when an old one is fine.

 

[Jeff Noel]

Reviving this old thread because I'm wondering if you dog owners found a decent subscription box lately fitting that business idea. I don't have a dog, but that business idea is interesting to me as a first e-commerce dip.

 

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[biophase]

Reviving this old thread because I'm wondering if you dog owners found a decent subscription box lately fitting that business idea. I don't have a dog, but that business idea is interesting to me as a first e-commerce dip.

Interesting that you revived this and that I posted this in 2012. It's 2019 and I'm heavily in the dog market now. Maybe I will revive this. Was just reading my original post and I'm at the point where I can import those dog toys for way less than my original estimate. $20 a box seems really doable, but I'd market my box a totally different way than my competition.